Calo Nord

"I have to give you credit. You led me on quite a chase. But nobody gets away from Calo Nord in the end."

- Calo Nord, to Revan

Calo Nord, a Human male, was an infamous bounty hunter who lived during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. On his sixteenth birthday, he killed his slave masters, and then tracked down and murdered his parents, who had sold him into slavery when he was a boy. A bounty was placed on Nord, but he eliminated every bounty hunter that came after him. After the attempts on his life ended, he murdered the people that put the bounty on his head. Nord then became a bounty hunter, taking assignments from anyone, as long as he was paid. He often worked for the Exchange criminal syndicate boss Davik Kang and was also contracted by the Galactic Republic for operations in the Core.

During the final year of the Jedi Civil War, Nord was on the planet Taris in Kang's estate when the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak ordered the planet's destruction in an attempt to kill the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. When the Sith began bombarding Taris, Nord and Kang tried to kill Shan, the amnesiac former Sith Lord Revan, the Republic commander Carth Onasi, and the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, when they tried to steal Kang's flagship, Ebon Hawk. However, Nord was caught under falling debris from the hangar, allowing the group to kill Kang and flee the planet aboard the Ebon Hawk before Taris was destroyed. Nord managed to escape Taris before it was devastated by the Sith and was hired by Darth Malak to locate and capture Shan alive. Nord confronted Revan, now a retrained Jedi, who was in search of the Star Forge, the ancient Rakatan space station under Malak's control. However, Nord was no match for Revan and his companions, and the bounty hunter was killed.

Early life and bounty hunter
"Calo Nord's one of the most famous bounty hunters in the galaxy. He's killed more people than the Iridian Plague!"

- Mission Vao

When the Human male known as Calo Nord was a young boy, he was sold into slavery by his parents. During his time as a slave, he learned to be ruthless and cold-hearted, so when he turned sixteen years of age, he butchered his slave masters and then murdered his parents. A bounty was placed on Nord's head, and the young man was hunted by many bounty hunters. He watched them track him, and learned the tricks of their trade, using his newfound skills to pick them off one by one. After the attempts on his life ceased, Nord found and killed the people that had placed the bounty on his head.

Nord eventually became a bounty hunter himself, taking contracts from whoever paid him. He often worked for Davik Kang, a crime lord for the Exchange crime syndicate, who was based on the Outer Rim ecumenopolis of Taris. Kang would hire Nord to kill and bring back the heads of rancors so that the crime lord could mount the heads in his trophy room. Nord sought to claim a pearl from a krayt dragon, a native creature of the desert world Tatooine. He considered one of these pearls to be the greatest hunting trophy.

After Nord ordered a custom suit of battle armor that was based on heavily modified Mandalorian designs, he murdered the armorer to ensure his suit would remain unique. At some point during his lifetime, Nord was also hired by the Galactic Republic for unknown operations in the Core. When he was on Taris, Nord could often be found in the Hutt Zax's bounty office in Javyar's Cantina, which was located in the Lower City. By the time of the Jedi Civil War, it was rumored that Nord had killed more people than the Iridian Plague did.

Battle of Taris
"A Jedi and a war hero&mdash;it's a wonder you survived the encounter.''" "''I am hard to kill, Lord Malak."

- Nord, to Darth Malak

In 3,956 BBY, the final year of the Jedi Civil War, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak ordered his fleet to blockade Taris so that his Sith forces could search for the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. Shan had fled the Republic warship Endar Spire aboard an escape pod when the Sith fleet ambushed and boarded the ship in order to capture her.

The amnesiac former Sith Lord Revan, now a soldier for the Republic, encountered Nord&mdash;who was on Taris for buisiness with Davik Kang&mdash;twice while he and the Republic commander Carth Onasi were searching for Shan. Revan first met Nord in Javyar's Cantina in the Tarisian Lower City. After watching Nord kill three Black Vulkars for disturbing him, Revan tried to engage Nord in conversation. Nord, who was leaving the cantina, wanted to be left alone, and Revan, not wanting to provoke the bounty hunter into attacking him, stopped talking to Nord. The second time Revan encountered Nord was when he was exploring the Lower City's apartments; Revan watched Nord kill two Rodians so that he could collect the bounties on their heads.

Shortly after Revan rescued Shan at the Tarisian Season Opener, a swoop racing event, the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo&mdash;who worked for Kang&mdash;approached Revan with a plan to escape Taris. Sometime after Revan broke into the local Sith base and acquired the launch codes necessary to leave Taris, Ordo took Revan, Shan, and Onasi to Kang's estate. When Ordo introduced Revan to Kang as someone wanting to join the Exchange, Nord told the Mandalorian that it was not like him to take on partners, and taunted Ordo. After Ordo retorted, Kang told the two mercenaries to stop. The crime lord treated Revan and his companions to a tour of his estate, showing them his flagship, Ebon Hawk. After the tour, Kang took Ordo, Revan, Shan, and Onasi to a guest room, and warned Revan to stay in the guest wing of the estate. The crime lord left to look into Revan's background, and told Nord to come with him.

Aboard his flagship Leviathan, Darth Malak came to the conclusion that the search for Shan was taking too long, and ordered the Sith Admiral Saul Karath to have the Sith fleet destroy Taris, in order to kill the Jedi. After Revan and his companions disabled the hangar bay's security systems in Kang's estate, they attempted to make it to the Ebon Hawk. Nord and Kang&mdash;who themselves tried to make it to the ship&mdash;caught Revan and his companions trying to steal the ship. Nord told Kang that he would kill them, stating that he had looked forward to it for a long time. Kang told the bounty hunter to hurry, saying that if they did not escape, the Sith's lasers would kill them all. While they were fighting Revan and his companions, Nord realized that he and Kang were outmatched. Nord tried to use a thermal detonator to kill everyone as well as himself, but was buried underneath rubble when the Sith's lasers destroyed the hangar. Kang also perished in the fighting, and Revan, Shan, and Onasi boarded the Ebon Hawk, picked up the rest of their companions, and fled Taris.

Endgame
Nord survived, managing to escape Taris before the Sith completely destroyed the planet. When Nord had sufficiently recovered, he had a private audience with Darth Malak aboard the Leviathan, and along with Admiral Karath, told the Sith Lord that Shan had escaped Taris' destruction with the help of Onasi. He and Karath also informed Malak of the survival of his former Sith Master, Revan. Malak hired Nord, albeit for a hefty fee, to track down and kill Revan and his companions. However, Nord was to capture Shan alive, if possible.

Nord then set out to find Revan and his companions. After Taris' destruction, Revan had been retrained in the Jedi ways at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, and tasked by the Jedi Council to find the Star Forge, an ancient Rakatan space station that was under Malak's control. Nord tracked down and confronted Revan, Shan, and their companions after they had found the second of the five Star Maps that would lead them to the Star Forge. Nord gave Revan credit for evading him; however, Nord stated that no one could escape him in the end. When Revan asked Nord if they could work out a deal so as to avoid fighting, Nord told him that he was not in it for the credits; rather, he had a reputation to protect. With that, Nord attacked Revan, but he and his minions were killed by the redeemed Jedi and his companions.

Shortly after Nord's death, Admiral Karath informed Darth Malak of Nord's failure. Malak told Karath that the penalty for failure was death, but that the failure was Nord's. Malak dispatched his Shadow Hand, Darth Bandon, to hunt down and destroy Revan and capture Shan; alive, if possible. However, Bandon was also killed by Malak's former Sith Master.

Personality and traits


Calo Nord was a diminutive Human male that seemed harmless at first glance. Nord moved with a careful, deliberate precision, and he possessed an expressionless face. He took contracts from anyone who paid him well, but his ultimate loyalty was to whoever offered him the most credits. Sometimes, he worked for the thrill of the hunt. He spoke and comprehended Basic, the Republic trade language. He was known for being cold, menacing, and unapproachable, and had innate instincts for survival and killing. Many people dismissed Nord's story as a myth that was created to scare aspiring criminals. No name was more feared among the criminals in the Outer Rim than Calo Nord's.

If someone disturbed Nord, he would count to three&mdash;with a number after each phrase from the person&mdash;and only fire at the speaker after the third phrase, giving them a chance to stop bothering him and escape his anger. Occasionally, people who disturbed Nord were not aware that the bounty hunter was giving them a chance to leave before he would attack. Even so, Nord would not give them a second chance, and killed those who bothered him without much effort. Nord would always find his prey, and he showed them no mercy, ignoring pleas and bribes.

The leaders of the GenoHaradan&mdash;a secret bounty hunter guild&mdash;considered admitting Nord in their organization, although he had not yet proven himself worthy of joining. However, due to his end at Revan's hands, the secret society's overseers decided to instead approach Revan with an invitation to join the GenoHaradan. Nord disliked the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, who was also an employee of Davik Kang's, and would taunt him on occasion. Darth Malak's Sith apprentice, Darth Bandon, disliked Nord, viewing him as pathetic. When Bandon tracked down and confronted Revan after the former Sith Lord found the fourth of the five Star Maps, Bandon mentioned Nord to Revan, saying that while he might have been able to defeat Nord, Revan would be no match for the Shadow Hand.

Nord was a man of many possessions; he used two Mandalorian heavy blasters as his primary weapons, but he could also fight with a vibroblade when pressed. He also carried four stun grenades and two thermal detonators in his arsenal. He possessed a pair of goggles that granted him low-light vision when he wore them, and used a prototype energy shield of Verpine design for extra protection during battle. Nord carried 2,000 credits on his person, and also possessed a datapad which contained a record of his trophy kills. After Revan slew Nord, he acquired the bounty hunter's datapad, armor, and blasters.

Behind the scenes
Calo Nord was created by the developers at Bioware as a villain for the 2003 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. A miniature of Nord was released in the Star Wars Miniatures: Bounty Hunters wave of miniatures, for Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Miniatures role-playing game. In The Sith Lords, the sequel to Knights of the Old Republic, there was a suit of battle armor called "Verpine Zal Alloy Mesh". In-game, this armor looks similar to the armor that Revan could acquire from Nord after killing him. Nord's entry in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide incorrectly states that he died in the Sith bombardment of Taris. His entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia also incorrectly states that Nord was killed near Rakata Prime during the final battle of the Jedi Civil War.

The planet on which Revan battles Nord is determined by the order in which the second of the five Star Maps that lead to the Star Forge's location is obtained. Nord may appear either on Tatooine, the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, the Selkath homeworld of Manaan, or the ancient Sith tombworld of Korriban. On Tatooine, he is accompanied by Rodian and Aqualish thugs, on Kashyyyk, he is accompanied by Wookiees loyal to the chieftan Chuundar, on Manaan he is accompanied by two Twi'leks, and on Korriban he is accompanied by two Sith students from the Sith Academy.

The first time Revan met Nord was in Javyar's Cantina in the Tarisian Lower City. If Revan attemped to speak to Nord, the bounty hunter told Revan to go away. If Revan kept speaking to Nord, he counted to three. Should Revan have continued to converse with Nord when he reached the three-count, Nord went on the attack and killed Revan, because he was supposed to be too weak to defeat the bounty hunter at that time. It was possible for Revan to escape inevitable death by quickly leaving and re-entering the cantina. Should Canderous Ordo accompany Revan when Nord confronts the Jedi, Ordo will make note of the fact that Nord brought backup, and taunt the bounty hunter.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic