Are the Children of the Watch a cult?
Traits of religious cults (from Cult Recovery):
The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
Is the Armorer their leader? Possibly. She certainly behaves like an elder, and her opinion is respected. I would hesitate to call their zeal excessive, however. Her role in the Tribe seems to be to resolve conflict. Both times Paz and Din come to blows (TBOBF episode 5 spoilers), the Armorer keeps silence for a while, then works towards reconciliation. âHow can one be a coward and choose this life?â âThere is only one way to return to the Creed.â âThis is the Way.â Her words are few, but important. She is the definition of a leader doesnât start fights, but they can finish them.
I do not consider the Tribeâs respect for the Armorer unhealthy.
The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
No scenes of recruitment have been shown. Dinâs commitment to the foundling Grogu is one-way; till Grogu is reunited with his own kind, Din is as his father. I quote almost verbatim. They make no attempt to convert the child or incorporate him into their Tribe. Heâs a child.
I see Dinâs group as a closed religion, far from evangelical.
The group is preoccupied with making money.
Some confusion has arisen over Pazâs line in The Mandalorian that they could only go above ground one at a time. Nowhere does he say that Din was the only member permitted to go above ground. Indeed, as @a-aristippus has pointed out, that implication would have led to very different syntaxââonly one of us could go above ground,â for example.Â
I do not consider Dinâs bounty hunting to support the Tribe a group preoccupation with making money. Neither do I consider it parentification, a one-sided burden, or (god forbid) financial abuse. The blacksmithâs forge sustains him, spiritually, with recognition (signet, anyone?) and validation when he brings his material gains to the Tribe for witnessing. They are a community in which each member has their place.Â
In societies in our own history, when married women were literally not allowed to work, would you say they forced their husbands to work to support them? Why do you blame Dinâs covert instead of the wider circumstances which restrict them?
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
I have put these traits together because they have the same key theme of critical thinking, a thing sadly lacking in many takes Iâve seen. Refer to the Armorerâs initial silence as Paz and Din butt heads. They air their opinions. They disagree, often violently; the other members (in the sewers, at least) stand by and watch. Opposing voices are heard. Debate to the point of blows is not silenced.
In TBOBF ep 5, Din voices what a real cult leader would have taken as a challenge to authority. He gives his interpretation of the Creed: âLoyalty and solidarity are the Way.â Even though he isnât disagreeing with the Creed itself, he is disagreeing with the Armorer, who was reluctant to forge a gift for Grogu because she thinks Jedi arenât allowed attachments. (also incorrect, but thatâs another post) Din wants her to honour their Creed with the foundling.
Note the Armorerâs response. She then asks what she should make for Grogu. She is saying, Youâre right. You were right to disagree with me. I see your point. I will do as you wish.
Because this is getting long, Iâll tackle the thornier issues on the checklist in a reblog. But before that, I need to repeat ad nauseam the mantra of do not take charactersâ words at face value. Good narratives show a plurality of perspectives. The truth is usually somewhere in between.