This is the way. But is it really? On The Mandalorian, the titular character has always put a ton of faith into the words of the Armorer, a wise Mandalorian who can not only craft armor but knows all about the histories and customs of the galaxy. It was the Armorer who, on The Book of Boba Fett, told Mando that he was no longer a Mandalorian because he took off his helmet, and then laid out a plan for him to regain his armor.
That scene felt like a blueprint for the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian, so when io9 spoke to Mandalorian producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, we asked if there were any specific clues fans should key into. But the answer turned into something more, a dissection of whether or not the Armorer can be trusted, or even has the Mandalorian’s best interests at heart.
“We talk about her quite a bit,” Filoni told io9. “Even in what does she know versus what she’s speculating, and what kind of mentor slash Gandalf slash Merlin is she really. How much does she understand what’s possible for Mando or not?” Favreau added, “And is she sharing everything she knows?”
Filoni, as he has been known to do, compared the dynamic to one from the original Star Wars trilogy. “I used to wonder that about Obi-Wan and Yoda,” Filoni said. “Like when they would tell Luke he must confront Darth Vader, they never tell him, ‘You can save your father.’ They actually make it sound pretty damning that you’re not going to be able to do that. And so do they know that’s a possibility or do they not? Does it undermine Luke if he is told it’s a possibility to save his father?”
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“So I think a lot of it she’s careful what she says to both Mando and the audience,” he continued. “Because I think maybe she doesn’t fully know what to expect about the future, but she’s basing it on tradition and what’s been passed down to her—“The Way” and your interpretation of “The Way.” And her responsibility is to guide the people as clearly as she can while leaving room for whatever the events are.”
Filoni added that another key piece is that the Armorer may not even quite understand the bond shared between the Mandalorian and Grogu. “I think she’s reading the room a lot,” he said. “Why is this little Grogu character, Mando took him away, why is he back? We used to talk about [how] that probably means something to her. It means something to us. But it’s all part of the discovery process of the story as it unfolds and it evolves. And yeah, she’s definitely become an emerging character as far as knowledge. Lost knowledge is really what she possesses.”
“And prophecy,” Favreau added. “Knowledge of prophecy.”
We’ll see just how the Armorer plays into The Mandalorian season 3 when it returns March 1 to Disney+.
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