Let’s Talk About Din’s Creed
[BoBF Ep 5 spoilers]
What we know: (1) He is a believer. He didn’t instantly go from a lifetime (he’s late 30s!) of wearing a helmet in front of people at all times to frolicking about the galaxy with it off. He still believes in the Way (right now). He wants to be a Mandalorian.
(2) No cap. He believes in the Way so much he couldn’t lie about it to the Armorer. If he wasn’t asked, he wouldn’t have said anything. And that seemed to be working. But when asked directly, he confessed. Because he believes in the sacredness of the vow and has been internally wrestling with the fallout of his transgression.
(3) The R-word. The Armorer and Paz need him. Mandalore needs him, yet they’d still turn him away for admitting to having removed the helmet. This is level 10 orthodoxy. it’s quite the careful line Disney needs to walk with this because the Way is portrayed as a religious tenet with strict dogmas, and the Armorer refers to their covert as having been spared by cloistering on Concordia. They’ve shown us that in this covert, your helmet is your honor. Paz went straight for Din’s helmet in Mando season 1 when they were arguing, and the Armorer hooked it during training. If it’s removed, even for a moment, even in defense, you’ve been dishonored.
(4) Reform or Rebirth? It’s hard to know what to “root for” here:
Do we want Din to go fully agnostic, take self-ownership of his choices, let go of the Way and team up with other Mandalorians who are, shall we say, reformers and reconstructionists, who loosely abide by the Way by adhering to the less strict Resol’nare, the original guide without all the extra rules?
OR, Do we root for supporting Din’s fervor to reclaim his Mando purity by washing his sins clean in the buried waters beneath Mandalore? He played it lowkey, but he is thrilled to know there’s a secret Mandalorian baptisim he can perform to absolve himself of his helmet sin and rededicate himself to the Way.
MY TAKE: i defer! Personally, I just want him to be happy--whether that means mando baptisim or going full agnostic. Let him choose. The way (ha) it’s balanced right now, I could go either route. My personal preference (from my own religious bent) is to lean away from conservative devotion to a creed that isn’t serving people well now even if it served them well in the past. Things are allowed to change and grow in positive, progressive ways. However, in the Mandalorian context, I don’t want to make a negative judgment on his covert until the show gives me a little more hint as to whether it’d be better for Din to let them go or not. Final take? Reserving judgment.
What do you think so far?
