Mythosaur

"You are a Mandalorian! Your ancestors rode the great Mythosaur."

―Kuiil scolds Din Djarin^[4]

Mythosaurs were creatures of gigantic proportions found on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. The Mines of Mandalore were a mythosaur lair. They were allegedly tamed and ridden by Mandalore the Great and ancient Mandalorians, but they were believed to have gone extinct long before the Mandalorian cataclysm, although at least one mythosaur survived and lived in the Living Waters during the time of the New Republic. Its skull was one of the traditional symbols of Mandalorian iconography, and some Mandalorian armor bore the distinctive symbol.

Biology and appearance

Mythosaurs were sea beasts^[1] of gigantic proportions;^[3] they could grow to be more than 15 meters (50 feet) in length.^[1] Mythosaurs had yellowish scaly skin with black eyes and bore two large horns on the side of their mouth. They could survive both on land and underwater.^[2] Mythosaurs used their sharp tusks to fight competitors or possibly to catch prey. There are many questions regarding the biology of the mythosaur: was it lumbering as the apex predator in its environment, or was it fast and agile?^[1]

History

Early history

"According to ancient folklore, the mines were once a Mythosaur lair. Mandalore the Great is said to have tamed the mythical beast. It is from these legends that the skull signet was adopted and became the symbol of our planet."

―Bo-Katan Kryze reading the description of the Living Waters to Din Djarin^[2]

The mythosaurs were found on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore,^[3] and had a lair in its mines.^[2] Legends tell that long before the Mandalorians had established themselves on Mandalore, the mythosaurs ruled the planet. They were allegedly tamed^[5] and ridden^[4] by Mandalore the Great^[2] and ancient Mandalorians.^[5] Some stories claimed that the Mandalorians tamed the beasts, other tales suggested the even greater feat that the Mandalorians rode the beasts while they where wild and free.^[1] Long before the Mandalorian cataclysm, they were believed to have become extinct,^[3] though at least one mythosaur survived.^[2]

Though considered extinct, its memory lived on in the mythosaur skull emblem,^[3] one of the traditional symbols of Mandalorian iconography,^[6] with some Mandalorian armor bearing the distinctive symbol.^[7] The creature shared its name with the mythosaur axe, a melee weapon used by the Mandalorians. One of these was owned by Vera Beroya and her father.^[8]

Time of the New Republic

"The songs of eons past foretold of the mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore."

―The Armorer^[9]

MythosaurSkull-SW100Objects — A stylized beskar mythosaur skull in the possession of the Tribe.

In 9 ABY,^[10] the Ugnaught Kuiil^[11] was training the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin to ride blurrgs on^[4] the planet Arvala-7^[11] and scolded him when he tried to give up, reminding him of the fact that his ancestors rode mythosaurs and that blurrgs were easier to ride.^[4]

By the reign of the New Republic, songs of eons past in the Mandalorian culture foretold of the mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of the Mandalorian culture.^[9] Indeed, Lady Bo-Katan Kryze discovered one still alive in the Living Waters in the Mines of Mandalore beneath Sundari's ruins while rescuing Din Djarin from drowning after he fell into its depths.^[2] Afterwards, she concealed the fact she had seen the mythosaur from Djarin.^[12] She later asked the Armorer to inlay the symbol of the mythosaur on her new pauldron instead of another Nite Owl. When she told the Armorer that she had encountered the mythosaur,^[13] the Armorer elected to view it as a noble vision,^[14] replying that those who walk the Way see many visions.^[13]

However, she soon took Kryze's claim as evidence of the new age^[15] foretold in songs.^[9] After the reconquest of Mandalore from Gideon's Imperial remnant, the Mythosaur remained alive, still living within the Living Waters.^[16]

Mythosaurs in the galaxy

The Mines of Mandalore were once a mythosaur lair. Mandalore the Great is said to have tamed the mythical beast. By the time of the New Republic, they were considered extinct, but a mythosaur resided in the Living Waters beneath the Mines of Mandalore in the ruins of the Civic Center of Sundari.^[2]

A mythosaur skull hung from one of the walls in Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities in Black Spire Outpost, Batuu.^[17]