Great Clan Wars/Legends
- "A civil war killed most of Satine's people, hence her aversion to violence. When she returned, she took on the difficult task of rebuilding her world alone."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi[5]
The Great Clan Wars were a series of Mandalorian inter-clan conflicts that engulfed the planet Mandalore over a decade prior to the Clone Wars. The civil war arose from clan disputes that escalated into full-scale hostilities in the wake of the Mandalorian Civil War. Clans and even families found themselves at odds, sparking a number of battles that devastated the Mandalorian homeworld. The Death Watch splinter group soon entered the war, intending to topple the dominant New Mandalorian regime, but was unable to do so.
As the civil war ravaged Mandalore and its clans, the New Mandalorians gained a new leader: Duchess Satine Kryze, whose father, the Duke of Clan Kryze, was among the conflict's casualties. The charismatic Kryze convinced most of the quarreling clan leaders and warriors to embrace pacifism, effectively ending the war. While Kryze ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity to Mandalore, the Death Watch survived into the time of the Clone Wars, never relenting in its campaign to oust Kryze and her regime.
Prelude[]
For the Mandalorian warrior clans, the repercussions of the Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY—in which the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order invaded and devastated Mandalorian Space[7]—surpassed even the effects of the Republic's onslaught on their worlds. The pacifistic regime of the New Mandalorians ascended to power, forcing the Mandalorians' ancient warrior traditions under the thumb of peace. Yet, there were some by the name of the Aka'liit, translated from Mando'a as the "Faithful," who refused to let the old ways atrophy. Determined to preserve their cultural heritage, the Faithful secretly continued to pass the ancient traditions from generation to generation.[1]
The Mandalorian Civil War saw the Death Watch eradicate the True Mandalorians.
The following centuries tested the unity of the Faithful, with disagreements and divisions spawning conflicts like a crusade against the Ithullan species. The breaking point came[1] in the year 60 BBY,[2] when two opposing factions attained prominence: the reformist True Mandalorians and the violent and reactionary Death Watch.[8] The ensuing Mandalorian Civil War claimed many lives, culminating with the massacre of the True Mandalorians at the Battle of Galidraan[9] in 44 BBY.[10] However, the Mandalorian Civil War did little to mend some growing rifts back on Mandalore, the heart of Mandalorian Space, where squabbles between the Mandalorian clans were rapidly escalating.[1]
The wars[]
- "But even as Mereel's ideas died on Galidraan, Mandalore was in flames. The Great Clan Wars had begun. We declared ourselves and sought to rally our kinsmen to our standard, but we were too few, weakened by petty clan disputes that had flared into conflagrations while the fight with the True Mandalorians distracted us."
- ―Tor Vizsla[1]
Around 44 BBY,[3] the inter-clan dissension on Mandalore reached a boiling point, erupting into all-out civil war.[1] Multiple warlords turned on each other, with their clans and even families caught in the middle of the crossfire.[6] Although the Death Watch, under the command of the warrior Tor Vizsla, entered the conflict in an attempt to garner public support and gain momentum for its cause, it too had suffered from the clan disputes.[1] The battles that followed resulted in many deaths and further devastation to the Mandalorian homeworld.[6]
Satine Kryze, protected by then–Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, ended the Great Clan Wars.
Amidst the fighting, the warlord of Clan Kryze sent his daughter, Satine Kryze, to the Republic capital of Coruscant for diplomatic training. After her father perished in the conflict, Kryze gained leadership over the New Mandalorians[6] and was elected as the duchess of Mandalore,[11] becoming the best hope to save her clan.[6] Due to her target status, the Jedi High Council assigned her two bodyguards for her return to the embattled Mandalore: Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jinn and Kenobi's mission to protect Kryze lasted a full year, as the insurgents opposed to her rule sent bounty hunters after the young duchess.[5]
Kryze and her Jedi allies were forced off-world at times,[5] taking refuge on nearby planets such as Draboon, another world in Mandalorian Space.[5][12] Kryze and Kenobi's shared time together shaped a budding romance between the two, a bond that was complicated by their greater commitments.[5] Ultimately, Kryze was able to convince the majority of the war-weary clan chieftains and warriors to adopt the pacifism of her regime, ending all hostilities[6] prior to 32 BBY.[4]
Aftermath[]
- "Satine is weak-minded, like a child, with a child's faith in goodness and rationality. She has proved all too ready to believe the exiles have given up their fight. In fact, the Death Watch is being rebuilt. As always, our trials have made us stronger."
- ―Tor Vizsla[1]
Though defeated, the Death Watch kept working against the New Mandalorians.
The Great Clan Wars, as the event came to be known, became reputed as the deadliest conflict on Mandalore since the Mandalorian Excision of centuries prior.[6] Kryze shouldered the burden of rebuilding her world alone,[5] as Jinn and Kenobi only briefly stayed on-world to observe the situation for the Republic[6] before new orders sent them elsewhere.[5] Determined to never repeat the madness of the Great Clan Wars, Kryze worked with her New Mandalorian allies to ensure that Mandalore once again rejected violence as it had in the wake of the Excision, thus fostering a new age of growth and prosperity for her people.[6] As part of her reforms, Kryze discouraged the traditional clan system in favor of a more democratic government.[11] She also restructured the Mandalorian Guard, Mandalore's primary law enforcement, because Guardsmen units had primarily become power bases for various clans.[1]
The Death Watch seethed with frustration from its failure to unseat the New Mandalorians. Nevertheless, the Death Watchmen bode their time,[6] their beliefs surviving in particular among the unrepentant warriors who were exiled to Mandalore's moon, Concordia.[7][13] Tor Vizsla recorded the Great Clan Wars in a Death Watch manifesto that he authored. The rise of his successor,[1] Pre Vizsla, ensured that the Death Watch continued its campaign against Kryze's New Mandalorians well into the Clone Wars over a decade later.[13]
Behind the scenes[]
The Great Clan Wars[6] were created for "Voyage of Temptation," a 2010 episode in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' second season, in which they were mentioned in passing as a "civil war" connected to Obi-Wan Kenobi's relationship with Satine Kryze.[5] A trading card from 2011's 2011 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Series 6, drawn by artist Grant Gould, was the first source to depict the conflict, illustrating Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn's efforts to protect Kryze during the war.[14]
In the episode, the conflict was merely identified as a "civil war,"[5] which left it open to interpretation as to whether it was a reference to the Mandalorian Civil War from the 2002 comic Jango Fett: Open Seasons[9] or an entirely new event. It was confirmed to be the latter in Jason Fry's 2012 young readers' book Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, which named and detailed the conflict.[6] Further information on the event has since been published in 2013's The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett.[1]
The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 17, released in 2014, contradicted much of the information from The Bounty Hunter Code. Instead of depicting Kryze's rise to power during the Great Clan Wars, The Official Star Wars Fact File placed her ascension during the twenty-six years of the preceding Mandalorian Civil War, with no direct reference to the Great Clan Wars.[11] Due to the timeline of events established in The Bounty Hunter Code, this article assumes that The Official Star Wars Fact File is in error.
Appearances[]
Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Voyage of Temptation" (First mentioned)- The Clone Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy (Mentioned only) (First identified as Great Clan Wars)