The Mandalorian Ch 22: Fans Are Split On The Darksaber's 'Elder Wand'-Like Rules
Contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian" Season 3, Episode 6 – "Guns for Hire"
Structures of power often take many different forms in the galaxy of "Star Wars." There are republics, authoritarian empires, confederations, clans, direct democracy, and many other systems of governance. The followers of Mandalore in "The Mandalorian" have a completely separate means of determining their leader, and it is one born of their combative and weapon-orientated culture. Typically, the strongest among the Mandalorians lead their respective clans, though this isn't always the case — some factions of Mandalorians, like that of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), have a more egalitarian approach, though this group is still nominally led by the Armorer (Emily Swallow).
However, most Mandalorians belong to the same faction as Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), which believes that a leader can be challenged at any time for control and that the person who wields the Darksaber is the ultimate ruler of all. The important thing to remember here is that the Darksaber must be won in combat, and cannot be given, which has caused some issues between Din and Bo-Katan because Din wants to simply yield the weapon, while Bo-Katan must win honorably in combat.
In "The Mandalorian" Season 3, Episode 6, this issue comes to the forefront as Bo-Katan challenges Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) for leadership, and although she wins, Axe points out that she has not won the Darksaber. Luckily, Din explains that she has managed to do so previously when she rescued him in the Mines of Mandalore, which has caused fans on Reddit to discuss the weapon as it compares to the infamous Elder Wand of the "Harry Potter" franchise.
Fans aren't so sure if the Darksaber is the Star Wars version of the Elder Wand
Starting the conversation on Reddit, u/Wyckedan stated that the Darksaber acts exactly like the Elder Wand on account that its ownership passes based on who defeats who. u/FloppyTacoShell replied that they have spent quite some time saying that the Darksaber isn't the "Star Wars" equivalent of the Elder Wand only for Din to ruin it in this episode by explaining that it acts exactly like the Elder Wand. However, others weren't so sure, like u/Tom22174, who thinks that if the Darksaber behaves like the Elder Wand, then the blade would technically belong to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
They added, "The only rule is that the Mandalorian people need to believe you deserve it, a demonstration of strength/power is the main way to do that. evidently, in this case, Din's story was good enough for them to believe her worthy to lead — especially in light of having just slapped around their previous leader." u/Bubba1234562 agreed with this thought, and said that they think Din and Bo-Katan don't necessarily believe in Din's story, but they went along with it in order for Bo-Katan to reclaim her position of power and for Din to be absolved of the Darksaber. Much like the current Mandalorians, it seems as if there are multiple factions when it comes to opinions on the Darksaber, but it is hard to deny that the blade isn't at least passingly similar to the famous component of the Deathly Hallows.