What Is The Night Of A Thousand Tears Mentioned In The Book Of Boba Fett?

The Book of Boba Fett and all of the other Star Wars shows on Disney+ are great at making sure that they stay true to the Star Wars continuity by referencing different events that happened in the past. One such reference that was made in episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett was the Night of a Thousand Tears, which The Armorer told Din Djarin when she was talking about the Darksaber’s history. But what is the Night of a Thousand Tears mentioned in The Book of Boba Fett?

The Night of a Thousand Tears happened during the Great Purge of Mandalore when the Empire massacred the Mandalorians as Bo-Katan Kryze tried to rally the planet against them. When the Empire realized they could not control Mandalore, they decided to devastate the planet instead.

One of the most intriguing stories in the Star Wars universe involves the Mandalorians and how they have always been a part of the lore. We have seen how the Mandalorians were involved during the Clone War and how they lost control of the planet to Darth Maul and, eventually, the Empire. And Lucasfilm continues to reference the fate of Mandalore in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

What Is The Night Of A Thousand Tears In Star Wars?

In episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett, we saw Din Djarin returning as the sole focus of the entire episode. Of course, this is because The Book of Boba Fett is, after all, a spin-off of The Mandalorian, which stars the aforementioned Djarin. And one of the best parts about this episode was how it shed light on past events surrounding the Mandalorians and their planet of Mandalore.

During the episode, Din Djarin got wounded by his own Darksaber during a bounty mission because he didn’t know how to properly wield it. It was later referenced in the episode that the Darksaber is a lot heavier than it looks, and this was also referenced in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels.

When Djarin limped his way to find the hidden base of the remaining Mandalorians, The Armorer asked the titular Mandalorian what kind of weapon was able to wound him like that. To that end, Din Djarin showed her the Darksaber. From there, The Armorer told him the tale behind the Darksaber while also mentioning an event called the Night of a Thousand Tears while giving Djarin a history lesson. So, what is the Night of a Thousand Tears?

The Night of a Thousand Tears happened during the Siege of Mandalore, which is often called the Great Purge of Mandalore. As the name of the event suggests, the Great Purge was a catastrophic event that basically destroyed the entire Mandalorian civilization. This explains why there are so few Mandalorians left in the galaxy.

Siege Of Mandalore Explained

While the Night of a Thousand Tears is basically the fancier name for the Siege of Mandalore, what exactly happened during the Great Purge of Mandalore? What led to the devastation of the entire planet of Mandalore? For us to get to the bottom of this event, we have to go back to the past stories regarding the entire Star Wars lore.

In Star Wars: Clone Wars, we were introduced to the internal conflict that the Mandalorians were locked into because the New Mandalorians had a pacifist mindset that the more traditional Mandalorians were not exactly agreeable to. 

The New Mandalorians were led by Duchess Satine Kryze, who was implied to have been in a romantic relationship with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Then there was the traditional Mandalorians called the Deathwatch, led by Pre Vizsla, an ancestor of Paz Vizsla and the descendant of the first and only Mandalorian Jedi named Tarre Vizsla.

With the help of Darth Maul, Pre Vizsla was able to take control over the entire planet of Mandalore during the events of the Clone Wars. Vizsla was then executed by Darth Maul, who took control over the planet and installed a puppet leader in his place. However, during the Siege of Mandalore, Maul was removed from power, as Mandalore was taken over by the Galactic Republic shortly before it was reformed to the Galactic Empire.

While the Empire saw a few smaller rebellions from the Mandalorians during their occupation of Mandalore, they encountered trouble when Bo-Katan Kryze, the sister of the former Duchess Satine and a follower of Pre Vizsla, tried to rally the Mandalorians against them. She used the Darksaber, a Mandalorian symbol of power, to unite the entire planet of Mandalore against the Empire.

When the Empire realized that it was very difficult to subdue the Mandalorians and rule over them, they decided to devastate the entire planet instead. This is what we call the Night of a Thousand Tears, as the Empire basically bombed the entire planet using TIE Bombers and killed most of the Mandalorians through the use of KX-series security droids.

As such, Mandalore was left in ruins, and many of the remaining Mandalorians were scattered all over the galaxy. The only reason why Din Djarin’s Mandalorian sect survived this was that they were stationed on the moon of Concordia during the Great Purge of Mandalore.

What Is The Curse Of The Darksaber?

According to The Armorer, one of the reasons why the Mandalorians failed in their fight against the Empire was due to the fact that Bo-Katan Kryze was not the rightful owner of the Darksaber. This meant that the Darksaber is a double-edged blade in the sense that it could help unite the people of Mandalore or lead them to their doom due to its curse. But what exactly is the curse of the Darksaber?

The Darksaber is simply an odd-shaped lightsaber that was forged a thousand years before the events of The Book of Boba Fett. It was owned by Tarre Vizsla, the first and only Mandalorian Jedi. After Tarre’s death, the Darksaber was kept in a Jedi Temple until it was stolen by House Vizsla, believing that owning the Darksaber was their birthright.

Since then, House Vizsla has used the Darksaber as a symbol of power, especially because of how the House stuck with the older and more traditional warrior-race beliefs of the Mandalorians, even during the time of the pacifist rule of the New Mandalorians. Pre Vizsla used the Darksaber to unite the Mandalorians against the New Mandalorians and take over the planet. And the only way for anyone to rightfully wield the Darksaber was for it to be won in single combat.

During the events of Star Wars: Rebels, a Mandalorian named Sabine Wren found the Darksaber in Dathomir. She became the new owner of the blade and even trained with it under Jedi Knight Kanan Jarus and Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger.

However, during the conflicts between the Empire and a group of Mandalorians led by Bo-Katan Kryze, Sabine gave the Darksaber to Bo-Katan because she believed that it was the will of the Force for her to find it and eventually give it to the leader of the Mandalorian rebels. While the intent was pure, it ultimately backfired on the Mandalorians because Bo-Katan did not win the blade in single combat. That meant that she was a cursed wielder of the Darksaber.

While wielding the Darksaber, Bo-Katan was not able to properly unite all of the Houses of Mandalore under her banner. This eventually led to the destruction of Mandalore, known as the Night of a Thousand Tears, which happened during the Great Purge.

In telling the story of the Darksaber, The Armorer told Din Djarin that Bo-Katan’s story was a cautionary tale that Mandalorians should know because it showed what can happen if someone wielded the blade without winning it through combat. That was the reason why Paz Vizsla demanded to win the Darksaber from Din Djarin instead of taking it for himself.

When Did The Night Of A Thousand Tears Occur?

The Night of a Thousand Tears occurred during the Siege of Mandalore and the Great Purge, which all happened during the time of the Rebellion against the Empire. Also known as the Galactic Civil War, the Rebellion happened from 4 BBY to 5 ABY which was also the time when the Mandalorians started rebelling against the Empire. This means that the Night of a Thousand Tears also happened some time during that time span.