Pre Vizsla

"I am Pre Vizsla of Clan Vizsla. Death Watch is here to save you from these intergalactic gangsters that threaten our great city. This is a war, and we will win. Join me, and let us defend Mandalore against the criminals. We need action, not pacifism!"

- Pre Vizsla, to the people of Mandalore

Pre Vizsla was a human male Mandalorian warrior from the planet Mandalore and was the leader of the Mandalorian Death Watch faction during the Clone Wars. He is most famous for his wielding of the infamous Darksaber. Vizsla briefly achieved his goal and took the title of Mand'alor before he was bested in combat and executed by his former ally Darth Maul.

Plot to Overthrow the Duchess
"For generations, my ancestors fought proudly as warriors against the Jedi. Now, that woman tarnishes the very name Mandalorian. Defend her, if you will."

- Pre Vizsla, on Satine Kryze, to Obi-Wan Kenobi

Seeking to overthrow Duchess Satine Kryze and her pacifistic government, in order to restore Mandalore to its warrior past, Vizsla secretly allied himself with Count Dooku and his Confederacy of Independent Systems. While governing Mandalore's moon, Concordia, and maintaining loyalty to Kryze in public, Vizsla led the Death Watch in secret from several Concordian mining camp bases. The Death Watch's attack on a Jedi Cruiser and terrorist attacks on Mandalore came to a head when Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on Concordia with Kryze to follow leads on the Death Watch. When Kenobi discovered the Death Watch's secret base, Vizsla revealed himself as the renegades' leader. Vizsla then used the Darksaber to duel with Kenobi, but Kenobi and Satine escaped Concordia.

Assassination attempt on Kryze
Vizsla conspired with Mandalorian Senator Tal Merrik to capture Kryze during her journey to Coruscant, where she intended to plead her case directly to the Galactic Senate, but Merrik was defeated before he could complete his assignment. Amassing an army of Death Watch troops on Concordia in preparation to take over Mandalore, Vizsla was forced to wait until his and Dooku's plot to turn Mandalore against the Republic was completed. Vizsla dispatched an assassin to Coruscant to kill Kryze, as her death would remove the opposition to the Senate's upcoming vote to have Republic troops occupy Mandalore&mdash;an occupation which would allow the Death Watch to gain the support of Mandalore's populace and "liberate" them from the Republic. However, the assassin failed to murder Kryze, and the plot itself fell through, with the Senate voting against occupying Mandalore. With this turn of events, Vizsla was forced to postpone his attack on Mandalore, as his forces would be unable to hold the planet without its people's support.

Plot against Dooku and Carlac
Following the aborted takeover of Mandalore, Vizsla then met with Dooku. During this meeting, Vizsla was betrayed by Dooku and scarred across his cheek by the Sith Lord's lightsaber. Vizsla then broke ties with the Confederacy and vowed to kill Dooku.

The Death Watch under Vizsla maintain a small base on the world Carlac, where they committed dishonorable acts against it's native species, the Ming Po, forcing their women to work for them. Eventually Lux Bonteri in attempt take revenge against Count Dooku for death of his mother, Mina Bonteri, had allied himself with Pre Vizla and he was used try find and kill Count Dooku but failed. Pre Vizla was then confronted by the Ming Po elders who had demanded the return of their women. At first they complied but Lux's was shown true colors of the Death Watch as they began burning down the Ming Po village. Bonteri's Jedi companion Ahsoka Tano attempted to stop this, but was ultimately overpowered and captured by the Death Watch warriors.

Pre Vizla attempted to execute Tano, but with thanks of R2-D2 and reactive droids, both Bonteri and Tano escaped.

Shadow Collective and death
"Like you said: only the strongest...shall rule."

- Pre Vizla's last words Later in the war, Vizsla and his soldiers came across an escape pod lost in deep space which held the stranded former Sith Lord Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opress. Harboring a common hatred of Obi-Wan Kenobi for his actions against them, they planned on having their revenge after their planned conquest of Mandalore. Gathering an army of criminals including the Hutts, the Pykes, and the Black Sun.

The criminal alliance attacked the capital, allowing Death Watch to act as heroes to a desperate population after the Duchess's forces failed to stop the criminals. With the support of the Mandalorian people, Vizsla ousted Satine and appointed himself Prime Minister, also assuming the title of Mand'alor. He also betrayed his Sith allies who were imprisoned but who managed to escape. Maul challenged Vizsla to a duel to determine the true ruler of the Mandalorians. After a long and difficult duel, Maul defeated Vizsla and publicly beheaded him in front of the Death Watch for his failures, before claiming his position as leader of the Death Watch. But because Darth Maul was not a Mandalorian, Bo-Katan Kryze and the Nite Owls refused to follow him and would eventually ignite another Mandalorian civil war.

Skills and abilities
As a Mandalorian warrior, Vizsla had advanced training in many forms of combat from ranged weaponry to hand-to-hand combat. A skilled unarmed combatant, Vizsla was able to compete with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul in his duels with the two Force-wielding warriors. Vizsla was also a highly capable marksman, even able to shoot the lightsaber out of Maul's hand in their bout. In addition to his unarmed and ranged abilities, Vizsla had at least some degree of training with the Darksaber and was skilled enough to keep even a Jedi at bay.

Equipment
Vizsla wore the traditional and resilient combat armor of the Mandalorian warriors. This armor was equipped with dual antennas, a jetpack variant, magnetized boots and a pair of Mandalorian vambraces. Vizsla's vambraces were equipped with at least paired blaster barrels, a flamethrower, whipcord thrower and a launcher that fired disc-shaped buzzsaws.

In addition to his armor, Vizsla wielded a pair of WESTAR-35 blaster pistols and the Darksaber, a legendary lightsaber created by his ancestor Tarre Vizsla that had been used by his clan and House to rule all of Mandalore long ago.

Behind the scenes
"I thought it would be a really cool thing for Jon, and fun for fans if he did the part. And he did a great job of playing Pre Vizsla; he's the one guy that, in this whole Mandalorian world, is the defender of the historic Mandalorian past. He's the one character who knows what the Mandalorians were and what they should be, and wants to get them back to that reality. He's a great character and I think that he'll become a favorite of many fans."

- Series Director Dave Filoni, on casting Jon Favreau in the role of Pre Vizsla

The character of Pre Vizsla was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and first appeared in the series' 2010 second season after being mentioned in several issues of the Star Wars Insider magazine. He was featured as the primary antagonist of the episodes "The Mandalore Plot," "Voyage of Temptation," and "Duchess of Mandalore," all of which formed a story arc centered around the Mandalorians in the series. Vizsla was voiced in his television appearances by American actor Jon Favreau, the director of the popular Iron Man film series, whose role in portraying Vizsla marked his first contribution to Star Wars canon. Favreau was recruited for the part by Series Director Dave Filoni. According to an interview with Filoni that was featured in Star Wars Insider 115, the name "Pre" is a title of stature, like "pre-eminent," while the "Vizsla" name came from Tor Vizsla, the original leader of the Death Watch who was featured in the 2002 Jango Fett: Open Seasons comic book series. Vizsla was given an entry in the The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia book, released in June 2010. He was also featured in Hasbro's 2010 toy figure line.

A concept art model sheet that was published in Star Wars Insider 116 indicated that Vizsla's name was originally spelled "Visla." On the same model sheet, the symbol on his cape was depicted as the Mandalorian symbol, suggesting that the symbol was originally that of the Mandalorians and was adjusted for the final version of "The Mandalore Plot." Because "Voyage of Temptation" was produced with the television series' first season, well before the other installments in the Mandalorian story arc, the character model used for Vizsla in the episode was based on the Phase I clone trooper armor design&mdash;disguised only by his serape&mdash;instead of the finalized character design used in the later episodes.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense