The new show on Disney+, The Mandalorian, has mentioned the “Great Purge” as the reason why the Mandalorians are in hiding. The leader of The Tribe has vaguely mentioned it, but they haven’t told us for certain what exactly happened to the Mandalorians and how the Empire got their hands on absurd amounts of the precious Beskar metal that is native to their world. 

Let’s take a look at what exactly happened to Mandalore during the Great Purge of Mandalore and the warrior culture that was feared all over the galaxy. They are infamous for being known to kill Jedi and put up a fight like no other warrior in the galaxy. They are feared and had political influence on hundreds of other systems, so how could they end up in the shadows?

How Could The Empire Take Control of Mandalore fOR THE GREAT PURGE?

During Star Wars: The Clone Wars the Mandalorians turned into a pacifist society, one that was respected across the galaxy. Their warrior number had dwindled and this was their reposnse. After the rise of the Empire, they knew they would need to rebuild their warrior society once again to become the presence they once were. When did the Empire begin making moves on Mandalore?

The answer to the question lies mostly within Rebels. This is the best source for an explanation of what had to Mandalore. As a powerful nation, one that was influential politically with a lot of systems, they were a problem for the Empire. A culture like the Mandalorians won’t allow for such an invasive form of government to rule their people and they knew it. The Mandalorians could also hold up in a war against the Empire, they have the weaponry and the armor is blaster resistant, so what’s the Empire to do?

Develop New Weapons FOR a great purge

The Empire is relentless and as we know, they’ll stop at nothing to take control of the galaxy. They are all over the place and Palpatine has his puppets waging war and taking control of entire worlds. In the process, they are completely willing to wipe out entire civilizations to get what they want. They blew up Alderaan and Scariff, an Empire base full of their own men. So why wouldn’t they risk everything for this Great Purge of Mandalore.

They are clearly capable of wiping out worlds, but they can’t blow up the planet because they need to use the Beskar. If they can develop some sort of weapon that harnesses the power of the Death Star into a smaller weapon or even get their hands on some disintegration rifles, they’ll be able to take some out. Even still, the Mandalorians are superb warriors and will still put up a real fight against the Empire.

The weapon would need to target the armor, it would take that out of the equation and put them to a closer level with the stormtroopers. They have access to the greatest scientists from all over the galaxy and they should be able to make a weapon that will be effective enough against the armor. So what was the weapon? The Arc Pulse Generator; it targets the beskar armor and disintegrates the person wearing it. It was developed by Sabine Wren at the Academy of Mandalore.

How did they get this weapon?

Well, the Mandalorians and the Empire were allies. Somewhat-sort of allies. The Empire knew they had to be smart if they wanted to take them out, so they teamed up to develop this superweapon, the arc pulse generator. The weapon could be configured to target any type of armor, such as plastoid, a component to stormtrooper armor.

Wren found out that the Empire was testing the weapon out on her own people and defected. She joined the rebels, but before she made sure to destroy the plans and the weapon. Using reverse engineering the Empire was able to rebuild it and started using it against the Mandalorians again, disintegrating them like Jawas. This is the beginning of the Great Purge of Mandalore.

Thrawn ordered to use the weapon against Clan Wren, but it proved to be much weaker than the original. A desperate haste to capture Wren to force her to make it more powerful ended up poorly as she adjusted it to target Stormtrooper armor. She destroyed it with a dark saber and blew up the Star Destroyer it was on with it.

A New And Improved Weapon FOR the Great PUrge of Mandalore

With the destruction of that version and the proven success of it, the Empire is sure to develop a new one. Palpatine isn’t one to run and we all know he has a terrible temper, revenge is sure to come. A new weapon and an even larger invasion will be his answer to the Mandalorian problem.

There were multiple invasions of the planet, but it wasn’t until the third that the Empire was finally able to break through their defenses and take control of the planet. They sent the Mandalorians running with their new weapons. That’s when the Empire started to mine the beskar and use it for their own desires.

The beskar was mined from the planet and its moon, Concordia. The remaining Mandalorians took what they could and ran off into hiding to try and keep the culture alive. Following the Great Purge of Mandalore they started bouncing from planet to planet, they need to stay in the shadows until their numbers can build and they can get their revenge. That or the Empire collapses. Which brings us to The Mandalorian and his tribe that’s still very much in hiding. They fled their homeworld after the invasion of the Empire, which would explain their hatred for them.

I have spoken

The Mandalorian Show will hopefully give us more of an explanation of what exactly happened to the people after the Great Purge of Mandalore and where they have all gone. We know of Mando’s tribe, but they need to relocate. Will they encounter other Mandalorians who will conjoin the tribes or will they want other tribes off their turf? Hopefully, we get an answer.

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