The Mandalorian Fans Are Glad Not Knowing What The Heck That Cyborg Eye Alien Is
Currently on its third season, "The Mandalorian" has done an excellent job connecting to the lore of other "Star Wars" properties. It's heavily connected to the legend of Mandalore and the various sects within that planet, and with its penchant for cloning technology and the fact it's set after the events of "Return of the Jedi," it seems to be setting up how Emperor Palpatine came back to life in "The Rise of Skywalker."
However, there's only so much time in a single episode, so certain things fall by the wayside. This was fully on display in Season 3, Episode 2 of the series, when Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) is attacked by a spidery robot creature with a single biological eye peering out. The monster is eventually bested by the Darksaber, but everyone moves about their day without really discussing what it is.
In a franchise obsessed with lore, fans have taken notice, with Redditor u/Steve__Parry taking to the platform to write, "Does anyone know the story behind this creature? One of the most interesting beings in the whole dang genre and they just skimmed past without any kind of explanation." There doesn't seem to be an official explanation of what it is, and many viewers seem fine with that.
The creature is scarier not knowing what it is
There's presently no in-canon explanation for what the monster is. If you venture toward the "Star Wars" Wiki page for the creature, it simply outlines its role in "The Mandalorian" episode, such as how it kidnaps Din and harvests his blood. Why did it attack Din? What did it want with his blood? We don't know the answers to those questions, and fans prefer it that way.
Redditor u/Captaincomet26 likes how audiences aren't hand-fed every single thing, writing, "It's like in a new hope with stuff like the [Kessel] Run or The Clone Wars, just off handed comments that make your imagination wonder what other things are out there." Of course, those things did receive official explanations down the road, but many are hoping this creature remains a mystery. There's also u/HYDRAlives who compared the addition favorably to other franchises: "That's a big issue with Star Wars or like Marvel Comics, it's all very over-explained and it feels very small and contained, compared to something like LOTR or Dune where there's a lot out there that is just ... mentioned but very vague."
The unknown didn't stop some Redditors from crafting their own theories, like u/JenDomOrc, who wrote, "Out of pure speculation, I am guessing those eyes belonged to dead Mandalorians and/or dead Alamites that have perhaps been experimented on/zombified and radically changed by these super intelligent cyborgs?" We likely aren't done with Mandalore on this series, so it's entirely possible the creature will return and receive more backstory. But perhaps "Star Wars" could learn from these comments and leave certain aspects of this universe to the fans' imaginations.