Upon the release of The Mandalorian’s Season 3 premiere, the Star Wars series felt different. Din Djarin is a man on a mission, but unlike returning Grogu to the Jedi, he knows exactly where to go and what to do. Only, after nearly dying in the Living Waters under the Mines of Mandalore, will he abandon The Way and follow Bo-Katan Kryze instead?
While The Mandalorian premiere was slower-than-expected for some critics, Din traveled to two planets it would’ve taken him an episode or two to reach in past seasons. Making amends for the transgression of removing his helmet is all he cares about. Bo-Katan is the only Mandalorian he knows that doesn’t see him as an apostate. She is steeped in the heretic culture of Mandalore, at fault in the eyes of Din’s people for Mandalore’s fall. Though, they also blame her family, which adopted a culture of pacifism during the Clone Wars. Yet, despite being a walking blasphemer, Din can’t deny she is adept and honorable. When they met she saved his life, and she just added two more tick marks to the side of the ledger. Not only that, she rescued him from the fabled mythosaur. Is Bo-Katan a way for Din to get away from The Way?
Despite his drive to make amends to the Children of the Watch, his surety in their interpretation of The Way of Manda’lor may be waning. The Armorer told him Mandalore’s surface was “cursed,” but he just discovered it’s perfectly livable. Also, their conversation after B-Katan rescues him and leads him to the mines illuminates things for Din that he didn’t know. He was genuinely moved when Bo-Katan told him that her father, “a great man,” died protecting Mandalore. If the Armorer is wrong about Mandalore’s surface and the heretic Mandalorians, he might wonder where else she’s mistaken.
Ironically, as Din loses his faith, Bo-Katan seems to have found a little after her staring contest with the mythosaur. She may not have tamed him like the Manda’lor of old, but it blinked first. (Though, who can tell with those helmets?) Rather than purify him, the Living Waters almost took his life, if not for the “heretic” Bo-Katan’s intervention. Maybe nothing can shake Din’s faith in The Way, but if anything can it’s how impressive a Mandalorian Bo-Katan is. If the Children of the Watch don’t want him, perhaps Bo-Katan will.
A dynamic like this would set up an interesting conflict. As the Mandalorians come together, the Children of the Watch would have problems with Bo-Katan. She also called them a dangerous cult, so bad feelings will be mutual. Nonetheless, if it’s about securing their home planet, then Din could be an important go-between. And, if he’s no longer part of the Children, Pedro Pascal could take off the helmet more.
It’s unclear which planet Din Djarin was rescued from by the Children of the Watch. Still, he grew up on Concordia, the moon where the covert lived before the purge. As far as Grogu knew, Din would be alone forever without him. Instead of rejecting the Jedi because he’s a kid who missed his dad, he may have been trying to save him. Without the covert or Grogu, the Mandalorian had no one in his life with whom he felt at home. He didn’t even have his home, the Razor Crest, anymore. Din blew up his entire life to rescue Grogu and say “goodbye.” Din’s quest may be to find a cause, but Grogu’s quest is to ensure Din is okay.
Din is far too indoctrinated to ever stand up to the Armorer, at least while he follows The Way. Even with the Darksaber, they did not respect him. Until now, Din’s quest was to find a home for Grogu. Now that home is with him, he wants to get back to a sense of community and family. Perhaps he can find that instead with Clan Kryze, especially if the goal is to liberate Mandalore for all her people. It also might be even simpler. Din Djarin follows The Way of the Manda’lor, the traditional leader of the Mandalorian people. If that’s Bo-Katan, her way is The Way.
The real question is where Bo-Katan’s sense of faith in the old ways of Mandalore is after what she experienced under the Living Waters. She may find herself more inclined to see things as the Children do. If so, it’s even more likely that she earns Din’s loyalty over the Armorer and his old covert.