A Warrior's Test
“The Child,” the second episode of The Mandalorian, resembles the main story arc of the second volume of the Clone Wars micro-series. In both storylines, a warrior undergoes a rite of passage that tests his ability to relinquish his anger. Whether or not he passes the test will have consequences for his future family.
In Clone Wars Volume 2, the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi go to the planet Nelvaan to hunt down General Grievous. They are distracted from this mission when they are attacked by a giant horned beast. The aggression-prone Anakin kills the beast by driving his lightsaber into its skull. This angers a tribe of Nelvaan natives, who intended for the beast to be hunted by one of their boys as an initiation ritual. Obi-Wan, who is able to interpret the Nelvaan’s language, learns that all the fathers of the tribe have disappeared, and that Anakin must make up for what he has done by entering a cave that the tribe’s shaman refers to as “the mother’s mouth.” Inside the cave, Anakin has a Force vision of the monster he will become if he gives into his anger and aggression, and he discovers that the Nelvaan warriors have been turned into cyborgs by Grievous’s scientists, foreshadowing how Anakin will become the cyborg Darth Vader. He rescues the Nelvaan warriors, but not without giving into his anger to kill the scientists who tortured them.
In “The Child,” the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin is on Arvala-7 to retrieve his target, the titular child Grogu. He is waylaid from completing the mission when a tribe of Jawas steal parts from his ship. Angered, the aggression-prone Mandalorian would take back the parts by force, but his friend Kuiil, who speaks fluent Jawa, negotiates a peaceful solution. The Jawas determine that, to get the parts back, the Mandalorian must bring them the egg of a mudhorn, a giant horned beast. Once again, a protagonist enters a cave with a maternal association and, in a way, he also emerges from the cave with a vision of the Force and his future. After a brutal struggle, the Mandalorian kills the mother mudhorn by driving his knife into its skull, but not without help from Grogu, who reveals for the first time his ability to wield the Force. The mudhorn will later become the Mandalorian’s insignia, an emblem of his status in the Mandalorian community and of the mission that changed his life forever by indebting it to Grogu.
In both of these storylines, the descent into a vision-giving cave, the battle with a monster, and the need for a coolheaded, bilingual mediator all reflect how the hotheaded warrior needs to come to terms with the anger and aggression lurking within himself. The difference between the two storylines is that Anakin gives into his anger, setting up a lifelong separation from his children, while Din Djarin relinquishes his anger against the Jawas and forms a lifelong bond with Grogu as his adoptive son.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Din Djarin / Grogu / Kuiil / Obi-Wan Kenobi
Shows: Clone Wars (Micro-Series) / The Mandalorian
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: aggression / anger / ascent and descent / caves / cyborgs / dreams and visions / fathers / language and translation / mediators / monsters / mothers / rituals
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Also resonates with Luke entering the cave on Dagoba and having a vision of his own monster, Darth Vader - which is then revealed to be his even deeper monster, himself. Or at least himself striking out in anger. And it's his mentor, Yoda, who tries to keep him on the path of peace.