Mandalore and Concordia
The opening proverb of “The Mandalore Plot” (The Clone Wars 2.12) reads:
Those who ignore the past jeopardize the future.
Curiously, the proverb indicts the heroine of the episode (Duchess Satine Kryze) more than its villains (the Death Watch, led by Pre Vizsla). The Death Watch do not ignore the past; they commit the opposite error, idolizing their warrior ancestors and violently trying to return Mandalore to its ancient militant ways. Satine is the one who has made a radical break with Mandalore's warlike past to institute a new government with pacifist principles – a course of action that, according to Vizsla, "tarnishes the very name Mandalorian."
When the episode opens, Satine has exiled Mandalore's warriors to the moon Concordia. The name "Concordia" suggests "concord": "agreement," "harmony," or "treaty." It is a deeply ironic name for a home of exiled warriors. The entire situation with Mandalore and Concordia speaks to the Mandalorians' fundamental discord: their lack of harmony or agreement. Satine's strategies of avoidance and repression – sending away dissenters, cutting her people off from their traditions – worsen the problem rather than healing it. By ignoring the past, she jeopardizes the future.
Satine's pacifist idealism may be admirable in theory, but in practice, her behavior reveals that she is driven by anxiety and anger. Although Satine stands for pacifism, she is not a peaceful person herself. Even as she denounces military conflict, she is quick to stridently lash out at anyone who disagrees with her. Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Anakin Skywalker that Satine lived through a Mandalorian civil war when she was young. All of this suggests that her stand against the warlike ways of Mandalore's past is, in large part, a reaction against her own traumatic past and her own repressed rage.
The discord among Satine's people reflects the discord in Satine's soul. As Duchess of Mandalore, Satine seeks to maintain the appearance of concord, but falls short of real harmony, which is why the peace she pursues is so tenuous.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Duchess Satine Kryze / Pre Vizsla
Shows: The Clone Wars
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: aggression / anger / exile / idealism / Mandalorians / names / repression / war and peace
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