Mace Windu

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The story goes that Mace Windu was once ambushed by fourteen Gank-killers, who surrounded him with weapons drawn. Not even a Jedi Master could deflect that many blaster bolts at once, but Windu slowly turned to make eye contact with each one, placed one hand on the lightsaber hanging at his hip, and spoke only three words: 'It's your decision.' One by one, the Ganks lay their weapons on the ground.--Star Wars: Shatterpoint

Mace Windu is originally from the planet Haruun Kal, as revealed in Matthew Stover's novel Shatterpoint. After the death of his parents when he was a mere six months old, he was turned over to the Jedi Order. He was appointed to the Jedi Council at the age of twenty-eight, at the time the youngest Jedi ever to be promoted to the Council (Although, years later, the unorthodox promotion of Anakin Skywalker, then about 23, broke the record.) Throughout his Jedi career, Windu trained Jedi-Purge survivor Echuu Shen-Jon, fellow council member Depa Billaba, and many more, though the aforementioned two were the most notable of his padawans.

In 32 BBY, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi appear before the Council with Anakin Skywalker, a young slave from Tatooine, whom they claim is the Chosen One, foretold of in Jedi prophecy, who will bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Along with Yoda, Windu has grave misgivings, sensing a dark cloud around the boy's future, and shows reluctance about the two Jedi training him. They relent, however, when Jinn is killed by Darth Maul during the Battle of Naboo, and Kenobi says that he would train the boy with or without the Council's permission. Yoda and Windu are greatly disturbed by the resurgence of a Sith Lord, an enemy who had not troubled the galaxy in a millennium or so.

During the ten-year period in between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, Windu constructs a special electrum lightsaber, which only a senior member of the High Council could possess, with a rare amethyst-colored crystal. In Shatterpoint, however, it is indicated that Mace constructed his lightsaber when he was a child. However in the twenty first episode of Star Wars Clone Wars Mace Windu weilds a Green lightsaber when Anakin Skywalker becomes a Jedi Knight. However before this moment at the Battle of Dantooine Windu weilds an amethyst lightsaber.

In the events leading up to the Battle of Geonosis, Windu discovers, to his great dismay, that his former mentor and friend, Count Dooku, has turned against the Jedi and kidnapped Kenobi, the now-grown Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo turned senator. Windu leads about 200 Jedi coming to rescue them from a Geonosian style execution administered by Count Dooku. Windu confronts Dooku on a balcony overlooking the arena, but is driven off by his bodyguard, the bounty hunter Jango Fett. During the ensuing battle however, Windu decapitates Fett, who had already killed several Jedi, including Coleman Trebor. Windu goes on to lead the Clone army in the Battle of Geonosis, clearly breaking a bit of his usual diplomacy-style. In that time, Windu seems to have more confidence in Anakin.

With the Clone Wars in full swing, Master Windu returns to his homeworld to track down his missing former Padawan, Depa Billaba. There, he experiences firsthand the horrors of war, and is pitted against the deadly Kar Vastor. Although Windu survives, the memories of his return to Haruun Kal haunt him for a long time afterward. The loss of Depa Billeba's will to the darkness also troubled Mace during the three long years of the war.

During the early months of the war, a small dissident Jedi group, led by Sora Bulq, asks Windu to talk with them alone on the planet Ruul. Members of this group think that acting as generals in the war is against the Jedi Code. However, both Mace and the renegade Jedi are betrayed by Bulq, who has joined Count Dooku already. Windu confronts both Bulq and Asajj Ventress on Ruul, but fails to destroy or stop either of them. Several schismatic Jedi agree to return to the Order afterwards.

As a Jedi General in charge of clone forces of the Grand Army of the Republic, he also fights against and defeated many Separatist incursions, including a powerful seismic tank during the Battle of Dantooine and foiled the Dark Reaper Project of Count Dooku alongside Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Another event which haunted Mace during the war was the loss of Quinlan Vos to the dark side and to the Confederacy. Mace Windu approved the undercover mission of Vos proposed by Master Tholme. When Vos became what he pretended not to be - a Dark Jedi - Mace again doubted his decision and judgement. It was Master T'Ra Saa who helped Mace to overcome those doubts.

17 months into the war, Crimson Nova of the Bounty Hunters' Guild accepted Bounties on Jedi. It was Mace Windu who led Masters Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar and Kit Fisto to storm The Rig and halt the contract after a show of force.

31 months into the war, Mace Windu was part of the Republic forces fighting on Boz Pity. After General Grievous killed Adi Gallia, Mace lifted a STAP with the Force to crush the cyborg general, harming Grievous badly. Afterwards Mace engaged Count Dooku blade-to-blade. The two grand duelists fought briefly to no advantage until two IG-100 MagnaGuards interrupted and dragged Windu over a cliff into a large crater.

In the closing years of the Clone Wars, the Jedi begin investigating the mysterious and elusive Sith Lord Darth Sidious. This investigation leads Windu to believe that the Sith Lord is in fact a member of Chancelor Palpatine's inner circle.

Eventually Mace Windu engaged General Grievous again during the Battle of Coruscant. In Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil, Windu battled Grievous blade-to-blade on top of a train, a duel that ends in a stalemate; Windu then briefly encountered General Grievous in the second season of Star Wars: Clone Wars (The George Lucas/Cartoon Network animated series) when the general and his forces overpower the Jedi and capture Chancellor Palpatine. Windu crushes Grievous' chest with a powerful Force push, leaving the general with the asthmatic cough that plagues him for the rest of his life.

In the novelization Labyrinth of Evil, wherein events also take place just prior to Revenge of the Sith, Windu leads a squad of Jedi, Republic Intelligence and Clone Troopers to storm Sidious' lair in The Works, finding intelligence on the Sith Lord that the squad traces back to 500 Republica, residence of the most powerful people in the galaxy. Mace left the search team when the Battle of Coruscant began. Had he not, Mace might have confronted Darth Sidious in the underground of 500 Republica, who revealed himself and killed the hunting squad. It is also possible that if he had stayed he might have been able to save his comrades as well.

At Palpatine's insistence, Anakin Skywalker is placed on the Jedi Council as his representative. The Council orders Skywalker to spy on Palpatine, although Mace expresses disapproval at Skywalker and Palpatine being in close company with each other. Windu was the one who had expressed the Jedi Council's decision in refusing Skywalker the rank of Master, which greatly angers and embitters the young Jedi, and makes him more susceptible to Palpatine's denunciations of the Jedi philosophy.

Palpatine also manipulates Skywalker's fear for Senator Padmé Amidala, who is now his wife and pregnant, by hinting that embracing the dark side is the only way to cheat death, as Anakin was having prophetic nightmares about Padmé dying in childbirth.

When Skywalker returns to the Council and reveals that Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same, Windu decides to take action and arrest the Chancellor. Along with Masters Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar, he storms past Palpatine's Red Guards and into the Chancellor's office.

Palpatine does not go quietly. Resisting arrest, Palpatine ignites his red lightsaber and engages the Jedi in battle. He stabs Agen Kolar through the stomach, then he slashes Tiin across the chest. Engaging Fisto and Windu with a bit more effort, he cuts Fisto across the waist, killing him. Windu is quickly forced onto the defensive by Palpatine. As their battle progresses, Palpatine appears to err in attack, allowing Windu to disarm him with a kick to the jaw. But was it a mistake in the heat of battle, or a clever pretension? (See Windu's Controversial Death, below) Whichever it was, the outcome was the same in the end.

Just at Mace's apparent moment of victory, Anakin Skywalker arrives, only to see Windu's intimidating form towering hostilely over the prone Chancellor. Thinking of Padmé, Anakin insists that Windu not destroy the seemingly defeated Sith Lord. Also having recently killed Count Dooku in cold blood, which he felt guilty about, he did not want to relive the experience by killing the unarmed Palpatine. Using their disagreement as an opportunity, Palpatine blasts Windu with a torrent of Force lightning. Windu barely deflects the bolts with his lightsaber, and redirects the energy back at Palpatine, twisting and contorting his features to reveal the visage of a decrepit human being. Realizing that Palpatine is too dangerous to be kept alive, Windu decides to kill him and destroy the Sith once and for all. However, before he can deal the killing blow, an emotionally confused and weak Skywalker cuts off the Jedi Master's lightsaber hand.

With Windu howling in pain, Palpatine, who "miraculously" springs to life and using a full blast of Force Lightning, defenestrates Windu, hurtling the Jedi Master out the window to his death on the Coruscant skyskrapers far below.

The circumstances surrounding Windu's death have led to widespread speculation by fans that he in fact survived (much like the persistent rumors spread amongst fans that Plo Koon survived Episode III and that Darth Maul would make a return.) Lucas and Jackson have confirmed that Windu was always supposed to die in Episode III and that his death would be part of the official canon of Star Wars movie lore. Whether writers of the Expanded Star Wars Universe will try to bring him back is unknown, but highly unlikely, given that the Star Wars-television series Lucas plans on attempting to cover many of the minor characters' story arc's to bridge the near 20 year gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

There has been much debate in the Star Wars fan community about whether Mace Windu or Palpatine was winning the duel in Revenge of the Sith before Anakin Skywalker intervened. Some, if not most, fans believe that Windu had in fact gained the upper hand against Palpatine before Skywalker arrived on the scene. Other fans believe that Palpatine knew Skywalker would show, and therefore allowed Windu to seemingly gain the upper hand long enough until Skywalker could arrive to witness Palpatine begging for mercy. The character profiles for both Windu and Palpatine on the official Star Wars website describe Windu as gaining the advantage, and make no mention of Palpatine throwing the fight.

In the DVD commentaries of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas indicates that Palpatine losing his power during the lightning struggle was indeed a fake, but mentions nothing about the lightsaber duel before and whether Palpatine had allowed himself to be disarmed. On the other hand, the novelization and earlier drafts of the script indicate that Darth Sidious may have been in control the entire time. The book "The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith" mentions that this particular scene was edited with the intention of making so that Palpatine did not fake his loss in the lightsaber duel.

Nevertheless, there is significant and often contradictory evidence on both sides in addition to the aforementioned sources, and Lucasfilm officials are not aware of the truth. Pablo Hidalgo once addressed the matter in a special Homing Beacon-article, coming to the conclusion that only George Lucas has the answer. There is also information provided in this quote from "Nick Gillard" regarding Darth Sidious' combat abilities that provides evidence for Sidious faking the entire duel, "His style is one in which you'll never get the better of him. It is ambiguous --- he'll fight less than you and draw you in; you're a sucker if you think you're going to better him."

In the Revenge of the Sith-video game, Windu has a slightly more alternative death. Instead of cutting off his hand, Anakin blocks Windu's attack on the Chancellor and the player ends up dueling the Jedi Master. In the end, Anakin stabs Windu and kicks him out the same window from which he fell in the film. However, this slightly more alternate death is more than likely just a way to include a lightsaber duel between them in the game.

One final point that should be considered is that a fall from a great height is no real danger to a Jedi - seen in Star Wars: Clone Wars, Mace Windu is shot down over Coruscant and yet manages to land on and take control of a Droid Fighter. Even within the movies, Attack of the Clones featured a scene of Anakin diving out of an airspeeder and free-falling for a significant amount of time before (apparently) using the Force to guide himself to his target and even cushion a safe landing far below. It isn't impossible that a Jedi master would be able to do the same, even wounded, and leaves another lingering question as to the demise of Mace Windu.

In addition to his reputation for wisdom and power, Windu is among the finest swordsmen in the Jedi Order. He created Vaapad, the seventh form of lightsaber combat used by the Jedi Order in Yoda's time. Named after the predator animal vaapad on one of the moons of Sarapin, Windu's personal variation of Form VII can enable the user to move so fast that they become invisible to the naked eye, if properly trained. Vaapad requires the user to enjoy the thrill of combat, which may be considered the path to darkness. A Jedi who masters Vaapad can channel this near-darkness into a weapon of light.

In order to harness Vaapad without falling to the Dark Side, the user must have a pure mind and act as selflessly as possible. This is why the form so difficult to master for even experienced Jedi. Only Windu, and his former student Depa Billaba ever mastered this form. The legendary lightsaber instructor Sora Bulq claimed to have mastered it, though his fall to darkness and Mace's evaluation of Sora challenge this claim. It is said that Yoda and Count Dooku were the only ones who could ever outspar Mace without Vaapad. There is speculation by some, however, that Windu may have been outsparred as a teenager by his older and more experienced Jedi friends, like Ki-Adi-Mundi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Plo Koon. By Mace's own admission, he considered Obi-Wan Kenobi the absolute master of Soresu. He also considered his student Depa Billaba to be a superior master of Vaapad.

• According to an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 13 2005 (as well as other interviews dating back to the promotion of Episode I) Windu's purple lightsaber was a personal request from Jackson to Lucas as a quid pro quo for appearing in the films, as well as a way of making the character unique and easily distinguishable. Jackson, a huge Star Wars fan, especially wanted his own color so that his character could be easily spotted and recognizable in the final battle scene of Attack of the Clones amidst all of the other Jedi. Another condition, found by several fans freeze-framing the lightsaber scenes, was to have "BMF" (For "Bad MotherFucker", a reference to Samuel Jackson's other job in Pulp Fiction) stamped on the bottom of the lightsaber.--Source.

• According to the commentary on the DVD Release of Revenge of the Sith, Jackson also wanted to have a rather spectacular death, rather than be killed off like "some sucker."

• According to the Star Wars Galaxy Guide #7: Mos Eisley (published by West End Games, 1993), Mace Windu is coincidentally also the name of the Squib who works at Jawa Traders, a second hand droid shop located in the town of Mos Eisley on Tatooine around the era of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Known for occasionally striking convoluted bargains in lieu of credits, he is something of a headache to the Jawa proprietress, Aguilae. The name was reportedly borrowed by the author of the Guide from an early draft of the original Star Wars script by Lucas.

• The circumstances of Windu's death are considered extremely ironic. At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Windu has become mistrustful of Anakin, due to the discoveries regarding the identity of Darth Sidious and his connection to Palpatine's inner circle in the novel, Labyrinth of Evil. But, in the time where his doubt is most justified, he drops his distrust and trusts Anakin, denouncing what he previously said. It is then when he died, due to the betrayal of Anakin.

• Mace Windu's special ability was that he could find "shatterpoints", crucial junctions that could affect all events after it. This ability is mentioned in Clone Wars Volume 4 and in Shatterpoint.

• James Whitlark, Ph.D., has suggested that the name "Windu" appears to come from the word "Window"; An early draft of the original Star Wars script had Mace Windu serving as narrator, and thus the "window" through which the action was viewed.--Source.

• "You refer to the prophecy about the One who'll bring balance to The Force. You believe it's this... boy?" (Windu to Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace)
• "We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers." (Windu to Palpatine in Attack Of The Clones)
• "This party's over." (Windu to Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones)
• "I don't think so." (As a reply to Count Dooku's "You are impossibly outnumbered." in Attack of the Clones).
• "Anakin Skywalker, we have approved your appointment to the Jedi Council as the Chancellor's personal representative. You are on this Council, but we do not grant you the rank of Master." (Windu to Skywalker, in Revenge of the Sith)
  
• "In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest, Chancellor." (Windu to Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith)
• "The Senate will decide your fate." (Windu to Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith)
• "The oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to gain control of the Republic has failed. You have LOST." (Windu to Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith)
• "He has control of both the Senate and the courts! He is too dangerous to be left alive!" (Windu to Skywalker, referring to Palpatine, in Revenge of the Sith)
• "It's very dangerous, putting them [Anakin and Palpatine] together. I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him" (Revenge of the Sith)
• "Whether or not he is the Chosen One is still to be determined." (Windu to Jedi Council about Skywalker, in reply to Ki-Adi-Mundi's "In this time of need, why do we hold back the chosen one?" in Star Wars: Clone Wars: Micro-series)
• "Jedi do not fight for peace; that is a slogan and is misleading as slogans naturally are. Jedi fight for civilization as civilization creates peace." (Windu in diary in Shatterpoint)

• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Novelization - Novelization, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1
• Shatterpoint, 1st edition, 2003. Matthew Woodring Stover, ISBN 0-345-45573-8
• The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
• Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-789-44701-0
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2002. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-789-48588-5
• Revised Core Rulebook (Star Wars Roleplaying Game), 1st edition, 2002. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, Steve Sansweet, ISBN 0-786-92876-X
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, hardcover, 2002. Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K.C. Stephens, James Maliszewski, ISBN 0-786-92781-X
• Star Wars Galaxy Guide 7: Mos Eisley, softcover, 1993. Martin Wixted, ISBN 0-87431-187-X

• Star Wars: Databank: Mace Windu
• Mace Windu on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki