The Apostate s3 meta pt. 1
I think one of the reasons the initiation scene at the beginning of Chapter 17 feels like a flashback of Din is because, based on previous episodes, we’re assuming the show will start with Din, The Mandalorian. We’re an audience to his story and each season has begun by allowing us to get acquainted with and follow his narrative. But, instead, in Chapter 17 we take the role of an outsider, because Din is an outsider.
Din is no longer a Mandalorian, so the show finds itself in a paradox: if Din is no longer a Mandalorian, is the show still about him? If the show is still about him, must he be a Mandalorian?
Chapter 17 confirms the latter, so now we face the same question Din is now faced with: What is a Mandalorian?
In the beginning, Din Djarin appears to be the epitome of a Mandalorian. Up until the end of s1, Din's name is simply Mando or The Mandalorian. Unlike others such as Boba Fett or Paz Visla, his armor is very plain. Though we understand he had a different family once, he no longer has any connections outside of the tribe. Never having taken off his helmet in front of others, he is incredibly loyal to the creed, as if its word is law and apathetic to external events. His skills are basic to survival, encompassing combat, machinery, and navigation and he appears to have minimal preferences as he serves his life as a bounty hunter.
A template for the mysterious culture, Din's entire personal identity was attached to the concept of a Mandalorian, which appears to transcend religion or race as law. As a foundling and Child of the Watch, Din has not known anything other than the orthodox Mandalorian ways since he was a child (I'm not guessing an age cause I suck at that okay) and since we are following Din, that is all we know. In following the show, I assume we utilize his definition of a Mandalorian as our own, since he is our only source of knowledge on the subject, disregarding other media, and we are subject to his views. Therefore, Mandalorians appear to be defined by a strict creed and only by abiding by these rules are you considered a Mandalorian.
Then the rules don't seem so absolute
First, Din begins to challenge the Guild Code by asking after Grogu before breaking it altogether with his rescue of the child. He starts asking about the world, like what a jedi is, which leads to asking questions about his own culture. This culminates in the s1 finale where finally he finally challenges the boundaries of these laws, in part due to IG-11. Throughout s1, IG-11 is the clearest example of his shaken worldview, which was as simple as all droids are bad. In realizing a hunter droid could become a nursing droid -- reprogrammed -- he realizes things aren't so black and white. Up until this moment, Din would rather die than betray the creed, but the absolutes dissolve and a new grey area appears where no, he can never take off his helmet in front of another person except droids aren't a person. Maybe he was too concussed, maybe he didn't want to die, maybe he wanted to see Grogu -- the fact remains that Din removed his helmet and a new addendum has been created, which in and of itself had been previously unthinkable.
In his search for other Mandalorians, Din continues to struggle with laws that don't seem so unshakable. With Cobb Vanth, he recognizes that others can don the armor, though his perspective doesn't exactly shift until meeting Boba Fett. Though it doesn't outright change (Din again insists that Boba can't wear the armor if he isn't a Mandalorian), he creates another exception: though Boba isn't a Mandalorian, the armor belonged to his father, who was one, so he has a right to wear it. His definition of a Mandalorian is complicated further with Bo-Katan and her group, who not only desecrate the creed (and remove their helmets), but simultaneously have more right to the title, coming from, essentially, royalty and having extensive knowledge on their culture. They even renounce his conception of a Mandalorian as based on a variant, warped version of the truth.
Din's absolute definition, as well as the audience's definition, begins to crack, and when confronting the Imperial base on Morak, Mayfield directly addresses this internal conflict. Din not only changes into a storm trooper helmet, but subsequently takes off his helmet to access a terminal before sitting through an entire conversation with his face completely exposed. In the s2 finale, he again removes his helmet when saying goodbye to Grogu.
The instances Din willingly removes his helmet are a decision centered on the fact that something (someone) is more important than the creed.
These matters are not of life or death, nor are they even about him; remember in s1, Din would rather die than remove break the creed. Though Din has not addressed his changing values until now, when he decides to allow the terminal to scan his face, he consciously acknowledges the shift. He has come to realize that "rules start to change when you get desperate;" he knows Grogu's presence has altered his worldview. From the start, Grogu was the reason he broke the Guild Code and during Chapter 12, Din even partially removes his himself when eating in the presence of Grogu.
Din clearly does not think the creed is absolute, shown by the changes in Din's interpretation of the helmet rule:
Can't take off his helmet in front of someone else (Chapter 4)
Can't take off his helmet in front of living things (Chapter 8)
Can't show his face to other living things (Chapter 15)
However, although he accepts this change in values, Din still appears unwilling to face the fact that his interpretation of the creed is changing as well, though we, the audience, can sense it.
Din Djarin is still the Mandalorian, but what it means to be a Mandalorian is changing
