The Mandalorian: How Did Moff Gideon Get the Darksaber?

The Darksaber has always had a symbolic meaning in Star Wars, as it returned in The Mandalorian to reprise its role as the symbol of leadership in Mandalorian culture. Of course, it first made its live-action debut at the end of season 1 when Moff Gideon used it to escape his crashed TIE Fighter. Since then, it has returned to Bo-Katan Kryze, who originally obtained the blade from Sabine Wren during the events of Star Wars: Rebels. But how did Gideon even come to possess the Darksaber?

Bo-Katan revealed in episode 7 of The Mandalorian season 3 that Moff Gideon obtained the Darksaber when she surrendered Mandalore to him in exchange for sparing the Mandalorians. However, he betrayed her and still bombed and destroyed the surface of Mandalore even after Bo-Katan surrendered.

The fact that Bo-Katan willingly surrendered to Gideon made the Imperial Moff worthy of the Darksaber. Of course, we know he eventually lost that blade to Din Djarin at the end of season 2. Then again, ownership of the blade returned to Bo-Katan, who is now worthy of it. So, with that said, let’s look at how Moff Gideon obtained the Darksaber in the first place.

Bo-Katan Surrendered

One of the things that we know about the Darksaber is that it can only be won through combat or whenever a person essentially defeats the rightful owner of the blade. Whoever possesses the blade becomes Mandalore’s rightful ruler, as we saw in Star Wars: Clone Wars when Darth Maul defeated Pre Vizsla to become the new owner of the Darksaber. Then again, the blade reached Sabine Wren in Star Wars: Rebels. And when Sabine learned about the importance of the blade to the Mandalorians, she willingly gave it to Bo-Katan so that she could lead the Mandalorians in their uprising against the Empire.

But we were surprised that the Darksaber had Moff Gideon at the end of The Mandalorian season 1 as he used it to escape his crashed TIE Fighter. That was when people began to speculate how he obtained the Darksaber, which Bo-Katan last held during the Rebellion. And when we learned about the Night of a Thousand Tears, which was the bombing of Mandalore during the Empire’s reign, we concluded that Moff Gideon somehow defeated Bo-Katan when he led the Imperial forces during the bombing of the Mandalorian home planet.

Episode 7 of season 3, however, changed all that. Bo-Katan and the Mandalorians went to Mandalore to try to take the Great Forge back. They ended up meeting a few Mandalorian survivors that have been on the planet ever since the bombing that happened about a decade ago. After Bo-Katan and the others boarded the ship of the surviving Mandalorians, the survivor told the story of how he witnessed the bombing of the planet all because “they refused to surrender.”

That was when Bo-Katan told the truth. She said that Mandalore never refused to surrender to the Empire because she surrendered, which was never in line with the Mandalorian way. Bo-Katan said that she met with the ISB and Moff Gideon after the Night of the Thousand Tears, which destroyed almost all of the major cities of Mandalore.

Kryze realized that defeat was imminent because the Mandalorians had lost most of their major forces due to the bombing. As such, she agreed to a ceasefire with the Empire in exchange for the safety of the remaining cities and the citizens of Mandalore. She surrendered so that the other Mandalorians’ lives would be spared.

The fact that Bo-Katan surrendered to Moff Gideon allowed him to become the rightful owner of the Darksaber. Even though the Darksaber can only be acquired through combat, Bo-Katan essentially yielded the blade to Gideon when she surrendered the entire planet to him in exchange for the safety of the remaining cities and citizens of Mandalore.

Nevertheless, Moff Gideon still decided to bomb Mandalore again so that the remaining cities and surviving citizens would be killed. He betrayed Bo-Katan because he knew that the Mandalorians would always threaten him as long as they were alive, as he understood that it was never in line with Mandalorian traditions to surrender to a foreigner. After all, they fought with the Jedi countless times and never even surrendered to them.

Will Moff Gideon Get The Darksaber Back?

Of course, back in the events of the finale of season 2 of The Mandalorian, we saw that Din Djarin became the rightful owner of the Darksaber when he defeated Moff Gideon to rescue Grogu from the Imperial remnants. He didn’t know anything about the Darksaber, so he didn’t care about who defeated Gideon as long as Grogu was safe. That was why Bo-Katan was disappointed to see that Din had become the new owner of the blade, as it could only be won in combat.

Din used the Darksaber as his primary melee weapon during the events of The Book of Boba Fett and the early part of The Mandalorian season 3. However, he struggled to use it in all of the times that he tried to wield the blade.

Then, in episode 2 of season 3, he got captured by a mechanical creature while exploring Mandalore. Bo-Katan defeated this creature to rescue Din Djarin. However, the titular Mandalorian still possessed the blade. Only when Axe Woves and his Mandalorian mercenaries refused to follow Bo-Katan, Din told them how this creature defeated him but ended up getting killed by Kryze.

The fact that Bo-Katan defeated the creature that defeated Din Djarin meant that she was now the owner of the Darksaber and the rightful ruler of Mandalore. All of the Mandalorians agreed that this made sense as she was now the current wielder of the blade, which Moff Gideon demanded from her because he believed that he was now the rightful ruler of the Mandalorians. So, will Moff Gideon ever get the Darksaber back?

It is unlikely that Gideon will ever get the Darksaber back because Bo-Katan is no longer willing to relinquish it to him, especially now that she has grown to become the true leader she was meant to be. As such, Gideon would have to pry the blade from her dead hands if he wanted it back. But it is unlikely that he could kill Bo-Katan in the season finale of The Mandalorian season 3.

As such, the Darksaber will likely stay with Bo-Katan. However, there’s also a chance it will find its way to Din Djarin again. As for Moff Gideon, he is unlikely to wield it again, especially because he is likely to die at the end of season 3.