Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) journey towards redemption continued in The Mandalorian season 3 episode 2, “Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore,” which premiered on March 8, 2022. The episode sees Djarin and Grogu venture onto Mandalore, a planet feared destroyed and uninhabitable following the Empire’s Purge of Mandalore. However, Djarin is determined to bathe in the Mines of Mandalore so that he may be forgiven by the strict Mandalorian sect, The Children of the Watch, after removing his helmet.
Djarin and Grogu seek out the help of an old friend, Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), to get a hold of a droid, R5-D4, who can test the atmosphere of Mandalore and determine if it’s breathable. With Grogu and R5-D4 in tow, Djarin lands on the planet and sends the droid out to test the air. Due to Grogu’s concern, he and Djarin watch R5-D4’s progress on their satellite, but his tracker soon disappears.
It isn’t long before Djarin is forced to go after the droid, using his helmet for protection against the atmosphere. As he begins to head into the mines, he is soon confronted by what disrupted R5-D4’s quest. He is attacked by members of a humanoid species, who he manages to fend off using his Darksaber. However, the humanoids later also give Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and Grogu grief during their meanderings in Mandalore, where they are revealed to be Alamites.
What are the Alamites in The Mandalorian?
The Alamites were certainly an unexpected sight on Mandalore. Given that the city was allegedly “cursed” and uninhabitable following the Empire’s brutal attack, Djarin wasn’t expected to find anything other than desolation upon his arrival. However, the Alamites proved that life still exists on the planet. The Alamites are an alien tribe native to Mandalore who lived in the wastelands outside the cities before the Purge of Mandalore. These creatures are vaguely humanoid in appearance but have tusks and four eyes. Additionally, they do not seem to speak or have any advanced weaponry like Djarin and Bo-Katan have.
Hence, they appear to be a tribe of savages that lurked on Mandalore apart from civilization. After the Purge of Mandalore, though, they were able to make their way unimposed into the mines and heart of the city. Bo-Katan seems familiar with the creatures and even explains their connection to Mandalore to Grogu, suggesting that they may have tried to make their way into the cities of Mandalore in the past. They are quite dangerous, though, as Bo-Katan insinuated that they wanted her and Grogu for their next meal.
What is the significance of the Alamites?
The Alamites have never appeared in the Star Wars franchise before, making their introduction in The Mandalorian quite exciting. Some viewers have also pointed out parallels between the Alamites and the Morlocks in H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. In both instances, the species were humanoid creatures banished to dank habitats outside of the cities of more advanced civilizations, but who eventually saw the tables turn as they became the rulers of the surface world. Whether the parallels were intentional or not is unclear. In The Mandalorian, though, the main point of the Alamites seems to be to signify not that they have overtaken Mandalore, but that life still exists and even flourishes on the once-forsaken planet.
(featured image: Disney)
