The Siege of Mandalore

1. What is The Siege of Mandalore?

The Siege of Mandalore, also called the Battle of Mandalore or the attack on Mandalore, was a major conflict that took place on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore at the end of the Clone Wars. It involved the Galactic Republic stepping in to help rebels fight against those loyal to the Shadow Collective during the Mandalorian Civil War.

Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi Padawan, and Clone Commander Rex led a part of the 501st Legion of clone troopers to catch the former Sith Lord Maul. Maul was controlling Mandalore through Prime Minister Almec, who was just a puppet leader. Maul had seen visions of the Republic falling and the Galactic Empire rising under his old master, Darth Sidious. He planned the battle as a trap for Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Maul wanted to finally get revenge on Kenobi and kill Skywalker so Sidious couldn’t make him his new Sith apprentice. However, Maul’s plan didn’t work because the two Jedi were called away to the Battle of Coruscant instead.

Even though Rex and Tano succeeded in their mission, everything changed when Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine – who was actually Darth Sidious – gave Order 66. This stopped them from taking the captured Maul to the Jedi High Council. The rise of the Empire made their victory meaningless. The Empire took control of Mandalore and occupied the world, setting up an Imperial Academy there.

2. Setting the Stage for Conflict

2.1 Maul’s Takeover and the Rise of Resistance

Mandalore’s decision to stay neutral during the Clone Wars didn’t stop violence from happening on the planet. In 19 BBY, Maul used his criminal group, the Shadow Collective, to take over Mandalore and remove Duchess Satine Kryze and her peaceful government, the New Mandalorians. When Maul took over the Mandalorian warrior group Death Watch, one of its lieutenants, Bo-Katan Kryze, formed the Mandalore resistance to fight against Maul’s leadership. Maul made Kryze hate him even more when he killed Satine, her estranged sister.

As part of a fight against Maul’s Mandalorian super commandos, Kryze rescued Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi from Maul. Before Kenobi left Mandalore, Kryze told him to tell the Galactic Republic about what was happening on the planet. She hoped that if the Republic invaded Mandalore, it would lead to Maul’s defeat. However, the Jedi High Council thought the Republic Senate wouldn’t want to get involved in the affairs of a neutral star system like the Mandalore system.

Meanwhile, Maul was defeated and captured by his former Sith Master, Darth Sidious. Even though Maul later escaped from Sidious, he stayed away from Mandalore. The Mandalorian resistance kept giving the Republic information about what was happening on the world, including the fact that Prime Minister Almec, the puppet leader Maul had put in charge during his takeover, was still connected to the Shadow Collective. Jedi Generals like Kenobi and Mace Windu were determined not to let Mandalore fall to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They led a Republic attack against Maul and his Shadow Collective, but Maul managed to escape. In the end, Sidious and the Confederacy destroyed the Shadow Collective in the Second Battle of Dathomir, taking away Maul’s criminal power base, although he later managed to rebuild it.

2.2 Maul’s Escape and Reappearance

After Maul escaped from Dathomir with Gar Saxon and Rook Kast, Kryze and some of her loyal followers, including Ursa Wren, tracked Maul through his dealings on Oba Diah with Marg Krim and the Pyke Syndicate. After seeing former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano escape the Pykes with her friends, the Martez sisters, Kryze and her Nite Owls followed Tano back to Coruscant and asked her to help deal with Maul, their common enemy.

Kryze’s wish for a Republic invasion of Mandalore finally came true. She and Tano tracked Maul for a while, and using codes Tano had stolen from the Pykes, they found out that he had returned to the Mandalorian capital of Sundari. Since they didn’t have enough people for a long siege and time was running out, Tano decided to contact her former master, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, on his “Fulcrum” frequency.

The Grand Army of the Republic was busy fighting other battles as part of the Outer Rim Sieges, and Jedi Generals Skywalker and Kenobi had just finished a battle on the planet Yerbana. Skywalker wanted to help Tano, but he couldn’t because he and Kenobi were sent to Coruscant to deal with an attack by General Grievous, who had kidnapped the Supreme Chancellor. Instead, Skywalker split the 501st Legion and gave his former apprentice a division which included the 332nd Company of clone troopers. These troopers had repainted their helmets to match Tano’s facial markings, showing their loyalty and appreciation for her.

To get around the fact that Tano, who had left the Jedi Order, was no longer officially part of the Republic Military and couldn’t be put in charge of the unit, Skywalker promoted Clone Captain Rex to Commander and officially made Tano an advisor. He also gave Tano her lightsabers back.

Before they parted ways, Kenobi advised Tano to capture Maul rather than kill him, as he had seemingly done so before, but Maul had a knack for escaping death.

However, Maul had anticipated Kryze would seek the Jedi’s assistance; in fact, it was a key element of his plan. He had seen a vision of his former master Sidious’s Great Plan coming true soon, and he wanted to survive the chaos. Maul had set up the siege to lure both Kenobi and his former apprentice to Mandalore to kill them, hoping to finally get revenge on Kenobi. In Skywalker’s case, Maul wanted him dead to get revenge on Sidious, as his visions had shown him that the Dark Lord was grooming Skywalker to be his next apprentice. Maul was supported by his puppet Prime Minister Almec and his Mandalorian super commandos, including Saxon and Kast, as well as the reformed Shadow Collective, setting the stage for an intense battle for Mandalore.

3. The Battle Begins

3.1 Descent into Chaos

Tano, Rex, and Kryze reached Mandalore with their forces in three Venator-class Star Destroyers. A fleet of LAAT/i gunships and Kom’rk-class fighter/transports flew down to Sundari from orbit. On the way down, the attacking force got a message from Almec, who angrily told Kryze that the presence of Republic forces was breaking a very old treaty and that she would be seen as an enemy by the Mandalorian people for this action. Kryze replied that she didn’t care and that she was coming for him since he was Maul’s puppet. Kryze then contacted Wren, who was in the city, to find out where Maul was. Wren confirmed that he was in the city, but she couldn’t find his exact location.

Almec ordered Saxon to get Sundari’s defenses ready, and Kast to inform the syndicate. The approaching forces soon came under attack from flying supercommandos, with one gunship being shot down. Kryze’s warriors took to the air on their jetpacks to fight the enemy. As Shadow Collective supercommandos boarded a few gunships and killed the troopers inside, Kryze took to the air as well, followed by jetpack-equipped clone troopers. Rex, getting ready to join the battle, apologized to Tano that he hadn’t brought her a jetpack, but she assured him she didn’t need one and suggested a race to see who would get down to the Sundari shipping docks first before jumping out of the gunship.

Jumping from ship to ship, Tano fought the enemy supercommandos she encountered, clearing them out of one gunship before eventually landing on a damaged LAAT heading towards Sundari. Finding that the pilot couldn’t eject, Tano cut off the canopy to help him, for which he thanked her before ejecting. Tano jumped off the damaged gunship before it crashed into the dock, facing a squad of supercommandos. She was quickly backed up by Wren and her forces, as well as the clone troopers. Tano didn’t move into the city until after Rex caught up to her, pointing out that she’d won, to which he responded that some things never changed. The battle would bring destruction and fire to much of Mandalore, with many of the world’s plazas being engulfed in flames.

3.2 Clash at Sundari

The Mandalorian and Republic forces quickly took control of the shipping docks, and Saxon and Kast’s forces began to be pushed back. When Almec heard about this, he ordered the two and their forces to go to the Undercity and promised they would be met there. Maul, who had expected the attack, was waiting down in the sewer system, planning to set a trap for the Jedi Kryze had brought with her, whom he had hoped would be his old enemy Kenobi. Saxon was chased by a squad of clone troopers led by Captain CT-0292 “Vaughn.”

Tano regrouped with Rex and Kryze, before the Mandalorian set out with her squad to go after Almec at the Sundari Royal Palace. Tano ordered Rex to go help Wren at the docks to reduce the chances that Maul might escape the city. Rex pointed out that if the former Sith was gone, all of their effort would play into his hands. Rex was then contacted by Vaughn, who reported that he and his squad had followed Saxon into the Undercity. Tano responded that she would be there, and she and Rex headed out. Arriving at the undercity portal, Tano was told by Vaughn that Saxon had entered the city’s sewage and maintenance pipes, and that he had seemed to be in a hurry. Tano set out into the tunnels with Vaughn and his squad.

At the palace, Almec was informed by Kast that Tano had entered the tunnels, as Maul had predicted, just before Kryze and her Nite Owls attacked. Kryze defeated several warriors before taking down Almec after a short fight, demanding to know where Maul was. Scared, Almec taunted her that Maul had wanted her to bring the Jedi to Mandalore, but she had brought the wrong one. Kryze immediately tried to contact Tano to warn her, but got only static.

3.3 Ambush in the Shadows

Down in the tunnels, Kast and her warriors watched Tano and her troops pass through. Kast revealed herself and launched a missile at Tano, which knocked her down as she redirected it into a wall. The clones chased after the Mandalorians, and Tano called after Vaughn to wait as she recovered. Running after her troops, Tano was too late as Kast and Saxon’s warriors killed them all. Entering an open area, Tano found Vaughn, who apologized to her for his failure just before he died. Tano was immediately surrounded in three directions by Kast, Saxon and their warriors. Maul came out of the fourth tunnel as Tano took up a stance with her lightsabers, demanding to know why she had come instead of Kenobi.

Maul said that Tano’s name was familiar to him, but he didn’t know who she was, and she replied that she knew of him. He remarked that they had several mutual friends, and she said that that wasn’t how she would describe things. Maul admitted that he had wanted Kenobi to come to Mandalore, hopefully with Skywalker. While he was talking, Tano secretly sent a signal with her wrist comm, which alerted Rex, who had arrived in the Undercity. Rex and his squad then proceeded into the tunnels, following the signal.

Tano pointed out that Kenobi hadn’t come because he had had a more “important” engagement. Maul wondered if “the moment” would be upon them, but when Tano suggested that he surrender so he could tell Kenobi what he was talking about, Maul said that that would be pointless, as the Jedi and Republic would soon no longer be in control of the galaxy. Tano asked if he intended to replace them, and Maul told her that Darth Sidious, a name she didn’t know, would. Rex and his troopers arrived and began firing at the Mandalorians. Tano and Maul briefly crossed blades, but he chose to retreat, using the Force to throw Rex into Tano to buy a chance to escape. Tano and Rex chased after him, splitting up in the tunnels, but eventually ran into each other again and had to admit they had lost Maul’s trail.

3.4 Preparing for Action

Tano and Rex regrouped with Kryze back at the palace, where they had a holo-call with Master Kenobi. Kryze noted that there were still some fights happening in Sector 11, but that otherwise the clone troopers had been as effective in battle as promised. Tano told Kenobi about Maul’s mention of Darth Sidious, and Kenobi in turn told the three what the Jedi Council knew about the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith: they suspected that he was the Sith Lord who had planned the Clone Wars and was manipulating both sides from the beginning. Kenobi had first heard the name from Count Dooku, but because of his recent death at Master Skywalker’s hands, the Council had lost any further chance to learn Sidious’ public identity from him.

Kenobi told Tano that capturing Maul alive was the best opportunity the Jedi were going to get to find out who Darth Sidious was. Tano asked for reinforcements to help with that, but Kenobi told her he wouldn’t be able to send any as he had been sent to Utapau to hunt down General Grievous. When Tano asked if Skywalker could reinforce her, Kenobi asked to speak to Tano alone. After Rex and Kryze had stepped away, Kenobi told Tano that Skywalker had been assigned to, essentially, spy on the Supreme Chancellor as the Jedi were suspicious of his motives, since the Galactic Senate had allowed him to stay in power long after his term should have ended. Tano noted that Skywalker wouldn’t be pleased with this mission since the Chancellor was a close friend and mentor to him. Kenobi agreed and suggested that she talk to her former master. Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by Rex reporting an attack.

Still hiding in the Undercity, Maul had ambushed a squad of clone troopers heading to reinforce the entry point at C-deck. Wanting information about Tano, he had targeted the ARC trooper Jesse and taken him hostage as, using the Force, Maul had realized he was older than the other troopers there. When Tano and Rex arrived and learned what had happened, she sent him to reinforce C-deck, before Sterling, a surviving trooper, told her what had happened to Jesse. Deeper in the tunnels, Maul was with his prisoner and his lieutenants Saxon and Kast. Jesse refused to give the darksider any information, which amused Maul, who thought about the Sith’s Great Plan and how he and Dooku had both been used by Sidious, confusing the ARC trooper as he had no idea what Maul was talking about. Thinking about the power of information, Maul sent Saxon to kill the captured Almec so he couldn’t reveal any information to the enemy. Maul then began to use the Force to probe Jesse’s mind for information about Tano as he tried to resist, screaming in pain.

3.5 Maul’s Final Strategic Moves

Looking for answers about Maul’s goals, Tano, Rex, and Kryze went to the prison where Almec was being held to question him, which he was flattered they had time for. Almec admitted that Maul had been troubled for weeks about something and had wanted to lure Kenobi to Mandalore, but that Kenobi wasn’t the only Jedi the trap had been intended for. When the former Prime Minister became evasive, Tano suggested that Kryze help him remember. Scared, Almec began to talk, but was quickly shot by Saxon with a sniper rifle.

As Kryze and her guards went after Saxon and Rex called for a medic, Tano tended to the dying man. Almec told her that Maul had had a vision, giving her the name “Skywalker” before dying. Kryze chased Saxon into the turbolift shaft, where they fought on top of a lift car she had stopped. Saxon eventually used his flamethrower to force Kryze into a neighboring shaft where she was stuck under a descending car. She managed to stop the car at the bottom of the shaft before it could crush her, using her strength boosted by her jetpack, but damage to the device prevented her from chasing Saxon.

With the information he had gotten from Jesse about who Tano was, Maul made new plans, which involved leaving the super commandos and Mandalore. He contacted the leaders of Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, and Crimson Dawn—Ziton Moj, Marg Krim, and Dryden Vos, respectively—and told them to go into hiding, finishing the conversation just as Saxon returned. Maul spoke to the super commandos, saying that their warrior culture didn’t value hiding away and, appealing to their sense of honor, promised them glorious deaths in battle as motivation to attack the occupying forces.

Meanwhile, Kryze’s warriors and the clone troopers were evacuating civilians from war-torn Sundari. Many of the civilians resented the Republic presence, and Kryze, watching from a balcony, told Tano that the people wouldn’t accept the occupation for much longer, and neither would she. Rex pointed out that she had asked for the Republic’s help, and that his men weren’t happy acting as a police force. Tano reassured Kryze that Republic forces would leave after Maul had been captured. The three entered the throne room to find Maul waiting for them, slouching on the throne, having brought along the captive Jesse.

3.6 Confrontation

Upon seeing Maul, Kryze charged at him firing her blasters, but Maul easily deflected the shots with the Force before lifting and choking her, asking her if that was any way to treat her “rightful” ruler. Maul said that, as a gesture of “good faith,” he was releasing Jesse to them, using the Force to remove the ARC trooper’s restraints. Traumatized by what he had been through, Jesse hesitated before stumbling across the room, apologizing to Rex and Tano for giving Maul the information he had wanted. Rex reassured him that it was okay, and Tano asked him to get Jesse out of there. As the two clones left, Saxon’s forces outside began their attack, with explosions being heard from inside the room. Tano insisted that Kryze go fight as her people needed her, leaving the former Padawan alone with Maul.

The conversation turned to the schemes of the mysterious Darth Sidious. Tano told Maul that if he surrendered, he could help the Jedi Council stop Sidious and his plans. Maul countered with an offer to Tano to join him, pointing out that they had both been abandoned by the Force-using orders they had previously served and suggesting that together they would have the power to destroy his former master. Tano considered the offer as the windows on one side of the room were shattered by the fighting outside, and agreed, on the condition that Maul answer one question: what did he want with Skywalker? Maul told her of his visions that Skywalker was being groomed as Sidious’ next apprentice, and that killing him would damage the Sith Lord’s plans.

Tano, angered and disbelieving that Skywalker would ever fall to the dark side, ignited her lightsabers, starting a fierce combat between the two Force-sensitive outcasts. Tano was briefly disarmed of her main lightsaber, leaving her with just her shoto, but she managed to knock Maul back and retrieve her weapon with the Force, remarking that Maul was lucky that Skywalker was absent as the Jedi would have easily defeated him. After another clash of blades, Tano managed to kick Maul through a glass panel behind the throne.

Outside, as the civilians of Sundari who were not in shelters fled, the 332nd and some of Kryze’s warriors engaged the attacking super commandos. Initially pushed back, the tide of the battle shifted with the arrival of Kryze and additional allied Mandalorians, enabling Rex and his troops to gain control. Kast and several of her soldiers were captured. Entire regions of Mandalore became battle zones. Tano, exiting the throne room, witnessed the battle and eventually spotted Maul climbing a building, prompting her to pursue him.

3.7 Capturing Maul

Tano followed Maul to the support beams above Sundari’s bio-dome. Maul, waiting for his ship, was contacted by Saxon, who asked for reinforcements as the super commandos were being driven back. He instead told Saxon to “die well” as a warrior, before Tano revealed her presence by igniting her lightsabers and remarking that Kenobi was right about how hard the Zabrak was to kill. Seeing Tano, Maul ignited his lightsaber as Tano rushed towards him. They then once again engaged in a duel on the support beams of the bio-dome, jumping around them while their blades clashed.

During the fight, Maul commented on how they could have destroyed Sidious if Tano had only followed through on her agreement, but Tano knew that it would only allow Maul to take Sidious’ place. They then resumed the duel, allowing Tano to kick Maul across the support beams, with Maul barely managing to catch himself before falling.

As Maul regained his footing, Tano once again charged at him, giving Maul the chance to kick her back, almost causing Tano to fall. As he did this, Maul’s ship arrived, and, as Maul broke the glass of the dome, Tano once again rejoined the fight, slashing her lightsabers at Maul, causing Maul to lose his balance. As the two reengaged, Maul managed to again disarm Tano of her main lightsaber, leaving her to fight with only her shoto. Maul easily disarmed her of the smaller weapon, forcing Tano on the defensive. Tano began to lose her balance when Maul cut the support beam she was standing on, causing it to sag. Maul then leapt over the gap to stand on the sagging beam above Tano.

Below, while escorting a captured Saxon, Rex noticed Maul’s ship above the bio-dome and called for the gunships to capture Maul once and for all. Maul gave Tano one last opportunity to join him, but she refused once again and had to dodge his incoming attacks.

Gaining the upper hand, Tano managed to grab Maul’s lightsaber and throw him over her back, sending him hurtling towards Sundari’s surface. However, Tano caught him with the Force as Maul cried out for her to let him go and to let him die. As she held him in place, the gunships Rex had called in arrived, allowing two Mandalorians to catch him with their whipcords. As he was arrested, Maul wailed in terror of what was to come, claiming that all would burn and die, with his cries ending once Rex shot him with a stun blast. After this, Tano looked up, thinking about everything that had happened and what could be coming.

4. Consequences

Kryze was afterwards named the Regent of Mandalore. Some clone troopers were left on Mandalore afterwards to help her rule. However, the Republic’s success did not last long. While Rex and Tano were on their way to Coruscant to deliver the captured Maul aboard the Tribunal, Chancellor Palpatine — who was actually Darth Sidious — turned Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force and issued Order 66, forcing the clones to turn on Tano. Rex, who had been suspicious about the so-called “inhibitor” chips the Kaminoans had put in the clones after the deaths of troopers Tup and Fives, managed to resist the compulsion long enough to give Tano the clue she needed to eventually subdue him and remove his chip. In the fighting, Tano released Maul from his Mandalorian-designed containment pod as a distraction against the mind-controlled clones. Eventually, Maul escaped the Venator-class Star Destroyer by destroying its hyperdrive and stealing a Nu-class shuttle.

As Palpatine started a galaxy-wide Great Jedi Purge to wipe out the Jedi Order, Rex and Tano went their separate ways and hid in the Outer Rim. Along with the escaped Maul, Tano and Rex were the sole survivors of the Star Destroyer crash. To cover their tracks, Tano abandoned her lightsabers at the crash site to fake her death. Tano nonetheless felt guilty for allowing Maul to escape, especially since the Jedi Order was no longer around to protect the galaxy from his wrath. Maul, for his part, eventually took control of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate but later became stranded on the Sith wasteland planet of Malachor after his starship crash-landed there. Around sixteen years after the Clone Wars, Tano and Maul fought again during an encounter on Malachor.

The Siege of Mandalore, as it came to be known, further destabilized the balance of power on the Outer Rim world. The Galactic Empire, which replaced the Republic thanks to the schemes of the newly proclaimed Emperor Palpatine, gained control of Mandalore and occupied the planet with the clone troopers who had been stationed there. The Empire also changed the New Mandalorians’ Royal Academy of Government into a local Imperial Academy to train cadets for its new military. Furthermore, the Empire made the Mandalorians’ mercenary practices illegal, though it paid off certain groups like the Mandalorian Protectors of Concord Dawn in exchange for their loyalty. Kryze’s position as regent did not last long, as she refused to do the Empire’s bidding and was quickly forced out of power by Clan Saxon, with Gar Saxon replacing her as the leader of Mandalore with the title of Viceroy and Governor.

Years later, Ahsoka Tano would face her past in the Clone Wars through Force visions in the World Between Worlds with the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker. In one vision, Tano would be fighting in the siege of Mandalore, battling Mandalorian super commandos alongside clone troopers of the 332nd company, and Clone Commander Rex complimenting Tano on her work before charging forward. Tano paused to survey the battle as Skywalker approached, saying that he did not recognize the battle currently unfolding. Tano informed Skywalker that it was the Siege of Mandalore, which occurred after the two had parted ways. Skywalker described the battle as “intense” and proudly affirmed that Tano did well.

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