What Is a Mythosaur on ‘The Mandalorian’? Explaining That Episode 2 Creature

This Is the Way

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[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 2, “The Mines of Mandalore.”]

Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) dug too greedily, and too deep, and awoke… well, not a Balrog, but an equally powerful creature.

Lord of the Rings jokes aside, “The Mines of Mandalore” did move The Mandalorian’s story forward quite a bit. It taught Bo-Katan that not all of Din’s beliefs are cultish mumbo-jumbo; she earned some respect for him when he honored her late father’s sacrifice with a heartwarmingly earnest “this is the way.” At the episode’s end, she discovered another Mandalorian superstition — that a mythosaur would one day rise up to usher in a new age for Mandalorian people — is looking pretty darn true, too. What’s a mythosaur? Why does it matter in Star Wars lore? Here’s what you need to know.

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Mythosaurs and Mandalorians

You’ll notice that the name “mythosaur” contains a familiar word: “myth.” That’s not coincidence. Mandalorian ancestors tamed the giant beasts and once rode on their backs, but a great war rendered them extinct… or so it was thought. As thousands of years passed, mythosaurs became interwoven through Mandalorian legends to the point that the image of the beast’s skull became synonymous with their culture. The most prominent example comes from the most prominent Mandalorian: look closely at Boba Fett’s (Temuera Morrison) armor, and you’ll see a mythosaur skull painted on his left shoulder.

What Does the Mythosaur Mean for Mando and Bo?

Mythosaur symbols have appeared in a variety of instances throughout The Mandalorian as well, and they got a shout-out in another Star Wars show. If you’ll recall, The Armorer (Emily Swallow), during her brief appearance in The Book of Boba Fett, said that “the songs of eons past foretold of the mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore.” She believed the creature then existed “only in legends” (yes, that’s a quip about Disney erasing the well-known Expanded Universe continuity) but as the stunned Bo-Katan saw, at least one still lives.

Now that the mythosaur has risen from the crumbling remains of their home world, is Mandalore fated to return to prosperity? Can Din and Bo — and probably the Armorer — set their various degrees of animosity aside and work together toward the common goal of reuniting their people? And who’s going to end up riding that mythosaur? Someone has to, but probably not Boba: he already has a rancor. Time will tell, but its appearance seems a good sign for Din and Bo’s quest.

The Mandalorian, Season 3, Wednesdays, Disney+