What Was That Dragon Creature in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Episode 4?
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The Star Wars world is full of some of the most out-of-this-world (quite literally) creatures to ever exist, and we’ve already seen a handful of them in The Mandalorian. Episode 4 of The Mandalorian season 3 allowed us to see another new addition to the creatures that have always been part and parcel of Star Wars, as this came in the form of a winged dragon monster that captured one of the boys in the Mandalorian encampment. So, what was that dragon creature?
This dragon-like creature was not identified, but it was called a raptor by Bo-Katan, who led the hunting party for the child that it captured. The raptor was known to frequent the Mandalorian camp to capture kids so that it could feed its children back in its nest.
The truth is that this dragon-like creature might not be very important to the storyline of The Mandalorian. Still, it is already the second creature to attack the Mandalorian camp on that unidentified planet, temporarily serving as their base. In that regard, creatures such as this raptor may be going to convince the Mandalorians to take back their home.
Dragon-Like Creature Explained
The Mandalorian has been a treasure trove of different creatures that have already formed part of what makes the Star Wars galaxy as great as it is. We’ve seen many different monsters in this series, and season 3 has already treated us to more monsters we’ve never seen on our screens before. Of course, the fourth episode of season 3 has another monster added to the lore.
In episode 3, we saw that Din Djarin and Bo-Katan went to the planet that served as the temporary home of the Children of the Watch. Of course, they stayed there, especially after remnants of the Empire bombed Bo-Katan’s home. Luckily, she was also allowed to join this tribe after she bathed in the Living Waters of Mandalore and never took off her helmet.
Episode 4 allowed us to see that the foundlings of the Children of the Watch were undergoing training from the Mandalorian instructors. This included the very same child that had just been inducted as a true member of the tribe back in the opening scene of episode 1 of season 3. Din Djarin allowed Grogu to challenge this child to a spar using darts, only for Grogu to use his Jedi leaping abilities to get the best of the boy.
Upset after losing to Grogu, the boy separated himself a bit from the rest of the tribe, and that was when a winged creature suddenly appeared out of nowhere to capture him. So, what was this dragon-like monster?
The dragon-like monster we saw in episode 4 of The Mandalorian season 3 was never named, just like the monster that attacked the Children of the Watch back in episode 1. However, we know that Bo-Katan called it the raptor, as it fits the description of what a raptor (not the dinosaur) is.
In common terms, raptors are birds of prey, as this term is only used for winged avian creatures, such as eagles, hawks, falcons, or owls. But the term also applies to any other winged creature known to hunt from the sky with precision, which is probably why Bo-Katan called this creature a raptor.
What Happened to the Raptor?
After the raptor abducted the boy, it quickly took off with him, only for Din Djarin, Paz Vizsla, and Bo-Katan to go after it. Din and Paz ended up falling behind due to the limitations of their jetpacks. That was when Bo-Katan used her ship to follow the raptor back to its nest. However, instead of rescuing the boy, Bo-Katan returned to the base because she felt it would be too risky to attack the raptor as it could kill the boy at any given moment once threatened.
As such, the Mandalorians decided to create a party to rescue the boy, with Bo-Katan leading the way. They decided that it would be best to climb to the raptor’s nest instead of using their jetpacks because they needed to rescue the boy stealthily and without startling the raptor to safeguard the hostage. They had to use their whipcord launchers to scale the mountain.
After reaching the nest, the raptor was nowhere to be found, but Din Djarin sensed heat signals hidden under the nest. Paz Vizsla was quick to act because, as he revealed, the boy was actually his son named Ragnar. But the heat signature belonged to the three babies of the raptor, as the mother emerged from the other side of the nest to regurgitate Ragnar, who was still alive.
This led to an aerial fight involving the raptor and the Mandalorians, as they could use their whipcords on its wings to slow the creature down. Bo-Katan and Din got the boy back from the raptor safely. However, the creature fell from the sky, as it could no longer use its wings properly due to how they got tangled up by the Mandalorians’ wires.
After falling into the water, the raptor fell prey to a bigger monster. A creature similar to the dinosaur turtle we saw in episode 1 of season 3 quickly ate the raptor. This was nature in play. As Qui-Gon Jinn once said, there’s always a bigger fish.
The rescue party returned to base successfully, as Ragnar survived what would have been a fatal encounter. Meanwhile, Bo-Katan returned the raptor babies to the base to present them to the Armorer as the newest foundlings. She took things in a literal manner as she knew that the Children of the Watch were known to indoctrinate abandoned and orphaned children into their tribe. That means there’s a good chance that these raptor babies would be raised to become invaluable members of the Children of the Watch and will probably become “pets” for some of the Mandalorians.
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