The Mandalorian season 3 finale featured a shocking Darksaber twist almost no one saw coming. Rather than bow down and give the Darksaber to Moff Gideon like before, Bo-Katan Kryze stands up for her planet and her people and duels him in a climactic battle. Yet despite her prowess with the blade, she is unable to best his new and improved Mandalorian-inspired armor. Using his armor’s special capabilities, Gideon crushes the Darksaber. In doing so, he ended one of the oldest traditions the Mandalorians recognized. However, even though one of the coolest blades in Star Wars is gone, its destruction may have been for the better.
Moff Gideon purposely destroyed the saber in the hopes Bo-Katan would be the last in the long line of characters who have wielded the Darksaber. In his mind, he’d rather see the Darksaber in pieces than in the hands of someone other than himself. He asked for the Darksaber to be handed over multiple times in The Mandalorian season 3, yet Bo-Katan refused to repeat the mistake she made in the past. In an act of triumphant desperation, Moff Gideon crushes the blade, believing he is crushing the Mandalorian’s leader along with it.
The Darksaber Set The Destructive Patterns Of Mandalorian Culture
The Darksaber was never meant to become a symbol for the leader of Mandalore. In centuries past, Tarre Vizsla merely created the saber as a Mandalorian Jedi. It was only after his death that of Clan Vizsla stole the Darksaber back, elevating it into a symbol of strength. However, whether it was intentional or not, this led future Mandalorians to paint one of the bloodiest timelines for the Darksaber. The rule that the Darksaber must be won in combat fractured an already shattered people, where Mandalorians cut one another down in the name of power.
The Darksaber’s destructive power may be best summed up in the words of Pre Vizsla, who introduced the blade back in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 2. Before being killed by Maul, Vizsla told him that “only the strongest shall rule.” This is the sentiment attached to the Darksaber. Generations of Mandalorians slaughtered each other over the mere idea of holding the blade, just so they could say they’d bested all the competition. In The Mandalorian season 3, Bo-Katan begins to realize how annoying it is that the Darksaber is the only thing keeping Din Djarin’s covert and Axe Woves’ army from tearing each other apart.
The Darksaber's Destruction Ushers In A New Era For Mandalore
Moff Gideon inadvertently proved The Mandalorian doesn’t need the Darksaber by destroying it. Even without the blade, the Mandalorian clans are able to unite together and defeat Gideon’s Imperial Remnant on Mandalore. And because there is no longer an object deciding who rules, the Mandalorians can build a society based on honor and mutual respect for one another. Gideon hoped to destroy Mandalore’s future by crushing the Darksaber in The Mandalorian season 3 finale, but he ended up giving it the brightest future possible.