Yes, Din Djarin Does Take off His Helmet in 'The Mandalorian,' but Not Often

One of the biggest series that helped get people on board with signing up for a Disney+ subscription is Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian. The outer space drama set in the Star Wars universe had fans hyped for a very long time and the fact that it comes from a director with a crazy track record of producing box office smash hit after smash hit. It also helps that he's a huge SW nerd and when The Mandalorian first debuted, people wondered: What does Din Djarin actually look like?

If you've been watching the show and missed what Din Djarin's face looks like, then you've probably missed a few key scenes where he removes his helmet. Mandalorians are supposed to never remove their helmets in front of another living being... ever. It's one of many of their codes and what makes them such fascinating characters to follow in the Star Wars universe. 

As for the no-helmet rule, Din Djarin learns that it's only his "sect" of Mandalorian-ism that precludes him from removing his helmet, something he learns when he encounters other members of the Mando tribe: Bo-Katan, Koska Reeves, and Axe Woves. The three willingly remove their own cranial protectors, which seemed like a cardinal sin to Din, who is a "Child of the Watch."

It reminded me of the first time my Desi Muslim friends saw me eat a Burger King Cheeseburger and they nearly slapped it out of my hands.

As the series progresses, we see that perhaps Bo-Katan's had a bit of influence on Din, as he does pull up his mask a bit in order to eat in front of "The Child," aka, "Baby Yoda." While eating in front of the little green tyke isn't that big of a deal, it does show a little bit of an emotional dent in Din's stringent adherence to the "Child of Light" Mandalore ways.

And it's not like we haven't seen Din without his helmet before, either. At the end of the show's first season, Din is seen taking off his metal cowl in order to receive medical attention from the IG-11 droid. However, since the droid isn't a living entity, it's not like he's breaking any Mandalore code of ethics by taking his helmet off to have his life saved.

But in "The Siege," which is the fourth episode in the show's second season, the fact that he's removing the helmet in front of Baby Yoda shows that he's becoming a bit more humanized, and it could also be a great way for actor Pedro Pascal to get more facial screen time, which could only be good for the series and help solidify that character arc even further.

Growing up as a hard-nosed warrior from a tribe of absolute killers, transforming Din into someone who places a greater emphasis on life and finds his own "way" instead of following "the way" he was taught, is a tried-and-true narrative thread. Wrapping that with the mask symbolism and its eventual, more frequent removal, could make Din's story that much more emotional.

In his quest to get Grogu back, Din puts on the uniform of an Imperial transporter and has to remove his helmet to conduct a facial scan. That shows how much his character has progressed in the show, and, like eating around Baby Yoda and getting his wounds treated, depicts Din in a very vulnerable state.

It also sets up that his mission trumps his own personal moral code and sets up further ways in which that code will be tested. Others have written that this episode is quite possibly the most pivotal in Din's character journey: he made a conscious effort to choose what is right and not just what he was taught.

The Mandalorian is streaming on Disney+, with the final episode of Season 2, Chapter 16, debuting on the platform on Dec. 18, 2020. Will you be tuning in?