Moff Gideon has a lightsaber. That’s right. During Chapter 8 of The Mandalorian, Disney+ viewers got to see a huge reveal take place in the final moments of the episode.
After the Mandalorian took down the TIE fighter that Moff Gideon was flying, the episode wrapped up with the heroes splitting up. The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), who we now know is named Din Djarin, headed off to help The Child (Baby Yoda) find his home planet.
Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) stayed behind to rebuild the society that Moff Gideon and his stormtroopers had just destroyed. But that wasn’t quite the end of the episode.
The camera panned back to where the TIE fighter had crashed and it showed Jawas starting to strip the craft of its parts. Then, suddenly, the unmistakable image of a lightsaber cutting through metal could be seen.
Only this wasn’t a typical lightsaber. At least it doesn’t appear to be that way.
What is the Moff Gideon lightsaber?
It appears that the primary antagonist (at least for now) on the show is wielding a very formidable weapon. Called the Darksaber, this particular weapon comes from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, not to be confused with the movie called Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
Quite a bit of additional backstory to the Star Wars universe was explained on that show. In fact, the first six seasons had 121 episodes to show for it.
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— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) December 27, 2019
For viewers who know exactly where the Darksaber came from, this was a huge moment to the episode. It is indeed a form of a lightsaber and one that a Jedi Mandalorian possessed many years ago (in the show’s time).
In the timeline for the Mandalorian, it would have been lost for a while, taken from Mandalore during the purge.
This ties off a loose end within the story, as it had been hinted at that Moff Gideon was one of the people leading the purge that had been referenced by Cara Dune and Din Djarin.
Many foundlings were killed during that purge and it is source material that could be used again in Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
More information on the Darksaber
Within Star Wars lore, the Darksaber is more specifically a black-bladed lightsaber created by Tarre Vizsla. He was the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order and he became a very important character.
The Darksaber ended up being kept at the Jedi Temple at one point, following the death of Vizsla.
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— The Mandalorian (@themandalorian) December 24, 2019
The story gets even more interesting after that. The Jedi and Mandalorians were on opposite sides for a while, which makes it very intriguing for a Mandalorian to now be protecting a Child that is very strong with the Force.
But it has also been made clear that this Mandalorian was not familiar with it, calling it sorcery during Chapter 8.
Somewhere down the line, Moff Gideon attained possession of it. Here’s where things could also get fun, though, as Darth Maul yielded it at one point.
How it all plays out on the show is going to be exciting, but we will have to wait for the debut of Season 2 to find out which direction Jon Favreau is taking that particular storyline.
The Mandalorian is currently streaming Season 1 on Disney+.