Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels had a number of amazing story arcs and continuing plot elements that further deepened the history, world-building, and overall mythology of the franchise. Sometimes, however, it is too difficult to find all the episodes necessary to gain a clearer understanding of the stories and theme being told. Today, I hope to begin alleviating some of your frustration by providing you with episode guides to story arcs, themes, and character developments, big & small, found in The Clone Wars and Rebels.

These guides are entirely opinionated, so if you think I missed something or would like to share your own thoughts, feel free to message me anytime on Discord or Twitter. Look out for more upcoming guides and let’s hope we can update those existing guides once Resistance premieres.

Episode Guide: The Mandalorian Way

A guide to viewing and discussing the Mandalorian culture during the Rise of the Empire and early years of the Rebellion.

Crisis on Mandalore

The Crisis on Mandalore represents a fairly significant story arc through the Clone Wars, centering on themes such as political neutrality, ethnocentrism, ethnic nationalism, pacifism v. aggression, revolution, and survival. This story arc reimagines the Mandalorian culture and its people as a civilization that brought itself to near-extinction due to constant strife and in-fighting. It also explores the difficulty of neutrality during a period of war and how ideals may shift during the most desperate of times. As the capable Duchess Satine Kryze struggles to maintain peace across the Mandalorian System, rivals and hidden enemies attempt to drag Mandalore into the Clone Wars and dismantle its government for their own.

CW 212 The Mandalore Plot

CW 213 Voyage of Temptation

CW 214 – Duchess of Mandalore

CW 305 – Corruption

CW 306 – The Academy

CW 414 – A Friend in Need (introduction of Bo-Katan Kryze)

CW 514 – Eminence

CW 515 – Shades of Reason

CW 516 – The Lawless

Clan Wren of House Vizla

The following episodes follow the life of Sabine Wren during the early years of the Rebellion against the Empire. This story arc, which reveals the personal history and emotional struggle of Sabine, directly coincides with the attempted liberation and renewed civil war on Mandalore. Through a series of events, Sabine finds the legendary Darksaber within her possession and endeavors to face her past and her people to help save the Mandalorian way of life. The beliefs of the Mandalorian people are also greatly expanded upon throughout these episodes, including their social hierarchy, history, ethics, and cultural identity. Primary themes include love & family, the preservation of history & culture, respect & honor, and the embracing of pain.

Rebels 208 – Blood Sisters

Rebels 213 – The Protector of Concord Dawn

Rebels 307 – Imperial Supercommandos

Rebels 315 – Trials of the Darksaber

Rebels 316 – Legacy of Mandalore

Rebels 401 – Heroes of Mandalore pt. I

Rebels 402 – Heroes of Mandalore pt. II

GREAT NEWS! The Clone Wars animated show is returning for 12 final episodes in 2019. We already know that some, if not, most of the episodes will focus on the Siege of Mandalore which took place concurrently with the events of Revenge of the Sith. Already confused? Maybe go check out the Maul: Son of Dathomir comic and Ahsoka novel to gain some insight into what was happening to Mandalore during the final months of the Clone Wars.

There will be more guides coming soon!

About the Author

Joshua Sosa is a New Yorker, born and raised, who has guest hosted on different podcasts such as Focused Fire Chat – A Destiny Lore Podcast, The Tolkien Road, and also even Echo Base. He also contributes to The Lore Network, a cross-cultural blog under the umbrella of Focused Fire Chat. As a self-proclaimed mythologist-in-training, with a B.A. in Classical Studies from CUNY Hunter College, Josh spends of his time writing notes and ideas pertaining to comparative mythology & storytelling with hopes of one day publishing scholarly essays.

Josh has an interest in a number of different franchises including Star Wars, Tolkien’s Legendarium, J.K. Rowling Wizarding World, A Song of Ice & Fire, Godzilla, Doctor Who, Westworld, and much more. He is both an avid reader and gamer, with a somewhat “home-body” disposition, who enjoys his coffee, Chillhop Lo-Fi jazz music, and some good anime. You can find Josh on Twitter @chattingmyth or on the Random Chatter Discord server @Josh[Demigod]. Feel free to message him whenever you want to discuss myth and storytelling in Star Wars or other forms of storytelling.