This STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN article contains spoilers.
The Mandalorian Chapter 14, “The Tragedy,” brings together a whole host of bounty hunters in an episode with some connections to the Legends canon. Mando and Baby Yoda have found the seeing stone on Tython that will put the kid in touch with other Jedi. But when other hunters and the Empire find them, it becomes a race against time as Din Djarin tries to protect the child.
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Here are all of the Star Wars easter eggs and references we’ve found so far:
Tython
– In the old Legends continuity, Tython had long been known as the location of the first Jedi Temple. It’s still an active location in the The Old Republic MMO, and was re-canonized in RPG sourcebooks and the Doctor Aphra comics. Although a lot of previous art of Tython includes impressive mountains and purple-tinted skies, the version in The Mandalorian is a bit more down to Earth, with the seeing stone situated among desert scrub.
You can read more about the history of the planet here.
– We’ve seen architecture like the Seeing Stone in various ancient Jedi sites before, most notably the round motifs in Knights of the Old Republic‘s Jedi temples and audience chambers. It also looks a bit like the Sith nexus from that series.
– Butterflies, specifically blue ones like the one that delight Grogu on Tython, have appeared in various Star Wars stories before, including on Endor in Battlefront and in The Clone Wars.
Boba Fett
– “I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy, like my father before me.” Fett’s reply to Din Djarin’s question about whether he’s a Mandalorian references two saga movies. The first half is a Jango Fett line from Attack of the Clones, and the second is a riff on Luke Skywalker’s dialogue in Return of the Jedi. There, Luke says “I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”
– Boba Fett’s knee pad rocket launchers have been a long-standing part of the character’s arsenal. In Legends, they held toxic darts.
– After his struggle on Tatooine, Fett has taken some of the natives’ weapons in place of his lost arsenal. He carries a long rifle and a gaffi stick typical of the Tuskens.
– The “spice dream” Fett mentions is a drug haze from spice, Star Wars‘ generic recreational drug stand-in. Han Solo mentioned he was running spice back in A New Hope, and most recently we’ve seen spice mines in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Rebels. Spice is a mineral that can have medicinal properties.
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The concept of spice as a drug is actually ripped right out of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
– Boba Fett’s chain code appears to be written in the Mandalorian language, which could be fully translated in Legends.
– Boba mentions that Jango Fett fought in a Mandalorian Civil War. Unsurprisingly, there have been several civil wars fought on Mandalore. We’ve even seen a few of these civil wars on The Clone Wars and Rebels. The one referenced here happened much earlier than those, though, in 42 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin). It pitted the New Mandalorian group that eventually took control of the planet as a pacifist government against the war-like traditionalists.
You can read more about Jango and his role in the Mandalorian Civil War here.
– Fett’s famous starship Slave I is intact after its master was eaten and escaped from the sarlacc on Tatooine.
Fennec Shand
Fennec Shand, the assassin from “The Gunslinger,” returns in this episode despite the fact that she seemingly died during her debut. How did she survive? We don’t know the exact details for sure.
What we know for sure is that Fennec is part-cyborg now, her stomach not only patched but reinforced with metal struts. Because this is Star Wars, there is plenty of precedent for metal parts working medical miracles. Darth Vader is only alive because of his prosthetics and mechanical lungs, and General Grievous’ entire body was rebuilt as a droid. There is an implication in the movies that mechanical parts are a hallmark of villains or of a fall toward the dark side, although this gets less clear when it comes to Luke Skywalker’s mechanical hand. Nevertheless, adding droid parts to a dying organic body is just part of the Star Wars universe.
The operation probably also involved some bacta, the miraculous substance used to heal almost any wound. It’s seen in the movies after Luke is attacked by the wampa beast and nearly frozen to death in The Empire Strikes Back. It makes sense that Boba Fett would have a store of bacta somewhere in order to treat his own wounds. It’s through a mix of all of these long-tested Star Wars medical procedures that Boba Fett probably saved Fennec. Those cybernetics could be either an asset or a liability if she plans to continue in a job that involves being shot at pretty often.
Read more about Fennec Shand here.
The Battle
Any show could have included the neat action sequences where Fennec Shand kicks a boulder onto her attackers, but a Lucasfilm product especially means this comes off as a reference to the famous Indiana Jones boulder chase, which opens Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Empire
– Several different stormtrooper rank markings are visible in the big battle scene, including the orange shoulder pads for officers.
– What we guessed a couple weeks ago was true: the new Imperial enemies are Dark Troopers. It’s unclear for now what exactly they are, though, as they seemed to have some organic components but are also quite obviously droids. If they’re Force sensitive, we haven’t seen any sign of that yet. They may end up being closer to the cyborg super-soldiers from the Dark Forces video game.
– The Imperial Remnant has once again brought out the big guns: specifically, the E-Web heavy repeater.
The New Republic
– The Karthon Chop Fields are where former mercenary Migs Mayfeld was sentenced for his part in the prison break last season. This is a brand-new location, the existence of which implies the New Republic sends prisoners to do hard labor.
– It’s revealed at the tail end of the episode that Marshal Cara Dune has accepted the invitation to join the New Republic. She now has rules she needs to follow.
