Hundreds of thousands of years before the rise of the Empire, a brutal war for control of
the world that would become Coruscant took place between the alien Taungs and the human
Zhell. The Taungs considered themselves Dha Werda Verda, or the Shadow Warriors. They
were eventually driven away from Coruscant and forced into the Outer Rim, conquering the
planet Mandalore while it was still beyond the galactic frontier around seven thousand years
before the time of the Empire. The Republic began to hear rumors
about ferocious crusaders who waged religious wars
in the name of their god Kad Ha’rangir, though these Taung Mandalorians largely avoided direct
contact with the Republic. After conquering Fenel and gaining its further developed ships and
technology, the Mandalorians used their new arms to conquer more and more worlds on the
Rim. While some were completely razed, others elected to welcome the Crusaders and were
spared, like the humans on Concord Dawn, and the territory of Mandalorian Space was
established. Though the Crusaders were made up of many clans that had their own petty
conflicts, they all obeyed the commands of a single leader they knew as Mandalore.
As the centuries passed, the Taungs, under the rule of Mandalore the Indomitable,
shifted from waging war in the name of a single god to worshiping the idea of war itself. They
struck at the core of the galaxy, devastating worlds like Nevoota, Basilisk, and Kuar. They
intended to next attack at Empress Teta but these plans changed when Ulic Qel-Droma, a fallen
Jedi Knight who was now a Sith Lord, bested Mandalore the Indomitable in single combat on
Kuar. Under the command of Qel-Droma and Exar Kun, the Mandalorians attacked the Republic
directly at Foerost and Coruscant. Mandalore the Indomitable fell while
fighting the Republic at Onderon, and his mask and title were succeeded by Mandalore the Ultimate.
Under the Ultimate’s rule, the Crusaders returned to Mandalorian Space,
altering their societal structure to solidify their territory and allow
members of non-Taung species to prove themselves in battle and earn a full place among the
Mandalorians. The Ultimate led his diverse Neo-Crusaders in conquering worlds along the
Republic’s border like Cathar, though the Republic wouldn’t take action against them for a
decade. Using a fleet of warships, some captured
and some built by their own shipyards, the Mandalorians broke Republic lines with an
invasion of Taris and attacks on other worlds, including Ord Mantell and Iridonia. The Republic
launched their own counterattacks and war broke out. The Neo-Crusaders suffered a setback
on Jebble, when their large army was turned into mindless rakghouls that were bombed into
nothingness by Mandalore the Ultimate’s second-in-command, Cassus Fett.
The Jedi Order refused to join the war effort despite many of its numbers disagreeing
with the decision, which led to the Jedi known as Revan defying the council and leading a
number of Jedi Crusaders into the war effort. Under Revan’s leadership, the Republic’s military
had several advantages of its own, including Interdictor-class and Hammerhead cruisers. Revan
cornered the Mandalorians at Malachor V and used a superweapon to fracture the world and
devastate the Mandalorian forces. Mandalore the Ultimate died during the confrontation, which
the Mandalorians would come to call Ani’la Akaan, or the Great Last Battle.
The Mandalorians surrendered to the Republic and the clans retreated back to
Mandalorian Space, fractured without a strong leadership. Many Mandalorians went on to
become bounty hunters or mercenaries fighting for credits. One of these mercenaries,
Canderous Ordo, became allies with a changed Revan and reclaimed the mask of Mandalore.
Faced with the task of reuniting the fractured clans, Canderous became
known as Mandalore the Preserver.
Centuries passed without a leader for the Mandalorians and the emerging Sith Empire
sought to bring the clans under their control by ensuring the success and rise of a Mandalorian
gladiator in the Geonosis arenas. This warrior became the new Mandalore and rallied his people
against the Jedi once more. The Mandalorians initiated a successful blockade of the Hydian
Way until the Republic managed to break it with the help of smugglers. Losing support in the
aftermath of this defeat, the Mandalore began a Great Hunt that ended when its champion,
Artus Lok, defeated this Mandalore the Lesser in a duel.
Artus became known as Mandalore the Vindicated and initially focused on building his
power base. A faction of Mandalorians rose up believing that they should instead ally with the
Republic, but Lok defeated them and kept the well-paying tenuous alliance they already had
with the Sith. Lok would eventually be defeated in battle against Zakuul’s Eternal Empire and
succeeded by the ex-mercenary Shae Vizla. As Mandalore the Avenger, Vizla joined with
Republic and Imperial forces to fight against the Eternal Empire until its defeat.
Under Vizla, the clans would focus on rebuilding themselves
and the wider galaxy, despite some internal tensions.
Millennia later, around a thousand years prior to the formation of the Empire, the
Candorian plague devastated Mandalorian Space. After losing his family and most of his clan, a
mercenary named Aga Awaud led the Mandalorians into regaining some of their former
strength, becoming Mandalore the Uniter. During the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorians emerged
as a regional power capable of protecting surrounding sectors for a price.
After the wars with the Sith came to an end, the independent Mandalorians resisted
Republic efforts to restrict the size of sector defense forces. Some clan leaders attempted to
remind their leadership of how the Republic had defeated them in the previous war, but
Mandalorians were not the type to back down from a fight. Judicial Forces working with the Jedi
launched attacks on Mandalorian Space in 738 BBY, bombarding key worlds and occupying the
area with a caretaker government headed by those leaders who had initially advised peace.
This decades-long occupation caused a split in Mandalorian society and saw the
creation of a “New Mandalorian” sect that still resented the Republic but favored neutrality over
a doomed conflict. Thanks to the Republic, this faction held most of the power in the
Mandalorian government. Many of the traditional Mandalorians that sought conflict were exiled
to the moon Concordia or became mercenaries like their ancestors. While the Mandalores of
this era were more like their predecessors in their desire for tradition, the New Mandalorians
refused to recognize their authority. In the final decades of the Republic,
the mercenary Jaster Mereel became Mandalore
and led his True Mandalorians in an attempt to reinstate their ancient warrior codes. The True
Mandalorians came into conflict with another sect known as Death Watch who believed the only
way to restore honor was through war with the New Mandalorians. These three factions of
Mandalorian society fragmented the clans against each other.
Mereel died in battle against Death Watch and was succeeded as Mandalore by his
adopted son, Jango Fett. Death Watch managed to play the True Mandalorians and the Jedi
against each other in a vicious battle on Galidraan
that resulted in the decimation of Fett’s forces. With the True Mandalorians out of the way,
Death Watch started a bloody war against the peaceful New Mandalorian regime on their
homeworld. Though Mandalore was devastated and New Mandalorian leader Adonai Kryze died
during the fighting, Death Watch was ultimately defeated and exiled.
Having turned to bounty hunting, Jango Fett was selected to become the clone template
for the army being manufactured for the Republic by the Kaminoans. Fett called dozens of
scattered traditional Mandalorians to Kamino to serve as instructors for these clone troopers.
This group, which included Kal Skirata and Walon Vau, became known as the Cuy’val Dar. In a
twist of irony, the Mandalorians that had waged war against the Republic for millennia became
the figurative and literal basis for the army that would defend it.
As the Cuy’val Dar trained the Republic’s army, Death Watch resurged under Pre
Vizsla’s leadership and continued its campaign against the New Mandalorian government,
which was now led by Adonai’s daughter Satine. Once war broke out across the galaxy, Satine
and Mandalore became the leaders of the Council of Neutral Systems, which wished to take no
part in the conflict. Vizsla allied himself with Dooku and
the Separatists in an attempt to gain the upper hand, though their early attempts to
undermine the pacifist faction were thwarted by Satine and the Jedi.
Dooku eventually betrayed Death Watch, leaving Vizsla and his fighters to seek new
strategies. They rescued the surviving Sith Lord Maul and his brother from deep space and
forged a tenuous alliance, coercing criminal factions
like the Pykes and Black Sun to back their plans as well. After completing a successful
coup against the New Mandalorian government by exploiting preexisting corruption, Vizsla and Maul
turned on each other. They fought to the death in the Mandalorian throne room in a battle that
ended with Maul on the throne and Vizsla’s head on the floor. Maul’s brief reign as ruler
of Mandalore would come to an end when his former Sith
master came to the planet and brought him to heel, leaving the planet in turmoil.
When the chaos settled, the next leader of the Mandalorian culture came in the form of
an ex-ARC trooper named Spar. After deserting from the clone army, Spar became friends with
a local chieftain on Mandalore named Fenn Shysa, who encouraged him to take up Jango’s
former title. Now known as Mandalore the Resurrector, Spar led the Mandalorians to take up
their old ways again in the wake of Duchess Satine’s death. These Mandalorian Protectors
under Spar sided with the Separatists to continue their war against the Jedi and the Republic.
This campaign continued until a devastating defeat at Norval II left only a handful of survivors,
including Spar and Shysa. Spar stepped down from the role of Mandalore
in shame, leaving it vacant until the rise of the Empire prompted Shysa to take it.
The Imperials kept Mandalore in an iron grip, mining it
for beskar, but Shysa led his men against them in secret.
Shysa’s efforts to keep Mandalore strong were successful, but he was hunted
down almost twenty years after the Empire fell by Jango’s cloned son Boba Fett on a bounty hunting
job. The pair were forced to work together to survive until Shysa was mortally wounded.
As he died, Shysa asked Boba to continue his father’s legacy as the next Mandalore.
After the Clone Wars decades before, Fett had tried to live as a normal Mandalorian on
Concord Dawn with his wife Sintas Vel and daughter Ailyn, but he was exiled after killing his
superior officer as revenge for a terrible crime. With Shysa’s death, Fett finally returned to his
people, in the era when they would need him the most.
Millennia earlier, Canderous Ordo once recounted a time in the Crispin system on the
edge of the galaxy when his men stumbled upon what had seemed to be an asteroid that was
capable of firing blasts capable of melting through
the Mandalorians before fleeing. This was a precursor to the threat the Mandalorians would
face under Boba Fett’s leadership: the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders.
When the invasion began, Fett made a duplicitous alliance with the Vong to keep
Mandalore safe, secretly feeding information to the New Republic while preparing for the day
when the Vong would attack. When the Vong realized this plan, they launched an attack to
destroy the Mandalorians. Despite many casualties, the Mandalorians repelled the invaders and
took the fight to them across the galaxy. Once the Vong were defeated, Fett returned
his focus to rebuilding both Mandalore and what remained of his family. He would lose
his daughter to Darth Caedus and found his revenge by training the Sith Lord’s sister Jaina Solo to
defeat him. This effort was ultimately successful, but it came at the cost of Caedus releasing a
nanovirus on Mandalore that prevented Fett and any of his line from ever returning to the planet.
Fett never gave up on trying to find an antidote that would allow his return.
A century later, the Mandalorians under Chernan Ordo were hired by the Galactic
Alliance to fight against the resurgent Sith. In the chaos of a battle, Ordo was felled by the
efforts of one of his own men, Yaga Auchs, who rose to the title of Mandalore after him. Auchs
had been ordered by someone in power to keep the Mandalorians out of the new war, but young
Mandalorian Hondo Karr resolved to expose him for this. Despite the lack of Mandalorian aid,
the Galactic Alliance was able to defeat the Sith and restore freedom shortly after