‘The Mandalorian’: Why Is Mandalore Uninhabitable? What Happened?

In The Book of Boba Fett, we learned that Din Djarin became an apostate after the Armorer expelled him from their cult since he removed his helmet in front of a living person quite a few times. As such, season 3 of The Mandalorian opened up with a Star Wars treat when we saw Mandalorians fighting a gigantic crocodile, only for the apostate to save them all. Din went to the Armorer to convince him that he had a chance to redeem himself by bathing in the waters in the mines of Mandalore, only for the Armorer to tell him that Mandalore had been destroyed. So, why is Mandalore uninhabitable?

Mandalore is uninhabitable because the Empire turned the planet’s entire surface to glass using fusion rays after the Great Purge of Mandalore. This meant it became almost impossible for anyone to live on the planet. The Tribe also believes that Mandalore is cursed and poisoned due to this.

The entire storyline of season 3 of The Mandalorian will focus entirely on Din Djarin’s efforts to try to retake his people’s home world, even though he has never lived on that planet. But he is optimistic that the waters hidden in the mines of Mandalore still exist. So, with that said, let’s look at the reason why Mandalore is no longer inhabitable.

What Happened to Mandalore?

One of the things that we always knew about The Mandalorian was that the Mandalorians were considered to be an “extinct” group of people because there weren’t many left in the galaxy. Most of the Mandalorians were forced to live the lives of mercenaries and bounty hunters who needed to do whatever it took them to survive the harsh galaxy after they no longer had a home they could call their own.

Even Din Djarin, who is a Mandalorian by creed after the Children of the Watch found him, a tribal group of Mandalorians, never lived in the homeworld of the Mandalorians. Then, again, we know that Mandalore was a thriving civilization before the events of The Mandalorian, as the entire planet prospered during the time of Star Wars: Clone Wars and was under the control of the Empire during the events of Star Wars: Rebels. So, what exactly happened to Mandalore?

During the events of the Clone Wars, Mandalore had a thriving civilization that had already forsaken the people’s warrior mentality so that they could live a new peaceful way during the regime of Duchess Satine Kryze. The problem was that the Death Watch, a traditional group of Mandalorians that wanted to bring the old ways, decided to rebel against the new regime as they were successful at toppling down the New Mandalore that Satine envisioned. And because of the civil unrest in Mandalore, the Republic stepped in to occupy the planet.

Of course, the Republic transitioned into the tyrannical Empire that ruled Mandalore with an iron fist instead of allowing the people to govern themselves and live the way of the Mandalorian warrior. This led Bo-Katan Kryze, the sister of the late Duchess Satine and the leader of the remnants of the Death Watch, to join the Rebels during the events of Star Wars: Rebels. 

During the Rebellion, the Mandalorians were too difficult for the Empire to keep on a leash due to the Rebel forces that Bo-Katan led. This forced the Empire to purge the entire planet by bombing the major cities so that Mandalore would no longer be able to thrive as a civilization. And the Empire decided to destroy Mandalore so that no other force in the galaxy could use the Mandalorians, the greatest soldiers to ever exist, against the Empire, as this explains why the Mandalorians never joined the Rebels during the events of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Even after the fall of the Empire, the planet remained uninhabitable as the Mandalorians were scattered all over the galaxy and were forced to live in hiding or work as mercenaries and bounty hunters. Meanwhile, the Children of the Watch continued to exist because they were on one of the moons of Mandalore during the Purge of Mandalore. But because the planet was destroyed, even this tribe of warriors decided to become nomads that moved from one planet to another to work as bounty hunters.

Why Is Mandalore Uninhabitable?

As mentioned, the Empire destroyed the cities of Mandalore by bombing the planet to dust. As such, the Mandalorians were either killed or forced to flee during the events of the Rebellion. But civilizations can still be rebuilt from the ground, and yet the Mandalorians never returned to their planet to try to rebuild five years after the Empire was defeated. So, why is Mandalore uninhabitable?

After the Empire bombed the surface of Mandalore to destroy the cities and render Mandalorian civilization to dust, they did the unthinkable. Using fusion rays, the Empire turned the surface of Mandalore to glass, as that was what Din Djarin gave the Armorer during the first episode of season 3 of The Mandalorian. He gave her a shard of glass that convinced the Armorer that the surface had turned into glass.

This is similar to how conquerors and tyrannical civilizations of old used to salt the lands of their enemies after destroying their settlements or conquering them so that their people would no longer be able to grow anything on the land. As such, the Empire turned the planet’s surface to glass so that the Mandalorians would no longer be allowed to thrive ever again, especially because the minds of Mandalore had the one thing that made the Mandalorians special—Beskar Steel.

Nevertheless, Din Djarin is optimistic about the possibility of Mandalore still existing underneath the glass surface. He believes that the mines of Mandalore still exist deep under the planet’s surface, and that’s why he thinks that he can still redeem himself by going on a mission to try to prove that the waters of the mines of Mandalore still flow.