Frog on an Iron Horse

“To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven without going to all the bother and expense of dying.“ 

P. G. Wodehouse 

And even though Luke doesn’t get to keep it, Obi-Wan still spares a few extra precious seconds with his life in danger to buy Leia a pair of gloves.

      “An extended mission when I was younger. Master Qui-Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Duchess from insurgents who had threatened her world. They sent bounty hunters after us. We were always on the run, living hand-to-mouth, never sure what the next day would bring. A civil war killed most of Satine’s people, hence her aversion to violence. When she returned, she took rebuilding her world alone.“ –Obi-Wan Kenobi 31 Years Ago - Attack of the Clones, the Clone Wars begin, Kamino’s clone army is discovered, Jango Fett dies ~31-28 Years Ago - The Clone Wars       Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group, publicly arises as a protest against Satine’s pacifist ways and determination that Mandalore leave behind its warrior past.  They bomb targets in the city of Sundari and work with the Separatists to try to kill Duchess Kryze and put their own leader into place on Mandalore proper.

     One of these attacks appears to be on Din Djarin’s home planet by Separatist battle droids, with whom Death Watch were allies but now are shown firing on the battle droids.  (Unknown if they’re the same as the Children of the Watch, since we see the Death Watch symbol on the armor of the Mandalorians fighting, but we don’t see it on any of Din’s covert or Din himself.)       Din is rescued by one of them and eventually becomes a Mandalorian foundling, as part of the Children of the Watch sect.  Precise details are unknown.

     Pre Vizsla of Clan Vizsla is the governor of Concordia (a moon of Mandalore), voiced by Jon Favreau, secretly leads the Death Watch and reveals that he has the darksaber when he fights against Obi-Wan Kenobi after its revealed that Pre is part of Death Watch.  (Clan Vizsla is one of the most central Clans of Mandalore.)

     They are not successful in their plot (to have the Republic Senate forcefully invade Mandalore under the threat of Death Watch/the rumor of Mandalore joining the Separatists) and Mandalore remains neutral in the Clone Wars.      It’s also later revealed (a few months later/a season later) that Bo-Katan Kryze, Satine’s sister, is a lieutenant in Death Watch.      Mandalore still does not fare well in the Clone Wars and eventually is blackballed by the Republic, which forces them into turning to the black market to feed their citizens. 27 Years Ago - Ahsoka meets(and fights) Bo-Katan Kryze as part of Death Watch on Carlac while trying to bring Lux Bonteri to Coruscant.  Ahsoka also fights Pre Vizsla, who is wielding the darksaber still, but she eventually escapes her fight against Bo-Katan and Pre. 28 Years Ago - Darth Maul is rescued by Death Watch and allies with them to create his own Shadow Collective (an alliance of various criminal organizations), which will eventually work to take over Mandalore.      Eventually, Death Watch betrays Maul, putting him in prison next to Prime Minister Almec (there on corruption charges, after Mandalore’s rough time in the Clone Wars), who he allies with, frees himself, and finds his way to the throne room to challenge Pre Vizsla to a fight to the death.

     Maul wins the fight and beheads Pre with the darksaber.  Bo-Katan refuses to swear loyalty to Maul and leaves with the other Nite Owls.  Almec is installed as Prime Minister of Mandalore, but he’s just a puppet figurehead for Maul, as the true power on Mandalore. 28 Years Ago - Duchess Satine Kryze is murdered by Maul as part of his takeover of Mandalore/his revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi.

28 Years Ago - Darth Sidious confronts Maul after his takeover of Mandalore and imprisons him in a Separatist fortress.  Prime Minister Almec, in repayment for Maul freeing him previously, has Gar Saxon and Rook Kast follow them and they free Maul.       Maul reclaims the darksaber and begins rebuilding the Shadow Collective.  Despite a major defeat (again) against Sidious that forced Maul to flee to Dathomir, he eventually rallied his supporters (including the Pykes and Black Sun and Crimson Dawn, lead by Dryden Vos) to return to Mandalore.

28 Years Ago - Fenn Rau, as part of Skull Squadron of the Protectors (a group of Mandalorian royal guards), assisted the Jedi in the Clone Wars, including helping out in a fight with Jedi Master Depa Billaba and Padawan Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus). 28 Years Ago - The Clone Wars are nearing the end, the Siege of Mandalore happens at the same time as Revenge of the Sith/Order 66.      After Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Order, eventually Bo-Katan Kryze finds her and asks her for help with Maul having taken over Mandalore.  Ahsoka agrees and they go to the Jedi to ask for help.  While the clone troops take care of the main body of Mandalore, Ahsoka goes to fight Maul herself, eventually winning against him.

     Though it’s a difficult battle for all of them, eventually the Republic and Bo-Katan’s Mandalorian Resistance manage to capture Maul and remove Death Watch from power.      Mandalore is in bad shape at this point, destruction all across their cities.

(BO-KATAN: I wish I was good at something other than war.  AHSOKA: Your people need a new kind of leader.  BO-KATAN: My sister tried that. I never understood her idealism.)       They part ways, but on much better terms than before.       After Ahsoka captures Maul, but before she can bring him back to Coruscant, the Jedi Purge is enacted.  Ahsoka sets Maul free to cause chaos as a distraction, allowing him to escape eventually, while she goes down with a burning star destroyer, survives, and eventually goes into hiding for several years before resurfacing as Fulcrum in the Rebellion.       Maul returned to Dathomir and lead Crimson Dawn through the figurehead of Dryden Vos. 28 Years Ago - Revenge of the Sith, the Republic fell, the Empire rose, the Jedi Order was genocided basically out of existence. ~28 Years Ago - Gar Saxon aligns with the Empire and Emperor Palpatine puts him in charge of Mandalore as Governor.  The Wren clan go along with this (as well as the other clans) because it was that or the Empire would wipe them out. (Date unspecified, but it was likely quite soon after the rise of the Empire.) 11 Years Ago - The Ghost crew discover Maul hiding out on Dathomir, who still has the darksaber, and they retrieve after a possessed (by the dead Nightsisters) Sabine Wren grabs it from Maul’s cave and fights Ezra Bridger with it.

      Fenn Rau works to convince Sabine, as the daughter of House Wren of Mandalore, to take up the darksaber and unite Mandalore with it.  It’s a symbol of House Vizsla and the other clans greatly respect it, so if Sabine of Clan Wren, a vassal of House Vizsla, were to show up with it, she could unite them.       RAU: “Your mother is the leader of Clan Wren, Sabine. She may be with the Empire now, but I believe her true loyalty lies with Mandalore.”       SABINE: “Even if that were true, she thinks I’m a traitor.”       RAU: “If you can convince your mother to help the rebels, all of Mandalore might follow you and the darksaber.”        Sabine briefly trains with it, but struggles to decide how to proceed with it and her contentious relationship with her family.

      Sabine and the Ghost crew return to Krownest (an icy world in the Mandalore sector, where Clan Wren’s home is) to speak with her mother, and decide what to do next.

10 Years Ago - Sabine Wren rallies her family into deciding to fight back against the Empire’s occupation of Mandalore and gives the darksaber to an initially reluctant Bo-Katan Kryze.        Leaders of several clans of Mandalore swear allegiance to her and they vow to fight the Empire, after many years of living under Imperial rule.

9-10 Years Ago - Mandalore rebels against the Empire and the Empire retaliates in the Night of a Thousand Tears.       “Had our sect not been cloistered on the moon of Concordia, we would have not survived the Great Purge.  Those born of Mandalore strayed away from the path. Eventually, the Imperial interlopers destroyed all that we knew and loved in the Night of a Thousand Tears. Only those that walked the way escaped the curse prophesized in the Creed. Though our numbers were scattered to the winds, our adherence to the way has preserved our legacy for the generations until we may someday return to our homeworld.” –Amorer, Children of the Watch

      This leads to Mandalorians not being seen much in the galaxy, whether they’re part of the Children of the Watch or from any of the other clans.       “Our strength was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground one at a time. Our world was shattered by the Empire, with whom this coward shares tables.” –Paz Vizsla, Children of the Watch       During the Great Purge, the Empire strips any and all beskar from Mandalore that they can. 9 Years Ago - A New Hope, Alderaan was destroyed, the Death Star was destroyed, also the events of Rogue One happened. 6 Years Ago - The Empire Strikes Back 5 Years Ago - Return of the Jedi, the Second Death Star destroyed, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader died, Yoda died, formation of the New Republic, Boba Fett fell into the Sarlacc pit 4 Years Ago - The Battle of Jakku, which is the final giant battle between the New Republic and the Empire, where they officially lost for good (see: Star Wars Battlefront II for the story) 0 Years Ago - The Mandalorian, season 1       Moff Gideon is in possession of the darksaber somehow.

Place de la Trinite, 1875, Pierre-Auguste Renoir