Star Wars Reveals Major Twist in The Mandalorian's Origin Story

Star Wars first live-action TV series continues in The Mandalorian Chapter 4, which proves to at once tell a nice standalone story, and continue pushing the deeper story arcs of the series. As The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda go on the run from the Bounty Hunter Guild, the make their way to a remote planet, where we get a nice Seven Samurai-style story of The Mandalorian and a former Shock Tropper (Gina Carano) protecting a village from a band of Raiders. The Mandalorian actually gets close to a widow named Omera (Julia Jones), and in doing so, reveals a major twist in his origin story!

Warning! MAJOR SPOILERS for The Mandalorian Chapter 4 Follow!

In an private moment between The Mandalorian and Omera in side a hut of the farming village, the widow asks the masked warrior when the last time it was that he removed his helmet. The Mandalorian thinks he's coy when he answers "Yesterday," but Omera is wise enough to ask the deeper question: "I mean in front of someone else."

After a pause, and a though, The Mandalorian points outside to where children are playing with Baby Yoda (squeee!), and says in a telling line of dialogue: "I wasn't much older than they are."

"You haven't shown your face to anyone since you were a kid?" Omera asks.

"No," The Mandalorian answers. "I was happy that they took me in. My parents were killed and the Mandalorians took care of me."

This small bit of dialogue from our enigmatic hero is a major game-changer! So far as we knew, The Mandalorian actually lived up to the title of the show; he referred to himself as a "Foundling" in Chapter 1, but it was unclear if that was just an adoption within the Mandalorian culture). This Chapter 4 scene confirms that he is in fact an outsider, who became an adopted member of the warrior culture. This further explains the Chapter 3 scene where the now-famous "Heavy Artillery Mandalorian" has such conflict with our hero, labeling him a false member of their culture.

More importantly, though, this reveal completely re-shuffles fan understanding and theory about the timeline of events on Mandalore (as explored in detail during both the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series). The flashback of The Mandalorian's childhood and the Droid army slaughtering his people is now of renewed intrigue, as our hero's true homeworld and/or culture is now a potentially pivotal detail in the Star Wars saga.

What are your theories?

The Mandalorian streams new episodes every Friday on Disney+. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters on December 20th.