The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 6 Officially Makes SPOILER the New Leader of the Mandalorians

The latest episode of The Mandalorian finally gives the Mandalorian people a new leader. SPOILERS follow for The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 6, “Chapter 22: Guns for Hire.” The Mandalorians have been a fractured, leaderless people since the Purge of Mandalore when the forces of the Galactic Empire bombarded the Mandalorian homeworld, supposedly making it uninhabitable. However, Din Djarin visited Mandalore in The Mandalorian Season 3 to bathe in its waters and gain absolution from his sins. It turns out that some creatures are still living on and under Mandalore. Din required Bo-Katan Kryze’s help to survive. Both discovered that Mandalore could be home to the Mandalorian people again.

This act, as well as leading the rescue of one of the Tribe’s children and battlefield leadership while defending Nevarro from space pirates, led the Armor to support Bo-Katan, despite their cultural differences, as someone who could unite and lead the Mandalorian people. In today’s episode of The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan officially earned that right in the eyes of another faction of Mandalorians and took control of a vital sign of her office, the Darksaber.

Bo-Katan takes the Darksaber

Bo-Katan has been reluctant to take the Darksaber from Din Djarin, who won it from Moff Gideon in combat. The superstitious among Mandalorians believe that Bo-Katan’s time as ruler of Mandalore came to ruin because she received the weapon and symbol of the Mand’alor as a gift from Sabine Wren instead of taking it by force. She doesn’t want to take it as a gift again but also doesn’t want to battle Din Djarin. Thus she gave up her quest for Mandalore, and her followers abandoned her.

With the Armorer’s support, Bo-Katan and Din are on a journey to bring other Mandalorian tribes into the fold. They start with Bo-Katan’s former followers, now led by Axe Woves. Bo-Katan wins back the leadership of their faction by besting Axe in combat, but he refuses to see her as fit to lead as Din still carries the Darksaber.

Din finds a workaround, claiming that the Darksaber belongs to Bo-Katan by right because she wielded it to defeat the monster that had defeated him. That’s enough to satisfy Woves, and Bo-Katan now controls the Darksaber again, setting her on the path to becoming the new Mand’alor.

The Mandalorian Season 3 debuts new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+.