The Mind of a Mando

Clever title, eh?

This topic is about how a typical Mandalorian thinks, how they interact with people and how they apprehend life as a whole.

While there is no doubt most of us know a lot about them, let's make this a fun "game" thread where you can all post facts about the Mando culture, for example "they're warriors, they're pragmatic," etc.

I'll start:

Mandalorians, regardless of profession or social class, are blunt. Maybe it comes from the fact that they're mostly mercenaries and freelancers, having to mistrust every outsider there is no room to beat around the bush. So complete and brutal honesty within the Mandalorian circles help establish trust - in my opinion.

Fact: Mandalorians do not distinguish between genders.

Pronouns mean both sexes--"buir" means "mother" or "father". This also carries on to eliminate gender roles and facilitates the idea of "same sex" marriages. Doesn't make a difference to Mandalorians whether the man in the relationship does the cooking or if two women are married!

A Mandalorian lives for the challenge. We want to be tested on our abilities, everything we can handle and more. After all, you have to be pushed past your limits if you really want to find out what they are. And once you're past them, all that's left to do is set new ones and break those.

Mando culture values resourcefulness and intelligence. Being that some of thier more pointed insults revolve about lonely brain cells....

I'd say that the avarage Mandalorian considers everything alike his own to be his own, and everything else a potential threat. By that I mean that they welcome everyone to be among them, as long as they follow their code and converts entirely to their way of life, which would stem from their beginnings as warriors who went from planet to planet fighting a holy war.

They probably originally considered anyone not of their stock to be a potential challange, but also needed a way of resupplying themselves with more people, so that evolved into a way of thinking about themselves as a mere way of life and not a species. Which in turn made them want an external image to identify with, which makes their armoured selves more important. So if a foreigner is essentially of their stock? They can join the clans and made into one of Mandalore's own, but of course that kind of inclusion is for the sake of keeping up with the numbers and only a necessity and a way of surviving for the Mandalorians. Similarily is the adobtion of war orphans - not an act of kindness but as an act of necessity to begin with.

So yeah, I'd say that the Mandalorian way of thinking is a brutal wish of surviving beyond themselves, which breeds the biproduct of family values and acceptance of others. A kind of culture that if at least settled down would have painted pictures, made sculptures and other monuments on conquered planets in a need to be remembered (Rome?). Instead they were nomads and warriors, making their name in battling others and challenging any of the bigger names, which later served them well as mercs.

Hmm. I'd probably have to say that Mandalorians tend to walk in the gray, though favoring the light more often than not. (Referring to the KOTOR-esque scale of viewing people as light or dark).

Although there are probably extremes (more dark extremes than light I would assume, bred by the fact of how violent a Mandalorian's life often is), I say that they tend to be gray because of their other cultural values. Raising a family (even if born of necessity, like you said Gratulor) and having a sense of honor seem to be light-oriented.

On the other hand, they are often extremely motivated by revenge and anger, usually considered "dark" emotions. If you mess with a Mando, you should expect to die.

Mando'ade do not fear or resent death. When a mando meets his end, either by the blade, the blaster or because of age, their death is not hidden but celebrated in the sense where all individuals who knew the mando will remember the person they cherished for the rest of their life via the "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum" [I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal.].

One is encouraged to mourn his dead but not to dwell on it. For those who have fallen are not gone, merely very far away. "Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la."[Not gone, merely marching far away. (Tribute to a dead comrade.)]