Tear Jerker / The Mandalorian

Moments subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

The last hug Din Djarin and his mother shared.

Two traumatized foundlings share familial adventures in a galaxy continuing to make them suffer.

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Season 1

Chapter 1: The Mandalorian

• The short flashbacks to the Mandalorian's childhood. We see his Doomed Hometown being destroyed by droids during the Clone Wars and it's implied his parents were killed as well. While the perennial "wars" of the franchise are often portrayed as glamorous and cool, this is a somber reminder that there's always civilian casualties caught in the fray.

Chapter 2: The Child

• Before the Child intervenes to save him, Mando is covered in mud, armor peeling off him, on one knee. He staggers upright and pulls out a knife, unwilling to go down without one final effort.
• The Mudhorn's death is pretty sad when you consider the situation from its point of view. It knocked Mando around a lot but it was just trying to protect its egg from someone who had come to steal it.

Chapter 3: The Sin

• In Episode 3, the Mandalorian finally brings the Child to the Client. As the Child is getting taken away from the only familiar presence he knows, he looks back at Mando and cries out while his Expressive Ears droop in either fear or sadness. Just to twist the vibro-blade to the heart home.
• Throughout the entire episode, it is clear that the Mandalorian is guilty for turning the Child in to the Empire and this added with how Paz Vizsla calling him out for working with the Empire to obtain the beskar steel award. Afterwards, he feels more burdened when Karga boasts how he is more successful than anyone in the Bounty Hunter's Guild as he tries to bury his feelings by taking his next job. Finally, before he left for Karnac, he noticed the unscrewed ball on the lever which reminds him about the Child again as he finally decided to go and saved the Child even if it would cost him his life.
• During the climactic firefight with the Bounty Hunters Guild, the Mandalorian is outnumbered, outgunned, and trapped with the baby behind cover as Guild members close in. Then the baby wakes and coos in recognition at seeing the Mando; as their gazes meet, the background noise fades down for a moment, and Mando gently strokes the baby's head the tiniest bit with one hand. The Mandalorian has clearly accepted that he's about to be killed, and he's taking a Long Last Look at the baby he's chosen to die protecting.

Chapter 4: Sanctuary

• Omera asks Mando when was the last time he took off his helmet, he replies he did it the day before. When she asks in front of anyone else, he points at the children.
  Mando: I wasn't much older than they are.
  Omera: You haven't shown your face to anyone since you were a kid?
• After fending off local raiders, Mando is offered a place in the village where he can raise the Child in peace. He considers it for a moment before turning it down, but asks Omera to care for the baby. She promises to look after the child as one of her own.
  Omera: We want you to stay. The community's grateful. You can pack (your armor) away in case there's ever trouble. You and your boy could have a good life. He could be a child for a while. Wouldn't that be nice?
  (He looks over to the Child playing with Winta and the other kids.)
  Mando: (voice hitches) ...It would.
  (Mando allows Omera to begin lifting off his helmet... before gently stopping her.)
  Mando: I don't belong here... but he does.
  • Brendan Wayne, Pedro Pascal's body double, has confessed to crying himself while filming the above scene.
  • The real twist comes just after; another bounty hunter with a tracking fob shows up and nearly kills the kid. The scare makes Mando realize that no matter where they go, more hunters will simply keep coming after the child. Worse, if he were to stay as the village (and child's) protector, he'd just bring unwanted attention to them and paint a massive target on their backs.
• When Mando and the Child are about to leave the village, Winta runs up and hugs the Child, clearly heartbroken that he's leaving and saying she'll miss him. The Child's ears drooping sadly only makes it more heart-wrenching.

Chapter 6: The Prisoner

• The entirety of Davan's single scene. Four experienced mercenaries enter the prison ship's command center, having broken through multiple layers of defense. There they find Davan, a lone Republic officer, the only human crewmember in the whole place. He is clearly inexperienced and scared out of his mind, even as he is holding them at gunpoint, four against one. There is a Hope Spot as Mando holsters his gun and tries to defuse the situation by talking. The team are soon arguing with each other, which is brought to a sudden and violent end as Xi'an kills Davan with her throwing knives.
• Minor in the grand scheme, but still slightly sad. The moment when Mayfeld and the others speculate what Mando looks like under his helmet. Mayfeld suggests he's actually a Gungan, in a rather snide and condescending way. He almost comes across someone insulting a person for having a Speech Impediment.

Chapter 7: The Reckoning

• Kuiil's death at the end of the episode:
  • Earlier in the episode he talked about how he was sold to the Empire and forced into slavery. He finally earned his freedom after doing enough work, a time that equaled "three human lifetimes". He agreed to help Mando in order to protect the Child from falling into Imperial clutches and suffering as he did. He ultimately dies at the hands of Imperial remnants while trying (and failing) to save the baby - mere feet away from the safety of the Razor Crest.
  • Even worse is that it's indirectly Mando's fault; the scout troopers only knew Kuiil was there because he broke comm silence in a moment of panic and gave them enough time to catch him. Not only did Mando drag Kuiil out of a peaceful retirement that took him centuries to earn, but he died trying to follow his instructions. All of this a result of his own screw-up. As stoic as he is, Mando has shown that he is not beyond regret, and this will certainly be a cause for it.
  • The last line in the episode is of Mando desperately trying to get a response through his comm piece and slowly realizing Kuiil and the Child were caught.

Chapter 8: Redemption

• While it’s small potatoes compared to everything else, there is something viciously saddening and cruel about watching the two scout troopers smack The Child, who’s just a baby, after he bites one of their fingers.
• Moff Gideon reveals that Cara Dune is from Alderaan. This explains why she was so eager to take up the fight against the Imperials; they infamously destroyed her home - and her people - with the Death Star.
• The group arriving in the Covert looking for protection from the Stormtroopers, only to be greeted with a large pile of damaged Mandalorian armor, belonging to the members of the Tribe, all killed by the Imperials shortly after Mando escaped Nevarro in Episode 3. For one not to show emotion, you can clearly see it in his body movement that Mando is in shock and grief as he collapses to his knees in front of the pile.
  • What makes this worse, is that we don't know if anyone excluding The Armorer survived the massacre. She only hopes that some of the Tribe members escaped off-world, though that does not help alleviate any of the pain.
  • To make the above even worse, there were kids at the covert.
  • In a moment of enraged grief, Mando demands the others to leave and take the Razor Crest as he can't leave what is left of his Tribe until their armor is properly disposed of. Immediately after, the grief heard in his voice is turned into unbridled fury when he begins to accusingly ask Greef if his bounty hunters were the ones responsible for their deaths. It's clear the sight of the Mandalorian remains - people he considered dear family - has all but devastated him.
    Mando: (to Greef) Did you know about this? Is this the work of your bounty hunters?
    Greef: No! When you left the system and took the prize, the fighting ended and the hunters just melted away. You know how it is. They're mercenaries, they're not zealots.
    Mando: (stands and marches over to Greef) Did you do this?! DID YOU?!
    Greef: NO!
    • Given that he was outnumbered, outgunned, and seriously injured, Mando clearly intended to take as many Imperials as he could with him.
• IG-11's Heroic Sacrifice to ensure the Child's safety. He had come from hunting the baby to being willing to trigger his self-destruct mechanism to take out the Stormtroopers waiting to capture it. Even the Mando, who hates droids and initially refused to trust IG-11, is upset about this as the two had finally started to bond after IG-11 saved his life.
  Mando: But you'll be destroyed.
  IG-11: And you will live, and I will have served my purpose.
  Mando: No. We need you.
  IG-11: There's nothing to be sad about. I've never been alive.
  Mando: I'm not... sad.
  IG-11: Yes you are. I'm a nurse droid. I've analyzed your voice.
  • Even sadder when you realize IG-11 is all that's left of Kuiil. Mando was possibly also trying to keep him alive both to preserve Kuiil's memory and so Kuiil's legacy could live on.
  • One of the last things IG-11 does is stroke one of the Child's ears.
  • Many people have noticed how IG-11's sacrifice is just like those of the Terminator and The Iron Giant. Except in this case, he is definitely not coming back.
• Gideon slicing his way out of the wreckage of his TIE... with the Darksaber in hand. Now knowing of his proud repute in the subjugation of Mandalore's people, this does not paint a happy picture of what happened to Bo-Katan, Fenn Rau, and everyone else involved in the Mandalorian rebel cell at the end of Rebels, especially since the whole thing seemed like a historic Throw the Dog a Bone moment considering how much the Mandalorians have had to endure.
• After getting glimpses in previous episodes, we get to see the flashback to Mando's past play out in full. It's every bit as heartbreaking and harrowing as expected. Even the Mandalorians going Big Damn Heroes at the end, blasting the B2s to hell and back, does little to take the sting out of it as it was still too late to save his parents - who were tragically killed mere seconds before they arrived.
  • If you carefully watch the scene, as his parents are hiding him and begin closing the hatch, his mother is seen mouthing "I love you" to her son just before they close the door and are killed.
• Cara is on the verge of tears as Mando is possibly about to die and urging her to flee with the Child and leave him behind. You can hear the panic in her voice as she repeatedly urges him to get up. As a seasoned soldier, she’s watched her fellow comrades die in battle. Her desperation to save Mando clearly shows how close they've become. It’s even worse in the context of her backstory; as an Alderaanian, Cara has likely lost her entire family and everyone she has ever loved. With her desertion of the Republic, Mando may be the only person she has left that she cares about.
• After spending the entire season with Mando's face being covered by his emotionless helmet, there's something jarring and harrowing about when IG-11 removes it to reveal Mando's vulnerable and bloodied face.
• Mando has built a grave for Kuiil, putting the Ugnaught's cap on a stone on it.

Season 2

Chapter 9: The Marshal

• Cobb's (and by extension, Mos Pelgo's) situation before he got Boba's Mandalorian armor on was pretty tragic. Despite having just shaken off the yoke of The Empire after the Battle of Endor, the predatory Mining Collective speedily took over and brutally shot anyone who would try to oppose them. Cobb's Roaring Rampage of Revenge is pretty well-earned.
• For any viewer who is veering towards animal rights, it can be a bit uncomfortable and sad seeing the Bantha being forced as bait by the Tuskens—and eventually even by Mando (while it is strapped with bombs). Then again, the harsh realities of the desert don't really allow for anything else.
• Furthermore, the fact that even with a massive planetary catastrophe, the Mos Pelgo Tatooinians (Cobb included) and Tusken Raiders find it very hard to work with each other due to generations of bad blood just has too much Reality Subtext, especially in this decade. Which makes it more remarkable that Din and Cobb manages to broker an effective alliance nonetheless, however shaky it has been.

Chapter 10: The Passenger

• The Frog Lady's story is actually quite depressing. The young she is carrying with her are the only remaining brood of her life cycle, and her husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for them on Trask - the only planet that is considered hospitable for their species. Failure to make it to the planet will render her family name extinct.

Chapter 11: The Heiress

• Mando finally finds other fellow Mandalorians... and the first thing they tell him is his life is a lie and the Big Damn Heroes who saved him as a child are a religious cult who broke away from Mandalorian society and are generally disapproved of. He takes that as about as well as you would think.
• Bo-Katan introducing herself as the last of her line. If she doesn't mean having outlived her parents and siblings, that might also mean the rest of Clan Kryze is dead.
• It's not clear what the state of the rest of the Mandalorian Resistance is, whether they're just scattered to the wind but still united in spirit, or if Bo-Katan's group is all that's left.
• The Child's pram getting mostly destroyed by the mamacore is very sad when you remember that the late Kuiil made it specially for the Child.

Chapter 12: The Siege

• After Mando decides to return to Nevarro, the scene switches to a group of Aqualish thugs residing in what used to be the Mandalorian covert. It just serves as a bitter reminder that what was effectively Mando's second family had been wiped out, and we still don't know exactly how many survived the massacre that befell them. Even the only confirmed survivor, the Armorer, seems to have relocated to somewhere unknown, judging by the lack of her tools or the Mythosaur skull, the latter only leaving an imprint of where it once hung.
  • The poor meerkat who’s nearly killed and eaten by the thugs. Already being stored in a cage that’s far too small for it, it’s clearly sapient enough to understand exactly what’s going to happen to it when one of the thugs says it’s going to be delicious, and starts squealing and fruitlessly trying to escape. It’s quickly pinned down against a chopping block and can only writhe and cry in terror as death approaches. Luckily, Cara arrives in time to save its life, but it doesn’t make the ordeal any less disturbing.
• Carson Teva brings up how Cara is from Alderaan, and asks if she lost anyone in its destruction. She quite accurately replies "I lost everyone."

Chapter 13: The Jedi

• Despite finally encountering another member of the Jedi Order, Ahsoka refuses to take in the Child, a.k.a. Grogu. She states how the baby has grown a bond with Din (bluntly saying Din has become like a father to him) and she did not want someone like him to suffer the same fate as her master, Anakin (who she saw fall to the Dark Side because of having a strong emotional attachment himself).
• Ahsoka sheds some light on Grogu's background. He was raised by many Masters in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he was implied to have been happy. But then the Temple fell and he only survived by hiding during the raid and going unnoticed. After this, he was rescued and hidden away. Just the realization that the child was an Order 66 survivor (and barely survived the Temple massacre and was likely Forced to Watch his Jedi family be slaughtered) can leave you in tears for the poor kid. Following his departure from the Temple, Ahsoka leaves it as...
  Ahsoka: Then his memory becomes...dark. He seemed lost. Alone.
• When Ahsoka tries to get Grogu to use the Force to hand her a rock, he suddenly appears sad and drops it. Ahsoka simply approaches him and kindly holds his hand as he stares downward in clear depression. She says that she senses "much fear" in him, revealing how Grogu learned to stop using his Force abilities in order to survive; by making himself appear like a harmless baby. This is why he scarcely uses his true powers and has even become afraid of using them (unless he absolutely has to). Seeing the normally perky infant so sad and scared (and learning the real reason why he doesn't use the Force often) tugs on your heart.
• Mando very nearly hands Grogu over to Ahsoka. He obviously doesn't want to, despite earlier insisting on the arrangement, and has clear reluctance in his voice as he tells Ahsoka he's going to get Grogu and give him to her. He finds the child sleeping in his hammock back on the ship and sadly says, "Wake up, buddy. It's... time to say goodbye." (This is also the first time he calls the infant "buddy" adding to the moment.) However, Grogu falls back asleep and Din takes a moment to simply hold him as he continues to sleep against him (even rubbing his hand as he holds him). Despite fighting to get Grogu to his fellow Jedi, Din clearly has his own emotional attachment and doesn't want to say goodbye just yet. Ahsoka (implied to noticing how neither wants to leave the other) offers an alternative option of taking Grogu to ancient temple ruins (which still hold a strong Force connection) to let the child choose his own path.
• When Ahsoka tells Din how, if Grogu decides to become a trained Jedi and reaches out through the Force to alert a Jedi to come searching for him, she sadly mentions how "there aren't many Jedi left". While Luke Skywalker is obviously out there somewhere rebuilding the Jedi Order, others like Cal Kestis and Ezra Bridger have their fates left ambiguous at that point in the timeline, and it's clear from Ahsoka's words that she knows full well that Mando's options are very, very limited, all because her master made a mistake that continues to haunt the galaxy.

Chapter 14: The Tragedy

• In the opening scene, Din is telling Grogu how he's going to make sure a Jedi raises him and will take care of him. He goes on how he can't stay with him and this is what is best for him; for him to go back to his own people. While he was trying to aim the words at Grogu, Din was clearly trying to convince himself that Grogu leaving him to live with a Jedi is for the best. It is more than obvious that Din has grown very emotionally attached to the child (the only true family he's had in awhile) and is trying to convince himself that he must part with the kid in order to give him a better life.
• The Razor Crest is obliterated by an orbital strike from Moff Gideon's cruiser, doubly more so for vehicle enthusiasts. The ship is effectively vaporized and reduced to literal ashes, and all that remains in the smoldering crater are Grogu's favored silver ball and the Beskar spear gifted by Ahsoka Tano. Despite only being an old gunship, the Crest has been with Din since the very beginning and has been a primary setting in the show for two whole seasons, often getting badly damaged but always getting repaired. Fans feel the loss of the ship as if it were a full-fledged character. It's not hard to imagine the look of shock on Din's face, or what's going through his mind as he pockets the ball.
• The Darktroopers abduct Grogu and Din is helplessly Forced to Watch as they take him away from him (due to leaving his jetpack behind and unable to retrieve it just then). He can't fire a missile at them when Boba offers to do so (due to not wanting to hit Grogu) and his ship has been blown to actual ashes and he can't follow behind. All he can do is watch as strangers take his kid away (whom he knows intend to kill him). Note that the Force field that protects Grogu drops right after Din leaves to fight the stormtroopers. Had he waited for just five seconds, it could have all been avoided.
  • Grogu comes to just as the Dark Troopers close in, and he whips around in confusion and shock, until they finally grab him. All Grogu can do is let out a terrified squeal for his adoptive father. When Din zooms in to get a look at Grogu, the child is looking right down at him, his eyes huge with fear and his eyes drooping, as if he’s silently begging for help that can’t come to him.
• After being captured by Moff Gideon, Grogu uses his Force powers to perform a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on some Stormtroopers. We know he's not just angry but also scared, now that he's separated from Din (who Ahsoka stated in the last episode that, after sensing his personal emotions, he's come to see as his own father). Keep in mind that Grogu survived Order 66 and was likely forced to watch and listen as his Jedi family, the only family he knew, were killed in front of him. For years he had no family and Din became the first family he's grown to care about in a long time. Now, he's been taken away from that family once again.

Chapter 15: The Believer

• The story opens with Migs Mayfeld in a New Republic prison, but rather than a clean and shining environment similar to the prison ship from last season, we find Mayfeld breaking down Imperial ships in a forced labor camp overseen by droids with shock truncheons. Proof that the New Republic has fallen a long way from the high ideals of the Rebel Alliance.
  • Though one thing that might not make the Prisoner's Work so bad. Mayfeld and the other prisoner's (at least) appeared not to be working unreasonable hours. Or posses the same implants that slaves did during the Old Republic era. Rather they had tracking collars and were all being out into productive tasks. Similar to trash pick up or weed pulling along the roads. So while the work appears arduous, at least it's constructive.
• Mayfeld won't enter the cantina to get the coordinates on Gideon's ship because it'll mean risking officer Valin Hess (his former boss) possibly recognizing him. Despite hearing how it'll require a facial scan in order to access the info, Din jumps in to do it because it'll mean "losing the kid forever" if he doesn't. After a failed attempt to bypass the scan and the computer is ready to shut-down as a safety protocol, Din quickly takes off his helmet (marking the second time we see him without his helmet in the series) and lets it scan his face; therefore, breaking the oath he swore as a child. It's a huge breach of the culture and traditions that he grew up with and we see the clear shock on his face as he takes in what he's just done. The dazed look in his eyes as he sacrifices what was once the most important thing in his life is enough to tug on your heart. As he's forced to prolong being without a helmet and expose his face, he's visibly distressed the entire time.
  • This is made even more obvious when Valin Hess interacts with him: he's at a loss for words and can't adapt to the situation like he normally would. He looks vulnerable against Mayfeld's fast-talking in order to cover for his dazed state.
• Mayfeld's backstory comes off as this. When he served in the Empire, he served under the command of Valin Hess, on the planet Burnin Konn when Operation: Cinder was enacted, resulting in the deaths of countless civilians defending their homes, and Mayfeld's entire division. Meanwhile, Hess dismisses the fact that tens of thousands of troops needlessly died on his watch.
  Hess: That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions.
  Mayfeld: Yes you did... Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like, five, ten thousand people.
  Hess: Yep. All heroes of the Empire.
  Mayfeld: Yeah... And all dead.
  Hess: Well, it's a small sacrifice for the greater good, son.
  Mayfeld: Depends on who you ask, don't you think?
  Hess: What you gettin' at, trooper?
  Mayfeld: All those people? The ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mudscuffers, died defendin' their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for them?
  • As Mayfeld and Hess's talk goes on and on, you can see Mayfeld getting increasingly pissed, as Mando is signaling Mayfeld to let it go.
  • Its pretty clear in hindsight that Operation Cinder is what broke Mayfeld's faith in the Empire. Any belief he had that they were doing the right thing, bringing peace back to a war-torn galaxy just after a civil war, was destroyed when they killed uncountable innocent people and their own soldiers. Not everyone in the Empire was evil and it shows just how torn up Mayfeld is about what he was a part of.
  • Hess later mentions the rhydonium that he and Mando delivered will cause even more destruction than Operation: Cinder did, resulting in Mayfeld immediately gunning down Hess when he attempts to toast to the Empire. Being in the presence of his former boss, this mission was no longer about finding Moff Gideon's light cruiser. The second Hess began glorifying Operation: Cinder, the Empire, and insulting the lives of those that died on Burnin Konn, it became personal for Mayfeld.
• Bad guys or not, one can feel sorry for the Imperials who welcome Din and Mayfeild into the base. They save their lives from the raiders and give them a hero's welcome, only for the "comrades" they were congratulating to betray and slaughter them a few minutes later.
  • The behavior of the Imperial enlisted men at the base, as well as Mayfeld's mention of the men who died on Burnin Konn, serves as a harsh reminder that the Empire is more than just Sith Lords with Dark Side skills and murderous appetites; millions of men in Imperial uniforms are Punch-Clock Villains at worst. As Mayfeld points out, every stormtrooper mowed down, every TIE pilot vaporized, every Imperial Navy crewman incinerated inside a star destroyer to the cheers of the audience was just a guy who wanted to see his family again. Most of them probably thought they were the good guys, and those who saw the darker side of the Empire didn't exactly get to opt out.
  • The first Trooper Din shoots is armed with nothing but a lunch tray, and is too shocked to even try and defend himself. The other officers in the mess hall are gunned down while still trying to process what's happening. Every enemy Din fought before was armed and alert; these men were just sitting down to a meal.
• Maybe open to interpretation, but the people who attacked Din and Mayfeld's transport may not have been pirates. Rather, they may have instead been local freedom-fighters/rebels. Which would make their deaths rather tragic in hindsight.

Chapter 16: The Rescue

• A Jerkass Imperial pilot taunts Cara about the destruction of Alderaan. At first, she remains somewhat stoic. But soon her eyes are welling with tears as the trauma of losing literally everyone she loved is clearly coming back to her. She shoots the guy dead and briskly walks away to compose herself as Din simply watches her.
  • Surprisingly, even the jerkass imperial pilot has one when he spits out "Do you know how many millions of people died on those bases? While the galaxy cheered!?" It doesn't take a genius to infer that he had friends on the first Death Star, and was scarred by their loss^note  And probably also the knowledge that he was the only person in the galaxy to mourn their passing, while billions of others celebrated their deaths. As justified as the Death Star's destruction may have been, his grudge against the rebellion isn't too different from Cara's own.
    • Fridge Tearjerker: people often ask where the Imperial Remnant keeps finding willing troops to throw at their enemies in spite of their tactics and reputation. This scene strongly suggests that they are the friends of those who died at rebel hands, and just can't let it go.
    • And to make things even more Fridge Tearjerker: this cycle began in the Original Trilogy, and Luke when the Empire killed Luke's aunt and uncle, which lead him from wanting to join the Imperial Academy to joining the rebellion and leading to him to be vital in the destruction of both of the Death Stars. Makes you wonder how much more of a body count and people hurt were caused by the Empire in the OT.
• Din walks in with a captured Gideon and the Darksaber in hand after defeating him in battle. He hands it over to Bo-Katan, who is visibly horrified. Din is confused until Gideon begins taunting/explaining that the Darksaber can only be won by means of combat and it is only then that the winner of said-combat is the true ruler of Mandalore. If Bo-Katan were to simply take the Darksaber, she will only be a "pretender" and not a true ruler as she didn't actually "earn" it. Hence, this means the two allies will have to fight. It's obvious that neither of them wants to do it, with Din desperately trying to just give the saber back to her and Bo-Katan being too conflicted to tell him that it isn't that simple.
  Din: (holding the Darksaber out to Bo-Katan) I yield. [...] Come on, just take it.
• After only just being reunited, Din has to say goodbye to Grogu after Luke Skywalker saves them and requests Grogu come with him. Din clearly doesn't want to part ways, even initially insisting Grogu doesn't want to leave. Luke then reveals that Grogu will only leave if Din gives him permission to and promises to keep the child safe. Luke further warns that, without mastering his abilities, Grogu will never truly be safe and must complete his Jedi training. Din is forced to accept this and, after picking up Grogu, tells him that he must go with Luke and vows to see him again one day. As Grogu reaches up and touches Din's face through his helmet, Din proceeds to remove his helmet so that Grogu can see his face for the first time. As Grogu takes in Din's face and touches his chin, Din closes his eyes and smiles (keep in mind this is likely the first time anyone has touched his face in decades). He then tells Grogu that it's time to go and urges him "don't be afraid." As Luke takes Grogu away, Din's eyes are welling up in tears as he's barely holding back his clear heartbreak at saying goodbye to the child he's grown to consider his son. He and Grogu maintain eye contact as they proceed to part ways before the elevator door finally closes between them.
  • If one notices the scene between Din and Grogu, the scene itself resembles the one where Luke takes off Darth Vader's mask for his father to see his son's face with his own eyes; but here it is Din who takes off his helmet for Grogu to see. As this is going on, Luke calmly watches the scene unfold. However, one could interpret that he is thinking about how he once did the same thing, no wonder Luke allows Din and Grogu to say their goodbyes first before taking Grogu into his custody.
  • "Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes."
  • Alternatively... "Now, be brave and don't look back. Don't look back."
  • As Din sets Grogu down to go to Luke, Grogu holds onto Din's leg exactly as he did in the Season 1 finale. But this time, he's doing so to say goodbye.
  • When the camera briefly flashes to Cara, even she's shown to be brimming in tears at the sight.
  • There was a popular theory that the reason Din chose "Don't be afraid" as his parting words to Grogu was due to such words being the last message his father told him. If you carefully watch Chapter 8 during Din's childhood flashback, just as Din's parents are hiding him and his father gives him a kiss goodbye, you can just barely see him mouthing the words "Don't be-" before the camera cuts away. So perhaps it's possible Din did choose to use his late father's final words (which you know mean dearly to him) as his own parting message Grogu. If so, it makes it all the more heart-wrenching as it only serves as further evidence of Din's fatherly love for Grogu and how the departure must truly hurt him.
  • Din suffers a lot these past three episodes: He's lost his home, he could receive punishment for revealing his face, and he might have to fight to the death for a planet he doesn't really want. His tears suggest that he can just barely stand to pile the uncertainty regarding his reunion with Grogu on top of all of that.
• In a good way, the moment Luke reveals himself and the theme from A New Hope starts playing. It's like being thrust back into the original trilogy all over again.
  Din: Are you a Jedi?
  Luke: I am.
• While thankfully she's set free by Fennec, a Twi'lek slave girl is seen chained up by Bib Fortuna, showing this kind of gross slavery is still going on in the galaxy and Jabba was hardly the only one perpetuating it.

Season 3

Chapter 17: The Apostate

• Din asks Greef Karga for IG-11's remains, intending to restore the droid so he can have it as backup on his quest to Mandalore. When they reboot IG-11 they discover he's reverted to his original, bounty-hunting programming and he immediately tries to kill Grogu. All of Kuiil's work to reprogram and retrain IG-11 has been wiped, and the friend they knew is apparently gone for good. The only slight hope is Din finding a replacement memory circuit that is no longer in production and so rare even the droidsmiths can't procure one.
• When Karga finds out the Din is only visiting because he needs something, he seems momentarily stung by the revelation. He seemed to have believed Din visited him as a friend first, not just a resource.
• Bo-Katan has gone from an ambitious leader hoping to reunite her people and retake their homeworld to a broken woman lounging about alone in her castle, abandoned by her followers.

Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore

• For those who saw it in The Clone Wars, seeing the capital of Sundari is a huge gut punch. A beautiful and technolgically-advanced city, led by a woman who dreamed of leading her people away from a violent past, now a ruined monument to the Empire's cruelty, buried under a mountain of rubble and glassed slag.
  • Bo-Katan's reaction to seeing the state of her homeworld as well, from her reaction to seeing the glassed ruins of Sundari to the audible bitterness in the way she reminiscences about her life there. It's clear being back on Mandalore is causing her a lot of pain.
  • It's also clear that she's specifically talking around the role she personally played in the city's destruction. While in previous episodes it came off as dodging responsibility, here it comes off that the whole situation just hurts too much.
  • While Din is marveling at the beauty of the ruins, Bo-Katan just can't stop seeing what they lost. Especially since, again, she was the cause of much of it.
    Din: It must pain you to see it like this, after witnessing its beauty.
    Bo-Katan: What pains me is seeing our own kind fight one another time and time again. Killing each other for reasons too confusing to explain. It made us weak. We had no hope to resist being smashed by the fist of the Empire.
  • Bo-Katan mentions that her father died "defending Mandalore." He died long before the Purge. The implication, therefore, is that he died fighting other Mandalorians.
    Din: This is the Way.
    Bo-Katan: [looks crestfallen]

Chapter 19: The Convert

• It turns out Elia Kane was manipulating Doctor Pershing into getting the cloning equipment she needed, pretending to befriend him and confide in him about her time with the Empire to gain his trust, and letting him do the same, then proceeding to make him the scapegoat for her own schemes. After he's arrested, she lies to the Republic officers, telling them that Pershing (who is genuinely remorseful over the work he was made to do for the Empire) has relapsed into being an Imperial sympathiser, and as a result is subjected to "deprogramming." While the technicians claim that it's harmless on a low setting, which may well be true, Elia turns the machine up to full brainwashing/mindwiping so Pershing can't tell anyone what she's done. The idea that one of the few people you felt you could trust and talk to when you felt vulnerable was simply gaslighting you into doing what they wanted is an all too real and familiar feeling.

Chapter 20: The Foundling

• When Kelleran meets up with the guards that have a ship ready for his escape, one of them asks "where are the others?" Kelleran can only grimly confirm that there are none, underscoring the sheer cost of Order 66.
  • The Naboo guardsmen who assisted him were coldly gunned down by the 501st, showing the true scope of the Jedi purge. Even those who offered them assistance were murdered.
• Paz Viszla's situation is basically every parent's worst nightmare-his son was kidnapped by a Giant Flyer that has apparently taken others in the past and Paz spends most of the episode with no idea if he's going to recover his son or his corpse.
• Grogu sadly remembering being abandoned. His ears droop and his expression darkens as he's brought back to the worst part of his life, watching clone troopers he probably would've loved like anybody else who would've show him kindness turn on his fellow Jedi. And then watching the few Jedi who were scraping together a last stand to get him to safety fall one-by-one until only Kelleran was left. Grogu may be smarter than the average baby thanks to his unusual aging, but he's still a child who had to undergo one of the defining tragedies of the Star Wars universe at a very young age.

Chapter 21: The Pirate

• Back on Navarro, the Armorer summons Bo-Katan to speak with her. She's waiting for her at the remains of her old forge. While she has important things to discuss with her, it's clear she still feels the pain of the Covert's near-destruction there.

Chapter 22: Guns for Hire

• A Quarren ship is stopped by a Mandalorian cruiser, as its captain is charged with taking the son of a Mon Cala Viceroy. But she didn't kidnap him, they were trying to elope. And while Axe and Koska aren't heartless about it (Axe himself even points out there's nothing stopping them from trying again once the son is returned), they must nonetheless be torn apart at gunpoint.

Chapter 23: The Spies

• Bo-Katan brings an advance team down to Mandalore. As the deployment hatches open, giving many of the team members their first sight of the planet's surface since the day it was nuked by the Empire. Paz is visibly shaken by the sight, while Axe reveals that he was present at the Night of a Thousand Tears, with a tone of voice that makes clear he's still scarred by it.
  Paz: It's worse than I thought.
  Axe: I was here when it happened.
  • Some of the other Night Owls on the team also shake their heads, clearly affected by the sight.
• Paz's death. Knowing that the rest of the away team will never escape if the Imperials aren't held off, he blocks their exit and stays behind to fight Gideon's troops while they retreat. He proceeds to throw himself into the horde of Imperials and fight on to his last breath against the Praetorians. For all his faults, he was a true Mandalorian to the end.
  • Imagine how his son Ragnar is gonna react when he learns about his father's death. Last time he saw his father was when Paz told him to take all the other kids away from the battlefield, from which his father didn't come back.
  • Paz's Heroic Sacrifice also mirrors Bo-Katan's final words to Obi-Wan in "The Lawless" as she aids in his escape. He knows that while he isn't making it out alive, the others will, and will continue Mandalore's tradition of surviving, perservering, and fighting on when all hope seems lost.
  • Just to hammer the gravity of his death home, we see his fallen corpse slumped in almost the same pose as Kuill way back in "The Reckoning", and the same orchestral rendition of the title theme plays over the credits.

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