The Mandalorian: 5 Easter eggs you may have missed in “The Believer”

A nod to Operation: Cinder

During one of the more tense scenes in the episode, Mayfeld name-drops Operation: Cinder while talking to Hess. You’ll be familiar with the Imperial operation if you played 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront II. In the game, you play as Iden Versio, an Imperial Commander who defects to the Rebel Alliance sometime after the battle on Endor.

It’s an interesting story that lets the player view the Star Wars universe from the Empire’s perspective. One of the missions is Operation: Cinder. Several weeks after the second Death Star’s destruction, messenger droids contact several selected Imperial officers to relay Emperor Palpatine’s final orders: to purge parts of the galaxy to ensure the Empire and its enemies don’t outlive the Emperor should he perish.

This was before Palpatine returned (somehow) in The Rise of Skywalker, so this event is a bit confusing. Regardless, it’s cool to see it be brought up in The Mandalorian. Operation: Cinder targeted some planets loyal to the Empire, like Vardos and Burnin Konn, and it clearly upset Imperial soldiers like Iden and Mayfeld. Hess says it was a “small sacrifice for the greater good,” and those who perished were “all heroes of the Empire.” Truly sickening. We’re glad this was mentioned as it gave us an idea of how others viewed this catastrophic event.

One of our favorite things about this show is how it keeps connecting events like Operation: Cinder to the larger Star Wars universe. It makes the galaxy feel real and alive, with its own disturbing history. More of this, please!