#Paz Vizsla just wants to kill imps

[nicad13]

What does Din Djarin Want?

Pedro commented in the Entertainment Weekly article about exploring Mando’s motivations in the second season. “On a moment-to-moment basis, he’s discovering that question: ‘What do you want?’” This got me wondering about the possibilities. It feels like he’s pressed between a rock and a hard place for most of Season 1, doing his best to choose the least crappy of his options, without always succeeding. What he wants has largely been a moot issue – what he wants hasn’t mattered. So I feel like we first have to think about what’s been driving him to start, with what little information we’re given.

1.       Greed? Nope.  Not on a personal level, anyway. When Greef pays him in the first episode, he puts four disks of Calamari Flan on the table. Din puts all four on the table when he goes to the covert, keeping nothing for himself. He doesn’t even ask for the pauldron – the Armorer offers it to him, and mentions how his generosity will sponsor many foundlings, to which he agrees.

2.       Friendships among the covert? Doesn’t look like that, either. He walks by a bunch of other Mandos in the corridor and doesn’t so much as give anyone a nod when they turn in his direction. No one comes to his aid when Paz tries to unhelm him for dealing with the Imps. (Perhaps rightly so – Paz knows whatever Din did to get that much beskar from Imps had to have been horrible, and there’s no honor in earning back what was theirs to begin with.)

3.       Family? Not at the start. When he enters the covert in the first episode, a few kids run by him and he walks right through their group like they’re not even there. He doesn’t do the kid thing. He might be starting to reconsider that while on Sorgan. He flat-out admits that it would be nice to settle there, but at that point, he knows he’s not ready. And despite all the Omera-hate going on around the fandom, he takes all the time in the world to stop her from lifting the helmet, in great contrast to his reflex-like reaction in all other circumstances. She clearly impresses him with her abilities with a rifle (Mando catnip right there) and he’s there for three weeks – a lot may have happened between them that we don’t know about. I’m a solid maybe on this one.

4.       Sponsoring the covert, particularly the foundlings. As far as we can tell, Din gives every dime he earns to the covert, with special concern for the foundlings. To the point where he’ll even sell a foundling to Imps to provide for the ones at the covert. (For a little while, anyway.) His devastation at the slaughter at the covert is quite clear, despite the fact that he doesn’t seem to have any friends there and isn’t even familiar enough with it to really know his way around other than from the entrance by the bazaar. He’s also keen to stay with the Armorer to help and send the others on their way. I’m so puzzled by his fierce dedication to a place he seems to have so little connection to despite the fact that this is the only thing I can tell that made him tick to begin with!

All of that said, what might drive him in Season 2?

1.       The Darksaber? I have to wonder if he even knows about it to begin with. It’s an ancient saber built by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian Jedi, so it’s both a Mandalorian and a Jedi artifact. Din has no idea who the Jedi are until the last episode of S1. No doubt he will learn about it in S2, but I’m wondering how much about it he will learn? At the very least, it’s something that the Empire has robbed from Mandalore, just like the beskar, and Din is going to want it back at the very least to get it out of Imperial hands. Wookieepedia describes it as “respected by the Mandalorians as a symbol for the leadership of House Vizsla, and later Death Watch.” Some feel that it’s a powerful enough symbol that its owner can unite all of Mandalore. What Din will do with it once he gets it is up in the air. He doesn’t strike me as a leader of that level, at least not yet.

2.       To keep or return the child? Din’s attitude towards the kid evolves substantially over the course of the first season. He’s ready to dump him off on Sorgan, but not entirely for selfish reasons. He clearly wants the kid to be happy, and does sound pained at the idea of separation, even if he can’t admit it to himself. “He’ll get over it. We all do.” (You don’t sound convinced, Din.) When they get to Tatooine, Din panics when he can’t find the kid where he left him in the bunk and takes it like a champ when Peli rips him a new one about taking care of kids. By the time they get to Ran’s station, Din flinches when Mayfeld fake-drops the kid (after not flinching when Xi’an comes at him with a knife), and has apparently reached the point where he’s having one-sided conversations with the kid. “I told you that was a bad idea.” While this progression of affection seems evident, it all gets turned on its side when they get back to the covert and the Armorer tells Din to find the child’s people. “You wish me to train this thing… You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?” This thing. This creature. I dunno about anyone else, but Din’s choice of words to refer to the child here feels downright chilling. Particularly since he called him “the baby” once or twice shortly before. Maybe it’s just the concussion talking… I dunno. He’s back to more affection and one-sided conversations by the end though. “Why don’t you hang onto that.” I’m guessing this will be something he struggles with in Season 2.

3.       Omera? We’ve not seen anything about Julia Jones being confirmed for Season 2 (that I’m aware of), but we know that folks on this production can keep their mouths shut on huge spoilers when needed. One of the episode titles is “The Return.” Return to where? Sala Baker mentioned that he would be back for Season 2. He played the Klatoonian Raider Captain on Sorgan, but it’s entirely possible that Baker will play a different role all together. The evidence is admittedly flimsy on this one.

4.       Cara? She takes a hard turn from “STAY WITH ME MANDO” to “I’m gonna stay on this crappy planet” in the last episode, much to Din’s disappointment. “You’re staying here?!” She doesn’t do the baby thing. She’s also the first person to ship Din and Omera in the first place. “Settle down with the beautiful young widow…” She strikes me as the kind of person who goes after what she wants, and that’s at least three deflections. She loves Din like a brother, but that’s about where the evidence runs out. But who knows? Things may evolve.

5.       Revenge? So far we are of the understanding that Din’s village was attacked and his parents killed by Separatist droids. We also know he was rescued by Death Watch. Fans of the Clone Wars series will also recall that Death Watch was a terrorist organization that was not above staging Separatist attacks only to swoop in and “save the day” to gain political favor. If we put two and two together… well… see the source link below for more details on that possibility. Esposito’s quote about “Maybe there’s an opportunity to get [Mando] to fight some battles for me” has me really wondering about this. IF Din’s parents really were murdered by Death Watch, is Gideon the one who tells him? As former ISB, he would likely know this kind of thing. How then will Din play his disdain for the Empire against his rage against Death Watch? Imagine the taunting. Imagine the angst. This possibility is the one that really has me cracking my knuckles in anticipation.

The next couple of months cannot go by fast enough!