The Mandalorian Text In Season 3 Episode 1 Has Big Lore Implications

The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 sees Din Djarin retrieve a fragment of crystal from Mandalore – and its inscription is vitally important.

This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1.The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 sees Din Djarin reveal he has discovered a fragment of crystal from Mandalore – one that bears an important inscription. A proud and warlike people, the Mandalorians were bound to their homeworld. Sadly, Mandalore was ravaged by civil wars, and its destruction was apparently completed by the Empire in the Purge of Mandalore, the so-called “Night of a Thousand Tears.” The Mandalorians have been scattered across the galaxy like stars in the sky. It’s a heartbreaking concept, and it draws inspiration from the real-world story of the Jewish diaspora, where the Jews were scattered across the world like seeds in the wind after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.

But The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 hinted the surface of Mandalore has not been destroyed after all. Din Djarin has recovered a fragment of crystal apparently taken from Mandalore, crystal fused to a Mandalorian inscription. This hints there is something left, and that Mandalore may not be as barren and lifeless as had previously been believed. The inscription is difficult to read – it’s written in Mando’a, the fictional language of the Mandalorians, and it’s actually both upside-down and reversed – but the translation is more important than most viewers would realize.

Related: The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 1: 20+ Easter Eggs & Hidden Details

What The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 1’s Inscription Means

The text has been successfully translated on Reddit, and it’s actually an inscription from the Bible – specifically from Exodus 10: 5-6 in the King James Translation (the bold are the words visible in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1).

And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:

And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

Star Wars has long drawn inspiration from Jewish faith when it comes to fashioning Mandalorian culture and history, so it’s quite appropriate to see this Disney+ TV show use text from a text of such importance to Jews as well as Christians. The Exodus is the foundation of the Jewish faith, the story of God rescuing a nation of slaves and leading them out of Egypt and towards the Promised Land. But the inscription seen in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 – “Chapter 17 – The Apostate” – has even greater significance.

The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 1 Foreshadows Din Djarin (Or Grogu) As The Promised Deliverer

Din Djarin has been set upon a quest of redemption by the Armorer, one in which he must return to Mandalore and bathe in the Living Waters beneath the beskar mines of Sundari – assuming they still exist. This quest was outlined in The Book of Boba Fett, which also hinted at prophecies of a Mandalorian Chosen One who would lead the people at a time of crisis. “The songs of eons past foretold of the Mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore,” the Armorer recalled. There’s no reason the Armorer should mention this prophecy in a conversation with Din Djarin – unless she saw the patterns of prophecy beginning to play out before her very eyes.

All this is evocative of the story of Moses – the man who became God’s agent of deliverance in Exodus, fulfilling prophecies given 400 years before his birth. The inscription in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 should therefore be seen as a subtle nod to the overarching narrative; to the coming of a deliverer, who will unite the scattered tribes of Mandalore and lead them to the Promised Land – back to their homeworld. Din Djarin is already technically leader of the Mandalorians because of the Darksaber, the sacred blade of leadership. Presumably either he, or Grogu, will become the agent of redemption in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1.

More: Why The Mandalorian Calls Himself An Apostate