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 was a Human male who was an infamous bounty hunter that lived during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. When he was a child, his parents sold him into slavery. On his sixteenth birthday, he killed his slave masters and murdered his parents. Shortly after eliminating them, a bounty was placed on Nord. He toyed with all the bounty hunters that came after him, learning all their techniques before killing them. After the attempts on his life ceased, he tracked down and murdered the people that put the bounty on his head, and then became a bounty hunter.

Nord often worked for the crime lord Davik Kang, who was a boss for the Exchange, a powerful criminal organization. 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, in an attempt to kill the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan, ordered the planet's destruction When the Sith began bombarding Taris, Nord and Kang tried to kill Shan, the Republic captain Carth Onasi, the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo&mdash;who was Nord's rival&mdash;and the amnesiac former Sith Lord Revan when the group tried to steal Kang's flagship, the Ebon Hawk. However, Nord was caught under falling debris from the hangar, enabling the group to kill his employer and flee the planet aboard the Ebon Hawk before Taris' destruction.

Nord managed to escape the planet before it was completely devastated by the Sith, and informed Malak of Shan's escape from Taris. He also told the Dark Lord that Revan&mdash;whom Malak thought had been killed when he betrayed Revan during the Jedi's attempt to capture both Sith Lords&mdash;was alive, and operating as a soldier for the Republic. Nord then agreed to find and capture Shan alive, albeit for a hefty fee. Nord tracked down and confronted Revan, who had been retrained in the Jedi ways and tasked by the Jedi Council on the planet Dantooine to find the Star Forge, an ancient Rakatan space station that powered the Sith fleet. However, Nord was no match for Revan and his companions, and the legendary 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 then 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, he found and killed the people that placed the bounty on his head.

Nord eventually became a bounty hunter himself, often working for Davik Kang&mdash;a crime lord for the Exchange criminal organization&mdash;who was based on the planet Taris. Kang would hire him 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, which were native creatures of the desert world Tatooine. He considered one of these pearls to be the greatest hunting trophy.

Nord would always find his prey, and he showed them no mercy, ignoring pleas and bribes. After Nord ordered a custom suit of battle armor that was based on heavily modified Mandalorian designs, he murdered the armorer to ensure it would always be unique. At some point during his lifetime, Nord was also hired by the Galactic Republic for unknown operations in the Core. Nord could often be found in the Hutt Zax's bounty office in Javyar's Cantina, which was located in the Lower City of Taris.

Jedi Civil War
"A Jedi and a war hero – 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 Taris' destruction in an attempt to kill the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. Shan had escaped the Republic warship Endar Spire when the Sith fleet ambushed and boarded the ship in order to capture Shan. Nord, who was on the planet for business with Davik Kang, tried to prevent Shan's escape from the planet with the crime lord. Shan and her companions&mdash;the former Sith Lord and amnesiac soldier Revan, the Republic captain Carth Onasi, and the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, who was one of Kang's employees&mdash;attempted to steal Kang's flagship, the Ebon Hawk so that they could escape Taris. Recognizing 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 Shan and her companions boarded the Ebon Hawk, fleeing Taris. Nord survived, managing to escape the planet before the Sith completely destroyed it.

When Nord had sufficiently recovered, he had a private audience with Darth Malak aboard his flagship Leviathan, and along with the Sith Admiral Saul Karath, told the Sith Lord that Shan had escaped Taris' destruction with the help of Carth Onasi. He and Karath also informed Malak of his former Sith Master Revan's survival. Malak hired Nord to track down and kill Revan and his companions and to capture Shan. She was to be taken 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 commissioned 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 the former Sith Lord credit for leading him on quite a chase, but told him 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 quickly cut down 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 then 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. Nord was loyal to whoever had the most credits, or sometimes, to 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 which 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. 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. He possessed a pair of goggles which 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.

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. In the sequel to Knights of the Old Republic, The Sith Lords, there was a suit of battle armor called "Verpine Zal Alloy Mesh". The armor looked 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, he began by saying "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