Star Wars‘ New TV Canon has created a massive plot hole in the original trilogy, and it needs to be fixed. Almost every project in the Star Wars Franchise is built around the story created in the original trilogy. The prequel and sequel trilogies developed the legacy of Darth Vader and the Skywalker family, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Deepened the Jedi’s knowledge, Star Wars Rebels informed us of the origin of the rebellion, and so on. However, one relatively new angle of the Star Wars Franchise is not as dependent on the original trilogy’s narrative: The Mandalorian.
With the advent of Disney+, The Mandalorian Sub-franchises have grown in scope and narrative importance. Although it may deal with the consequences of the defeat of the empire in Return of the JediThe Skywalkers have very little to do with the story (aside from Luke Skywalker’s relatively brief appearances in The Mandalorian Season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett). While this has deepened Star Wars world-building, mostly for the better, The independent role of the Mandalorians in the franchise raised one major question: where were the Mandalorians during the events of the original trilogy?
The Mandalorian Purge was meant to answer this problem
Apart from Boba Fett’s brief appearance – a character who doesn’t even consider himself a Mandalorian – the Mandalorians played no role in the original. Star Wars Trilogy. The real-world reason for this, of course, is that the concept of Mandalorian culture simply hadn’t been created yet. While it gains steam in the now-defunct Star Wars Legends continuity, Mandalorians as a whole are not a major part of Star Wars Canon until they were officially introduced in the Star Wars Prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars and developed further into Star Wars Rebels.
The franchise needed to be able to explain the Mandalorians away, and the vagueness of the night of a thousand tears and the destruction of Mandalore gave the franchise incredible denial.
As Mandalorian history became an increasingly important part of Star Wars lore with the debut of The MandalorianThe Mandalorian Purge became an undeniably important event in the Star Wars Timeline. It was supposed to explain the Mandalorians’ absence in the original trilogy, since surely, a warrior culture as well equipped as the Mandalorians would want to fight back against their oppressors. The franchise needed to be able to explain their absence, and the vagueness of the night of a thousand tears and the destruction of Mandalore gave the franchise incredible denial.
Star Wars recounted the Mandalorian purge
but now, Star Wars has officially confirmed when the Great Purge took place, creating a massive plot hole in the original trilogy. in the game Star Wars: OutlawsIt is revealed that the Purge of Mandalore took place in 3ABY. The Star Wars Timeline is divided into BBY (before the Battle of Yavin) and ABY (after the Battle of Yavin), after the destruction of the first Death Star in the original Star Wars Movie, later retitled A new hope. for context, Return of the Jedi is set in 4ABY.
Before this there were two logical explanations for the Mandalorian departure. Either the Great Purge happened at the beginning of the war, killing millions of Mandalorians and destroying their home world, or the Purge happened as part of Operation: Cinder after the Battle of Endor, and the majority of Mandalorians remained loyal to the Empire. All the while, giving them no reason to be involved in the fight. with Star Wars: Outlaws New information, no explanation makes sense.
We no longer know what the Mandalorians were doing during the original trilogy
We know that a major Mandalorian family, Clan Ren, returned to the Empire in 1BBY, courtesy of Star Wars Rebels and Sabine Wren. This would explain why the Empire and Moff Gideon decided to target Mandalore during the war, but it doesn’t explain why the Mandalorians didn’t join the Rebel Alliance in the fight against the Empire during the original trilogy. This is especially notable since Sabin Rn, who was in close contact with the Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryse, has ties to the rebel command.
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Did only Clan Ren fight back against the Mandalorians? Why did the empire wait four years after the events of Star Wars Rebels To attack them? We know Moff Gideon was after Mandalore’s resources, but he could have bombarded the planet at any time.. Certainly, the Empire was afraid of what the Mandalorians might be able to do to them. Something does not add up.
The Mandalorians are clearly here to stay. They were a staple of Star Wars Mythology since Star Wars: The Clone WarsAnd with the upcoming release of The Mandalorian & Grogu And the Mandalorian era culmination movie, they will only become all the more important. Star Wars Needs to properly solidify his timeline, though. The longer the confusion lasts, the less Star Wars‘ New Republic era and the history of the Mandalorians will make sense.
Upcoming Star Wars movies
- Release date
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May 22, 2026