The Mandalorian Mythosaur is going to be a big part of season 3 and Mandalore

There is a sense of foreboding in the opening of The Mandalorian episode 3. “Did You See Anything Alive?” Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) questions Din Djarin in the depths of Mandalore. He doesn’t know what she means, but we do.

The Mandalorian Season 3 is only three episodes, but the Disney Plus show has already dropped some major shoutouts to Star Wars lore. One of the biggest of these arrived last week in Episode 2, “Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore,” when Bo-Katan came face-to-face with a Mythosaurus – a legendary creature never seen on screen before .

It’s enough to get a die-hard Star Wars the pulse of the fan; however, casual viewers probably have a few questions. These questions range from the basic (What is a Mythosaurus?) to the decidedly more involved (). Fortunately, we can answer them all.

The guide covers everything you need to know about Mythosaurs, including their biology and ties to Mandalorian society. It also touches on the Mythosaurs’ previous appearances in Star Wars canon and rounds up any reference to it The Mandalorian to date.

What is a Mythosaurus?

As their name suggests, Mythosaurs are legendary beasts of enormous size. They are covered in dark yellow scales and have thick, horn-like tusks that protrude from either side of their mouths. While the Mythosaur glimpsed in Episode 2 chose the Living Waters of Mandalore as his lair, the species itself is amphibious and therefore as happy on land as it is underwater.

According to legend, Mandalore the Great fought and somehow defeated a Mythosaurus. He then tamed the beast and rode it into battle (as you do); other ancient Mandalorian warriors soon followed suit. Unfortunately, the glorious monster-mounted heyday of the Mandalorians did not last long, and the Mythosaurs became extinct long before the events of The Mandalorian.

Mythosaurs, however, had a lasting influence on Mandalorian culture. In particular, the signet ring of the skull of Mandalore – in fact the royal seal of the entire planet – was inspired by the Mythosaur legend. The skull seal is such a strong part of the Mandalorians’ shared identity that it shows up everywhere, but especially in their clothing (there’s one on the yoke of Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor, for example).

Nor is Mandalorian society’s veneration for Mythosaurs purely aesthetic; it’s mystical. The creatures are at the center of a prophecy about the fate of Mandalore and its people, but more on that later That later on.

Have Mythosaurs appeared in other Star Wars stories?

Image: Lucasfilm

Despite their significance to Mandalor history and culture, Mythosaurs aren’t actually that common in Star Wars stories. Indeed, “Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore” was the first time one of the camera-shy creatures appeared on screen. Prior to this brief cameo, Mythosaur sightings were limited to licensed media – most of which were produced before Disney hit the reset button in the “Expanded Universe” of the saga of books, video games, cartoons, and comics.

Memorable, Marvel’s classic Star Wars comic book series introduced a replica of a Mythosaurus skeleton built like a colossal amusement park attraction (seriously). Other, indirect references to authentic members of the species are present in other sources, most of them related to the saga’s distant past, as depicted in the Stories of the Jedi comics and the Knights of the Old Republic games they inspired.

As we said before, little (if any) of this material is still part of the official canon. After Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the latter announced that it would downgrade virtually everything except the Star Wars films and the Clone Wars animated series to apocryphal “Legends” status. The result of this? Almost everything we previously knew about Mythosaurs meant no crouching.

The presence of the skull seal in canon movies and TV shows meant that these quasi-kaiju probably still existed in this new streamlined galaxy far, far away (a fact later confirmed via a recognized magazine). But their history and significance, and even what they looked like, was now up in the air.

How does the Mythosaurus tie in with The Mandalorian?

Image: Lucasfilm

Lucky for sci-fi monster lovers, both of you The Mandalorian and its spin-off series, Boba Fett’s book, have slowly filled in several gaps in revised mythosaur lore. The presence of the creatures is felt from the jump as they are referenced in dialogue The Mandalorian‘s very first episode, “Chapter 1: The Mandalorian.” In this episode, Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) new ally Kuiil (Misty Rosas, voiced by Nick Nolte) drops the name “the great Mythosaur” and confirms that the ancient Mandalorians also used the creatures as their trusty steeds in post-Disney canon. .

The rest of the year goes quiet on the Mythosaur front The Mandalorian season 1 and all of season 2 (despite Boba Fett’s armor); However, Boba Fett’s book soon brings them back into the spotlight. The spin-off’s fifth episode, “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian”, features a scene in which Din Djarin’s mentor, the Armorer, recalls how “songs of the past predicted the Mythosaur to rise to a new age of Mandalore.”

This led to speculation that The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni were sowing the seeds for a Mythosaur unboxing party in Season 3. As we now know, that was indeed the case, and a Mythosaur (or at least one of his lurkers) made his debut in the second episode of the third season. The oversized beast (rightly so) scares the hell out of Bo-Katan before jetpacking away – though, interestingly enough, it doesn’t lash out at her or the incapacitated Din.

Why the Mythosaurus doesn’t attack is a mystery for now, but what does seem clear is that it will play a big part in what’s left of The Mandalorian season 3. Will Din, Bo-Katan or other Mandalorian warriors saddle up on the back of the Mythosaurus? Are there any more Mythosaurs, in the mines of Mandalore or elsewhere in the Star Wars universe? And will they usher in a new start for Mandalorian society, as previously predicted? Only time (and The Mandalorian the five remaining episodes of Season 3) will tell.