Why Din Djarin struggled to use the darksaber in The Book of Boba Fett

This post contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett Chapter 5: “Return of the Mandalorian.”

Since the darksaber entered live-action Star Wars at the end of The Mandalorian Season 1, it has been a major source of interest for new and old fans. After waiting for the eventual defeat of Moff Gideon at the hands of Din Djarin, the darksaber is finally returned to the Mandolrain people.

In The Book of Boba Fett Chapter 5 “The Return of the Mandalorian” we finally see Mando using the darksaber in all of its glory to slice and dice up his bounties. Unlike when we see Jedi use their blades, he seems to struggle with his new weapon, even to the point of injuring himself.

So how is the darksaber able to resist his use, why is it heavy, and how does a blade itself seem to fight back?

We find the answer in Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K Johnson as she describes the process of cleansing the former Inquisitor’s blade. In that book, we see that the crystals themselves have a certain degree of autonomy and that they require either a forceful master or a focused disciple to wield them.

While we have seen others who seem to be non-force users wield blades well, such as Finn in The Force Awakens most of the time they are focused, and in the case of Finn he turns out to be a Force user in the end.

As for the darksaber itself, we see a precedent for this resistance with Sabine Wren as she learned to master the saber from Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus. Even with the tutelage of a Jedi, Sabine had to battle her past demons and overcome them to use the darksaber efficiently.

Din Djarin has formed an extremely strong attachment with Grogu as his surrogate father, and this attachment is a powerful distraction. Additionally, the breaking of his oath to never remove his helmet seems to weigh heavily on his mind.

Before Din may use the darksaber to its full capacity he will need to restore balance to himself and work with the blade. Hopefully, we get to see the completion of that story soon in The Mandalorian Season 3,

The Book of Boba Fett is streaming now exclusively on Disney+.