The Mandalorian's Redemption, Explained

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for The Mandalorian "Chapter 17: The Apostate."] With Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu reunited, The Mandalorian season 3 premiere finds the helmeted bounty hunter on a different mission: redemption. In The Book of Boba Fett episode "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian," the Armorer (Emily Swallow) exiles Din from the Children of the Watch sect: by removing his helmet, Din violated the cult's ancient Creed. "You are a Mandalorian no more," the Armorer tells the apostate, who must atone by making the pilgrimage to their destroyed homeworld: Mandalore. This is the Way.

Below, find out what to know about Din's quest for redemption in The Mandalorian season 3, which airs new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+. 

Why Did The Mandalorian Remove His Helmet?

By Creed, you must vow.

In season 1, Din adheres to the strict Mandalorian code. When ally Cara Dune (Gina Carano) asks if Mandalorians are hunted down and killed for the sin of removing their helmets in "Chapter 4: Sanctuary," Din explains, "No. You just can't ever put it back on again." The Armorer asks only two questions of Paz Vizsla (Jon Favreau) and Din Djarin: Have you ever removed your helmet? Has it ever been removed by others?

"I have," the disavowed Din answers in The Book of Boba Fett's "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian." The Mandalorian removes his helmet in The Mandalorian "Chapter 16: The Rescue," revealing his face to say farewell to Grogu when entrusting the child into the care of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

The Apostate: The Way to Redemption

You have removed your helmet. What's worse, you did so of your own free will. You are no longer Mandalorian.

In "Return of the Mandalorian," the Armorer explains how the Mandalorian can be redeemed: "According to Creed, one may only be redeemed in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore." When Din points out that the Empire's Great Purge of Mandalore destroyed the mines, the Armorer replies, "This is the Way."

In "The Apostate," Din presents the Armorer with a crystalized relic bearing a Mandalorian inscription from a traveler who claimed to have visited the surface of Mandalore. Din's path to redemption becomes clear: "If I visit the planet and I can bring you proof that I have bathed in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore, then by Creed, the decree of exile will be lifted and I would be redeemed."

The Remains of Mandalore

That planet is cursed. Anyone who goes there dies.

Din and Grogu travel to another planet in the Mandalorian system to find a lone Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) holed up in a Mandalorian castle on Kalevala. Kryze — the would-be ruler who sought to wield the Darksaber and retake Mandalore — reminds Din that the ravaged remains of Mandalore are toxic after the Purge that massacred their people.

Mandalore "has been ravaged, plundered, and poisoned," Kryze says of the planet's resource of beskar ore looted by Imperial forces during the dark times. If it's the mines of Mandalore that Din seeks, he'll find them beneath the civic center in the planet's war-torn capital city: Sundari.

Will The Mandalorian Redeem Din Djarin in Season 3?

I am going to Mandalore so that I may bathe in the Living Waters and be forgiven for my transgressions.

The Mandalore-bound Din Djarin may find more than redemption on his journey to the Mandalorian homeworld: season 3 promises to feature even more groups who walk the Way of the Mand'alor.

"We established in The Book of Boba Fett that there was an opportunity for the Mandalorian to be redeemed because he had transgressed against the Creed by removing his helmet, and among his group of Mandalorians, that is something that's not permitted," series creator and writer Jon Favreau said on the Dagobah Dispatch Podcast. " Now, we know that there are other groups of Mandalorians where they have different sets of rules. In [the animated series] The Clone Wars, we saw with Dave [Filoni] and also with the character that I voiced [Pre Vizsla] that the Mandalorians are very different there. And so these different groups are coming together and we're going to figure out [what happens to Mandalore]. The nexus point for all of those communities, of course, is their homeworld from which they're exiled, which is Mandalore."

The adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu continue in Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 3. Follow ComicBook for more Mandalorian.