A definitive Legends Clone Wars timeline was never established by Lucasfilm. The exact chronology of the events described in this article is unknown.
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"Decades ago, the mercenary group known as The Mandalorians fractured, giving rise to a chaotic splinter group. They called themselves The 'Death Watch' and followed a barbarian called Vizsla, who believed that the Mandalorians should conquer the galaxy"
In the wake of theIthullan genocide in200 BBY, many Mandalorian warriors expressed a desire to shed the dishonorable ways of the past.[1] A century and a half later, the charismatic warriorJaster Mereel became the newMand'alor, and instituted a new standard of Mandalorian behavior known as theSupercommando Codex.[1] He asserted that the Mandalorians were simply highly-paid soldiers, and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries. However, not all agreed with the Codex and Mereel's radical changes. A barbaric soldier by the name ofTor Vizsla attracted warriors fond of the old ways into his own movement, giving birth to the Death Watch. The Death Watch were skilled warriors, but ill-disciplined to the extreme and plagued with constant in-fighting under the egotistical leadership of Vizsla.[1] In accordance with Vizsla's beliefs, the Death Watch stood for a return to the ways of theancient Mandalorians, raiders and savages, and aimed to eventually wage a secondwar of conquest acrossthe galaxy.[3] In turn, Mereel's faction recast themselves as theTrue Mandalorians and acivil war broke out between the two groups.[3]
Mandalorian Civil War[]
"It's the Death Watch!" "Who?" "Before your time, Silas. Ex-Mandalorians who split with Jaster years ago. We thought they were finished. Guess we were wrong."
On the agriculturalworld ofConcord Dawn, the Death Watchengaged the True Mandalorians in a fierce firefight that ended in the True Mandalorians' retreat. As Jaster Mereel and his men fled into the farming fields, Vizsla ordered his own forces to hunt them down. When they came upon a youngJango Fett working on his family'sharvester, they took him captive and forced the boy to lead them tohis home whereJango's father was harboring Mereel's troops.[3] Vizsla savagely beat the man in front of Jango while he demanded the location of the hidden Mandalorians, going so far as threatening to shoot him in the head right in front of his son. However,Jango's mother intervened, killing one of the Death Watch soldiers with Vizla with ablaster rifle. Jango was rescued from Vizsla by the intervention of Mereel and his soldiers, but his parents were murdered[3] andhis sister taken by the Death Watch.[10] As they escaped into the fields, Vizsla ordered that they be burned with the hopes of killing Mereel and the True Mandalorians.[3] The Death Watch moved into a nearby town following their perceived victory over the True Mandalorians, intent on a celebratory raid before moving on toMoonus Mandel. Unfortunately for them, the True Mandalorians were lying in wait, striking the Death Watch when their guard was down. Nearly all of the Death Watch soldiers fell toblasterfire or perished in the bombing of theirtank, and although Jango Fett avenged thedeath of his family by killing the Death Watch soldier responsible for their murders, Vizsla managed to escape.[3]
Years later, the Death Watch would lure their True Mandalorian foes intoa trap on the planetKorda Six. When Jaster Mereel and his troops came to the aid of aKorda Defense Force security squad pinned down on the planet by local enemy forces, the Death Watch revealed themselves—much to the surprise of the True Mandalorians. Jango Fett, now a fully-fledged Mandalorian warrior, fought back dozens of Death Watch soldiers alongside the True Mandalorians under his command, while Jaster Mereel and his second-in-commandMontross came under fire from Vizsla himself. Baring the scars from their previous encounter on his face, Vizsla rained down attacks from his four-wheeled tank on Montross and the injured Mereel. When Montross betrayed the woundedMand'alor and left him alone on the battlefield, Vizsla was granted his revenge as he gunned down Mereel with his tank'slaser cannons. The True Mandalorians were forced to flee the planet and the Death Watch was victorious.[3]
The Death Watch plotting to destroy the Mandalorians
Approximately44 BBY, the Death Watch became involved withthe governor of theOuter Rim worldGalidraan. Thegovernor provided refuge for the Death Watch at his castle and was involved in funding Tor Vizsla's attempts to rebuild the Death Watch, presumably after a costly loss. He also hired the True Mandalorians todeal with an insurrection on his world as part of a plot by the Death Watch to draw in their enemy. While the True Mandalorians—now under the leadership of Jango Fett, replacing Jaster Mereel asMand'alor—dealt with the rebels, the Governor of Galidraan contacted theJedi Council, claiming that the that Mandalorians were murdering "political activists", along with women and children. In order to lend credence to these claims and gain the Jedi Council's assistance, Vizsla and his own troops provided the body count of innocents.[3] Upon completing their contracted assignment, Jango Fett went to personally speak with Galidraan's governor, both to collect the Mandalorians' payment and to find out where Vizsla was being harbored. Vizsla and a few of his troops revealed themselves and opened fire on Fett, forcing him to escape out of a nearby window viajetpack at the same time theJedi ships were arriving to deal with the supposed Mandalorian threat. Vizsla and the Death Watch had only to stand aside while the Jedi strike team underJedi MasterDooku all but wiped out the True Mandalorians, save for Fett himself who was captured and delivered into the custody of the governor of Galidraan who subsequently sold Fett intoslavery.[3]
Two years later, Fett would escape and return to Galidraan, recovering his lostMandalorian armor and demanding the location of the Death Watch from the governor at blasterpoint. He would find the Death Watch forces aboard Vizsla's personalstarship, theDeath Rattle, overCorellia. Fett useda starfighter to cripple the ship's engines while assaulting thebridge, using his jetpack to fly through theviewport. He clashed with Vizsla in a lengthy fight that spanned the halls of the dying ship and even into an escape pod, continuing on after crashing to the surface of Corellia. At the climax of their fight, both injured and Fett poisoned by Vizsla, a pack ofdire-cats attacked and killed Vizsla, while sparing the poisoned Fett. With Vizsla finally defeated, the remaining members of the group scattered throughout the galaxy,[3] but although they were seemingly destroyed, the beliefs of the Death Watch remained amongst some Mandalorians.[10][4]
Clone Wars[]
"Not everyone on Mandalore believes our commitment to peace is a sign of progress. There is a group that calls itself Death Watch. I imagine these are the renegades you are looking for. They idolize violence and the warrior ways of the past."
―Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi —Link▶️(file info)[4]
During the formation of theGrand Army of the Republic onKamino, Jango Fett—clone template and primary military adviser for the Grand Army—hand-picked a group of one-hundred individuals, seventy-five of which were Mandalorian, to train eliteclone commandos for the army, a group that would become known as theCuy'val Dar—"Those Who No-Longer Exist".[11] Two of the Mandalorian trainers,Isabet Reau andDred Priest, attempted to ingrain the beliefs of the Death Watch into their clones by secretly formingbattle circles in the bowels ofTipoca City. Jango Fett discovered the existence of the battle circles and quickly put them to an end, viciously beating Priest.[6]
The Death Watch at the time of the Clone Wars
Though weakened, the Death Watch managed to operate under the Mandalorian principle ofba'slan shev'la, or "strategic disappearance".[6] Maintaining a fairly secret existence following Tor Vizsla's death, the remains of the Death Watch showed themselves nearly twelve years later, shortly after theFirst Battle of Geonosis. With the True Mandalorians gone and Jango Fett dead following the events onGeonosis, the Death Watch set its sights on the Mandalorian faction known as theNew Mandalorians, a reformist political faction emphasizing pacifism that was interested in moving the Mandalorians even further from its conquering warrior roots than the True Mandalorians, with their goal being a peaceful and neutral Mandalorian state. At the time, the Death Watch was operating from abase onConcordia, amoon ofMandalore, where they were secretly led by Concordia's governor,Pre Vizsla.[4] In order to get support for their attempt at taking over the Mandalorian government, the Death Watch allied themselves with theConfederacy of Independent Systems. As part of this alliance, Death Watchcommandos performed sabotage missions for the Separatists againstRepublic targets. One such mission involveda commando attempting to sabotage a Republiccruiser; the Death Watch commando was captured, but rather than surrender and submit to questioning, he committed suicide.[4] His actions in addition to falsified rumors led to the Republic's belief thatDuchessSatine Kryze, leader of the New Mandalorians and head of theCouncil of Neutral Systems, was training a Mandalorian army for the Separatists.[4]
Pre Vizsla, a Death Watch leader during the Clone Wars
In order to investigate this matter further, the Jedi Council dispatchedJedi MasterObi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore to meet with Satine. At first, the Duchess and her advisers discounted any Mandalorian involvement until Kenobi showed holographic recordings of the Death Watch saboteur. She later revealed the existence of rumors of the Death Watch's return. This was later proven whena Mandalorianbombed thememorial shrine in the New Mandalorian capital ofSundari before committing suicide when Kenobi attempted to apprehend him. Left at the bomb site was a holographic representation of the Death Watch symbol, further highlighting the group's return. During these events Pre Vizsla communicated withCountDooku who revealed his strategy for the Republic to establish peacekeeping forces on Mandalore. Dooku hoped this would cause unrest and lead the Mandalorian populace to the Death Watch's ideals. Kenobi later discovered the Death Watch base of operations on Concordia and Pre Vizsla revealed himself to the Jedi and the duchess as the leader of the faction. The Death Watch Mandalorians managed to escape and abandoned their base, allowing them to remain at large.[4]
When Satine journeyed toCoruscant to dismiss any thought ofRepublic occupation, Death Watch made asecond attempt on her life. Mandalore's senator,Tal Merrik, was secretly in league with the Death Watch and used his senatorial stamp to smuggle severalassassin probes aboard the duchess' ship. When Kenobi gathered the senatorial passengers together and confronted them with aprobe killer, its docility betrayed Merrik and he made his move to take Kryze hostage. With the duchess in tow, he made his way to the bridge where he murdered the crew and contacted Vizsla for extraction. A trio ofDroch-class boarding ships attached themselves to the vessel and unloaded severalB2 super battle droids to cover Merrik's escape. When Kenobi attempted to arrest the senator, Merrik revealed that he had also taken the precaution of rigging the ship's engines to explode and made his way to the waiting boarding ships. Before he could make his escape, however, he was stabbed in the back byAnakin Skywalker.[12]
Once Satine safely arrived at the galactic capital, the Death Watch reoccupied their base on Concordia as a staging area for their impending invasion of Mandalore. A New Mandalorian scout reported toPrime MinisterAlmec of this development. Almec was confident that Death Watch could not take Mandalore without the citizens of Mandalore's support. During a holographic conference with Count Dooku, Pre Vizsla made his move to secure Mandalore's support. A Death Watch assassin was sent toCoruscant to assassinate Satine, as well as an informant who gave her a recording from Deputy MinisterJerec pleading no military assistance. The assassin, however, failed to stop Satine from delivering the evidence to the Galactic Senate thanks to Kenobi's intervention. The Senate revoked its vote to dispatch Republic forces, which compelled Death Watch to cease its planned attack.[13]
Death Watch then broke ties with CountDooku and the Separatists and vowed to kill the Count. The Death Watch established acamp on the neutral planet ofCarlac, kidnapping young females of the nativeMing Po. At the same time,Lux Bonteri chose to ally with Death Watch, believing them to be an honorable group, to kill Dooku, whom killed hismother, providing them with a holotrace to the Separatist leader's location. But at the same time, Ming Po chieftain,Pieter, demanded that Death Watch return their captives and leave the planet. At first, Vizsla seemed to comply to his demands, but then ordered his troops to burn down the Ming Po settlement, causing Bonteri to realize his error. However, one of Bonteri's companions was revealed to be a JediAhsoka Tano, who briefly fought off Death Watch before being captured. As Vizsla brought her back to their camp to execute her for her Order's crimes against Mandalore,R2-D2 rallied the Death Watch droids to rebel against their masters, creating a distraction for himself, Tano and Bonteri to escape.[7]
Sometime after Tano's and Bonteri's escape, the Republic followed aMunificent-class star frigate to Carlac. They shot it down and went to the surface to finish off the surviving droids. They encountered Death Watch resistance,includingthreecamps. The Republic set up aoutpost from where they could counter the Death Watch, and so theSkirmish on Carlac began.A Jedi Knight joined the battle, destroying the three camps, killingSergeantKellov and infiltrating avillage that the Death Watch held captive, threatening to destroy it if the Republic did not recall it's forces from the world. TheJedi Knight infiltrated the village, however they were detected and the Death Watch started to burn it. The Republic dispatched aLAAT/i to douse the fires, although it raged on. The Jedi Knight defeatedKherr Dawar,Kro Lann,Mord Jayran and Vizsla himself, although he escaped.[14]
Four Death Watch members of high rank standing inJabba's Palace
After the events onCarlac, Death Watch established a camp on theswampmoonZanbar in order to rebuild when they discovered the escape pod ofMaul and his brotherSavage, who had laid claim to the titles ofDark Lords of the Sith and were wounded byObi-Wan Kenobi. An alliance would be forged from this action as the lives of Maul and Savage were spared by Death Watch and with them began to build an army of crime lords and gangsters known as theShadow Collective to help with acoup to overthrow theNew Mandalorians.[15] As the plan progressed, the Shadow Collective's gang and crime lord members attacked various targets inSundari as they fought against the New Mandalorian police forces and overwhelming them with numbers. Once the people were rioting for the government's response and actions during the crisis,Pre Vizsla,Bo-Katan, and several other members of Death Watch appeared.Satine Kryze, the current Duchess of Mandalore, accused them of having some involvement with the attacks, but she was ignored as the people rallied for battle against the Shadow Collective. Death Watch moved quickly and effectively against the crime lords and captured them and Savage, before heading to the royal palace and arresting Maul, along with Satine.Vizsla declared himself the new leader of Mandalore, and promised that he would return the Mandalorians to their warrior heritage.
Maul and Savage soon escaped, and Maul challenged Pre Vizsla to a duel for the title ofMandalore and control of Death Watch. As the two fought, Pre was at first able to hold his own against the Sith Lord but eventually began to tire. After pushing him to the ground, Maul used Vizsla's ownDarksaber tobehead him and take control of both the planet and Death Watch. However, a single squad known as theNite Owls, led by Pre Vizsla's most trusted lieutenant, Bo-Katan, refused to acknowledge Maul as Mandalore, calling those who did traitors. Maul ordered them executed, but they were able to escape, killing several of Maul's loyalists in the ensuing firefight.[16] Effectively, Death Watch was split in two—those who swore fealty to Maul, known asMandalorian super commandos, painted their armor red, while those who followed Bo-Katan retained their blue color scheme.[17]
The Nite Owls, aided by Satine's loyalists, included her nephewKorkie, attempted to spring the Duchess from prison and got her outside Sundari where she could send a message toJedi MasterObi-Wan Kenobi before she was recaptured. As theJedi Order and theGalactic Senate refused to intervene in what they perceived to be an internal Mandalorian affair, Kenobi was forced to come alone. After a failed rescue attempt, in which Maul executed Satine, the Nite Owls helped Kenobi escape andfought against the Maul loyalists to allow Kenobi to depart Mandalore and warn the Republic about the truth of its downfall. However, Maul was subsequently defeated and nearly killed by his former Sith Master,Darth Sidious.[17]
When theARC trooper deserter known asSpar fled Kamino and journeyed to Mandalore, where he eventually took up the role of "Mandalore the Resurrector", he invited many former Death Watch members to join his army ofMandalorian Protectors.[1] Although Spar formed the Protectors in the image of the True Mandalorians,[18] the Death Watch's desire for Mandalore's return to its warrior roots would come to fruition when the Protectors overturned Mandalore's status as a neutralsystem and aligned with the Confederacy of Independent Systems.[19]
Galactic Civil War and decline[]
"We conquered whole star systems. We had an empire. When cities heard our armies were coming, populations fled before a shot was fired. Now we cling to a pathetic sector of dirtball planets, we scramble for the crumbs that the cowardlyaruetiise throw when they want us to fight for them, and they use us as a breeding stock for their clone armies. Thearuetiise will always treat us like an animal species to be used for their convenience until we stand up for ourselves again."
By the time of theGalactic Empire'sfoundation in19 BBY,Lorka Gedyc had become the leader of the Death Watch as it continued to exist in hiding. Among this latest generation of Death Watch were formerCuy'val Dar members Isabet Reau and Dred Priest.[6] During a run in with fellow formerCuy'val DarMij Gilamar in the Mandalorian capitalKeldabe, Priest revealed that the Death Watch was indeed still in existence—even openly wearing the group's sigil on his shoulder plate, albeit in a dark blue coloration—and that Lorka Gedyc had "big plans" for the future. He also believed that the Death Watch had changed under Gedyc and was different than the way it had been under Vizsla. The Death Watch had also allied with the Empire, with Priest even assisting the Imperials move in tothe garrison being established outside Keldabe. When he'd learned all he felt he could, Gilamar surprise-attacked Priest, stabbing and killing him, and threw his body in theKelita River, firmly believing that the Death Watch's return to prominence couldn't be allowed for the good of the Mandalorians.[6]
In the early days of the Rebellion, a man wearing armor similar to that of a Death Watch soldier was seen protectingTungo Li during the hearing ofJanek Sunber.[22]
Legacy[]
The Death Watch was far from loved in the eyes of many Mandalorians. To most, they were considered little more than savages,[3] hooligans,[4] and undisciplined thugs rather than soldiers.[6] Following the outbreak of the Mandalorian Civil War, Jango Fett considered the Death Watch to be "ex-Mandalorians" due to their radical beliefs and refusal tofollow theMand'alor.[3] The New Mandalorian government labeled them as terrorists and vandals for their destructive actions in opposing the government's peaceful ways.[4] Walon Vau, a member of theCuy'val Dar, was known to say the Death Watch was the only group he truly considered his enemy.[10]Kal Skirata, anotherCuy'val Dar member, felt that the Death Watch—at least its incarnation under Tor Vizsla—was more interested in theft and other crime rather than their supposed goals of reinstating a Mandalorian empire.[6]
In combination with the armor worn by theThyrsianSun Guard, Death Watch armor served as a partial inspiration for that of theImperial Royal Guard, taking advantage of the group's ferocious reputation.[23]
As a child growing up onPlavin 6,Nashiak Llalik was fascinated with the armor worn by the Death Watch. He read a lot about them and entertained his younger sister,Saren, with stories about their armor. As an adult, Saren regretted being separated from her brother, partly because she would have enjoyed hearing those stories again.[24]
By40 ABY,Mand'alorBoba Fett stated in a conversation withJaing Skirata that the destruction of the Death Watch was his father's lasting legacy for the Mandalorians.[25]
Symbol[]
The revised Death Watch symbol during the Clone Wars
The sign of the Death Watch was the symbol of Clan Vizsla,[26] which was designed after a stylizedjai'galaar in mid-dive, coloredred. By the Clone Wars and after, however, the symbol's color had been changed to blue.[4][6]
"The History of the Mandalorians" —Star Wars Insider 80
Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Mandalore Plot"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "A Friend in Need"
