Star Wars Changed The Mandalorian To Fix Boba Fett

Starting with Din Djarin, The Mandalorian introduced a new concept to the already convoluted history of the Mandalorian people. Din was the first Star Wars character to be designated a foundling—an abandoned child taken in by the Mandalorians. While this concept may have been created for Din and his adopted son Grogu, it was more likely created as a way to legitimize Boba Fett or, more accurately, Jango Fett.

In the early days of Star Wars, before foundlings were even a thought in John Favreu’s mind, all we knew about Boba Fett was that he wore Mandalorian armor. It was implied that the Mandalorians, whoever they were, were long dead. The Empire Strikes Back novelization by Donald F. Glut refers to Fett’s armor as “the kind worn by a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars.”

So as of 1980, not a Mandalorian.

Then, issue #68 of the original Marvel Star Wars comic from 1982 gave Boba Fett’s backstory as a “Mandalorian Protector.” Eventually, the Star Wars Expanded Universe came up with its own stories to flesh out the history of the Mandalorians, and while foundlings didn’t factor into them, Boba Fett was still widely considered to be a true Mandalorian. Until the prequels, that is.

Prior to the Disney Star Wars era and foundlings, the franchise used to have a tiered Canon system. At the top was G-Canon or George Canon. The G may have well stood for “God” because G-Canon was the canon to be respected above all others. It included the movies, the 3D Clone Wars series, and that’s pretty much it.

That means the second Jango Fett appeared on screen in Attack of the Clones and revealed Boba was his clone; over a decade of Mandalorian stories were contradicted in the most severe way possible. Now, the real question was whether Jango Fett was a Mandalorian. The answer, of course, was again convoluted and would remain so until Star Wars adopted the idea of foundlings.

Initially, the Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary (2002) labeled Jango Fett a Mandalorian. This, by extension, would have made Boba Fett a Mandalorian. Case closed, right? You probably already know the answer, considering Star Wars had to introduce foundlings into the canon.

The Clone Wars animated series, which trumps the visual dictionary, had a Mandalorian character refer to Jango Fett as a “common bounty hunter” and say he got his Mandalorian armor through unknown means. This seemingly implied that Jango—and, by extension, Boba—were not real Mandalorians. Enter Disney Star Wars and the foundling era.

Prior to Boba Fett’s appearance on The Mandalorian, the show had rekindled the debate over whether Jango and Boba were Mandalorians. Disney decided to play into the controversy by having characters on the show questioning Boba Fett’s Mandalorian status. Eventually, Disney Star Wars set the record straight by definitively showing that Jango Fett was, in fact, a foundling, making him a real Mandalorian.

Boba Fett, by extension, is also a Mandalorian…if you want him to be. See, Fett’s status as a clone makes things a bit more complicated. In Star Wars is the clone of a foundling also considered a foundling?

We can’t help but wonder if Disney did it in such a way that both the fans who don’t think Boba is a Mandalorian and those who do could both be right.

After all, that’s been Star Wars MO from the beginning. The truth is only the truth “From a certain point of view.” His name is included in his armor’s chain code—a sort of family tree for Mandalorian armor—along with Jango and Jango’s Mandalorian mentor. On top of that, Jango taught him the ways of the Mandalorians, so we’re going to say that, yes, in our opinion, Boba Fett is a Mandalorian.