WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 3 of The Mandalorian, "Chapter 11: The Heiress," streaming now on Disney+.
In "The Heiress," Bo Katan’s remark about the Children of the Watch raised more questions than it answered, with some wondering who the Children of the Watch are and why they're considered zealots. It also has some wonder if a darksider, like Darth Maul, could be behind Din Djarin’s protective tribe. Not only would this make Mando part of a villainous group, but it also has the potential to reference a past Sith Lord, showcasing the legacy of Maul's cult.
As Redditor Devizz argues, the Children of the Watch have one thing in common with what would later become the First Order. Both groups take kids and induct them into their ways of life at a very early age. In their argument, this idea would have been planted by Darth Maul, who was himself abducted as a baby by Palpatine and then raised in the Sith tradition.
In The Clone Wars, the Night Watch was a radical group of Mandalorians led by Pre Vizsla, who believed in restoring Mandalore to its former ways and glory. The golden days for him were a period of constant expansionist wars marked by the environmental destruction of their own planet, and it saw the rejection of the pacifist government of Duchess Satine Kryze.
They also had a knack for establishing terrible partnerships with people who didn’t have their best interests at heart, like Count Dooku, the Separatists and Darth Maul. That ended when Maul killed Pre Vizsla and claimed Mandalore for himself. The reddit theory posits that the Children of the Watch are a remnant of a death cult established by Darth Maul during his brief period as the ruler of Mandalore.
On the surface, the theory seems solid enough, but on closer examination, it has some cracks that go beyond Maul's death in Rebels. First of all, if Maul had established the Children of the Watch, then Din or the Armorer should know more about the Force since Maul wielded it with abandon, and he most likely would've leveraged this ability as a cult leader.
There’s also a Vizsla in Din’s tribe. Paz Vizsla was the bellicose fellow who confronted Mando in Season 1. It is unlikely that any Vizsla would have remained in a cult founded by the murderer of his kin and the usurper of his family’s rightful weapon and throne, especially since Paz was very vocal about his dislike for those who plundered Mandalorian beskar.
That’s not to say that Darth Maul had nothing to do with the Children of the Watch. They might stick to their rigid creed because they are indeed related to the Night Watch, but they are ashamed in the part that their predecessors played in the definitive fall of Mandalore and the loss of the Darksaber. They could be living underground for the same reason, knowing that they would not be welcomed among other Mandalorians.
From this perspective, the tribe’s hellish living conditions, their strict moral rules and their helmets take on the tints of the penitent, even if Children like Din Djarin don’t know what they are atoning for. After all, one of the most deeply-seated psychological reasons for never showing one’s face is not defiance; it's shame. Like how The Rise of Skywalker featured a Sith cult working under Palpatine, The Mandalorian's true villain could be another Sith's cult, one that tarnished the Children of the Watch's standing under Darth Maul's rule.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, with guest stars Amy Sedaris, Misty Rosas and Richard Ayoade. Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez.