The Mandalorian S3 Just Made An Important Clone Wars Location Canon Again
This article contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian" Season 3, Episode 4 — "The Foundling"
Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have crafted a compelling Mandalorian mythos in the modern "Star Wars" canon, but "The Way" wasn't always the way. Back in the old Expanded Universe (now the Legends timeline), fans got an equally rich but very different history for Mandalore and its inhabitants. And in "The Mandalorian" Season 3 Episode 4, "The Foundling," a small piece of that old lore is restored.
In making her plan to rescue the foundling Ragnar from a "raptor," Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoof) mentions "the Peaks of Kyrimorut," where she trained as a young Mandalorian. If you've read the "Republic Commando" novels, your ears probably perked up there. In the books, which are no longer canon, Kyrimorut is a village of sorts on a remote part of Mandalore. It's first introduced in the third novel of the Karen Traviss series, "Republic Commando: True Colors." It becomes more important in the following novels, "Republic Commando: Order 66" and "Imperial Commando: 501st."
Traviss' books were instrumental in shaping both the Mandalorian culture and the clones themselves in the Legends timeline. Much of that worldbuilding was reworked or outright discarded in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," and it's changed even more since Disney acquired Lucasfilm. With that in mind, the Kyrimorut Bo-Katan mentions definitely isn't the same place, but it's still nice to hear it mentioned in the modern canon.
Kyrimorut was once a refuge for clone deserters
Mandalore looks a lot different in "Star Wars" Legends. In the old timeline, there's no pacifist era, and the planet's natural landscape is much more vibrant. Instead of Death Watch, there are many different groups of Mandalorian warriors, many of whom work as mercenaries during the Clone Wars. When Jango Fett (who's much more connected to Mandalore in Legends) is hired as the genetic base of the clone army, he enlists a number of these mercenaries to help train his progeny. This group is known as the Cuy'val Dar.
The "Republic Commando" novels primarily follow Omega Squad, an elite team of clone commandos, and the Mandalorian mercenaries who train and fight beside them. The most significant of those Mandalorians is Kal Skirata, who develops so much affection for the clones that he devises a way for them to leave the war and live freely. On Mandalore, he turns the settlement of Kyrimorut into a refuge for any clones who wish to desert. The community thrives even through the Imperial era, largely due to the immense strength of its residents.
Obviously, most of this backstory wouldn't fit in the modern canon. The Kyrimorut Bo-Katan mentions seems like a match in name only. Still, it's nice to see Traviss' books get a little love on Disney+. The author was instrumental in establishing the foundational fiction of Mandalore, and her novels are some of the best entries in the old "Star Wars" Expanded Universe.