The new Mandalorian Visual Guide book is out, so let’s see what it says about the Sisters Kryze.
I’m actually appreciative of what was established. It doesn’t fix the fracked up canonical timeline, but it also doesn’t add to it either. Whether it was intentional or not, it also seems to suggest that Bo-Katan is not that much younger than Satine. (Everyone, rejoice!)
We FINALLY have a Satine mention. This is the first time that Bo-Katan has been said to have a sister (not just a father) since she was brought into live action.
This is also the first time we’ve had an “authoritative” (for better and worse) source that has canonized the idea that Bo-Katan felt overshadowed by Satine.
But keep that in mind. We’ll come back to it.
I’m grateful that they’re pushing against the idea that Satine somehow imposed pacifism on the Mandalorians. It’s already been canon for years that Satine was confirmed as leader by the Mandalorian clans, who were exhausted from endless wars and longing for peace.
I do not like the fact that Star Wars is leaning into the idea that Bo-Katan’s participation in Death Watch was “impulsive.” It’s such a cop-out to say that Bo joined a terrorist cult by accident instead of that she was once convinced by their violent, traditionalist rhetoric and later saw the error of her ways.
(But I’m not surprised given the fact that The Mandalorian has also ceased portraying Children of the Watch as a cult that Din needs to evolve beyond.)
The way Dave Filoni used to talk about Bo’s decision to join Death Watch seems to me to imply a measured and resolute decision, not a decision made by someone young and impetuous.
I have a rather lengthy backstory that even explains how [Bo] became a Death Watch soldier that goes all the way back to the time she and Satine are six. Because to figure out how she got to that point, and yet Satine is a duchess... I have a whole story about who their father was and what their relationships were and everything with Vizsla, going back for a very long time and how that intersects with Obi-Wan Kenobi. (2013)
(TBH, it’s a little strange and disconcerting that they are overemphasizing the fact that Satine’s death was caused by Maul, who *betrayed* Death Watch, as if Pre Vizsla wasn’t already planning to kill Satine himself. It suggests to me that they’re doing their best to explain away Bo-Katan’s time in Death Watch and likely have no plans to address that issue with any kind of weight.)
However, I’m actually surprised and pleased that they did not canonize that Bo-Katan was a teenager in TCW.
I was scared by the line “exposure to conflict since her teenage years” but that actually makes more sense if you assume her teenage years were during the Great Clan Wars (the same as Satine) as opposed to during Satine’s reign.
Which, as I’ve elucidated before, is also established by The Mandalorian itself by the fact that Bo-Katan says her father was present at her Creed Swearing ceremony, which seems to happen when Mandalorians are about 13.
Based on Adoniram Kryze’s death date, Bo cannot be more than four or so years younger than Satine.
To me, the line about Bo “in her youth” being overshadowed by Satine also suggests that they cannot be more than a couple years apart in age.
If Bo was in fact a teenager during The Clone Wars, then she would have been 15+ years younger than Satine. Both of her parents would have died shortly after Bo’s birth because they are dead before Satine meets Obi-Wan, and Satine would have raised her younger sister AND her nephew-son together.
Under that circumstance, it would be so ridiculous to say that Bo-Katan felt “overshadowed” by her sister, who was functioning as her mother.
Beyond that, the book established that Bo is proficient in the same style of jet pack combat that Din Djarin was trained in. It continues to be a mystery how Children of the Watch is connected to Death Watch, which discovered Din in the first place.
It’s interesting that they still listed Bo-Katan’s homeworld as Kalevala even though she says that she was “born on” Mandalore. Maybe Mandalore just has better hospitals than Kalevala.
I don’t think this is new, but Bo-Katan is also four inches shorter than Satine, which is strange to me, but it reflects the real life heights of Katee Sackhoff and Cate Blanchett.
