Foundling

This article is about the Mandalorian term. You may be looking for the episode of The Mandalorian, "Chapter 20: The Foundling".

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"A foundling is in your care. By creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind, you are as its father."

―The Armorer, to Din Djarin^[1]

Jango Fett Armed to the Teeth SoH — Jango Fett was a Mandalorian foundling who later served as the template for the Galactic Republic's clone troopers.

A foundling was a term used in Mandalorian culture for children who were adopted by the warriors of Mandalore.^[2]

Description[]

"It is a tradition in our culture for each to donate a small portion of what they earn to the foundlings."

―The Armorer to Grogu^[3]

By their Creed, Mandalorians could not leave abandoned children to their fate if they encountered them, whether on the battlefield or on any other mission. By creed, any Mandalorian warrior who had a foundling in their care was duty-bound to either reunite them with their kind or raise them until they were of age, acting as the child's parent. When the foundling came of age, if he had not yet been reunited with its kind, it could decide to leave or join the Mandalorians. Although Mandalorians who had been foundlings were treated no differently than any other Mandalorians, possessing the right to bear their armor and even to form their own clans, discrimination towards foundlings was observed to be present within Mandalorian societies.^[4]^[1]^[5] It was a tradition of the Mandalorian culture for each to donate a small portion of beskar they earn to the foundlings. Foundlings could rise to be apprentices after learning and training. The highest honor of the Mandalorian Creed was saving a foundling.^[3]

History[]

"Bo-Katan Kryze, you have honored your House and all of Mandalore. You have done the highest honor of the Creed. Saving a foundling."

―The Armorer to Bo-Katan Kryze^[3]

Nam Beroya, the chieftain of the Old Mandalorian Clan Awaud, adopted Vera Beroya as his daughter. After Beroya was presumed to have died during the Imperial Era, the young but battle-hardened Beroya succeeded him as clan chieftain.^[6]

DinDjarinAndGrogu-CoverArt — Din Djarin, a Mandalorian foundling, became the father to the foundling Grogu.

Prior to the Galactic Empire's Great Purge of Mandalore, the foundlings would be taken to Mandalore and raised among the warrior kind.^[1] Following these events however, the remaining Mandalorians were forced into hiding, such as a band of warriors who called themselves the Tribe and who followed the ancient Way of the Mandalore. The Tribe hid in a covert on the planet Nevarro, only emerging one at a time to avoid detection. Due to their limited numbers, the Tribe viewed its foundlings as the future of Mandalorian culture.^[5]

A member of the Tribe called Din Djarin, himself a former foundling, worked as a bounty hunter for the Bounty Hunters' Guild on Nevarro. In 9 ABY, Djarin accepted a contract from an Imperial remnant operating on Nevarro to recover a bounty for which he was paid in beskar, Mandalorian steel that was stolen by the Empire. However, the bounty turned out to be a child from an unidentified species.^[4] After turning over the child to the Imperials, Djarin had a change of heart and rescued the child, with help from the Tribe.^[5]

Weeks later and following a confrontation with the Imperial remnant on Nevarro, Djarin re-encountered the Tribe's leader, a mysterious Mandalorian known as "The Armorer," in the ruins of the enclave. There, she told him that the child was as he had been, a foundling of the Mandalorians. She instructed Djarin to follow the ancient creed of the Mandalorians and return the child to its own kind or raise him as his own until he came of age. By accepting the charge, Djarin earned the right to form his own clan.^[1]

Axe Woves discriminated the former foundling Djarin by saying he did not have one drop of Mandalorian blood in his veins. Bo-Katan Kryze replied that Djarin took the Creed and chose to walk the Way, like their ancestors, which meant he was every bit the Mandalorian that they were.^[7]