Thread by @DarksaberLight

Loooong thread: Every reason why the Armorer is the spy who betrays Bo-Katan, Din Djaran, and even her own people in #TheMandalorian.

Gideon knows the Mandos are planning to retake their planet, which the Armorer suggested they do, even though they'd just been given a new home.

The Armorer has always known a great deal about Mandalorian history and culture beyond the cult, but also about more current events related to the Purge and Moff Gideon's role in all of it.

Yet she has rarely shared any of that information with those who follow her. Instead, she has taught the only that those who are not her followers cannot be trusted, even if they claim to be Mandalorian.

Not only could they not be trusted but they stood in opposition to every thing that made the Armorer and her followers Mandalorian.

In the past, the Armorer has been wholly dismissive of any person who claims to be Mandalorian but removes their helmet (hence the need for Din's redemption) & when it comes to her cult, she is the only one who can confirm absolution.

Despite Bo's willingness to abide by their culture while with CotW, the Armorer has not indicated she has changed her mind on those tenets (or that she no longer views the Kryzes as apostate). In fact, she's doubled down on the idea that all Mandos must walk the Way together.

And yet, she forcibly alienates Bo from CotW by demanding she remove her helmet, othering her from "the one Way" while also doing a 180 in terms of how she talks about "other" Mandalorians.

The Armorer believed that the return of the Mythosaur heralds the beginning of a new age, but that that reality would never come to pass.

She believes Bo-Katan when she says she saw it & recognizes that significance. The Armorer seems to commit herself to Bo's service but she never actually promises that. For her to recognize Bo's place undermines her own tenets. They simply cannot coexist so Bo is a threat to her.

The Armorer is the one who suggests they retake Mandalore. She insists that Bo must gather all of her former supporters together in order to do so. Bo does so . . . and after the Imperial attack, Gideon thanks her for it.

The name of the previous episode -- "The Spies" -- already clearly indicates where this is going.

One is Elia Kane. The other is ... not Bo, who has a vested interest in Gideon's defeat. Not Din. Not Paz. Not Axe, who's too dumb for that & who usurped Bo to fight Gideon.

No. It's the woman who instigated the reunification of the dispersed Mandos. She accompanied the scouting party, but she also ensured that she got off-world before the Imperial assault, dooming Bo, Din, and even Paz, the only others who have wielded any authority.

She has taken Bo's personal ship and returned to the fleet. She has rendezvoused with the command ship under the guise of treating the survivors they found, but that also puts her in an easy place to usurp the commander that Bo left in charge and thus command Bo's entire fleet.

It's unclear what deal she may have made with Gideon. He clearly wants the Darksaber, which Din has said means nothing to his people, and the planet, which the Armorer never really cared about, even to the point of hiding during the Purge.

I suspect the deal was that Gideon would control Mandalore, but the Armorer would control the Mandalorians.

She could return to their new home on Nevarro & grow her cult once again, ensuring (just as she already told Bo) that *all* Mandalorians walk the Way together.

Means. Motive. Opportunity. The Armorer hasn't been nice this season. She hasn't changed her mind on what it means to be Mandalorian.

No, she's been remarkably consistent in her views, and as a cult leader, her goal is to grow her own followers and thus her power.

Bo-Katan is the greatest threat to the Armorer's power & greatest opportunity to gain more if she can get Bo out of the way. Gideon is her best chance to do that & prove how illegitimate those who do not follow the Way truly are.

After all, she knows a truth Bo once knew well.

Interestingly, if the Armorer believes that Moff Gideon will come through on their deal, she had a frontrow seat to Bo-Katan showing exactly why he can never be trusted.

Whether it's this season or next, Din's choice is going to be between loyalty to the woman who has defined his life for the last 30 years (and his deepest convictions) ... or loyalty to the woman to whom he has committed himself now.

Yup. Generally, I've taken the view that the Armorer is someone we don't already know, but I will point out that when asked directly if she was a part of Death Watch, the Armorer gave the best non-answer she could and waited for the conversation to shift.

I do think this could have factored into the decision, but I do think it's more literal than this. They could have called them "The Scouts" otherwise (and not potentially spoiled the finale).

Also, at the risk of mixing religious imagery, I'll point out that there are *13* scouts (not counting Grogu), which means that the dinner they have is the equivalent of the Last Supper, with Bo as the Christ figure in the center of the 12 disciples, including Judas.

Yuuuup. Listen to the soundtrack in this scene and also in moments like when the Armorer tells Bo that she will also go to Mandalore. Subtle but discordant tones meant to ratchet up that tension.

Definitely. Depending on how much she's sunk into this alliance, I could see her crossing Gideon when she realizes how stupid it was to trust him, but I could also see her doubling down, because she knows she will have lost the trust of her followers.

I actually wonder if the finale will culminate with the Armorer with the Darksaber and she attacks Grogu when she realizes she's lost control of the situation, but she's thwarted by her own handiwork, the armor she made for him.