New Mandalorians: Cultural Killers or not?
Many fanfictions Iâve read often portray the New Mandalorians in an unfavorable light- the more extreme saying that the New Mandalorians committed cultural genocide. But did they really? Well, here's a short essay-like thing I made of some details about New Mandalorian culture, laws, and ruling that show how they interpreted different parts of traditional Mandalorian culture. (Note: This is purely for fun, and I used Wookiepedia articles as a source, mainly the ones on New Mandalorians. So, don't take super seriously :D)
First, hereâs some important facts to know about Mandalorians: the Resolânare, or the Six Actions, is the core idea of Mandalorian culture. It consists of six main tenets: the wearing or armor, knowing self-defense, knowing the language of Mandoâa, following the Mandâalor, and the teaching of children and further generations. So the question here is this: have the New Mandalorians exiled any who follow this code, or ban parts of this code, or really done anything that actually bans non-bloodthirsty Mandalorians from remaining on the planet? Well, letâs find out! (Courtesy of Wookiepedia article surfing).
So, the first issue of the New Mandalorian leadership: Do they ban armor? While both the Legends and Canon articles explain that the New Mandalorians gave up their own armor, nowhere does it say that they forced anyone else to give up armor- simply that they themselves chose to. In fact, in Legends, it is said that a number of New Mandalorians still chose to wear traditional Mandalorian kamas. So, no, there isnât ever a mentioned ban on armor that the New Mandalorians enforced.
Second issue: did the New Mandalorians ban weapons? Yes, or at least to an extent. In Legends, it was illegal for offworlders to bring weapons into New Mandalorian territory at or by 22 BBY. However, it didnât seem to be illegal for the citizens of New Mandalorian cities to hold weapons- or at least not Satine Kryze, who carried a deactivator with her at all times. (Though whether or not she needed a permit for this or if regular citizens could carry weapons is unknown).
Third issue: Could the New Mandalorians fight? While itâs not really mentioned if they could or couldnât, it is mentioned that while New Mandalorians still stood against bloody violence against sentients, they accepted non-lethal self-defense in certain situations. Meaning that it wasnât a crime to be able to know how to fight, or to fight back when necessary (though it was likely illegal to begin a fight). In fact, it was canon in both universes that Satine Kryze knew how to fight and could hold her own, and was said to have good aim with a blaster. She explained to Obi-Wan at one point that even though she was a pacifist, she wasnât afraid to defend herself. Seeing as Satine was the leader of the New Mandalorians, then it was probably fine for the New Mandalorians to at least be able to know how to fight.
Fourth issue: Do New Mandalorians speak Mandoâa? This is a bit trickier. It is canon, however, that Satine Kryze can speak Mandoâa, having understood a bomber speaking in the Concordian dialect of the language and speaking back to him in the same. As for the written form of Mandoâa, in Wookiepediaâs legends article on Mandoâa, it is said that âThe New Mandalorians used written Mandoâa quite frequently in their everyday lives.â So, while itâs not entirely clear whether most New Mandalorians can speak Mandoâa or not, they are said to be able to read and write in it.
Fifth issue: What about following the Mandâalor? Well, itâs said on the legends article for New Mandalorians that the New Mandalorians made their own Mandâalor- though the only named person with this title is Satine Kryze, so itâs not entirely mentioned how long this practice existed for. Regardless, there is technically a Mandâalor of the New Mandalorians, even if most other clans wouldnât recognize their rule.
Sixth Issue: So, for the last issue of the Resolânare in comparison of the New Mandalorians: raising children as Mandalorian. While itâs not said if the New Mandalorians pass down self-defense skills and such, there doesnât seem to be any mention of them banning the teaching of children in a more traditional outlook (so long as it doesnât involve weaponry and needless violence). Plus, a simpler version of the Resolânare would simply be âeducationâ, in which case the New Mandalorians do educate their children (even if they have centralized education instead of individualized).
Conclusion: While most New Mandalorians choose not to follow the Resolânare, there doesnât seem to be any laws in the New Mandalorian rule that prevent traditional Mandalorians from living peacefully on-planet. While no armored Mandalorians are ever pictured as living on-planet during the New Mandalorian rule, it is never said that every traditional Mandalorian was banned from the planet- only that the âwarriorsâ or âmilitant traditionalistsâ were exiled. Therefore, it seems entirely possible that so long as a follow of the Resolânare didnât start any fights, they could still follow their codex in most senses, even if they sort of stretched the bit about following the Mandâalor to include the leader of the New Mandalorian movement. While, in my opinion, New Mandalorian culture is incredibly boring with their cube-shaped everything and largely white color scheme, they donât seem to have committed a cultural genocide (at least not canonically in either universe with the details available). Instead, it seemed they only banned the people who would not stop fighting (against each other or the New Mandalorians, at least).
There are, of course, issues with the whole âblond-hair, blue-eyed, humanâ population that the New Mandalorians seem to have- at least when you compare it to the mixing pot that is the traditional Mandalorians. Thereâs also the issue of corruption (though this wasnât spared in the traditional factions -cough, Montross, cough-). Oh, and their awful cube-style, though thatâs more of a personal note than a âthatâs pretty inherently not a good thingâ. While the New Mandalorians have a very different culture from the traditional Mandalorians, they don't seem to inherently forbid the super important parts of said traditional Mandalorian culture.
Anyway, this concludes my tiny for fun essay on whether or not New Mandalorians performed a cultural genocide like a lot of fan stuff I've seen says they do: doesnât seem so! Thereâs still stuff that isnât great, but they havenât explicitly forbidden any of the tenants that makes a Mandalorian who they are. Though feel free to correct me if you see anything incorrect, or if you have a different interpretation of something! This just stemmed from a question I had for a fic I'm writing, and thought I'd share the small bits of research I'd done :D











