At the end of The Mandalorian season 2, Din Djarin wins the Darksaber in battle against Moff Gideon, but details suggest Darth Maul was the last legitimate Mandalorian leader. Gideon initially tells Mando that “whoever wields this sword has the right to lay claim to the Mandalorian throne,” but when Din tries to yield the Darksaber to Bo-Katan Kryze, he further reveals that the Darksaber must be won in combat; otherwise, Bo-Katan would be a pretender to the throne. Bo-Katan agrees, even though she ruled Mandalore before. However, before the Great Purge, before Bo-Katan’s reign, and before the Empire’s initial occupation, Darth Maul took both the Darksaber and the throne.
During the Clone Wars, Bo-Katan belonged to The Death Watch, which sought to bring Mandalorian tradition back to Mandalore. It fought against Bo-Katan’s pacifist sister Satine Kryze, the planet’s current leader. The Darksaber, at this point, belonged to Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla. Vizsla allied with Maul, who created an army that helps lay siege to Mandalore. After a power struggle within their army that Vizsla initially seemed to get the upper hand in, Maul challenged Vizsla in the throne room and won, decapitating Vizsla with the Darksaber. The majority of the Death Watch pledged loyalty to Maul, but Bo-Katan declared that no outsider shall ever rule Mandalore.
Bo-Katan’s opposition to Maul indicated that she deemed heritage more important than Mandalorian tradition. She is from an aristocratic Mandalorian clan, as was Pre Vizsla. Maul was a Zabrak from the planet Dathomir. However, though he was not Mandalorian by blood, the fact that he won the Darksaber in battle made him the last wielder before Din Djarin with a legitimate claim to the throne.
In The Book of Boba Fett episode 5, the Armorer explains that years after Maul’s rule, Bo-Katan claimed the throne based only on her noble blood and the Darksaber, even though “it was gifted to her and not won by Creed.” This cursed the planet; Bo-Katan’s rule ended with the Empire laying waste to Mandalore. The horns on the Armorer’s helmet also seem to indicate her position on legitimacy. When Maul took over, those who followed him wore armor imitating his appearance, often sporting horns on their helmets. With her knowledge of history and ability to make her own armor, the Armorer continues to wear horns to likely indicate that she comes from the line that acknowledged Maul’s claim to the throne.
Sabine Wren and Moff Gideon also possessed the Darksaber after Darth Maul. However, Sabine found the Darksaber on Maul’s home planet, Dathomir, rather than winning it in battle–effectively stealing it from Maul. She eventually won it from Gar Saxon (who also did not obtain it through combat) in a duel. However, Maul was still alive when all this occurred and, while he lived, until the Darksaber was won from him, he did not stop being Mand’alor. It isn’t clear how Moff Gideon got the Darksaber, but in The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan asked if “he,” in reference to Gideon, had it. That she was uncertain suggested that he didn’t win it from her. Unless more is revealed about Gideon’s past to suggest otherwise, it seems safe to assume that he does not have a claim to rule Mandalore.
Considering that the Armorer seems to come from the group that accepted Maul as their leader, it’s interesting that she still exerts authority over Din Djarin, exiling him when she finds out that he removed his helmet. The question of what makes someone the Mand’alor and what makes someone a Mandalorian lies at the heart of Mandalorian history and conflict. It's fitting that it remains one of the central themes of Din’s story in The Mandalorian as well.
