Canderous Ordo

"Many battles does that one have left in him... as Revan intended. A general needs an army, as he needs those he trusts. And Canderous is a loyal beast, no matter how much he is broken upon Revan's will."

- Kreia

Canderous Ordo was a veteran Mandalorian soldier who fought in the Great Sith War and the Mandalorian Wars. He would later become Mandalore, leader of the Mandalorians.

Biography
Ordo was born on the Mandalorian world of Ordo, to the Clan Ordo. By the end of the Jedi Civil War, Ordo had fought with the Mandalorians "for over forty years." He fought with the Crusaders during the Great Sith War, and following their defeat, was quickly recruited by Mandalore the Ultimate into the Neo-Crusaders.

Before the Mandalorian Wars started, Ordo witnessed what may have been the first Yuuzhan Vong scouting of the Galaxy when he spotted an asteroid-sized ship that bore many similarities to those used by the Yuuzhan Vong. Yet, the vessel also resembles the asteroid-like ships used by the Vagaari. During that same time period, he took part in the First Battle of Althir in which he defeated an Althiri fleet ten times the size of his own and earned the command of an entire subsect of his clan, and the everlasting hatred of his old friend, Jagi.

When the Mandalorian war of conquest began, Ordo was a Mandalorian commander under Mandalore the Ultimate, and was one of the few Mandalorians (along with Cassus Fett and Jagi) to survive the Battle of Malachor V. After the defeat of the Mandalorian clans, Canderous came to be employed as an enforcer for a crime lord named Davik Kang on the planet of Taris. When the Sith blockaded the planet, Ordo decided it was time to move on. Assisting Revan in stealing the Ebon Hawk from its current owners, they escaped the planet. Canderous followed Revan in his goals, despite often disagreeing with his choices during the course of his plans. Canderous often regaled Revan with tales of his battles, and would later explain that coming with Revan was a route to finding glorious battle once more, something he could not do under Davik. He also encountered Jagi, who had not forgotten him, and challenged him to a duel in the Dune Sea of Tatooine. Due to his negotiation skills, Reven had Jagi see it Canderous's way, but Canderous was still scarred when Jagi commited suicide.



When Revan left for the Unknown Regions, he knew he could not take any of his friends with him; the path ahead would doom all he cared about. Revan told Canderous that the Sith had used the Mandalorians to weaken the Republic, and the death of the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders was for nothing; there was never a crusade. Upon orders from Revan to unite the scattered remnants of the Mandalorians, Canderous soon recovered the helmet of Mandalore the Ultimate, whom had been killed by Darth Revan, and took up the fallen mantle of Mandalore. He set up a base on Dxun, a small moon orbiting Onderon.

Only a select few knew Canderous was the new Mandalore: some time after leaving Revan, Canderous had sealed himself in a full-body suit of armor. It was rumored that he never took off this armor, except his helmet to eat and drink, and his bottom suit for the restroom.. While it seemed Canderous did this to avoid his people realizing their leader was allied with Revan, comments from the former Dark Jedi Kreia implied that there was a second reason for his actions: Canderous did not wish to see his face, the face of a man Revan abandoned.

With the help of the Exile, Canderous united two additional clans to his force on Dxun, one peacefully on Nar Shaddaa, and one on Dantooine by killing its leader, Esok,and ordering the remaining Mandalorians to Dxun.

Doing this helped both Canderous and the Exile, with the most immediate effect being bolstering the Mandalorian ranks, which also helped the Exile as Canderous was pro-Republic, to the point of entering his force on the Republican side of the Onderonian Civil War and the Second Battle of Onderon against General Vaklu, a man he respected (and the sight of the dreaded basiliks coming onto Onderon not only made Vaklu's facists fear, but also the Royalists, even though they were on the Royalists' side), and the Battle of Telos IV against Darth Nihilus, which Canderous distinguished himself by leading a strike force that included the Exile, Visas, Himself, disgruntled quartermaster Kex and several Mandalorian soldiers onto Nihilus' flagship the Ravager, killing Nilithus, and destroying the Ravager.

It also had an indirect effect on another battle; Esok's clan had been working for mercenary commander and ex-Sith commando Azkul when they joined the Mandalorians on Dxun. This happened shortly before the First Battle of Dantooine, where Azkul attempted to attack the Khoonda. This caused Azkul's losses on the inital stage of the battle to be worse than they could have been in the sense of having even less troops.

Canderous was a true warrior, and although some would call him a fanatic, or even a murderer, he was bound by his honour and the pressures of the militaristic Mandalorian way of life. Canderous was always impressed by a show of force, and was an advocate of fighting before diplomacy. He respected Revan for his attack on the Mandalorian fleet and felt no regret or anger about being bested by a clearly superior foe.

Little information has been discovered as to Canderous's fate after his journey with the Jedi Exile. According to predictions made by Kreia, Canderous's future would be one still full of battle. In these battles, Revan's reasoning behind his order to Canderous would be explained; in ordering Canderous to reunite the Mandalorians, they would be remembered for thousands of years to come. It has been supposed that without these battles, the Mandalorians would not have been remembered as strong, honorable warriors&mdash;and without that memory, there would have been no reason for Jango Fett, and later Boba Fett, to don the Mandalorian armor.



Behind the scenes

 * Canderous Ordo was voiced by John Cygan.
 * Although there is a Mandalore no helmet texture/model in KotOR II data files, Mandalore/Canderous is never visible without his helmet throughout the actual game. However, in one paticuliar cut element, the Exile can ask T3-M4 if he knew Mandalore, in which T3 and the Exile react as if T3 is showing a hologram, possibly of Revan and Mandalore without his helmet, but the droid actually displays nothing.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords