Mandalore, home planet of the Mandalorians, has a complicated history

Din Djarin embarks on a journey of redemption during the pilot episode MandalorianSeason 3, the quest takes you to Mandalore, Mandalorian home world. We’ve been to Mandalore a few times in the Star Wars universe so far (at least the canon version of it), including in the Star Wars RebelsAnimations, flashbacks Mandalorian. But we still haven’t gotten a full look at that planet, even in its ruined state, though the new season of MandalorianIt may be possible to make this change.

Interview with Polygon: Rick Famuyiwa, executive producer and director of Mandalore, explained how Mandalore was incredibly significant to the current season and where most of the biggest action will be taking place.

“The idea of Mandalore, the story around it and the lore and the Great Purge and its effect on this society of people, both what they did in the animated series and what’s hinted at on the show, has been very central,” Famuyiwa told Polygon. “[It has been] part of the story that’s hung over it all and what it all means, particularly for this covert of Mandalorians that are in hiding. The place now gets to have some context and sort of gravitational pull toward the events that are happening.”

With all of its newfound importance to the story, here’s everything you need to know about Mandalore before Din Djarin and Grogu actually arrive.

What exactly is Mandalore?

Mandalore is an old planet. Along with its moon Concordia (and another one within the system called Kalevala), it’s the traditional home for the Mandalorian population and their culture. Mandalore houses also beskar. The super-durable metal Mandalorian armor are made from is rare in this galaxy. A massive Mythosaur-like creature once lived on the planet. It was said to have been tamed and its skull now forms the Mandalorian crest.

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What’s up with the Mandalorian civil wars?

Alongside its precious metals and its peoples’ warrior ways, Mandalore was also famous for the ferocity of its civil wars. These wars were so common and terrible that Mandalore’s surface became uninhabitable. Mandalore’s people had to move underground or into massive, domed cities.

Who ruled Mandalore

Mandalore was ruled over by certain family houses, clans or factions in and around civil wars. Bo-Katan belongs to the Kryze clan, while Darth Maul ruled the Shadow Collective.

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Was it the Great Purge?

Unsurprisingly, the Mandalorians, a proud, traditional warrior race, were very resistive to any attempt by the Galactic Empire to take over. So much so that they repelled many Imperial attacks before the galaxy’s new overlords became tired of the resistance and simply decided to stamp Mandalore out of existence (or close to it) instead. To do this, the Empire conducted what The Mandalorians now know as the Great Purge, a massive genocide that involved the heat destruction of the entire planet’s surface, during a bombing campaign known as the Night of a Thousand Tears, turning most of it to glass and crystal — thus finishing the job of wrecking the planet that Mandalorians themselves had done by accident for hundreds of years.

This event more or less ended Mandalore’s time as one of the galaxy’s greatest and most powerful planets.