Mace Windu

Mace Windu was a Force-sensitive human Jedi Master and a member of the Jedi High Council during the last years of the Republic Era. He once served as an elected leader of the Jedi, and during the Clone Wars he served as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic. Windu was the greatest champion of the Jedi Order, a defender of its ancient traditions in the corrupt, declining days of the Republic. He grew increasingly suspicious of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, and after Anakin Skywalker revealed that Palpatine was the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Windu confronted him. He bested the Dark Lord in their duel, but Skywalker intervened and allowed Sidious to kill him.

Early life and rise through the Order#

Mace Windu was born on the planet Haruun Kal. As an infant he took a liking to the lushfruit, a violet fruit whose color subconsciously became his favorite. He came to believe that he had been abandoned by his parents. Recognizing that an internal darkness existed within him, Windu created the Vaapad form of lightsaber combat with the help of Sora Bulq, using it as a means to control and channel that darkness toward productive ends while keeping it in line with the Jedi Code.

As he progressed through the Order, Windu undertook missions across the galaxy, on at least one occasion adopting the pseudonym "Solver." After translating an encrypted message sent out by Depa Billaba, he rescued both Billaba and Sar Labooda from pirates, brought Billaba to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and trained her until she attained the rank of Jedi Knight. By 40 BBY, Billaba was serving alongside her former Master on the High Council. Windu's lightsaber emitted a distinctive amethyst blade, making it one of the most recognizable weapons in the Order.

Champion of the Council#

Windu endeavored to maintain the Jedi's ancient traditions even as the Republic declined under the weight of political corruption and galactic unrest. He was regarded as one of the most powerful Force-users in the Order; Darth Sidious himself considered Windu to possibly be the most powerful Force adept in the Jedi Order during the early days of the Clone Wars.

When Qui-Gon Jinn presented the boy Anakin Skywalker to the Council, Windu was skeptical of the claim that Skywalker was the Chosen One of prophecy. The Council sensed both his emotional attachment to his mother and a great deal of fear within him, and declined to have him trained. Windu later observed Skywalker as a complicated case for the Order, given how late he had joined. In the days before the Clone Wars, however, Windu came to regard him as an exceptionally skilled Jedi, and reminded Obi-Wan Kenobi to keep the prophecy in mind, for if Skywalker was the Chosen One then only he could bring the Force back into balance.

General of the Clone Wars#

When the Separatist Crisis spawned the Confederacy of Independent Systems and sparked the Clone Wars, Windu and the Jedi rallied to the Republic's defense and became leaders of the Grand Army of the Republic. He served in many capacities: on the battlefield commanding clone troopers, on Coruscant as an overseer of the war effort and advisor to Palpatine despite his disdain of politics, and as a diplomat to contested worlds. He commanded the elite 187th Legion, and his exploits served as a reminder of his reputation as a fierce warrior.

Windu personally oversaw the campaign to retake the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth from Separatist occupation. He entrusted Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano with breaking the blockade so that ground forces could land, then directed Kenobi to secure the area near Nabat, where the Separatists used the local population as living shields. After freeing the hostages, Windu landed his forces and enlisted the aid of resistance leader Cham Syndulla to liberate the capital city of Lessu. The people of Ryloth would long remember the victory, and the name "The Hammer of Ryloth" was gifted to Windu for his part in it.

Among his other campaigns, Windu commanded Republic forces on Malastare against the Separatist invasion, where the testing of an electro-proton bomb uncovered the long-dormant Zillo Beast. He opposed Palpatine's decision to transport the dangerous creature to Coruscant, valuing the life of what he correctly believed to be the last of its species. He also led the long defense of Dantooine, fought Count Dooku, and led forces on Anaxes alongside Skywalker, where Clone Captain Rex proposed the mission that uncovered how the droids had learned Republic tactics.

The hunt for Cad Bane and the Temple holocron#

When the bounty hunter Cad Bane infiltrated the Jedi Temple at Darth Sidious's behest to steal a holocron, Windu and Yoda discovered the breach. As Bane sent his droid Todo 360 into the communication center as a bomb, Windu Force pushed it into the ventilation system, where it exploded. The distraction allowed Bane to escape with the holocron, which could be used to access a kyber memory crystal containing the names and locations of all known Force-sensitive children in the galaxy.

With the future of the Order in jeopardy, the Jedi tracked Bane through meditation, sensing children in danger on Rodia and Naboo. After Bane was captured, Windu personally conducted his interrogation, sensing that the mercenary feared his employer more than the Jedi. At Tano's suggestion, Windu, Kenobi, and Skywalker simultaneously performed the mind trick on Bane, an experience so painful that he finally relented. Windu also helped foil the kidnapping of the Chancellor on Naboo, apprehending Bane and the bounty hunter Moralo Eval through Kenobi's undercover work as Rako Hardeen.

Duel with Darth Sidious#

As the war drew to a close, Windu became increasingly suspicious of Palpatine, who had amassed near-dictatorial control over the Senate. He sensed the dark side clustering around the Chancellor and a plot to destroy the Jedi Order, though he could not uncover Palpatine's identity as a Sith Lord. His suspicions were confirmed when Anakin Skywalker discovered that Palpatine was Darth Sidious.

Windu, along with Jedi Masters Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar, confronted Palpatine in his office to arrest him. The Dark Lord attacked, striking down the others one by one until only Windu remained. Windu bested Palpatine in the confrontation and, deciding the Chancellor was too dangerous to be left alive, prepared to strike him down. At that moment Skywalker intervened, severing Windu's hand and allowing Sidious to kill the Jedi Master with Force lightning. Windu fell from the office window to his death, and Skywalker, having fallen to the dark side, became Darth Vader.

Legacy#

Windu's confrontation gave Palpatine the pretext to brand the Jedi as traitors. The Chancellor executed Order 66, turning the clone troopers against their Jedi leaders, and transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Imperial propaganda portrayed Windu as the leader of a criminal gang of Jedi who had caused the Clone Wars. Despite this, his memory endured: the people of Ryloth still remembered his exploits at Lessu and immortalized his name in song alongside Cham Syndulla's. Long after the fall of the Empire, Luke Skywalker's research into the Order's history recovered Windu's reputation as a respected Jedi Master who had served the Council faithfully in its final years.