# Are Mandalorians human? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647 "2005-06-03T00:47:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/1 "2005-06-03T00:47:22Z")
They look pretty human to me, and from the movies I just assumed that the mandalorians were humans from, say, mandaloria or something? But the KoTOR games kind of make it seem like they are a separate species. So are they humans or do they have some minor aesthetic difference so one can count them as a different alien species? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/2 "2005-06-03T04:07:29Z")
The movies do not have any Mandalorians in them. The planet is Mandalore, I think. Jango Fett uses Mandalore Armour, but is not a Mandalorian himself. I think that’s the concensus, anyway. The problem is that the Expanded Universe created all this backstory to the Mandalorians in respect to Boba Fett, which was rendered completely obsolete by Attack of the Clones creating a whole different origin story for him. So they had to explain away the mythos again. It’s all a bit of a mess really. So make up your own origin of the Fetts if you like. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/3 "2005-06-03T08:00:31Z")
Fett was never supposed to be Mandalorian himself; he just uses their armor and equipment. The KOTOR games, set several thousand years prior to the films, occur when the Mandalorians were still a major threat to the Republic. Canderous Ordo’s appearance suggests that the Mandalorians are biologically human, but have a unique, military-centric culture (like the Naboo, for example). Of course, this is all EU, so whether you accept it as canonical is up to you. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/4 "2005-06-03T12:04:56Z")
I kind of interpreted from KOTOR that the Mandolorians are a specific ethnic or cultural human group, but still distinctly the same species. A distinctly warlike and aggressive ethnic group, but a human one nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/5 "2005-06-03T14:48:30Z")
I’m in the middle of KOTOR II right now and I’ll be damned if the Mandalorian soliders on Dxun don’t sound alot like Jango. Not the main mandalorians, but the random soliders. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/6 "2005-06-03T15:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > problem is that the Expanded Universe created all this backstory to the Mandalorians in respect to Boba Fett I believe they made up at least three mutually conradictory stories. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/7 "2005-06-03T15:38:36Z")
For some reason, in between KOTOR I and II, all the Mandalorians (except Canderous Ordo) turned Australian, to judge from the accent. I don’t know why, but it scares me. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/8 "2005-06-03T17:13:04Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#): > > For some reason, in between KOTOR I and II, all the Mandalorians (except Canderous Ordo) turned Australian, to judge from the accent. > > I don’t know why, but it scares me. Come Luke, Feel the power of the Aussie side of the force, mate! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/9 "2005-06-03T17:24:51Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#): > > For some reason, in between KOTOR I and II, all the Mandalorians (except Canderous Ordo) turned Australian, to judge from the accent. > > I don’t know why, but it scares me. They turned Kiwi, actually, if their voices are based on Temuera Morrison’s. ---
**Author:** ![Nivika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8edcca/32.png) [@Nivika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nivika)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/10 "2010-12-03T02:14:41Z")
The Mandalorians are a Culture of Military and Family Centric Warrior Clans, who all follow six tenets that unify them, and have strong ethnic pride, while the original Mandalorians were the Taungs of Coruscant who colonized on Mandalore Prime (named for their Leader Mandalore the First) After the Mandalorian crusaders began to spread outwards and adopted others into their culture, they became a mix, with a large amount of humans, during the neo crusades (The Mandalorian Wars) The Mandalorians recruited from enslaved worlds by adopting everyone, teaching them the six actions (the Resol’nare) and giving them armor, they’d learn Mandalorian culture on the fly, resulting in a huge explosion in the Mandalorian Population and widespreading of their ideology, by Kotor 2, most of the surviving Mandalorians were Human or other species, and most of the taung had died on Malachor in other battles. As for Boba, Boba in the current Canon EU became a bounty hunter for a time, until finding his way to Concord Dawn, taking the Name Jaster Mereel in honor of his father’s mentor, (and technically due to mando culture, his grandfather) and became a mandalorian protector, (Jaster mereel not his real name but an alias) and the rest everyone knows, so all his ‘canon’ inconsistent origins are true, from a certain point of view, and In universe are conflicting origins people hear about him, to give him an air of mystery ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/11 "2010-12-03T03:44:47Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#): > > …suggests that the Mandalorians are biologically human, but have a unique, military-centric culture (like the Naboo, for example)… The Naboo are military-centric? With a queen like Amidala, and getting rolled over by the Trade Federation so easily? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/12 "2010-12-03T03:57:17Z")
They are a race of zombies. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/13 "2010-12-03T05:56:36Z")
None of these folks are humans from Earth; is there any semi-canonical explanation of what it means to be “human” anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/14 "2010-12-03T11:45:04Z")
They’re human the same way the men of Middle Earth are human. ---
**Author:** ![Short\_Guy\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@Short\_Guy\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy_1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/15 "2010-12-03T11:49:04Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > None of these folks are humans from Earth; is there any semi-canonical explanation of what it means to be “human” anyway? That’s what I was wondering. I mean, _Star Wars_ is set “in a galaxy far, far away” so it stands to reason that Luke, Han, Leia etc. aren’t human but only look that way. Is there a canonical stance on this? BTW, when I read the title, I said to myself: “Of course they aren’t human! Have you looked at them?” But then I realized I was thinking of the Mangalores from _the Fifth Element._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/16 "2010-12-03T14:27:57Z")
No, they are humans of the future. A long, long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away is a line being told to the audience of the even farther future, further away. It all depends on your point of view. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/17 "2010-12-03T15:06:51Z")
There is no one species that you could call Mandalorian. When you say that someone is Mandalorian you’re referring to the warrior culture of which they are a part. A lot of people are born into that culture- a lot are integrated without any background with the group. People of all species, genders and sexual orientations (there are openly homosexual Mandalorians - how did you think their armor got so fabulous?) can be Mandalorian. Most Mandalorians are human, the most populous species in the galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/18 "2010-12-03T15:56:54Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > there are openly homosexual Mandalorians While this is one case where we agree, I’m still going to have to veto this on the grounds that it was written by Karen “The Jedi Had It Coming” Traviss. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/19 "2010-12-03T17:59:50Z")
Boba Fett is clearly [not human](http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/e/ef/Boba_Fett_Unmasked_Original.jpg) (or at least in one person’s interpretation he isn’t). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647/20 "2010-12-03T18:39:07Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Boba Fett is clearly [not human](http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/e/ef/Boba_Fett_Unmasked_Original.jpg) (or at least in one person’s interpretation he isn’t). Boba Fett is a clone of this man: > **[Jango Fett](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jango_Fett)** > > Jango Fett was a famed Mandalorian human male bounty hunter and the clone template of the Grand Army of the Republic. Known as the best bounty hunter in the galaxy during the final years of the Galactic Republic, Fett was proficient in marksmanship... So he’s gonna look like that when unmasked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mandalorians-human/306647.md?page=2)