The Mandalorian (known hereafter simply as Mando) clearly knows a thing or two about the galaxy. He’s been to the Outer Rim and back, fought plenty of villains, and collected countless bounties. Yet somehow, before meeting that little green guy we all adore, the gunslinging anti-hero had no clue what The Force was.
Something as all-encompassing as The Force seems like a hard thing to miss, but history is a funny thing — especially if it can be controlled.
The Jedi population was always limited
By the time Mando really hit his stride, the Galactic Empire had fallen, and Palpatine was squarely defeated. Taking place five years after Return of the Jedi, in The Mandalorian, the remnants of the Jedi and Sith were all but forgotten…sort of.
Think about how rare Jedi were, to begin with. In a galaxy filled with countless planets and peoples — even at the height of their power the Jedi weren’t everywhere. With around 10,000 members, Jedi forces paled in comparison to the common folk of the galaxy. So for anyone existing on the outskirts of society, why would they know or care about the Jedi?
Not to mention the fact that after The Clone Wars, The Great Jedi purge wiped out almost all Force users — barring a few cunning survivors. In one fell swoop, The Empire was able to not only commit genocide but also erase any records or proof that the Jedi existed in the first place.
So even if someone wanted to learn about the Knights of the Republic, how could they? The galaxy had forgotten. Throw in the fact that Mando was a child when The Clone Wars broke out, and it was because of that conflict that he became an orphaned Mandalorian Foundling — and it’s safe to say his memory would be, at the very least, hazy.
Wielding a laser sword and lifting rocks with your mind sounded much more like a myth than reality. Look no further than Han Solo’s perspective in A New Hope to cement the idea that most people either didn’t believe it or hadn’t seen it in the first place.
The missing Mando-connection
Now it’s true that Mandalorian armor was created as a direct result of The Mandalorian-Jedi War in an effort to protect them from lightsaber strikes. But Mando was so far removed from those conflicts (by about 4,000 years) that, again, how would he know? Being a foundling meant that he wasn’t directly connected to the culture as those born on their homeworld of Mandalore.
At the end of the day, Mando had better things to do. He was too busy bringing them in warm (or cold) to care about what a bunch of space Samurai were up to. Until he met Grogu. Then, like many would-be parents, he supported the little guy’s interests. Did someone say, “The galaxy’s greatest dad?”