Topic: What Is the Mando Culture?

What is the definition of Mandalorian culture and their way of life, and what exactly is it that true Mandalorians live for? 

This question has come up in off topic conversations in several threads, so I thought it would be a good idea to make it ON topic, as it’s a question that many of us have a very strong opinion about

I personally believe they *the true Mando culture of Pre-Mandalorian Wars era, a culture I believe was followed by some later generations like the True Mandalorians and *in my opinion* the Fetts* are the Star Wars equivalent of the ancient Spartans: dedicating their lives to gaining honor in battle.

I know many members of the community here have issues with this way of looking at them, mainly due to the question of how they sustained themselves *use of slavery, worker droids, and/or raiding for their needs being beneath them in many of your minds*

However, lets look at the facts:

1. ALL the Mandalorians in Star Wars *that I know of* are warriors, from the Fetts *Jango was a farmer as a child, be he was not Mando at the time, either,* to every one you meet in the KOTOR games.

2. Much of what they use, including the fabled Basilisk War Driods, were prizes of battle, not their own creations.  Outside their armor *and I don’t know of any canon material that even makes THAT clear,* and perhaps a few weapons, *all of which could have been created for them, just under their required specs* is there anything we know of that the Mandalorians created?

That’s my opinion, what’s yours?

What is Hip?

I agree with you completely ralin.  I have always though of Mandos as a spartan type, and I can't see why they wouldn't raid, or use some kind of equivalent to slavery.  They are nomadic warriors, who will do pretty much anything it takes to win  (of course, it would have to be within their honor code.)  Don't know what else they created, just know about the armor.  Other than that, I think your pretty much spot on ralin.  correct me if I'm wrong people :D

Mandalorians are a peoples that will devote 100% to whatever they do. One of the big downfalls of a warring, nomadic society is that losses are suffered in battle.  So after defeats the Mandalorians are put in a boom and bust cycle of sorts. 

During the boom they are constantly gaining new technologies from conquered planets.

The bust would include the Mandalorians being forced to settle on a planet into the farmers we see today.  As they cannot haveothers provide for their troops.

They Mandalorians we know are currently in the bust phase.  They have just come off a devastating civil war and exhasution of resources during the Imperial Era.  Only now in Karen's Mandos are we seeing them beginning to boom.  From the rediscovery of beskar to the whole Verpine deal I hope they become the force of Mandalorians we all know from the Old Republic Era in the Correllian Insurrection.

I totally agree sev, but its impossible to be 100% devoted to whatever you do(Being a bit of a literalist  here but I know what you mean) Great theory

I was more refering to them being resilient.  And more of a metophorical thing.  Because there of course things like rasing children and aring for Mandalore to do while others are out being conquerers.

good question... I think if i'd try to answer I'd write a book... so I'll spare you guys...(try reading the Karen Travis books "Republic Commando", it'll shed some light on it)

                                                         BB* :cool:

Yes there is much about Mandalorian culture in Traviss' books, especially in Triple Zero and True Colors. Imbedded in the nature of all languages there is much of Mandalorian culture in Mando'a. Language is very importaint in any culture or society. ( Side note... esp. for LotR fans. Tolkien knew this. So as to fully develope his cultures and societies for Middle Earth he created languages for them, ading in their cultural idenities and values.) 

I am not sure what I personally feel that Mandalorian culture is. I think i am more of an intepreter of facts, a channeler of sorts, so i don't know what I think. But what I did find is this: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mandalorian#Culture

I know that wiki is not cannon and not always accurate. But this should be at least a little helpful, even if its just supporting existing ideas.

I generally like the wiki, but it's usually very general, or if it's not it's one side of an undecided theory. 

And it is all at theory for Mando culture because  *as of the last time I checked*  there is no Mandalorian section of the StarWars.com site.  So there really isn't much of anything canon on them as far as I'm concerned, leaving up to us to debate it

And  @  Sev:

Nobody, certainly not me, is questioning Mandalorian resiliency or dedication.  And I think you are 100% right about the “Boom and Bust” phases of Mando life; phases like that come with the territory when you live a Mando style of life. 

I’m talking about the “Boom” Mando way of life.  My contention is that when they have a choice, they will always live a life of warriors rather then farmers.  Farming and such work is something they do to survive in the “Bust” years, not a career choice.

But this leaves us to question... What exactly is a "Mando style of life"? That too could be open to interpretation.

I know there are the "6 tenants" that a Mando is supposed to live by, but I feel that it is more than that. I think part of it is a certain level of respect of self. That respect pushes Mando's to be the best that they can be, which leads them to be great warriors.

Those 'Six Tenants' could just be the basic. Individuals or Clans might have more of their own building off the original 6

ummmmmm, they have a race. They are very, very powerful. umm, jedi have defeated them. They wear really cool armour. They have awesome weapons. They wear helmets. They have spikes on their sholder pads. They sometimes have jetpacks. They kidnapped boba and turned him into a feared  mandalorian. that's all i know , i think....... :/

Mandalorians make their own armour (as a culture I mean, not individual Mando'ade making armour) and weapons - take the besk'ad - Mandalorian sabre, as a good example of this, not to mention all the products created by MandalMotors. Of-course they still use weapons and ships made by others and always have, sometimes even taking it from a conquered race - as with the Basilisk war-droids.
As to "what Mando's are" Mandalorians are a collection of like minded peoples from many different races that share the same basic outlook and attitude to life. There are farmers, the Fett's (the name Fett is taken from the pronunciation of Vhett (pronounced Fett) which mean farmer) - Jango's father ran a farm whilst he was Journeyman Protector on Concord Dawn, there are blacksmiths - Goran Beviin's partner Medrit is a blacksmith, there are vets, there are engineers - Jir Yomaget, head of MandalMotors and many other jobs, BUT...

...At the drop of a hat or when war or a chance to make a profit fighting, bounty hunting or body guarding or what ever then they do it. ALL this information IS canon and can be found in various sources from KT's Boba Fett: A Practical Man through to The Legacy Of The Force novels and the KOTOR games and graphic novels.

let me add a quote:

"Mandalorians were compulsive adopters, and not just of kids. They seemed to want to collect skills, qualities, technology, any advantage, that wasn't nailed down."---Jaina Solo, Legacy of the Force, Revelation.

excellent book, by the way. anyways, that's another way of saying--they have adopted many things over time--weapons, people, languages, tools, etc---but their culture has scarcely changed at all over millenia. I like the boom and bust model. Well put.

Gah! I feel so inferior because I haven't gotten to read Legacy of the Force yet....... I just started NJO.....

Don't worry--NJO is where I got a lot of my view on the Force. It's a great series, and you'll get to Legacy before too long.

I haven't read all the replies so correct me if i'm wrong, but according to what ive picked up, from books in all:

The mandalorians are a nomadic group.  They do not care about race/species, just culture.  They are experts in the art of hunting, and fighting, and also close combat using the beskad.  They mine, because mandalorian metal is strong, and they market what products they make out of that metal.  In the off seasons, a lot of mandalorians are smithies and farmers [except boba fett of course] and because they dont believe in bloodlines, they tend to adopt a lot of kids, and train them to fight-- you're not a real man untli you train.  They are cold blooded fighters when they need to survive, but loving and caring at home [again, except boba fett]

I'd kind of disagree on the spartans part because they remind me more of the maori. Maybe because the two distinctive faces of the two most famous mandalorians-- jango and boba fett were played by maoris, but when the europeans [pakehas] started settling on new zealand, some were sort of "adopted" by the tribes and trained as warriors, some also earned the right to be tattooed. The mandalorians are more ihgh tech of course, but new zealand was a land that was discovered by the maori, and if ou look up some maori weapons, a lot of them resemble the beskad. The women of the maori are elite too.

Those are a couple of good points right there.  Unlike the Spartans  *as far as I know; might be wrong, as I'm no authority on Spartan culture*  Mandalorians adopted outsiders eagerly IF they fit they Mando way of life/thinking.  And also, Mando women were expected to be warriors as well.

I don't dispute these things; perhapes your comparison is better then mine.  It's the individual mindset that connected the Spartans and the Mandos in my mind.  You know what I'm talking about if you saw the movie  300.  The part where the Arkadian *spelling* and the Spartan are looking down on the massive Persian army and the Spartan smiles; wonding if there's someone down there who is able to give him the 'Beautiful Death' *or was it Perfect Death?  need to watch it again.....*

I still challenge the idea that when the Mandalorians are in their 'Boom' phase  *see Sev's post above if you don't know what I'm talking about.....great post again, Sev* that they are farmers/miners.  And I still don't understand the resistace some have to the idea that the Mando's would use slavery/worker droids to do those tasks for them.  We know they DON'T value life as we do, in that they gain Honor and Rep. by KILLING PEOPLE!!!  *worthy oppenent when they can, but still....*  Look what they did to the Cathars and others during the Mandalorian Wars.  What was it Canderous said?  'The THOUSANDS I"ve KILLED, the WORLDS I"ve BURNED, I weep for my past," not a very nice guy really; cirtainly not someone I would expect to shocked or appauled by slavery/worker droids doing is home tasks so he can go out and ravage some other civilization. 

And just a note about the Mando's being a totally Nomadic population.  That's a word that's constantly thrown around, when we all KNOW they have a home base, the Planet Mandalore and whatever planets are in it's system!  When the Clans are away blowing stuff up, THEY live in a nomadic fashion, but they are not a Nomadic people; not as I understand the meaning of the word 'Nomadic'

Wow, that was a mouthful    :P    Any counter/supporting thoughts?

yeah that was a handful to read, but i kind of support the farming mining idea seeing it as they are self made and independant, in one of the newer books it was said they had to get food imported since the vong had killed their soil. makes complete sense, and they do distrubite weaker versions of the metal etc so they can have the advantage in their armor. of course, since they are also businessmen, the use of droids can get the job done when they are not able to.

nomadic can be long term, or short term. it just means you have no permanent base and are known to move around. a mandalorian could live so many years, but the culture is long lived, so u have to see it collectively as if the culture itself is one lifetime -from my point of view- ..so several years on one planet can be like one season. lucky for them on mandalore, they were able to still use the land, however, instead of wandering around, the mandalorians do plan to make mandalore more like a fortress so it could be more permanent =)

about 300..i've only seen it twice, i do know of a spartan fanatic though i can ask lol. the guy knows just about every line to that movie!

Well, again, I"m primarily talking about the 'Boom' area of the Mandalorians; the Mando's just before the Mandalorian Wars, and the ideals of Jaster's True Mandalorians.  Yes many Mandalorians were farmers during the era the Vong messed up the planet, that was the Mandalorians in the 'Bust' phase; a phase they've never recovered from since the Mandalorian Wars with the exception of some minor groups.

well---as to nomadic, there were only, what, 3 million mandos on the planet before Boba called a lot of them home? most are off planet, scattered throughout the galaxy. they do have a home planet, but only a fraction of them live there. so they could be considered nomadic

I Again Repeat, I am PRIMARILY talking about the Mando's of the BOOM era as described by Sev, NOT the Mando's of the post-Mandalorian Civil War, or any time in-between then and the end of the Mandalorian Wars with the possable exception of Jaster's True Mandalorians.  You can't compare the Mando's of Boba's generation with those of the Mandalorian Wars, as the new-era Mandalorians are for the most part a totally different people.  I have never *that I recall*  tried to claim that the Mando's of Boba's era were NOT farmers etc.  It's the old-school generations that I'm talking about; the REAL Mandalorian culutre, as it was before the defeat by Revan.

As you can see, Werda Verd, I totally agree. 

However, you arn't desciribing a nomadic CULTURE, but group from it who chose to live a nomadic life. 

'From Webster's New World Dictionary:'  "Nomad: 1. a memberof a tribe or people having no permanent home, but moving about constantly in search of food, pasture, etc.   2. Any wanderer who has no fixed home"

Everyone's description  *including mine*  fit's #2, in that when Crusading or doing something in that line, INDIVIDUAL Mando's wander and live a Nomad's life.  But the culture itself does not fit #1, ESPECIALLY if you guys are right about farming, mining, etc.  A true nomadic culture would almost HAVE to fit my view of them, as the primary source of food/income for nomads is to hunt, and the StarWars equivilent for hunting would be maurading and raiding; a warrior lift that I have been describing in my earlier posts

ok. I only know of the more recent mandos, sadly......

yeah, I understand.  Almost all the new books out there are about Jango, Boba, and the few new Mandalorians that are out there.  All I really know about the old Mandalorians is what I've gleaned from KOTOR and other places like that.  Considering what little there is on them, that's about all anybody knows about them   :P

But that's why we can debate the issue; becuase we know so little.  It's still up for speculation.  Based on what we know from KOTOR and such sorces, I believe the OLD Mando's lived a Sparten, or perhapes as Vipera suggested, a  Maori style of life.  And it's this old fashion way of living that some *if not most; that's not for sure either* later Mandalorians like Jaster, Jango, and Boba modeled themselves after to one degree or another.

Or at least that's how I see it

reading different sources including KT's blog on starwars.com when she had it, she was treating her mando's like the Maori (the people the actor who played Jango is a member of) and the celts since the spartans where elitists and didnt think anyone else was worth the effort of breeding with (Leonidas and his wife where related) The onlymajor difference between KoToR Mando's and the 'modern' Mando's that i can see is that the KoToR Mando's where activaly conquering sectors and planets where 'mondern' Mando's where more concerned with Mandalore the Mandalore Sector and making money... even though KoToR Mando's also new the value of a credit

i think everyone has come to an agreement and everybodys added their 2 cents lol. and sick! *the inbreeding thing*

its a cultural thing
but i think it was only the royalty that did it, and a lot of cultures did that...
but with the adoption practices going on in mando culture, you think you might have to worry about that slightly, considering children could divorce parents, but then again you might think people would adopt all the kids in a family if the parents died

hmmm. something i noticed, is that Kad means "saber" and Kal means "knife". they have the same first two letters. wonder if KT meant to do that? sorry, a bit off topic

Wow, I didn't know that about the Spartans, though I should have suspected it.  It would fit their profile, and yes, many other ancient *and not so ancient* cultures did the same thing, ESPECIALLY inside the royalty  *COUGHweirdosCOUGH*

I still think the militaristic side of Spartan culture is the one I'd most closely associate with the Mandalorians, though.  It's true what you say about them being dis-similar as far as being open minded with outsiders *IF they fit in* and such, but no other culture that I know of was so militaristically driven.  Of course, that side of Mando culture is up for debate and is just my personal opionion. 

Well, that's a big difference.  The Mando's of old activly traveled the galaxy looking to fight other cultures for little other reason then to gain Honor from their victories  *or that's how I interpret there actions.*  Modern Mando's who wish to do anything like that must venture away from their homes and travel alone; it's not a cultural thing any more. 

Add onto that the farming/mining/simple people asspct of the rest of the modern Mando's, and they have changed a lot.

Yeah that is understandable but there are many different military cultures in the world that just arent as well known, but the celts where my biggest connection especially after KT connected them,  mainly because they held off the romans, and then married them
and then the dance that KT has the clones doing in Triple 0 is reminiscent of the Maoi Haka

The Old Mando's did  fight for honor and glory, the ones that do that now will drop it all if they are told to By mandalore

they like fighting--but don't seek it out, not if it doesn't pay. Now, if it pays, and the Mandalore says "go" they go. if they need money, they'll do jobs on the side. But their primary concern, now, as i see it, is to appear strong to the rest of the galaxy. they want to say, "Hey, we helped save your shebs from the Vong, but when they were killing us, who helped us? We've gotten back on our feet, and without any help from your precious government. If you want to mess with us, arruetiise, you'll see how strong we are. We're Mando's. Nuff said." They owe nothing to anyone, and they like it that way. I'd say they are entering "boom" cycle--not of conquest, but of general strength and unity. Their Mandalore is stronger, they've found more beskar, they've got the best starfighter in the galaxy, and the Trak'ad, an alliance with the Verpines--everythings going their way.

Where'd you get most of this info?  Sounds like stuff I want to be reading   :D

The Mandalorian Wars Mando's did activly seek war, though.  It's pretty obvious when you listen to Canderous talk about it.  And they did it as a whole, not peicemeal like most later Mandos  *Jango/Boba/others randomly looking for money through violence.....IF that's what they were doing; but that's a different debate*

Its mainly in the books KT has been writing for the legacy of the force series

Thanks, I really need to get those

yeah--how far in the EU have you read? RepCom is completely separate, but Legacy of the Force, as a whole series or just her books in it, could be confusing. Good books though

See i dont find the Legacy books to be confusing, they make more sense if you read the Dark Nest Trilogy first

yeah--if you've read NJO and Dark nest, they're not, but if not....it would be.

well not so much NJO because it explains things well in legacy as far as that goes

To be honest, I'm still a noob as far as the EU goes.  That's why I try to limit my comments to the Mandalorian Wars Mandos, as I know a lot more about them having played KOTOR 1and2 and have studied other sources for them.  I'm sure you'all know a LOT more about the modern Mandalorians then I do

yeah, but a couple of NJO deaths are shockers, or ruin the actual experience. more spoilers than anything.

ancient egyptians inbred too..still sick no matter what. and yes many other cultures had an organized military system, the ancient korean kingdoms revolved around royalty and military, since the king lead the soldiers into battle.

another connect i realized was that somewhere i read that boba was leaner than jango [where as jango was built, and very strong], but still succeeded because he had strategy and could use his mind like that. NOW, from another source, i read about the first group of maori soldiers [not warriors] that went to fight in an european war..they were the tallest strongest men, but when it came down to it, they surrendered, but the second battalion of soldiers were much smaller, cept they had strategy so they managed to succeed.

With KT's RepCom series *possibly* complete and the new sources of information coming from the *gag* Clone Wars TV series, seems like a good time to bring this thread back to life.

Has anybody changed their idea of what the Mando culture is?  Do any of the new members have a different idea?  Just curious if theres any new thoughts swirling around out there

While not fond of this "pacifist" group, it still does make sense that it's the only group that could thrive during that particular era, until they get wiped out :D

Are the stats set up by KT really being totally thrown aside?  I thought there were several million people who claimed to be Mandalorian in belief or liniage, both on Mandalore and spread across the galaxy.

The more I hear the more it sounds like the pacifists and a hand full of Death Watch are about the only "Mandos" left period

There's always some scattered, but only the death watch squad and the pacifists are organized, therefore they are the visible ones

i agree here, after every major defeat the mando's would do Ba'slan shev'la. translated Strategic disappearance according to KT, and every source ive seen said the same time they disappear and regroup and fight again, which after jango's encounter with the deathwatch a Ba'slan Shev'la would be fitting in my opinion, so a pacifists taking power would make sense because there was no one else since the death watch seems to operate more in the merc aspect. correct me if im wrong please because im not well versed in pre-clone war's mando history, but with the  end of the clone wars it and with the attempts of Fenn Shysa i can see the more acceptable mando's reemerging

death watch are more old school mandos

Jaster's "true" mandos are straight mercs, they have no drive to take over the galaxy and meaninglessly slaughter thousands of innocent people. old school mandos would have, like the death watch, in order to conquer systems. "true" mandos live by mereel's codex and have more of a sense of honor.

This question is one of the original reasons I started this thread.  Despite all the love I've heard expressed for the True Mandalorians and the utter hate and dispise I've heard said about the Death Watch *most of which is driven by KT and her work*, I can honestly say I am not really sure what the difference is between the two factions, or which one I would more closely align with for that matter.

My original version of the two was based on source material like Wiki and my copy of SW: The New Essential Chronology.  The Chronology states:

"Following the Mandalorians' extinction of the Ithulians a century and a half earlier, some clan members had expressed a desire to shed the amoral ways of the "Mandalorian Mercs."  Eventually, the charismatic Jaster Mereel came to lead the clans as Mandalore, and set down an idealistic code of conduct in the Supercommando Codex.  A Mandalorian named Vizsla attracted followers fond of the old ways, who formed the Death Watch faction.  Armed conflect broke out approximately 60 B.B.Y."

My original interpretation of this passage was that Jaster and the True Mandalorians were tired of the ways of the aimless mercenary lifestyle and wanted to return to the era of Revan; the Honor bound crusaders who sought glory in battle at the expense of the rest of the galaxy.  KT's *and everybody elses for that matter* interpretation seems to have been the reverse.  Probably my fault for never having actually seen the original material, but that's where I was coming from

Therefore, if the type of Mando I just described above is more like a Death Watch then a True, *and I hope I don't get banned from the site for admitting this*, I might have to say that I'd be more in line with them than Jaster's/Jango's ideals. 

But that being said, from what I've heard Vizsla and her companions didn't live up to their own ideals; they were back-stabbers and merciless raiders rather then honor bound crusaders on any level.  I think my ideal Mando that I originally believed was the True Mandalorians is actually some mixture of the two groups... mine only exists within my own characters, and not actually existing any more in current canon *the only ones we had were the KotOR era Mandos.* 

Things have become so poluted with new material that it's hard to say exactly what either group is anymore, especially with the Death Watch being written for again in the TV show.  Does anybody think they have the most current and up to date version of what each group was/is?  And what it was that made them so different that it caused a civil war?

I think that it is basically shown, in the game Star Wars KNights of the Old Republic.

Canderous Ordo makes many refreances to the Mando culture.

The Six Actions or Resol'nare is practically the Mandalorian Culture, just in a simpler form.

Resol'nare

1. Wear the armor.

2. Speak the language.

3. Defend yourself and your families.

4. Raise your children as Mandalorians.

5. Contribute to the clan's welfare.

6. When called to arms by Mandalore, rally to his cause.