Warning—the following article will contain heavy spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3 “Chapter 23 – The Spies.”
For those who have not caught up on The Mandalorian, you should look away right now. For those who ARE caught up, let’s talk about the new theory that is going around that states one of the Mandalorians is a spy for the dreaded Moff Gideon. A lot occurred during Chapter 23, including a title that could have easily revealed the truth about this theory.
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While Grogu got some much-needed upgrades, as he is now the pilot of the former IG-11 droid, which has now been dubbed IG-12, the war between the Mandalorian tribes could come to a head in the finale. There was an instance of a fight that took place between Paz Vizsla and Axe Wolves. Though Grogu hilariously stopped the fight by spamming his new “No” button, things were still quite tense.
When the Mandalorians arrived on Mandalore, they linked up with some holdouts that had been guarding the planet since its destruction at the hands of the fractured Empire and Moff Gideon. They then showed the scouting party the way back to the Great Forge. The scouting party initially insisted on The Armorer, Axe Wolves, Bo-Katan, Din Djarin, Paz Vizsla, and an assortment of Mandalorians from the Children of the Watch and the ones who were mercenaries under Axe Wolves’ command.
This is where things get tricky, and one could point to this theory about an Empire spy ringing true. Both The Armorer and Axe Wolves oddly took their leave of the scouting party right before they had been abused by the Empire and Moff Gideon, leaving fans to question if either could have been working with Gideon from the start.
“The Spies” title indicates that there is more than one spy, and with Elia Kane showing herself as one, there is still another to be revealed.
Who Could Be the Spy In ‘The Mandalorian’?
One theory indicates that The Armorer could be working with the Empire and has done so since the first season concluded. The Armorer does have an odd time gap where she is not seen since the events of the first season and the third when she restarts the covert with Paz Vizsla. What was she doing during that time? Moff Gideon was stated to have escaped capture, and remnants of Beskar Alloy were discovered on the ship transporting Gideon.
Could Gideon have kidnapped The Armorer and forced her to turn on her own people? Moff Gideon did know precisely where the Great Forge was to lay his ambush. He also fitted his Dark Troopers and himself with brand-new Beskar armor, which would have had to been made by someone as skilled as The Armorer. For all we know, she could have been doing so between seasons 1 and 3 of The Mandalorian.
The Armorer also volunteered for the mission to transport the wounded back to the fleet that is orbiting Mandalore. Her need to get away from the scouting party to return to the fleet to sabotage it would make sense. She could take the fleet over and help Gideon’s aerial attack be far more successful.
It’s also strange that The Armorer would be so willing to accept Bo-Katan as someone who can walk “both paths.” The Children of the Watch are generally not keen on allowing people who don’t follow the creed to be among their ranks.
Another theory indicates that Axe Wolves could be the Empire spy in The Mandalorian, which would make even more sense. Wolves was the commander of the mercenary group that broke away from Bo-Katan when she had given up taking Mandalore back. Din and Bo-Katan found him on Plazir-15, and a fight ensured which saw Bo-Katan defeat him. Axe could easily hold a grudge and want to get back at Bo-Katan for beating him in front of his own people.
Even stranger is Axe Wolves also left behind the scouting party quickly when he said he was “going for help.” Kind of odd for him to want to fly away and save himself at such an important battle.
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Both could theoretically be spies for Moff Gideon and are now why Din Djarin has been taken hostage. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau said the finale should “satisfy” and “surprise” viewers so that anything can happen. We just can’t wait to see it.
Who do you think is the spy in The Mandalorian? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!