part 1

There are in theory contradicting sources about Taungs - namely Death Watch Manifesto [Bounty Hunter Code], Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author’s Cut, Part 2 – Ancient Coruscant and Republic Collapse, all written within the TCW era (2008-2020) and Mandalorian song Vode An best known from the Republic Commando game soundtrack (2005).

The first source claims that Taung Crusaders “relied primarily on handheld weapons such as beskade and Mythosaur axes” and that those weapon forms inspire modern Mandalorian designs. 

Bounty Hunter Code also included an artistic version of Taungs proving themselves against Mythosaur, while using swords / sabers against the beast.

The problem with the Death Watch Manifesto lies in its political nature and so can’t be treated as an objective source. The point of Manifesto was to gain new loyal members of Death Watch (the loyalists of Old Faith) to fight against Duchess Satine Kryze’s pacifist rule. Text provided simplified version of the conflict between warriors and so called Faithless supported by Republic and Jedi from supposedly perspective of Tor Vizsla[3], including emphasis on repression that happened upon the traditionalists, such like exile to Concordia and intentional destruction of their culture:

“Seven centuries ago, their craven, hut’uune warships and Jedi bombarded our worlds. They incinerated Mandalore’s farmland and forests, leaving much of our homeworld a forsaken desert of fine white sand, and then occupied our worlds. They killed, exiled, or disarmed our warriors and suppressed our ancient codes. 

or

“Our secret operations on Mandalore and Concordia are producing more and more beskar, but Mandalorian armor remains hard to find - and the New Mandalorians treacherously destroyed many heirloom suits of beskar’gam.”

and

“Some of our warriors were exiled to the moon Concordia. Others - myself included - slipped away to resume the ba’slan shev’la”.

This raises a question: how close to the truth is the knowledge provided by the author? If warrior culture were systematically erased for ages within Mandalorian society, then there is a high possibility that author’s knowledge is either 

• incomplete - the ancient tradition was passed in secret for ~700 years and from the start was designed to uphold customs that warriors should consider sacred, thus the only one correct and right version to believe. After such a long time Tor Vizsla (and Death Watch members in general) may simply repeat already whitewashed “history lessons” that for ages fitted Faithfuls’ needs. In that case we could assume the author himself does not lie on purpose and simply presents the knowledge passed through generations between traditional Mandalorians.  
• deliberately present information in a way that fits the Death Watch’s rhetoric to manipulate/encourage readers to the author’s case. This doesn’t mean Tor is lying about events per se, as Sith War, Mandalorian Wars and Republic attack on Mandalore did happen and have confirmation in different sources, however the manner of presenting is clearly non-objective. This is especially noticeable in a way Mandalorians are separated into Faithful working hard to keep their culture alive and thus in symbolic way face and overcome the trials of Kad Ha’rangir (the warrior / positive god) while Pacifist choose the easier way and follow the Arasuum (negative god) or how the text focus so much on connecting modern Mandalorians to their mythical-historical progenitors as Mandalore the Ultimate (who opened Mandalorian warrior ranks to anyone worth of the title) and Taungs in general. 

Of course, those two options don’t exclude each other and may easily co-exist, as the author operates on knowledge passed down to him while presenting it in a favorable way to potential members of Death Watch. Which leads me back to Taungs using swords and what traditional weapons means. 

Taungs at some point needed to pass down their metallurgist knowledge to humans and other assimilated Aliens so it is very possible that their blacksmiths in fact had made those types of weapon, especially in a period of time close to Mandalorian Wars. The new warriors (Neo-Crusaders) needed to be properly equipped  - and many “recruits”came from Republic territories thus could be more familiar with sword fighting than using axes, so the author may not be wrong about ancient Mandalorian design on which the modern beskar swords are based to some degree. With Mandalorian culture existing for over 7000 years, both (Taung) axes and (Mandalorian human) swords at some point became seen as traditional Mandalorian weapons however there is no way to say for sure did Tor Vizsla had a proper knowledge about Taung battle methods or did he stretched the facts for propaganda, as another cultural tradition that humans shared with the ancient Mandalorians?

Considering the nature of the Death Watch Manifesto and mentioned destruction of warrior culture by New Mandalorians (Republic), I tend to favor the latter possibility. Especially when the three most important ancient Mandalorian (Taung) deities presented in the same Manifesto carry no sword-like weapon. Which again raises a question, what is the point of a god called Kad (sword) if the available picture (interpretation) shows him with a Taung-like traditional ax?

Hod Ha’ran too carries an axe while only Arasuum either is using ceremonial(?) cane or his weapon is deliberately held blade down, as a sort of symbol of giving up warrior nature (that author of Manifesto clearly ties to “traitorous” pacifism).   

The ancient Mandalorian deities were led by the all-seeing Kad Ha’rangir (left), shown here beside the trickster god Hod Ha’ran (center) and the slothful Arasuum (right).

This is even more palpable, as:

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LOOK I KNOW THE GAME IS NOT YET OUT BUT I SWEAR EVERYTHING WOULD BE BETTER IF THEY JUST GIVE BI-HAN FIRE EXTINGUISHER!

One Piece (Netflix 2023)

Foreword

Tie-in Legends source materials are in general agreement that Taungs, the alien species that created Mandalorian culture ~7000  BBY, originally worshiped many gods. With passing time their belief system morphed into the concept of War being itself divine and reverential. In the period after the Sith War (3996 BBY) and before the early raids (3976 BBY) leading to start of Mandalorian Wars (3964 BBY), humans and other Aliens who proved themselves in battle and followed Mandalorian Canons of Honor were allowed into warrior ranks on an equal right, however Taungs themselves were already a dying out species.

The last Taung Mandalore, known as the Mandalore the Ultimate, died in the final battle of Mandalorian Wars in 3960 BBY and this military conflict ended both Taung hegemony and their religious beliefs in “holy carnage”. The new brand of Mandalorians kept combat and fighting skills in high regard, sought challenges to improve themselves and gain an honor but a great number of warriors went into mercenary work solely for money or the thrill of the hunt. This mercenary mindset lasted to modern days while the old faith faded away into obscurity although some knowledge and the echo of original religion remained in (human) Mandalorian culture. 

Thus to understand forgotten religion better, the original mythology should be analyzed based on Taung and early Mandalorian culture. This is especially important since the knowledge that survived to current times may be greatly distorted as the proper context can be lost due to abrupt social changes that happened to Mandalorian culture, especially in the last seven hundred years, starting with Republic attack in 738 BBY (known also as Mandalorian Excision) that divided society into two opposite faction (pacifists and warriors loyal to Old Ways) and ending with Imperial occupation that brought much destruction to Mandalore and its people. The Mandalorian Excision especially led to devastating social-economic changes, as New Mandalorians rejected the warrior traditions in favor of safe neutrality and in result, those loyal to Old Ways became a (religious?) minority that over time lost its influence on official Mandalore politics, at least up to the Clone Wars and Imperial occupation era. 

For those unfamiliar with Mandalorian lore, the three most known gods are:

• Kad Ha’rangir - the all-seeing creator of tests and trials
• Arasuum - the god of stagnation and sloth
• Hod Haran - the trickster, agent of fickle fortune

The first two deities were introduced in an article Mandalorians: People and Culture (Insider #86) while the last was revealed in Death Watch Manifesto (Bounty Hunter Code) and both sources suggest modern (human) Mandalorians do not worship those gods like their forefathers did, if ever at all they pay attention to any religious side of their culture. This raises a question though, how much modern interpretation of those gods - the only one we truly have - is in fact compatible with their original form? 

Let’s start with Kad Ha'rangir. 

My main problem with seeing Kad Ha'rangir as the most important deity worshiped by warriors during Taung!Mandalorian hegemony comes down to his name itself.

”Ha’rangir“ can be easily tie down to words for hell and destruction such like haran and raangir (the command raangir! means literally go to hell! as the original mando’a dictionary states) which makes sense why the god’s epitome is Destructor while “Kad” in the mandalorian language means “sword” or “saber”[1]. However none of those types of blades were associated with the first Mandalorians. The older sources made it clear Taungs held in high regard axes as their traditional and/or ceremonial weapon and still used them (alongside spear-like and other atypical blades) on the battlefield despite access to technologically advanced weaponry. 

This can be observed through:

Tales of the Jedi: Sith War, during duel between Mandalore the Indomitable and Ulic Qel-Droma (issue #1)

Mandalore: You fight unfairly Qel-Droma! Put away your blood-thirsty weapon… use this, the simple weapon of my forefathers.

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