Jaster & Tor

For me, one of the most hilarious and no less furious aspects of Jaster Mereel’s treatment in the sources is how he is hailed as the great figure in Mandalorian history that brought back honor between Mandalorian Mercs and all but like, not getting any real development for over two decades. Sure, he got here and there mini encyclopedia entries and some mention in regard to Jango Fett, but never anything truly expanding his characterization beyond the general image of “good” Mandalorian created by tie-in sources - an image I find a pretty bland one compared to retconned “The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett” (in which Jaster Mereel originated from) and Jango Fett: Open Seasons comics series.

This is hilarious, because Tor Vizsla got a personal entry in Fact Files - an article biased as hell but still acknowledging both him as character and his impact on Jango & Mandalorians - and a whole section of Bounty Hunter Code for himself and Death Watch. And though I will forever stand with Jango that the Manifesto doesn’t sound much like him (but I like the idea the Manifesto is based on Tor’s notes just edited by someone to be more reader-friendly), there is like 30 pages expanding history and his person while Jaster is once again reduced to small mention here and there. And look, it is hilarious to me that Vizsla and Death Watch is the Mandalorians that Lucas wanted to keep for The Clone Wars, throwing out of window the supposedly great Jaster Mereel and True Mandalorians without any second thought but good damn, it is so frustrating we can’t get any solid material on him even though Bounty Hunter Code was the perfect opportunity to bring him back, as it would make a perfect sense for Jango to keep Jaster’s notes if not the whole Codex.

It is also frustrating because Tor and Jaster are like the two Mandalorians officially writting down important stuff and apparently both were versed in Mandalorian history & lore and I for one would love to compare their notes to get the feeling of middle-ground and see their ideas from the proper perspective not from biased sources that clearly favores Jaster - even if in JF:OS, after making research and interrogating Jango’s allies, Dooku’s only conclusion was that for Mereel Mandalorians were “merely highly-paid soldiers”. Which is hardly the same as bringing work ethic to your group (not that it does cross out the possibility of having actual moral standards, but it does not automatically mean the same). It is frustrating, because we don’t get that often Mandalorians with literary tendencies - hell, we didn’t get any other Mandalorian like that for years because almost everything is about the oral culture which makes Tor Vizsla and Jaster Mereel’s existence even more hilarious, as the two literature nerds that at some point sit down and write their own input - Tor about history and political goals for new members of Death Watch, Jaster about work ethics for True Mandalorians. And it is even more hilarious than that, because Jango Fett presumably read both works and HE DOESN’T READ BOOKS BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY ARE WASTE OF TIME:

Boba's father didn't read much. "Books? A waste of time," he said. "Read maps, Boba. Instructions. Warnings. Important stuff." [Boba Fett Book 1: The Fight to Survive by Terry Bisson]