Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian, season 3, episode 2.The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 saw Din Djarin and Grogu reach the planet of Mandalore, with the journey revealing plenty of intriguing elements about the Mandalorian homeworld. While much of The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 served as a way of inducting viewers back into the world, episode 2 entitled "Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore" wasted no time getting to the meat of season 3's story. With The Book of Boba Fett setting up the plot point of Pedro Pascal's Din reaching the Living Waters of Mandalore to forgive his Death Watch-related transgressions, The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 delivers.
After a brief stop on Tatooine, Din and Grogu begin exploring Mandalore. With their trusty new droid companion - R5-D4 from the first Star Wars film - the Mandalorian duo encounter many trials and tribulations on the planet previously said to be cursed after the Empire's Great Purge of Mandalore. Through these adventures, The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 reveals a lot about Mandalore that will have big ramifications on the show as a whole.
5 The Planet Of Mandalore Is Not Cursed In The Mandalorian Season 3
Arguably the most crucial fact revealed about Mandalore is that it is not cursed after the Great Purge. After the Empire committed genocide against the people of Mandalore and bombed the planet en masse, it became common knowledge that the attack poisoned the atmosphere of Mandalore so that no one could live safely on the planet. Din believed this as early as The Mandalorian season 2 in which he insisted this was the case to a former Mandalorian royal Bo-Katan Kryze. Bo-Katan, however, told Din not to believe everything he hears, and that she believes the planet is still hospitable.
The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 revealed that Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan was right all along: Mandalore is not cursed. With help from R5-D4, Din was able to confirm that the atmosphere of Mandalore is breathable. This likely means either the Empire was lying about the poisonous atmosphere to keep Mandalorians away from the planet, or simply that enough time has passed for Mandalore to begin recovering. This is a big development for The Mandalorian's story and Mandalore itself, potentially setting up the Mandalorian reclamation of their ancestral homeworld.
4 Mandalore's Dark Creatures Now Live In The Planet's Caves
The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 reveals life can survive on Mandalore, with Din Djarin, Grogu, and R5-D4 learning various creatures have settled in the planet's cave systems - presumably establishing an entire ecosystem there. R5 and Din Djarin are initially attacked by Alamites, huge, vaguely humanoid creatures with glowing green eyes and tusks on the end of long snouts. They are shown throughout The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2, clearly using the caves as their home rather than roaming the upper areas of Mandalore's desolate, crystalized surface.
Later in the episode, Grogu is attacked by a small dragon-like creature. These flying beasts are shown to rest in the lower depths of Mandalore's caves and attack anything in sight. Similarly, a fascinating droid-creature hybrid is shown to lurk in Mandalore's caves in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2. This monstrosity attacks Din, before being later destroyed by Bo-Katan using the Darksaber. The creature is somewhat organic, only with added droid components that make it a formidable opponent.
3 The Creatures Of Mandalore Existed Before The Great Purge
According to Bo-Katan, these creatures were on Mandalore all along, predating the Purge. Speaking to Grogu, she tells him the Alamites lived in the wastelands outside the Mandalorian cities. She also warns that she and Grogu would have been the Alamites' next meal, hinting they likely used to terrorize Mandalorian citizens by trying to consume theme. While the flying creatures and droid monster are not addressed, it is likely they also existed before the Purge, and have survived in the caves.
2 Other Mandalorians May Have Survived On The Planet’s Surface
Bo-Katan's musings about the Alamites surviving the Great Purge of Mandalore are also highly interesting. With Bo-Katan wondering how the Alamites have survived, The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 may have revealed other Mandalorians could have also survived the Empire's attack. The caves beneath Mandalore are littered with Mandalorian helmets and armor, which could provide a further hint that all survivors of the Great Purge - be it Mandalorians or the planet's creatures - fled beneath the surface.
Also, the giant crab droid creature in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 was using Mandalorian armor as bait. While it is not revealed why the creature was draining Din's blood, it could be for sustenance. If this is the case, the Mandalorian armor scattered throughout the caves could provide evidence that other Mandos survived, only to fall prey to the creatures of the caves.
1 A Mythosaur Is Alive Beneath The Living Waters Of Mandalore
The final major reveal about Mandalore in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 is the Mythosaur. At the end of the episode, Din strides into the Living Waters of Mandalore and begins reciting the Mandalorian Creed. Before he can finish though, he falls beneath the water’s surface, forcing Bo-Katan to dive after him. After Bo-Katan finds Din, she propels him back to the surface. On the way up, however, Bo-Katan sees a legendary Mythosaur living in the mines of Mandalore, far from the beliefs of extinction or legend.
Mythosaurs are part of Mandalorian mythos, creatures that existed millennia before The Mandalorian, so old many Mandalorians doubt they ever existed. Still, the legend is important for Mandalore and serves as the basis of a Mandalorian Chosen One prophecy - explaining why the Mythosaur skull is the symbol of Mandalore. The prophecy states that a Mythosaur will one day rise and herald a new age for the Mandalorian people. The ending of The Mandalorian season 3, episode 2 therefore sets up a future hope for the planet's scattered people.
New episodes of The Mandalorian release every Wednesday on Disney+.