Where Does ‘The Mandalorian’ Take Place in the ‘Star Wars’ Timeline?

The Mandalorian! Season 1 ended earlier this year, and Season 2 just began, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I’m that just that kind of deeply obsessed Star Wars fan, one that feels the need to get into the nitty-gritty of continuity.

Since I can’t stop thinking about The Mandalorian, that also means my mind keeps running in circles around one major question: Where Does The Mandalorian Fit in the Star Wars Timeline??

Seriously, as much as I found myself lost in the adventure of the Mandalorian’s weekly exploits, I found myself wondering how the Mandalorians ended up in such a dire predicament. They’re all in hiding? They can’t take off their helmets? They have to take turns going outside?? How did things get so bad and was it all because of the Great Purge?

But before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s start here:

Is The Mandalorian set before or after Star Wars?

The Mandalorian is set approximately five years after the end of Return of the Jedi, a.k.a. the final part of the Luke Skywalker trilogy; placing it (again, approximately) 25 years before the first Rey movie, The Force Awakens. Got it?

Now that we’ve got that settled, my goal the rest of the way forward is to sort out all of the Mandalorian lore and arrange it in order—and you bet I didn’t just stop at The Great Purge. Below you’ll find six Mandalorian mysteries and their solutions, but first—here’s the most intense Mandalorian timeline you could ever ask for (download a larger version).

FYI: BBY and ABY stand for “Before the Battle of Yavin” and “After the Battle of Yavin.” Reminder, the Battle of Yavin is what’s depicted in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, so all of Star Wars chronology pivots around the destruction of the first Death Star. And “C.” means “circa,” because honestly some of this is just a very informed guess.

That’s a lot of information to take in, and a whole lot of years! So, how did I determine all of that info? What’s the homework behind my speculation? Let’s get into the mysteries.

Mystery #1: When was the Great Purge?

We know from comments from the Mandalorian, a.k.a. Din Djarin, and his colleagues in the enclave on the planet Nevarro that the Great Purge was a horrific event that drove the noble warriors into hiding, kinda “like sand rats.” The Imperials claimed a lot of Mandalore’s precious beskar steel and cast it into bricks using an Imperial smelter (hence the Imperial insignia pressed into Din’s payment from Werner Herzog). But, again, what is the Great Purge and when was it?

It was easy at first to conflate the Great Purge with the attack seen in flashbacks to Din Djarin’s past. Characters talk about a horrific past incident, you show scenes from a horrific past incident, easy mistake to make. These are, however, not the same incident. We know this because the Empire perpetrated the Great Purge and it’s the Separatist Alliance seen destroying Din Djarin’s childhood village.

The Empire didn’t exist until Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, which takes place 28 years before The Mandalorian. We can narrow this span of time down further because we saw a (relatively) peaceful Mandalore in the Star Wars Rebels episode “Heroes of Mandalore,” set 10 years before The Mandalorian. And since we know that the Empire fell for good(ish) a year after Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi, we can determine with certainty that the Great Purge happened sometime during the original Star Wars trilogy while we were focusing on Luke Skywalker and his family drama.

The Great Purge has to happen sometime between 0 BBY and 5 ABY.

Mystery #2: How old is Din Djarin?

This one is tough to solve, but I came up with a logical estimate that makes sense (that is until the eventual Din Djarin novel comes out and blows up my theory). One could guess that the Mandalorian is the same age as Pedro Pascal, who is 44. That would make sense, but it’s also not like you really see Pedro Pascal that much. Plus, actors play younger or older than their real age and this is a role that obscures Pascal’s face 99.9% of the time.

Instead, it’s easier to measure Din’s age going off of the child actor that plays him in flashbacks, Aidan Bertola. While Bertola’s age isn’t out there online (and it felt sorta creepy trying to find that info), his casting info is. According to IMDbPro, his age-playing range is 8-11. That means that it’s possible that he’s playing 8-11 in those flashback scenes (as long as Din ages at a more human rate than, say, Baby Yoda).

So now that we know Din Djarin is between 8-11 in those flashbacks, Mystery #2 dovetails into Mystery #3:

Mystery #3: When did Death Watch rescue Din Djarin?

Death Watch was initially a terrorist cell operating on the moon of Mandalore called Concordia. The group, which stood in opposition to Mandalore’s pacifist rule, was formed after the Mandalorian Civil War. While that war doesn’t have a specific date on the Star Wars Wiki (which provides so much of this canonical info), it is known that it took place before Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (which is 41 years before The Mandalorian) because Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn played a part in protecting Duchess Satine Kryze from the insurgents that would become Death Watch.

You can narrow down the timing further because in the flashback to Din’s rescue, you see Death Watch fighting Separatist B2 super battle droids. Death Watch has a very clearcut history with the Separatist Alliance: they were allies in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “The Mandalore Plot” and were adversaries a year later as of the episode “A Friend in Need.” Furthermore, while it’s less likely to believe that the aggressive terrorist version of Death Watch would fight Separatist droids and save a random village, it’s more likely that the more freedom-fighter-y Death Watch under Bo-Katan Kryze’s lead would. Bo-Katan took control of a faction of Death Watch in “Shades of Reason.” And they’d have to have this fight against the Separatist droids before the Separatist army turned into the Empire.

Death Watch under Bo-Katan’s lead rescued young Din Djarin in 19 BBY, the same year that Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith is set in.

If Din Djarin was 8-11 years old at the time, then Din Djarin was born between 30-27 BBY. That means he’s 36 to 39 years old as of The Mandalorian.

Mystery #4: When did Moff Gideon get the Darksaber?

This is where you just have to shrug a bit. Specific years have not been set, but it’s known that the Darksaber was created between 1,000 to 7,000 years before A New Hope. The Darksaber was built by Tarre Viszla, the first Mandalorian to become a Jedi Knight. The Darksaber was kept in a Jedi Temple after Viszla’s death and it was stolen by Mandalorians during the Mandalorian-Jedi War (the armorer mentions this war in the Season 1 finale). Then thousands of years pass and the Darksaber, having been handed down from Viszla to Viszla, ends up in Death Watch leader Pre Viszla’s hands. Then in the years before A New Hope, pioneering Rebel officer Sabine Wren finds it and ultimately gives it to Bo-Katan Kryze in order to unite Mandalore under her rule. That’s the last time we see the Darksaber until Moff Gideon busts it out in the Mandalorian season finale.

Din Djarin says that Moff Gideon was present on Mandalore during The Great Purge (that’s how Gideon learned of the Mando’s real identity). So Moff Gideon picked up the Darksaber sometime after the Great Purge, and probably sometime after something bad happened to its previous wielder, Bo-Katan.

Mystery #5: What is the Siege of Mandalore? What is the Night of a Thousand Tears?

We know it happened in 19 BBY and we know that the upcoming Clone Wars Season 7 will finally get into it.

Mystery #6: What is The Way of the Mandalore?

This one’s still a head-scratcher. It’s weird because the whole “never remove your helmet” thing actually is not the way for every other Mandalorian we’ve seen before this show.

Death Watch took off their helmets, Sabine Wren took off her helmet, Jango Fett took off his helmet (although whether or not he’s a legit Mandalorian is TBD). It’s never been a thing, but suddenly all the Mandos are acting like it’s a thing and has always been a thing. Wookieepedia says that the Way of the Mandalore is a religion followed by just some members of the culture, and honestly, that makes the most sense. Still, Din Djarin was rescued by Death Watch and we know they didn’t follow the Way of the Mandalore during The Clone Wars. Maybe they converted?

So that’s that! Now I just have to wait for The Mandalorian Season 2 to confirm or blow up all these theories.

Watch The Mandalorian on Disney+