The Armorer is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who appears in the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Dressed in red body armor and a gold helmet, she is the leader of a tribe of Mandalorian warriors, which includes the title character of The Mandalorian. A mysterious, patient, and intelligent character, the Armorer provides spiritual guidance for the clan, and forges and repairs their armor.
Jon Favreau, the creator and showrunner of The Mandalorian, was among the creators of the Armorer. The character was partially inspired by the films of Akira Kurosawa, as well as the history and culture of the samurai, particularly in the character's slow-paced movement and aura of authority. The Armorer is portrayed by Emily Swallow, who provides both the character's voice and live-action performance, while her stunts are performed by Lauren Mary Kim. When Swallow auditioned for the role, she knew little about the character and did not know it was for a Star Wars series.
The voice Swallow uses for the Armorer has elements of British and Mid-Atlantic accents, which stemmed from a suggestion made by a casting associate during her audition. She also partially modeled the Armorer's voice after characters from the Lord of the Rings film series. Aspects of The Mandalorian director Deborah Chow's personality influenced Swallow's performance. Kim's combat style in the Armorer's fight scenes was inspired by the Filipino martial art known as Kali.
The Armorer's costume took several weeks to make, and it proved to be challenging to perform in due to limited visibility and the fact that small movements in the costume were very noticeable. Swallow wore the helmet and armor costume for up to nine hours at a time during filming. The Armorer has been received positively by fans and reviewers alike and has been described as a fan favorite.
Appearances The Armorer appeared in three episodes in the first season of The Mandalorian. She is the leader of a tribe of Mandalorian warriors on the planet Nevarro, where they live in a secret enclave. She provides spiritual guidance for the clan, and forges and repairs their armor. Little is revealed about her backstory, and, like other Mandalorians, she wears highly durable armor and conceals her face with a helmet that she never publicly removes. The Mandalorians are in hiding after having suffered persecution by the Galactic Empire, and although the Empire has fallen out of power by the time of The Mandalorian, the clan has not yet regained its former status or power.
Operating on Nevarro The Armorer made her first appearance in the series premiere "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian". The show's protagonist, a bounty hunter known simply as "The Mandalorian", brings her money he received from having collected his most recent bounties, including a bar of beskar steel, a very rare form of metal used to make Mandalorian armor. The Armorer explains that the Empire stole the beskar from the Mandalorians during an event known as "the Great Purge". She uses the beskar to make a single shoulder spaulder for the Mandalorian, and asks whether he has yet identified his "signet", a symbol used to identify clans of Mandalorians. When he says that he has not, she assures him that he will soon. The Armorer says the remaining beskar will be used to assist the "foundlings", a term for children who were not born Mandalorian but rather adopted into their culture. This pleases the Mandalorian because he was a foundling himself. As the Armorer works on his armor, the Mandalorian has flashbacks to his youth, when his family was killed.
The Armorer reappears in the episode "Chapter 3: The Sin", in which the Mandalorian brings her a large amount of beskar, which he received as a bounty for collecting a young alien known as "the Child" and turning him over to a remnant of the fallen Empire. The Armorer uses the steel to make a full cuirass for him. She also makes him a set of explosive projectiles called "whistling birds", named for the whistling noises they make as they fly toward their target. Another clan member named Paz Vizla reprimands the Mandalorian for working with the Empire to obtain the beskar, which leads to a brief fight between the two warriors. The Armorer quickly and quietly defuses the quarrel, reminding them the Empire no longer exists and that it is good the beskar has been returned to the tribe. She speaks about cowardice, honor, and the "Way of the Mandalore", which serves as the tribe's religion and creed. Later, off-screen, the Mandalorians on Nevarro are largely wiped out by the Imperial remnant after the tribe reveals itself at the conclusion of "Chapter 3: The Sin" to assist the Mandalorian. The Armorer is one of the few members of the clan to survive.
In the first-season finale "Chapter 8: Redemption", the Mandalorian and his allies come to the Mandalorian enclave while fleeing from attacking Imperials, only to find it unoccupied except for the Armorer, following the elimination of most of the tribe. The Armorer explains that some Mandalorian warriors may have survived and fled off-world. She is collecting the armor of the fallen Mandalorian warriors and melting it down for salvage. When the Mandalorian presents the Child and reveals he has supernatural powers, the Armorer tells him about the Jedi Order, of which most other characters in the show are not aware. She speaks of the history of the Jedi warriors and their past associations with the Way of the Mandalore, sharing a story from "eons past" about a battle between the Jedi and "Mandalore the Great", a mythological figure in Mandalorian culture. This marks the first time the Jedi are identified by name in The Mandalorian.
The Armorer instructs the Mandalorian to watch over and protect the Child, whom she calls a "foundling", as was the Mandalorian himself, once. She says honor demands that the Mandalorian seek out and deliver the Child to the others of his kind, and that until this occurs, the Mandalorian and the Child are a "clan of two", and that the Mandalorian will be like a father to him. She engraves onto the Mandalorian's pauldron the likeness of a Mudhorn, a type of creature the Mandalorian and the Child worked together to kill in "Chapter 2: The Child"; the Armorer declares it his signet. She also gives the Mandalorian his first jet pack. The Mandalorian invites the Armorer to flee with him, but she refuses to abandon the enclave until she has salvaged what remains. When the Mandalorian and his allies depart, the Armorer waits until five Stormtroopers armed with blasters enter the enclave and attempt to question her. Armed with nothing but her forging tools, the Armorer fights and kills all five in under a minute.
Operating on Glavis The Armorer reappears in The Book of Boba Fett in "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian". Now hiding in the ringworld of Glavis, the Armorer and Paz Vizla (the only two survivors of the massacre on Nevarro) are found by Din Djarin, who has recently completed his quest to deliver his foundling to the Jedi. In the course of his quest, Djarin also claimed the Darksaber, a lightsaber that acts as the ancestral blade of the Mandalorian ruler. Inspecting the Darksaber, after Din Djarin asked her about Bo-Katan Kryze, the Armorer explains her history and the saber prophecy to Djarin. He also provides her with the beskar spear which Ahsoka Tano had given him, a weapon the Armorer disapproved of since beskar was never meant as a weapon, just as armor. Djarin asks her to forge the spear into a gift for his foundling, Grogu. Later, the Armorer trains Djarin in the Darksaber's use, a weapon he struggles to master. She tells him that he isn't fighting with the blade, but against it. Paz Vizla challenges Djarin for the saber, as it was forged by his ancestor Tarre Vizsla, but loses. The Armorer asks both men whether they have ever removed their helmets as part of their creed. While Vizla never has, Djarin admits that he has. The Armorer banishes Djarin from the tribe, saying that he is no longer a Mandalorian. However, she informs Djarin that the only way of atonement is to come into contact with the Living Waters in the mines of Mandalore, but they were destroyed by the Empire during the Purge. Despite declaring Djarin an apostate, the Armorer allows him to keep his armor and the Darksaber.
Retaking Mandalore The Armorer returns in "Chapter 17: The Apostate". At the covert's new hideout on a different planet, she forges a helmet for a young boy named Ragnar Vizsla, who is being accepted into the creed. The ceremony is later interrupted by an attack from a beast. She, along with other Mandalorians, try and fail to defend themselves from the beast until Din Djarin kills it with his N-1 starfighter. Djarin provides proof of the mines' existence, where the Living Waters are located and making his redemption possible. The Armorer agrees that he may be accepted back into the creed should he bathe in the Waters.
In "Chapter 19: The Convert", Djarin returns with Grogu and Bo-Katan Kryze to the covert with a sample of the Living Waters. Upon realizing that he has indeed visited the Waters, the Armorer accepts him back into the creed, while inducting Bo-Katan into the covert as she has also bathed in the Waters and not removed her helmet since. In "Chapter 20: The Foundling", The Armorer forges a new piece of Mandalorian armor for Grogu, a rondel bearing Djarin's mudhorn sigil. Later, The Armorer replaces Bo-Katan's pauldron, but the Armorer disbelieves Bo-Katan encounter's with the mythosaur.
In "Chapter 21: The Pirate", the Armorer says to Bo-Katan Kryze that she is the one who will reunite all Mandalorians. In "Chapter 23: The Spies", the Children of the Watch and the Nite Owls, now united through Bo-Katan, head to Mandalore. The Armorer assists in bringing wounded Mandalorians back to the fleet while others head to the Great Forge, where they are ambushed by Moff Gideon and his men, resulting in Djarin being captured and Paz Vizsla losing his life.
In "Chapter 24: The Return", the Armorer takes part in taking Mandalore back from Moff Gideon. Following Moff Gideon's demise, the Armorer officially finishes Ragnar's initiation at the waters within Mandalore's mines. At the persuasion of Djarin, the Armorer allows Grogu to become his apprentice. The Armorer is later seen when Bo-Katan reignites the Great Forge of Mandalore.
Characterization The Armorer is a mysterious and enigmatic character, with a calm and patient temperament, and a Zen-like personality. She is very intelligent and knows how to act quickly in complex situations. She observes what is happening around her and only speaks when necessary, and although she displays knowledge of many different things – from the Mandalorian's past to the history of the Jedi – she often does not reveal her knowledge until she believes the time is right. Swallow said of this: "she will reveal it in good time, but no one's going to get any information out of her without her being good and ready". She is very slow-paced in her movements, and displays what Swallow calls a "simplicity [and] efficiency of movement".