The Bounty Hunter’s Call to Adventure

Today, I am preparing to see the new Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu. As I anxiously await the next installment of our favorite galaxy far, far away, I find myself reminiscing on what is perhaps my favorite example of accepting the call to adventure in popular culture. This cinematic moment is in Episode 3 of The Mandalorian.

                Din Djarin appears to be a cold, calculating bounty hunter. We are first introduced to him as he ruthlessly hunts his quarry, fighting through anyone in his way. At first, his bounty thought of him as savior.

                “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.”

                Not a savior, just someone traveling across the galaxy to turn others in for money. Money, and of course, beskar, a metal sacred to his people. This is his life. His role. He is efficient at what he does, he’s not a bounty hunter stumbling along his path and missing bounties. We see from the beginning that he is very good at what he does, and what he does isn’t very good.

                He aligns himself with the remnants of the Empire, who are in pursuit of a mysterious target. Not much is revealed to Din about the bounty, but his mandate is clear. Bring in the target; warm… or cold, if need be. In return, he would receive the reward of a high quantity of beskar. He would be able to bring a piece of his people’s history, and cultural significance, back to them.

                Seeking the target, he ultimately fights through others who are also in pursuit of the massive payday alongside a droid he formed a reluctant partnership with. Together, they locate the target. A 50-year-old, green baby. A member of Yoda’s species. Din, however, does not know of Yoda, or the significance of what he has found. To him, it is simply a defenseless child.

                His first action is saving the child from the droid, who aimed to bring it in cold. In escorting the child back to the ship, they cross the desert and the child even rescues Din from a massive rhino-like creature, with a power unknown to him at the time. The child has saved Din’s life, just as he did. However, their motives didn’t truly align.

                Din brings the child back to the planet of the person that hired him. On the journey back, the child is acting… well, like a child. Among the shenanigans, the child takes the knob off one of the ship’s levers. Din takes it from him, saying “it’s not a toy” as he places the knob back on the lever.

                Back on planet, Din takes the child to the buyer. Surrounded by storm troopers, an imperial officer, and a scientist, Din’s concern emerges momentarily.

                “What’s going to happen to it?”

                His question gets shut down, and he witnesses the pleading on the child’s face; his large, green ears drooping, as he is escorted out of the room. We can almost see the conflict in Din, even behind his stoic mask. However, he takes his prize, the precious beskar, and returns to his people.

                He has brand new armor crafted for him, forged of the beskar received from turning the child into the imperial officer, knowing he will be subjected to scientific testing. There are moments of doubt among the pride of having this new armor crafted for him. An enemy saved him, but it did not know it was his enemy. The bounty is bittersweet; ill-gotten gains by condemning an innocent to reclaim what belongs to his people.

                On receiving the new armor, Din is hasty in taking on a new bounty. To get off world, as if to escape his conscience. He gets to his ship, powering it on. In the cockpit, the ship roars to life as he hits various switches and buttons in preparation for takeoff.

                And then, his hand hovers over a blank space, where the knob should be. Din pauses, his hand frozen over that spot. The tension in his eyes can be felt as he stares at the lever from behind the emotionless visage of his helmet.

                He makes a choice. He again manipulates the various controls in his ship, this time powering it down. He arms himself and returns for the child.

                I could go on about this show, how Din takes up the Hero’s Journey to save the child from the Empire. However, this is the moment that held the most weight; the decision that made the journey possible. It was the start of Din’s transition from being a bounty hunter to being a true hero.

                Why this moment perfectly encapsulates accepting the call to adventure is the emotional tension. There is a dissonance between who he was before, and what he has now experienced. He began to form a unique bond with his quarry and was expected to end this bond by completing the bounty.

                After relinquishing the child, Din attempted to reorient to his routine. Returning to the life of a bounty hunter, taking his next assignment, and apprehending the identified target. However, he had experienced too much to return to the world as he knew it without somehow being changed by his encounter with the child.

                Din’s choice to power down the ship and save the child was him accepting his call to adventure, crossing the threshold into the unknown rather than returning to his old life. An irreversible decision propelling him into uncertainty. Despite that uncertainty, he acts.

                We’ve all experienced moments such as this, facing choices that have the potential to change the trajectory of our lives in one way or another.

This moment highlights something very real; accepting the call to adventure is not always thrust upon someone, but may be a quiet decision in moments that cause someone to examine their life. Encounters that challenge their fundamental understanding. Experiences that show the life being lived is not a life of purpose.

We can experience these moments and power on the thrusters to run from them.

                Or we can power down the ship, return to what sparked us, and discover a life of meaning.