I've been watching through Rebels and I'm wondering about some inconsistencies in the way things work. Like, in Rebels Sabine just sorta hands the dark saber to Bo and she takes it without question, in Mandalorian she has to fight for it?
This was covered in 'The Rescue'.
There's nothing magical about the sword, it's about the story.
Indeed, the fact that Sabine did just hand it over to Bo Katan is probably precisely why this time around she feels she needs to *win* it from a worthy foe (and Moff Gideon was perfect.) There are going to be factions that are going to say the reason Mandalore fell under her leadership was precisely because she never truly earned the Darksaber to begin with, and as such she's an unworthy leader. Even killing Din and taking it wouldn't help her cause. To the other factions he's just a clanless nobody bounty hunter and fringe cultist, now an exiled apostate. Hardly a worthy foe and not the kind of story she needs to reforge her reputation and rally the factions.
Sabine on the other had fought and won it through honourable single combat with Gar Saxon. A respected and feared warrior. Plus she's a member of the nobility (a vassal clan to House Vizla no less), was born on Mandalore, and was already a war hero of sorts. That counts for a lot and it's a story the other houses could get behind . . . if she hadn't given it all away.
Bo Katan's story is one of being born into privilege, shunning her own clan, hiding in the shadow of greater leaders, refusing to abide by tradition when it didn't suit her, constantly needing the support of Jedi and other outside forces to prop up her power, and loosing control of Mandalore *twice*. It's not surprising her support was fragile to say the least.
I'm also wondering the actual circumstances of the destruction of Mandalore, cause this show is not recapping the lore it references at all.
The episode literally showed a clip of Mandalore being carpet nuked from the BoBF flashback.
