Let’s discuss the Darksaber showing up on The Mandalorian season finale

Warning: Spoilers for The Mandalorian season finale below

If you watched the season finale of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, you may have noticed something interesting in the post-credits sequence: Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) cuts his way out of his downed TIE Fighter using what looks like a black-bladed light saber. What was the deal with that weapon? We’re going to explain what it is, and speculate about how it came into Gideon’s possession.

The Darksaber first appeared on the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars and later on Star Wars: Rebels. Both series were developed by Dave Filoni, who now runs The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau, so the inclusion of the Darksaber (because that’s what it’s called) likely comes from him.

Legend has it that the Darksaber was forged by the first-ever Mandalorian inducted into the Jedi Order. His name was Tarre Vizsla, and after his death, the Darksaber was kept in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant until members of House Vizsla — Tarre Vizsla’s descendants — broke in and stole it.

The Darksaber was then used by House Vizsla to unify the Mandalorian people. It became a symbol of the house. Years later, Pre Vizsla — the head of House Vizsla — used the Darksaber as the leader of Death Watch — a splinter group of Mandalorian warriors who took over Mandalore, attempting to return its people to their warring ways.

Pre Vizsla and his warriors were assisted by Darth Maul and his newly-formed Shadow Collective. However, once Mandalore was under Death Watch’s rule, Maul and Pre Vizsla fought for control of the throne of Mandalore and Maul killed him, taking the Darksaber for himself.

After Maul was defeated by Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine), the Darksaber disappeared from Star Wars canon until Sabine Wren — a Mandalorian warrior who was part of the fledgling rebellion against the Galactic Empire — retrieved it from a Nightsister’s cave on Dathomire and trained with it under the tutelage of Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus.

Sabine wielded the Darksaber and used it to help free Mandalore from Galactic rule. She then gave the weapon to Bo-Katan Kryze, who was the leader of Nite Owls, a group of Mandalorian warriors who left Death Watch when Darth Maul became its leader. Bo-Katan used the weapon to lead Mandalore in its war against the Empire, until Palpatine’s forces, under the leadership of Moff Gideon, destroyed the resistance during the Great Purge.

So how did Gideon come to wield the Darksaber? Well, since Bo-Katan wouldn’t have simply gifted it to him, the logical answer is he killed her and took it as his own.

It will be interesting to see what The Mandalorian does with such an iconic Star Wars weapon. Perhaps season 2 will see Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian defeat Moff Gideon and take the Darksaber for himself, and use it as a unifying symbol for the fractured clans of Mandalorians.

How do you think Moff Gideon came into possession of the Darksaber? And do you think it will play a large part in season 2? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

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