The Mandalorian: Moff Gideon Explained | Character’s Backstory, The Darksaber, Baby Yoda, Purge And More

With the Mandalorian season finale dropping yesterday, we finally got a good look at the season’s big bad.

Working from the shadows in typical Star Wars fashion, Moff Gideon has been behind the entire arc of the season, secretly hunting Baby Yoda and using his puppet The Client to get the creature in order to achieve his goals.

But who is the character and how does he have one of the most valuable weapons in the entire Galaxy?

Well throughout this, we’re gonna be breaking down everything that you need to know about Moff Gideon. We’ll be discussing his backstory, role before he was promoted to being a Moff and giving our theories on how he came to possess the Darksaber.

There will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to watch episode eight yet and don’t want to know what happens then I highly suggest that you turn off now.

With that out the way I just wanna give a huge thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into our breakdown of The Mandalorian.

Moff Gideon’s First Appearance

We actually got our first glimpse of Moff Gideon way back at the end of Episode 5 of The Mandalorian. This episode revolved around Mando tracking down a dangerous bounty with a fresh faced mercenary named Toro played by Jake Cannavale. This put them on the warpath with a dangerous rogue imperial soldier named Fennec Shand.

Though the two managed to take her down the episode ended with a mysterious character approaching her body and from this little glimpse, many were convinced that this was Boba Fett making a return.

Eagle-Eyed viewers even lined up the sounds of the characters Spurs and said how similar they were to sound effects heard in The Return Of The Jedi.

To me though, the cape was extremely similar to the shots that we got of Gideon in the trailer and this style was also something that Fett never wore. Jon Favreau who the creative lead on the project quickly dismissed these rumors saying that Boba Fett would not be appearing in the show and that the season was going to be made up of entirely new characters.

IMDB would later go onto confirm that this was Gideon so we now know for definite that this was the character’s first appearance.

He lay low after this, not returning until Episode 7, appearing as a hologram to The Client and then making a grand entrance in a brand new Outland Tie Fighter.

The Outland Tie Fighter

It was an awesome way to introduce the character and it quickly propped him up as one of the most intimidating villains that we’ve seen in Star Wars for a long time.

He pretty much had the characters locked into a kill box and commanded a wave of Stormtroopers, Scout Troopers and the ever terrifying Death Troopers.

Death Troopers

Death Troopers made their first appearance in Rogue One and quickly became one of the coolest looking aspects of that move. They primarily work as bodyguards for high ranking Imperial Officers and are also masters of Stealth, marksmanship, and hand to hand combat. Death Troopers are trained to be exceptional and specialize in heavy weapons, demolitions, and guerilla warfare and they are some of the deadliest imperial soldiers that exist in the Galaxy…hence their name.

The Imperial Security Bereau

We also learn that before being promoted to the rank of Moff, Gideon was a member of the Imperial Security Bureau or ISB for short. This was a law enforcement branch and intelligence agency of the Empire that pretty much worked as an Internal Affairs Agency. They were in charge of State Security and Gideon was tasked with weeding out those who may be disloyal to the cause before they defected to the Rebellion.

In order to achieve a position in the ISB, Imperial Officers have to show staples of Loyalty towards the Empire and thus only the most dedicated are picked to join their ranks.

Gideon is adept at torture and weeding out those who may betray the Empire and due to this, he has high-level abilities in espionage and infiltration.

The Darksaber History

That brings us to our next question. How is it that Moff Gideon was able to obtain the Darksaber?

Well, we do discover in Episode 8 that during his time in the ISB, Gideon was tasked with making sure that Mandalore and it’s people remain loyal to the Empire and that he took part in a massacre of the planet’s population that was called ‘The Night Of A Thousand Tears.’ This Great Purge pretty much wiped out the majority pf the planet and sent those who survived into hiding.

Gideon was so instrumental in this Genocide that Mando even knows of Gideon based purely off reputation and his actions during this purge.

Gideon not only seized the secret record of Mandalorian Identities during this time but it also looks like he gained the Darksaber as well.

The Darksaber is a ceremonial Mandalorian Weapon that was created by the first-ever Mandalorian to be inducted into the Jedi Order.

Since then the Dark Saber has been passed down by generation to generation and it is typically carried by the leader of the Mandalorians. Those who are familiar with the animated Star Wars Series: Rebels, will know that the last Mandalorian to wield the weapon was Bo-Katan who became the leader of the people at the end of the show.

I doubt that Bo-Katan would part with it willingly and thus from this we can assume that Gideon killed her during the purge.

The Darksaber is a symbol of leadership in the House Of Vizsla and due to Mandalorian customs, one can only obtain it by defeating it’s previous owner in combat.

This answers the fate of the character and Gideon has clearly been using the powerful weapon to hunt down Mandalorians as we know after their uprising at the end of Episode 3 that they were pretty much made extinct.

The Darksaber Explained

The Darksaber itself is a black bladed lightsaber that has a distinct design that resembles a traditional sword due to its hilt and angular pommel.

This extremely powerful weapon is capable of actually parrying other lightsaber bladers and its black kaiber crystal can also be a conduit for Force Energy.

Though a lot shorter than most other Lightsabers, the blade’s size and it’s intensity changes depending on the emotions of the person wielding it i.e. the more passionate and involved you get the bigger it becomes. I’ve got…I’ve got a sword like that..it grows and that…nevermind.

It’s one of the most sought after weapons in the entire Star Wars universe and no doubt Gideon went to great lengths to get it.

Moff Gideon Explained

When it comes to the ranking of Moff, this is a high position within the Empire that actually grants the officer with the position a sector of space that they have to Govern.

Though Gideon is not a Grand Moff as we’ve seen in film’s like A New Hope with Grand Moff Tarkin, he still possesses a wealth of control and though it’s never explicitly stated, it is likely that Gideon rules over the sector of space that Navarro exists in.

This is likely why he was behind The Mandalorian extinction. We know that they were laying low on the Planet and as it’s in his sector he probably dealt with their downfall personally.

Though we know the character is greatly feared in the area, not everyone sees it like that and The Client even says at one point that some people in the area would welcome back the peace and prosperity that comes with the Empire’s ownership of the planet.

When discussing his view of the character, Giancarlo Esposito who plays the Moff stated:

“In a way, you might call him an underworld character, You may also look at him as a savior, as someone who might bring back some order to the world after it’s all collapsed.”

It’s definitely clear that the actor views him as a hero, someone that will restore order in the area. From Cara Dune we do know that after the defeat of The Empire that the Republic did begin to get bogged down in its own politics and the rising of The First Order can be seen as a failing of the Republic’s ability to do its job and restore order to the planets.

The Rise Of The First Order

From the places that Mando visited it’s clear that they didn’t have the level of stability that they did under the Empire and before I start saying ‘Make The Galaxy Great Again’ it is clear that The Republic weren’t cut out to bring order back to the planetary systems.

However, we do know that when the Empire take over a planet that they strip it of it’s best resources and stamp down any notion of Freedom. They also take children, force them into their ranks and yeah, you really can’t win in a galaxy far far away.

We do know that Gideon originally had his sights set on Baby Yoda because he wished to clone the character and Doctor Pershing who appeared earlier in the season was wearing the same crest that the Kamino Cloners had so he was likely put in place to make duplicates of the young creature.

Star Wars lore has changed very heavily recently and whereas at one point it was difficult to clone force-sensitive beings, we do now know from the new Disney trilogy that this is achievable under the right circumstances.

Season 2 Predictions

It’s unlikely that Gideon has stopped this quest even in the face of his crushing defeat and the character is now likely solely set on obtaining the youngling and also killing Dynjarring in the process.

If you thought that Gideon was bad before then you’ve seen nothing yet, this was him trying to negotiate with Mando and bring about their capture as peaceful as possible but now that he has a vendetta against the character he will no doubt be throwing everything that he can at the new clan of two.

I can’t wait for Season 2 which has now been announced for Fall 2020 by Jon Favreau on Twitter and who knows what will happen when the two meet face to face again.

Your Thoughts

Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on Moff Gideon and what you think will be happening with the character in the future. Comment below and let me know!