The Mandalorian: The Retcon of the Dark Saber (Spoilers)

[Winter]

So, in the last episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian after Din defeats Moff Gideon he goes to bring him in along with the Dark Saber and tries to hand it over to Bo-Katan only for her to refuse to take it because in order for her to properly claim it she has to take it in combat and nothing Din says can convince her otherwise. This goes against what we've seen in The Clone Wars where Bo-Katan was given the Dark Saber without any need to fight someone to take it and it should also be noted that both TCW and TM are both written by Dave Filoni.

Back in Season 1 it was mentioned that Mandalorians are not allowed to remove their helmets as it goes against their culture even though we've seen plenty of Mandalorians remove their helmets without any real issue. After thinking about it for two seconds I came to the conclusion that this was something unique to Din's clan and that this would be the explanation in the next season. And lo and behold this was indeed the case as we learn that Din's clan is, in fact, a cult of religious zealots who work to retain what they believe is the one True way.

Same thing here, my thought right now is that Bo-Katan was looked down upon for not taking the Dark Saber in combat and just excepting it and after things went to $#!t many of the more traditionalist Mandalorians blamed everything that went wrong on Bo-Katan not following tradition. Also keep in mind in that episode Bo-Katan wasn't the only member of her clan as one of her fellow clan members had came with her so she likely had to save face by refusing to just take the damn saber and be done with it.

Also keep in mind that both Gideon and Fennec were also there to bare witness to what actually happened. The former works with someone she just insulted and who likely would have told Boba about this whole thing and Bo-Katan may have feared they would use that against her at a later date. And if they didn't Gideon DEFIANTLY would have tried to use this against her if given the chance given he likely was hoping for something like this to happen if he lost to Din so it was a win win situation for him no matter what.

Now, as of this writing this has NOT been the established reason and if this isn't explained later then I'm going to be calling BS on the series for this rather blatant retcon. As of right now, on it's own it's a silly moment that adds a nice level of conflict between two characters, is a head-tilting retcon that someone should have caught and right now all we can do is wait and see where the series goes with it.

[Makeshift Python]

Thankfully THE CLONE WARS doesn't really count for me, so I can look past this "retcon".

[Winter]

Thankfully THE CLONE WARS doesn't really count for me, so I can look past this "retcon".

Hm. Why don't you count it?

[Makeshift Python]

I can't get invested in that show, because I don't believe in the concept of the Clone Wars as laid out in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and there's nothing inherently compelling about it. Because Lucas chose to make it so bloodless that it's fought between disposable clones and droids, and because Palpatine is ultimately controlling both sides, it feels less like a war and more like farce. Doesn't help that in ROTS, despite having a warzone right on top of Coruscant, it doesn't look like citizens are really suffering from some fallout of the war. Everyone is still going to their operas. The skies are still filled with ships/speeders. It never feels like anyone is truly impacted by the war, because it doesn't have heroes putting themselves on the line like in the OT.

For a brief moment in AOTC, it sounded promising. Count Dooku, a former Jedi that fell out of the order, leads a group of separatists because he knows the Senate is controlled by the Sith and his former colleagues are too blind to see it. How interesting! But no, turns out he's working for Palpatine. Worse, it seems the Separatists are just a bunch of evil dicks like those Trade Federation guys who just wanna see Padme get mauled by giant monsters at a coliseum.

Anyway, I did try giving the show a shot... Aside from that one episode with Yoda leading a group of clones, it's just not for me, and I'm happy to simply not acknowledge as part of Star Wars.

EDIT: Oh, and I can never accept that Anakin had a padawan between films. Like, get out of here with that crap.

[Winter]

I can't get invested in that show, because I don't believe in the concept of the Clone Wars as laid out in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and there's nothing inherently compelling about it. Because Lucas chose to make it so bloodless that it's fought between disposable clones and droids, and because Palpatine is ultimately controlling both sides, it feels less like a war and more like farce. Doesn't help that in ROTS, despite having a warzone right on top of Coruscant, it doesn't look like citizens are really suffering from some fallout of the war. Everyone is still going to their operas. The skies are still filled with ships/speeders. It never feels like anyone is truly impacted by the war, because it doesn't have heroes putting themselves on the line like in the OT.

For a brief moment in AOTC, it sounded promising. Count Dooku, a former Jedi that fell out of the order, leads a group of separatists because he knows the Senate is controlled by the Sith and his former colleagues are too blind to see it. How interesting! But no, turns out he's working for Palpatine. Worse, it seems the Separatists are just a bunch of evil dicks like those Trade Federation guys who just wanna see Padme get mauled by giant monsters at a coliseum.

Anyway, I did try giving the show a shot... Aside from that one episode with Yoda leading a group of clones, it's just not for me, and I'm happy to simply not acknowledge as part of Star Wars.

EDIT: Oh, and I can never accept that Anakin had a padawan between films. Like, get out of here with that crap.

I will admit that the first season is hit or miss (mostly the latter), Season 2 is better but still has it's issues and the first half of Season 3 is VERY Political. But the second half of Season 3 is where the show REALLY gets good.

While I wouldn't call it bloody (this IS a family show after all) they get away with a lot and many of the points you refer to either get better or are at least fun. Ahsoka is a bit annoying at first but obviously she gets better as she's now one of the series most popular character and she adds a lot to Anakin's character while being a great character in her own right.

But these are just my opinions and you are free to disagree with me on that.

[Beelzquill]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the clone wars only last three years in story? I've always felt it should have been ten years like the gap between TPM and AOTC was so that Anakin is thirty and Obi-Wan is 45 in ROTS, which would make their ages in ANH 49 and 64 respectively and thus Alec Guiness would look more age appropriate.

[Makeshift Python]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the clone wars only last three years in story? I've always felt it should have been ten years like the gap between TPM and AOTC was so that Anakin is thirty and Obi-Wan is 45 in ROTS, which would make their ages in ANH 49 and 64 respectively and thus Alec Guiness would look more age appropriate.

That's really just a problem inherent with the original Star Wars. Lucas wanted the Jedi to be thought of as something long forgotten, an ancient religion that reached mythical status, yet their fall supposedly happened within the lifetime of a 19 year old farm boy. This is why I roll my eyes every time someone tries to claim that Lucas had the prequels planned out. He never did. For a long time it was just a vague backstory in his head meant to give a little context to the characters. When it came to the specific details like when the Clone Wars took place and such, that was something he had to tackle head on.

Interestingly, old EU before the development of the prequels had a guideline for what the timeline was. The Clone Wars actually happened 35 years before ANH, and then there's a 17 year gap between the end of the war and the fall of the Republic. I suppose with THE PHANTOM MENACE Lucas felt it was important to depict the Jedi and the Republic during peacetime when there wasn't a Clone Wars, and then for EP II he fell into the trap of having to make the Clone Wars and the fall of the Republic concurrent. That resulted in REVENGE OF THE SITH feeling super-rushed as it had to tie up so many loose ends within a single film.





Weirdest bit is Han supposedly being 29 in ANH. Maybe he was supposed to be on paper, but Harrison Ford does not exude anything younger than 35. Heck, part of his charm was that he's a grumpy old man in a younger body. That's why people wanting to recast Indy with someone like Chris Pratt are WAY off.