The Mandalorian chapter 18 (Season 3 episode 2) has finally shown us the mighty Mythosaur! This introduction is far more meaningful than an easter egg, and actually conveys something really deep and meaningful for the show! Something they have been been showing us since season 1, right under our noses!

While we don’t know much about the mythosaur in canon, I think it would help to know what they were before the Disney takeover.

In legends, the early Mandalorians of legends were known as the Taung. An ancient alien race of warriors, supposedly hailing from Coruscant where they coexisted for a time with the Zhell, a collection of thirteen human tribes on Coruscant. The Taungs were always a violent race and inclined towards conquering, and this led them into a war with the Zhell, and they were eventually driven from the planet. After fleeing coruscant, the Tauns settled on the planet of Roon in the outer rim, where they would live for a time before they were united by a single ruler. They called their leader Mandalor the First. Mandalor was a word which, in their native tongue, translated to “Sole Ruler” and proclaimed this figure as the sovereign of the Tauns.


Mandalor the First led the Tauns to the planet of Mandalore, a planet inhabited by an apex predator known as the Mythosaur. The Mythasaor roamed the surface of Mandalore in these ancient times, and when the Tauns first landed on the planet they would begin their conquest of the great Mythosaur. The Mythosaur was once the apex predator of the planet, and thus deserved the right to rule it. When the first Mandalorians hunted the Mythosaur to extinction, they became the new Apex Predator of the planet, thus establishing their right to rule.

This act of travelling to new worlds for conquest would eventually become a crucial part of the Mandalorian’s nomadic lifestyle. They continued their conquest throughout what is now known as the ‘Mandalorian Sector’, and eventually came into conflict with the Nevoota. The war between the Mandalorians and Nevoota eventually led to the total xenocide of the latter species, and began the deification of war among the former. War became the primary purpose of life, to test your strength against all. Win or lose, glory is earned solely through battle.

As the Tauns conquered more and more races, many valiant warriors were offered the privilege of being adopted into their clans. They became known as “Followers of the Sole Ruler” or “Followers of Mandalor” translated to “Mando’ade” in their native tongue, or “Mandalorians” in galactic basic. While they were not the first Mandalorians, humans would soon make up the vast majority of the Mandalorian people.

Even as the Mandalorians conquered enemies of increasing prowess and strength, they still remembered the first Apex Predator they dethroned: The mythosaur. The skull of the mythosaur became the symbol of their people, serving to honor the beast that had fought so bravely, as well as a symbol of what they had killed. In essence, the skull said “we are stronger than the mythosaur, because we killed the mythosaur.”

This philosophy is actually one discussed by Kreia in Star Wars knights of the old republic 2, where she says that when you defeat an enemy you are imprinted with their spirit. You become stronger, and you absorb the strength of your enemy. She doesn’t mean this in some sort of mystical “power of the force” type of way, but a more philosophical and psychological way. She espouses that when Revan defeated the Mandalorians, he returned as Darth Revan with a mindset and philosophy that was more consistent with the Mandalorians than the Sith. He had learned from them in battle, and would carry those teachings with him wherever he went. This all reflects the idea in jungian psychology that when you defeat something that was stronger than you, you are shaped by that adversary. When you defeat the dragon, a bit of that dragon lives on in you.

We see the spirit of this tradition carried out by the Children of the Watch as they bestow clan signets to markt he first great kill of that clan. As the Mandalorian Din Djarin is the first of his clan, and his first mighty creature to kill was the Mudhorn, that skull became the symbol of his new clan. All of this carries on the tradition of the Mythosaur, using the image of your defeated enemy for yourself.

The preservation of the mythosaur is a mark of that old mandalorian philosophy, and promises plot points of Din Djarin being the one to conquer the beast, further proving his worth as leader of Mandalore.


SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE
Let's be friends on Discord:   / discord  
Follow us on Twitter:   / lorestaryt  
Follow us on Instagram:   / lorestaryt  

Music thanks to Samuel Kim, be sure to check out all his awesome Star Wars-inspired mixes!
   / samuelkimmusic