The Mandalorian Mythosaur ending explained
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Warning: This story contains spoilers for the season 3 "The Mines of Mandalore" episode of The Mandalorian.
We've seen the symbol of the Mythosaur everywhere in The Mandalorian, from the crests on their beskar armor to the necklace Grogu wears around his neck. As we heard from Kuiil (Nick Nolte) in the first season, Mandalorians of old once rode these now-extinct beasts and the Armorer (Emily Swallow) herself recounted that "The songs of eons past foretold of the mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore."
Well, that age may be upon us, because in the latest episode of The Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) spied a very alive Mythosaur in the depths of the living waters in the mines of Mandalore. What does this mean for the wrecked and ravaged planet and its scattered people? Let's dig into it!
Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the Mines of Mandalore we go!
After a quick stop on Tatooine to see Peli Motto (national treasure Amy Sedaris) about an a memory circuit for IG-11, Mando (Pedro Pascal) winds up leaving with a very reluctant R5-D4, who after debuting in A New Hope, finally gets to go on an adventure to Mandalore.
Despite being known as well . . . the Mandalorian, Mando has never actually been to the planet itself having grown up on its moon, Concordia. Though the Empire completely wrecked the planet with fusion bombs, R5 soon discovers that the air remains breathable and Mando and Grogu spelunk into the depths of its devastated civic center to locate the famous mines. As weird as it is to hear the words "civic center" in relation to Star Wars, it's obvious that Mandalore's once vibrant civilization has been totally obliterated by the Empire and it's now eerily desolated. (They should get Greef Karga here because he's handy with a building project.)
Before they make it to the mines, Mando gets caught in a trap by a half-robotic spider, half-alien creature that we'll call Chitters, for lack of a better name. With the remnants of fallen Mandalorians all around him and trapped in a tight cage, Mando dispatches Grogu to get Bo-Katan's help. After one quick trip to Kalevala to retrieve the depressed Mandalorian leader who was somehow still sitting forlornly on her throne, Grogu arrives back with her before Mando can be drained of all his blood. After a few false starts, Bo-Katan kills the surprisingly wily Chitters with the Darksaber, which she is noticeably better at fighting with than Mando has been so far. Does this portend she's truly Mandalore's rightful leader? We'll see!
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The skeptic versus the true believer
Despite almost dying, Mando's still determined to atone for the crime of revealing his handsome face. Being pretty much a non-believer of old Mandalorian legends despite being a member of its royal family, Bo-Katan finds Mando's determination to visit the living waters deeply silly. She's been to them before during a childhood ritual and they had no magical powers that she could see. She thinks it's all theater, preferring to believe in the Mandalorian people over its myths.
But the episode also revealed that she's filled with regret most likely, as was covered in The Clone Wars, because she had such a part to play in the fighting of the past, undermining her own sister, Duchess Satine Kryze, because she didn't believe in her pacifistic leadership. Now having witnessed the devastation of the world she fought for so fiercely and knowing she helped sow the divisions that the Empire so expertly mined, the normally combative Bo-Katan decides to humor Mando and take him to the living waters herself.
Since they have such different beliefs on what it means to be a Mandalorian, any discussion between Mando and Bo-Katan has a fine thread of tension within it and the main thrust of the season seems to be whether they will resolve that tension and reunite Mandalore or let the divisions of the past again lead them to war. But for now, Bo-Katan seems mostly bemused by Mando's faith in his cult. After they reach the waters, she reads off the mines' placard to give him the full ceremonial experience, revealing that according to ancient folklore, the mines were once a Mythosaur lair.
What lurks beneath the living waters
This dark, dank cave does not impress Bo-Katan at all, but for Mando, it's a holy place, and he recites the creed before stepping into the waters. But much like Luke was snatched by a Dianoga in the trash compactor, Mando disappears with a violent splash and Bo-Katan dives in after him. Beskar being pretty heavy, he's sunk all the way to the bottom by the time Bo-Katan finds him, and it is on the way back to the surface that she gets the surprise of her life. The light on her helmet reveals the eye of an enormous creature, and soon she sees it has the trademark horns of that mythical beast she didn't actually believe existed.
After landing back on the surface (and despite the fact she's still wearing a helmet), it's obvious she's stunned by what she's seen. If the symbol of Mandalore still lives, what does that mean for their devastated planet? Is there hope for a new age of Mandalore? And what part do she and Mando have to play in it?
What a living Mythosaur might portend for the future of Mandalore
Those are just a few of the big questions the appearance of the Mythosaur brings to the forefront. Showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have said in interviews that this season will focus on Mandalore, and what better way to get to the core of what it means to be a Mandalorian than the appearance of its main symbol in the flesh. We've seen how Nevarro started thriving under the attentive leadership of Greef Karga, so can Mando and Bo-Katan put aside their differences now that they've discovered that not only is the air of the planet breathable, but one of its main legends is in fact true? Can they be the leaders Mandalore needs to reunite and grow strong again?
It would be nice to think so, but earlier in the episode, Bo-Katan said the history of Mandalore is complicated, and she wasn't kidding as anyone who knows their very martial, war-torn past would see. She still blames the Children of the Watch for the divisions of the past, and the Watch views Bo-Katan as an unbeliever who led Mandalore astray because she didn't have the true faith in the Mandalorian creed. Add to that the conflict over who should wield the Darksaber and the future of Mandalore looks pretty complicated indeed.
For more Mandalorian coverage, check out EW's Star Wars podcast Dagobah Dispatch, where every week we'll be breaking down the new episodes and bringing you exclusive interviews with the cast and creators, like Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni.
