This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1.The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 - "Chapter 17 - The Apostate" - sent Din Djarin on a quest to the Mandalorian city of Sundari. There is a sense in which The Mandalorian season 3 will be all about redemption. The Book of Boba Fett saw Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin return to the Armorer, where he confessed he had removed his helmet. According to lore, Djarin is a Mandalorian no more; he is now an apostate, one who has forsaken his faith. The Armorer told Din there is only one way he can be redeemed; he must bathe in the living waters of Mandalore.
The Armorer believed this to be impossible. Mandalore had been ravaged by the Empire, its surface crystallized under a severe planetary bombardment. But The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 began with a fresh burst of hope, one that will lead Din Djarin back to Mandalore, where he will learn whether the planet can be saved. Over the course of the episode, he learned where the mysterious living waters of Mandalore could be found - and set the Disney+ TV show on a course that will see it return to a key location from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Sundari, Mandalore's Capital City Explained
Sundari is the traditional capital city of Mandalore, situated in a harsh and unforgiving climate and surrounded by a protective bio-dome that allows its people to flourish. According to the Star Wars: Age of Rebellion sourcebook Friends Like These, it was built on the site of one of Mandalore's largest beskar mines. Beskar is central to Mandalorian culture, explaining why the Mandalorians established such a prominent settlement in such an inhospitable location. The sourcebook's canonicity has always been hotly debated, but clearly Star Wars has chosen to incorporate this particular aspect into canon.
The beautiful city of Sundari was introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 2, episode 12, "The Mandalore Plot," in which Obi-Wan Kenobi traveled to Mandalore after the Jedi Council heard rumors of a new Separatist army being established there. It was revisited many times over the course of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and many key events in the show's Mandalorian stories took place there. Sundari became of galactic importance in season 4, episode 6, when it was the site of unsuccessful peace talks between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists. Darth Maul's brief leadership of Mandalore was centered on Sundari, and the Republic besieged the city at the very end of the Clone Wars (as seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7). It was later leveled by the Empire, along with the rest of the planet.
Why The Mandalorian Is Going To Sundari
In The Book of Boba Fett episode 5, the Armorer told Din Djarin he must bathe in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore. Given the significance of beskar to Mandalorian culture, it is hardly a surprise their capital city was actually built above the planet's most important mines. According to Bo-Katan Kryze, the entry into the mines is situated beneath the Civic Center at Sundari. Din Djarin must travel to the ruins of Sundari, and attempt to find a way into the mines.
The Mandalorian must go beneath the mines of Mandalore, to the living waters beneath them. The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 emphasized the importance of water in Mandalorian rituals, opening with a scene evocative of a baptism - suggesting Mandalorians view bathing in water as death and rebirth. The living waters of Mandalore are presumably sacred, and by bathing in them Din Djarin can be reborn - meaning he gets a fresh start as a Mandalorian.
Din Djarin has no way of knowing whether the living waters of Mandalore still exist, though; the Imperial planetary bombardment was so severe it turned Mandalore's surface to glass (a tactic known as "glassing" in the old Star Wars Expanded Universe). This means Mandalore must have been subjected to intense heat and pressure - and it's reasonable to assume water would have been evaporated. Still, the tremendous depths may have protected these waters. More will surely be revealed as The Mandalorian season 3 continues.
The Mandalorian season 3, episode 1 is streaming now on Disney+. New episodes release Wednesdays.