Unadorned armor may shed light on 'The Mandalorian's shadowy backstory 

The most compelling thing about the titular lead of The Mandalorian is how little we actually know about him. The promotional material for the show has kept details about his character and story arc a closely guarded secret. At this point, all we really know is that his suit looks pretty rad and he’ll be played by Pedro Pascal.

While the lead character’s mysterious backstory seems fundamental to the show’s tone (we aren’t supposed to know who he is, thus the mystique of the character can be preserved), certain context clues provide a shadowy outline of what he’ll be like. A great example of this comes in the form of a theory by Reddit user Robomerc, who draws an interesting line between the detail (or lack thereof) on the Mandalorian’s suit and his possible lineage.

Robomerc notes that the lack of Clan markings on his armor (Mandalorian society is divided up into clans, each with a distinct series of markings on their armor) suggests the character could hail from a disgraced Clan. The post notes that there’s already a particularly well-known disgraced Mandalorian Clan within the existing Star Wars canon.

Clan Saxon has appeared in Star Wars: Rebels as well as a handful of comics and video games, and sided with the Empire in the leadup to the Galactic Civil War. In doing so, they betrayed their fellow Mandalorians to the Empire. Because of this transgression, after the Galactic Civil War the Clan was stripped of its rights, its honor, and everything else. As such, their suits no longer bore the traditional markings of the race.

The redditor posits that while the Mandalorian may not be a character we already know (or have any connection to established characters like Boba Fett or Sabine Wren) they still may have a connection to a previously established corner of the Star Wars universe. Given the show’s focus on outlaws, scum, and villainy, it feels quite plausible that the protagonist would be a member of a disgraced clan.

There’s no telling who the Mandalorian will end up being. The safe money is still on an entirely new character with an entirely new story. Even so, it’s likely he’ll have a tie to a small piece of franchise lore, like Clan Saxon.