Mandalore the Ultimate

"When our leader falls in battle, the most worthy takes his place."

- Canderous Ordo

Mandalore the Ultimate, or Te Ani'la Mand'alor in Mando'a, was the leader of the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars and the successor of Mandalore the Indomitable.

Mandalorian Crusader
Next to nothing is known about Mandalore the Ultimate's life prior to assuming command of the Mandalorian clans. He is said to have been the quickest Mandalorian to ever master the use of the Basilisk war droids and is known to have fought under Ulic Qel-Droma as a Mandalorian Crusader during the Great Sith War.

Lord of the clans
"Now I am the new Mandalore!"

- Mandalore the Ultimate



After the battle of Onderon, the future Mandalore was one of the many Mandalorians forced to flee to the moon of Dxun. Once there, he and several of his brothers-in-arms began a search for Mandalore the Indomitable, who had become separated from them. Upon finding his leader's mask, he realized that the former Mandalore was dead, devoured by the native fauna. In accordance with Mandalorian tradition, he claimed the mask for himself, placing it upon his face and declaring himself the new Mandalore; the last known Taung to have done so.

Though it could have been said that he stumbled into his role through luck alone, the new Mandalore went on to prove himself worthy of the title 'Ultimate' and, in the wake of the clans' defeat, he set about their reforging. Far from wanting to abandon the place that had seen the death of his predecessor, Mandalore understood the value an environment such Dxun would have for breeding warriors. Building a great, sprawling complex amongst its forests, Mandalore the Ultimate thus established the inhospitable moon as the clans' new forward base of operations and from there recalled the disparate clans. Though few remained to heed his summons, Mandalore was undeterred, instead choosing to increase the recruiting of other species into the fold, thereby forming a new generation of Mandalorian warriors known as the Neo-Crusaders. In time, the Mandalorian ranks swelled with warriors from countless worlds. Humans soon made up the majority, but species as diverse as Twi'leks, Togorians, Kerestians, and Mandallian Giants were well represented. Under Mandalore the Ultimate's direction, the term "Mandalorian" began to signify more than just a species; it referred to a sect of warriors who defined themselves by their devotion to the Mandalorian ideal of earning honor and glory through combat.

Conquest and war
"The Sith came to us with an offer: to fight a worthy enemy in a battle that would be remembered forever."

- Canderous Ordo



In 3,976 BBY, after being goaded by an unknown Sith faction, Mandalore led his renewed forces in a brutal campaign of conquest along the Outer Rim Territories, on the edge of Republic Space. Sacking independent worlds and colonies such as Althir, the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders were able to carve out a clan territory greater than that ruled by the Hutts in the span of little more than a decade.

The Republic Senate initially failed to respond, choosing not to act in the defense of planets outside of the government's borders. The war-weary senators were reluctant to get embroiled in another galaxy-spanning conflict. They would take no part unless the Mandalorians threatened to invade the Republic itself. Meanwhile, Mandalore prepared to do just that. He reordered his conquered provinces to better serve as warehouses and foundries for his growing armadas. The Clans grew more powerful than ever before as they accumulated a huge slave labor force and conscripted subject peoples into their ranks. As world after world fell before their advancing fleets, swarms of refugees began to pour into Republic space&mdash;flocking to rich border worlds such as Taris in the hopes of escaping the Mandalorians.

For years, the Republic Senate allowed the Mandalorians' crusade of conquest to continue completely unchecked, but as the Neo-Crusaders approached Taris, the Senators finally chose to make a stand and defend the Republic's extensive commercial investment in the planet. Taris was granted Republic membership and the annexed world soon became the heart of the Republic's defense of the region. Between the years 3,965 and 3,964 BBY, the first minor skirmishes between Neo-Crusader and Republic forces took place along the Republic border between Taris and the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore. For months, the two galactic powers sparred with each other within the neutral Republic frontier as the Mandalorians systematically probed the strength and resolve of the Republic Military in preparation for a full-scale attack.

In 3,963 BBY, the appointed day had come and Mandalore the Ultimate was prepared at last. The invasion of the Republic began with a rapid conquest of Onderon staged from nearby Dxun. Then, taking advantage of the chaos that had consumed Taris, Mandalore unleashed his long-prepared forces. His fleets poured into Republic space through three invasion corridors in adjacent quadrants and caught the Republic Navy completely off-guard. The main Mandalorian fleet commanded by Mandalore himself began a major push towards the Republic security cordon around Taris. Splitting his forces, Mandalore simultaneously attacked Taris and the nearby planet Vanquo, thereby forcing the Republic defenders, under the command of the Admirals Veltraa and Sommos, to divide their efforts, causing them both to be defeated.

Disappointingly, for Mandalore and his warriors, in the early days of war the Republic relied heavily upon what they saw as "shameful" defensive tactics, perhaps in the belief that their adversaries would not use "appropriate force" against military bases within and adjacent to major civilian population centers. Mandalore quickly dismissed these delusions; beneath his direction the Neo-Crusaders would completely annihilate such cities with nuclear devices and other weapons of mass destruction, thus proving his war machine to be ruthless, tenacious and largely unscrupulous.

Indeed, in the opening battles of the war, the Republic armadas proved to be entirely outmatched by the sheer ferocity of the Mandalorian attacks. Time and again, the Republic navy was soundly beaten and though the Jedi were still forbidden from entering into the conflict by the Jedi High Council, Mandalore and his warriors believed it was only a matter of time before they came to the Republic's aid, likely under the leadership of Kavar, a famed Jedi Master.

The Jedi Revan
"The best of us could not defeat him!"

- Canderous Ordo on Revan

Yet it was not Kavar that led the Jedi to war, but a Jedi Knight named Revan. He and his friend Malak had rallied a significant portion of the Jedi Order beneath their banner, and were soon in full command of a third of the Republic army. Mandalore, by now used to victory, was taken aback by Revan's tactical ability, and soon the Republic Navy began to push the Mandalorians back.

Though Revan forced a final confrontation with the Mandalorians above Malachor V in the year 3,960 BBY, Mandalore, alongside a scouting party, saw to it that Revan himself was delayed out of system. As their personal fleets clashed in a frenzied battle, the two commanders finally met in single combat amidst the din. Though the details of this battle are for the most part unknown, Mandalorian eyewitnesses would later describe it as an "execution." For all of his skill and all of his years as a warrior and combatant, Mandalore was ultimately defeated by the Jedi. "Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead."

- Revan

Afterwards, Revan would not only deny the Mandalorians victory at Malachor V but also deny them their ancient traditions. He took the mask of Mandalore for himself, perhaps as a trophy, and for years its whereabouts would remain unknown. He also stripped those surviving Mandalorians that had not fled Malachor V in advance of their armor and weaponry and thus, in the wake of Mandalore the Ultimate's death, the once great Clans fragmented. In the years that followed, many Mandalorians would go on to find work as mercenaries and bounty hunters, and fell, as Canderous Ordo later saw it, from the "path of honor."

Ultimate successor
"But they cannot have fallen so far that they will not recognize a new Mandalore has been chosen, one who will restore our people to glory."

- Canderous Ordo

Though there was one who claimed the title of Mandalore in the period of aimlessness after Mandalore the Ultimate's death, it appears that many Mandalorians were unaware of this, believing that no new Mandalore had been chosen&mdash;or that perhaps that no new Mandalore could be chosen, due to the mask's disappearance.

Mandalore the Ultimate's mantle and legacy would therefore ultimately fall to Canderous Ordo, who would attempt to reunite the clans at Dxun.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Days of Fear
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords