Why A Star Wars Rebels Weapon Has Us Worried About The Mandalorian
It's more or less a given, no matter which universe you reside in: Unbreakable science fiction things, much like rules, are made to be broken. Captain America's vibranium shield? Broken. Superman? Punched so hard by Doomsday that he didn't just die, he grew a mullet. And when it comes to Star Wars, Mando's armor in The Mandalorian just about tops the charts, in terms of indestructible stuff.
The armor itself is constructed using beskar, an immensely durable alloy. We've already seen some of what it can do, what with how it kept Din Djarin in one piece through explosions and firefights. Beskar armor, according to Star Wars lore, is capable of shielding a person from blaster fire and even lightsaber blows. And that, in the world of science fiction, is almost a promise that somebody's going to find a way to break it.
In the animated series Star Wars Rebels, those dastardly Imperials are shown to have a real Mandalorian problem, and no simple solution presents itself. Like any self-respecting governing body, they turn to the youth for bright ideas. That's where up-and-coming Empire enthusiast Sabine Wren comes in, developing a super weapon with the sole purpose of totally wrecking a Mandalorian's day: the Arc Pulse Generator, lovingly nicknamed "The Duchess." And it is, to be frank, a real bummer.
That Duchess will mess a Mandalorian up, man
The Duchess's power, as seen on the show, is remarkable. Like the Emperor or a LARPer shouting "chain lightning" three times, it shoots intense arcs of electricity across an area, targeting beskar alloy armor, and disintegrating the person inside of it. Sabine, however — showing signs of early-stage protagonism — destroys her prototype, when she realizes that the fascistic government for whom she works might have less-than-noble ambitions for a weapon designed to kill a specific race of people.
Unfortunately, the Empire manages to reassemble the device, mounting it to a walker years later, and utilizing it on the battlefield to devastating effect. Mandalorians get zapped, and zapped good. Sabine eventually corrects her earlier mistakes, but not before making a quick stop in Morally Gray Town to use the Arc Pulse Generator to torture some Imperials. Once she is talked off of the antihero ledge, she chops her machine up with the Darksaber, putting right what once went wrong like some Doctor Sam Beckett space samurai.
Now, in the Star Wars universe, the Duchess powered down for the last time around the year 1 BBY. But if unbreakable sci-fi things are made to be broken, then destroyed sci-fi superweapons are made to keep popping up like genocidal whack-a-moles. If the Duchess, or some closely related member of her royal family, makes a live action debut on Disney+, it will definitely spell bad news for Mando.
The Mandalorian's second season premieres October 30th.