The Rising Phoenix
In "Redemption" (The Mandalorian 1.8), the Armorer gifts a jetpack to Din Djarin, asking if he has trained in "The Rising Phoenix" – the Mandalorian technique of flying with a jetpack. The phoenix, a mythical bird that dies in fire and rises from the ashes, is a symbol of death and resurrection. The name "The Rising Phoenix" reflects the arc of the episode: Din Djarin "dies" in fire, descends into an underworld, and "rises again" by flying.
In the first act of the episode, Din Djarin nearly dies a fiery death when Moff Gideon sends a flamethrower-wielding Stormtrooper into the saloon where he is holed up. Seriously wounded, he accepts death and urges his companions to leave him, saying, "Let me have a warrior's death." At the point of death, Din assents to let IG-11 remove his helmet and heal his head. This moment marks a dramatic shift in Din's identity: he both overcomes his former animosity towards droids and breaks the Mandalorian code by taking off his helmet. It is as if Din's "old self" has died and he has left behind his "old life."
Din then descends into the dark and fiery underworld beneath the town on Nevarro. In the tunnels, he receives the "Rising Phoenix" – the tool that will enable him to ascend out of the underworld – from the Armorer. Din and his companions then come to a lava river which must be traversed by a ferry, manned by an old droid with an oar. The imagery of the hellish river, the ferry, and the old ferryman evokes the mythological River Styx, which separates the land of the living from the land of the dead. To pass the river, souls must be ferried across by the old ferryman, Charon.
After traversing the river, emerging from the underworld, and returning to the daylit surface of the planet – "the land of the living," as it were – Din dons his new jetpack and flies into the air to defeat Moff Gideon and carry Grogu away to a new life. In the act of performing the technique called "The Rising Phoenix," Din Djarin becomes a rising phoenix himself.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Din Djarin
Shows: The Mandalorian
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: death / fire / names / resurrection / underworld
Influences: Greco-Roman
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