I've been thinking recently about the Sith Wars and specifically how it must have impacted Mando'ade-Jedi relationships for centuries onward. Buckle in, cause this is going to be a long one. We hear a lot in canon how the Mandalorians are historically the Jedi's enemies, often siding with the Sith in conflicts.
And yet, we have Jedi Master and Mand'alor Tarre Vizsla, who is seen as held in high regard by both the Jedi and the Mando'ade. He is Mando'ad by blood and Jedi by Creed before he became the Mand'alor. We also know that something happened to cause the Darksaber, Tarre's lightsaber, to become the symbol of the Mand'alor. Thus we know that in some form or another, the Mando'ade of the day (or at least some of them) did not see the Jedi as the child-stealing, emotionless sect that so many thought as them as by at least the time of the Acolyte. So then why would they be considered generational/historical enemies by the time Jaster Mereel became Mand'alor? Why would they be considered historic allies of the Sith if the Sith were gone from not too long after little Tarre was given to the Order to decades after Jaster died?
In real life, feuds like those don't just appear out of no where. Like, the enemyship of Israel and Palestine didn't poof into existence from thin air, it came from centuries of consistent conflict between the two peoples. To figure out what caused such hostility between the Mando'ade and Jedi that it would survive nearly 1000 years past the end of the Sith Wars, we must then look at the context in which each culture exists and how that shapes their views on each other.
First and most obvious, we have the Dral'han, the Mandalorian Excision. The Jedi were ordered by the Senate to commit orbital bombardment on Manda'yaim, the Mandalorians' home planet. This occurred in 738 BBY, 272 years after the Ruusan Reformation and 312 years after Tarre Vizsla joined the Jedi. But again, this is AFTER the end of the Sith Wars by several centuries. And this isn't ever really brought up when discussion the animosity between the two cultures.
What gets brought up is nearly always that the Mandalorians are the historical allies of the Sith. Which doesn't make sense! If the Sith and Mando'ade were allies, the Force-Sensitive younglings given up for training would never have gone to the Jedi like Master Vizsla was. They would all be given up to the Sith! But let's relax and backtrack even farther. Given that there is a "historical' allyship between the Mando'ade and the Sith, they must have fought on the same side of the Sith Wars for a while. But Master Vizsla having been a Master of the Order by the end of the Sith Wars and then going on to become Mand'alor means that at some point in there, that changed.
My best guess is that before Master Vizsla came in, there was no real leader of all the Mandalorian clans. Instead, like how the Sith had no real leadership, they all just kinda hung around various Sith and allied with them specifically. But the Sith had infighting. So much infighting. To the point that it is often listed as the true cause of the end of the Sith. Thus, it would not at all surprise me to find that the Sith were using the Mando'ade in their plots against each other like Pong Krell with the 212th and 501st.
And on top of that, the Mando'ade know war. Their language is kinda built around it. Like, the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? They have a word for that. "Narudar," meaning a temporary allyship to defeat a common enemy. Both sides in this are very aware that the allyship is temporary, but can trust each other to not stab them in the back until the third party is dealt with. The Jedi of this time also know war, but as Force-sensitives (which by default have a larger blast radius if something goes wrong), they don't have this concept. For Force-sensitives in the Sith War, if someone becomes their enemy, there is no trust. They could not trust one Sith to help them, even to defeat another Sith. To them, any of their enemies coming to them proposing a temporary alliance to defeat someone else could never be anything but a trap. For the enemy to be one they know to be allied with the Sith? There could never be the prerequisite trust for narudar to work. They would turn the Mando'ade away.
Something else to remember is that the whole 1 padawan per Master, no-attachment, no public offices for Jedi, and no military offices for Jedi rules only came along with the Ruusan Reformation, which hadn't come into play yet. The Jedi had their own ways of dealing with things, their own definitions of words, their own associations with concepts. None of those would match the Mando'ade OR the Jedi Order we see in the Prequels or TCW. This is so far before that as to be nearly unrecognizable.
So in thinking of all this, and trying to put together a semblance of timeline for a fanfic idea, I began writing my thoughts and came up with the following:
1033 BBY: The Mondo’ad clans were following various Sith as allies against the Jedi and the Army of Light. They have grievances against the Jedi Order, and the Sith swore to help them resolve it, and to work as allies, partners, in this fight and those following. In actuality, the grievances the Mando’ade hold are half-rooted in misunderstandings. The Sith betrayed the Mando’ade (ala Pong Krell). They pulled out of the war. The lies and losses were enough to cultivate hate for the Sith in the hearts of Mando’ade regardless of clan. They begin their hunt.
Do not mistake me, the Jedi were no friends of theirs, but narudar was possible. At first, the Jedi refused. Too long had they seen Mandalorians at the side of the Sith to trust easily. The Jedi do not have a concept of narudar. They knew the Light, and the Dark, and the difficult path that must be taken to come back, or die.
(It is a difficult question to ask: when is a genocide justified. The Jedi did not ask it this day, nor any prior. Nor, I’m afraid, was it asked any day after. These were their Enemies, after all, and it is among the oldest laws of instinct that you did not suffer your Enemies to live. Regardless, the Jedi and Sith fought, and died, and fought, and the conflict seemed unending. Don’t think about how their cultures are fundamentally entwined. Don’t think about how at each turn they seemed destined to lock horns. Don’t think about how the Jedi preach emotional control in what likely started as an attempt to deprive the Sith of one more weapon. Don’t think about how the Sith Code preaches Freedom as its core goal. Don’t think of how the Force needs balance like a human needs air. Don’t think about what the galaxy looked like when the Sith weren’t there to provide the needed darkness. Don’t think about how the very first Sith was likely once a Je’daii. Don’t think of the depths of despair and hatred the captive, enslaved Force-sensitive that would become the Sith was subjected to. Don’t think of them coming home to the other Je’daii and being reviled as corruption, wrong, disgust. Don’t think of their family looking at them, afraid, before raising their weapons to kill them. Don’t think of how this millennia-long conflict likely started from an act of fear. Don’t think about how the Je’daii would regret, and strive to never act in this fear again. Don’t think, child. This is us, and this is them, and we do not think of how we are family, love. We are Enemies, they have killed us, and we kill them ‘lest they do it again. Do not think, child. Fight.)
Regardless, to the Jedi of the day, no doubt the Mandalorians seemed Dark. They could not know different, no… Beskar muffles the force. They turned the Mando’ade away. This does not stop them from fighting — only stopped them from fighting together. Mando’ade-born and newly knighted Tarre Vizsla did not refuse those of his brethren that wished to fight with him. He gained allies this way, and formed many bonds of friendship. Remember, the Jedi of that day were not yet under the Ruusaan Reformation. This was not forbidden, only cautioned against. It is not the attachment that caused the Fall, but the fear of losing it. Emotion, yet peace. This was war. Let the bonds steady you.
The friends he made here would be instrumental later, when Tarre Vizsla sought to unite his people as his visions bid. On that front, and some nearby, they fought together.
1032 BBY: The Sith Wars end, the Republic is formed, the Army of Light disbanded, and the Ruusan Reformation instituted. The Sith are thought to be by and large gone.
1031 BBY: Master Tarre Vizsla leaves the Jedi to go to Mandalore. The Force has told him his place from here on out is not among the Order, nut rather leading his birth people. He goes to unite the clans, as he had seen in his visions.
1022 BBY: Tarre becomes Mand'alor.
