The leaders of the Mandalorians are typically titled and called "Mandalore". There were many Mandalores in the history, but in this article we will study the Mandalore of the game Knights of the Old Republic 2. When I first played Kotor 2, I thought Mandalore is SOME leader of the Mandalorians. I thought he is a faceless, and nameless character, the actual leader of the Mandalorian clans. But one day one of my friends sent me a picture. It was depicted the Mandalore without his helmet. I wouldn't have even thought - the man under that silver helmet is none else, than Canderous Ordo from Kotor1! He became a bit older, okay, let's say a bit more experienced. And he is a bit more "bearded". :-) But anyway, Canderous IS the Mandalore in KotOR2!

I introduced you Canderous Ordo previously, so this time we will focus on the life and the happenings that had happened to Canderous after he finished his adventures with Revan, and I will try to tell you how he became the leader of the Mandalorians.

After they were defeated by Revan in the Mandalorian Wars, the Mandalorians as a united culture were destroyed, their weapons and armor taken and destroyed, and they were exiled on the Outer Rim. Their dissolution is completed when Revan hid the mask of Mandalore, preventing a new leader from rising. They gradually evolved and changed into a culture of wandering mercenaries without their Mandalore leader. Canderous himself, after the Jedi Civil War, did not think the clans as they were could return any time soon. I told you in the Bastila article that Revan was left for the Unknown Regions to examine a dangerous thing, but left his friends back, because that could have endangered them, too. Revan told his friend Canderous Ordo to unite the Mandalorians before he left for the Unknown Regions and told him where to find the mask. Also, he was left with instructions to unite the clans and prepare for a new war. Besides the whereabouts of the helmet, Revan told him the truth about Mandalore the Ultimate and their Sith allies, that his people had been tricked and that all along the Sith had been behind the choice of challenging the Republic. So Canderous took the helmet for his own and returned to the Mandalorian outpost of Dxun, one of the four moons of Onderon. Only a selected few knew the identity of the new Mandalore, as he never took off his armor and helmet in the presence of others, not even while sleeping, according to rumors. While it was tradition that the leader of the Mandalorians kept his helmet on, Canderous had probably more reasons do to so, like keeping secret his ties to Revan. So Ordo took the mantle of "Mandalore" and gathered a new Mandalorian army on Dxun.

When the Jedi Exile was attacked in the First Battle of Onderon by Colonel Tobin, the former Jedi General was forced to land on Dxun, an old battle ground of him. His Jedi Master Kreia felt that something was on the moon that the Exile needed to see in order to clear away all of his past that was still unresolved. She accompanied the Exile through the jungles until they arrived to a Mandalorian Outpost, an old covert camp whose remains had been detected when they were crash-landed. Mandalorian sentries met the Exile outside the camp and led him to their leader who wanted to meet him. Mandalore agreed to give the Exile a ride to Onderon if he proved to be worthy and if he gain some sort of prestige amongst the mandalorian warriors, and the Mandalore himself, too. What are the ways that you can impress Mandalore?

1. Win all the battles in the battle circle. A little bit of Mandalorian Mortal Combat, ain't it? To participate, talk to the Mandalorian Sergeant. Battles are one-on-one, and most fights have rules associated with them. You have to fight against Davrel first, then Kex, Tagren is the third, Kelborn is the fourth, and Bralor is the fifth. Once all are done, you are declared the Champion. Mandalore will be impressed.

2. Help Kelborn defeat the Onderonians in the Jungle. You must help Kelborn wipe out the intruders, or you can't finish the Battle Circle, since Kelborn only offers you to fight you in the battle circle if this side quest is completed. He has already killed a scout from Onderon, and wants your help in making sure that none of them survive. Help him then, kill the beasts and the scouts, let those good XP and prestige come, easy pie, some stupid onderon soldier.

3. Detonate the permacrete on the sealed weapon's cache. Hey, this sounds like a childs play. Why you have to push that activator? Aren't the big Mandalorians able to push it by themselves? Hm. Maybe there are more above it. Yes, there are. If you push the activator of the Permacrete Detonator, you get rushed by monsters, who became aggressive because of the large detonation. Kill the beasts, then go in the Cache. Inside there are mines and droids everywhere. The mines are easy enough to deal with, but there are lot of droids, too. Once the droids are dealt with, search all the containers here for loot, and you can tell Mandalore that you completed this task, too.

4. Defeat a Zakkeg and take its ear for the Red Gate Guard Captain. Tell him that you'll kill the beast to pick up the quest. Exit the base, ans search the jungle for the Zakkeg. Soon a vision comes showing you'll be attacked by the Zakkeg, and so it happens! Kill it and get the Zakkeg ear. Return to the guard captain to get your reward, and he'll put a good word in with Mandalore for you.

5. Find the lost Mandalorian for the trainer. Talk to Xarga in the lower combat circle. He will tell you to find Kumus, a missing scout, in the jungle. (But he doesn't worry about the scout, he really just wants the stuff Kumus had.) You find a ridge with a Mandalorian on top. That is Kumus. He got stuck there when he ran out of ammo. Save him, or kill him as your Force allignment dictates. This is a good chance for the DS players to influence HK-47, use the activator of the Permacrete detonator and blow Kumus up, which gives you DSP, HK-47 and Hanharr gain influence, and HK even says a funny sentence for you, asking us if he could try it next time, (means blowing up the victim).

6. Repair the transponder for Zuka at the gate who blows out his system. Tell him that you can help him, (you don't have to do this yourself, you can have Bao Dur do it for example). Beyond simply repairing the two systems (the wires, and the dish at the top of the camp above the telemetry room) he also needs three Phase Pulse Converter, which can found in the Remains of Cannoks in the jungle. (they might eat those parts??) After you got back those converters, Zuka promises to tell Mandalore that you helped him.

If you did better than Mandalore thought you would do, and if you made quite a reputation among his warriors; Mandalore will move up his own timetable, having scheduled a trip for supplies the day after, and promises to take you to Onderon.

As soon as he had his shuttle prepped for launch Mandalore was confronted by Kreia, who asked for his loyalty to the Exile. Mandalore was somewhat angered initially by what sounded like lack of respect from an arrogant old woman toward his people, but Kreia expressed her esteem for the loyalty he had shown to Revan and promised to answer why her old apprentice did not take Mandalore with him when he left for the unknown regions, at the condition he would keep the one she traveled with safe. Mandalore was perplexed that the old woman knew about him and Revan, and he had her watched since. Unfortunately, Sith Assassins attacked the camp, prompting Mandalore to launch even sooner, so he left everything back and made for Onderon. Arriving in the city of Iziz, he directed the Exile to an acquaintance of his, doctor Dhagon Ghent. Though Ghent was being held by local authorities as a suspect for the murder of Captain Sullio, an officer of the Onderon military, they were able to prove his innocence and Ghent arranged for a message to be smuggled in the Iziz Royal Palace to the Jedi Master Kavar, whom the Exile needed to see. Mandalore was delighted to know the Jedi who the Mandalorians believed would have led the Republic forces in the Mandalorian Wars, but Tobin interrupted their meeting, forcing the Exile to return to Dxun. Mandalore then decided to join the Exile against the Sith, so that the galaxy would not fall under their influence for good and pose a threat to his efforts to reunite the scattered clans of the Mandalorians.

Traveling with the Exile, Mandalore met other Mandalorian clans on Dantooine and Nar Shaddaa, and had them join his force on Dxun. Almost everybody took the lead of the new mandalore, and decided to join Mandalore, for example those Mandalorians in the Nar Shaadaa Flophouse joined right away after Mandalore has talked to them personally. However Esok, the leader of a group of Mandalorian mercenaries stationed on Dantooine was killed in an attempt to usurp the title of Mandalore from Canderous, but after Mandalore killed him, Esok's men decided to follow the man who proved to be stronger then their earlier leader. The bolstering of the Mandalorian ranks did worry the Exile, who lost his connection to the Force years back trying to prevent them from taking over the galaxy, yet he saw the value in supporting a strong military force which could be used against the Sith, the Republic being in the shape its in. Mandalore took his force in the Onderon Civil War against General Vaklu, a man he respected, so that the planet would not become a staging ground for the Sith. The sight of a Basilisk War Droid raining down onto Onderon once more, shocked royalist and secessionist forces alike; Captain Bostuco, who spoke with Mandalore and the Exile before, was relieved however when he saw it was them flying the vehicle, coming to the aid of Queen Talia. By orders of Mandalore, high-ranking Mandalorian Xarga led a squadron of warriors to take control of the tomb of Freedon Nadd, whence a detachment of Sith had been dispatched to support Vaklu in Iziz; he followed a strike team of three of the Exile's companions led by the Dxun Force Adept. The expedition was suggested by Kreia, who recognized the Sith activity picked up by Mandalorian hardware on Dxun as a determinant for the conflict in Iziz; though Mandalore thought it foolhardy to divide their forces at a time like that, he trusted the Exile's decision. Later on Mandalore distinguished himself in the Battle of Telos IV engaging the Sith fleet alongside now Republic Admiral Carth Onasi; he boarded the Ravager with his troops and met Darth Nihilus in battle together with the Exile and Visas Marr. He also arranged for several proton bombs to be set on the ship, which was destroyed by Kex and the Exile.

Little information has been discovered as to Canderous's fate after his journey with the Exile. According to Darth Traya's prophecies, after the events of the Sith Lords, Canderous goes on to many other battles. In these battles, Revan's reasoning behind his order to Canderous would be explained: in ordering Canderous to reunite the Mandalorians, they would be remembered for thousands of years to come. Also, Canderous lived for reuniting his nation. And seeing the Clone Wars, it looks like he was succeeded, because in the times of the Republic the Mandalorian civilisation will still exists, they have settled down, lived peacefully with other nations, and became a democratic member of the Republic. However with the Death Watch organization the aggressive, and quite nationalist fractions still present amongst them, with the rule of princes Satine they live fairly a pacifist life. One thing is for sure, without Canderous Ordo it has been supposed that the Mandalorians would not have been remembered as strong, honorable warriors, and without that memory, there would have been no reason for Jango Fett, and later Boba Fett, to don the Mandalorian armor proudly.

Additional information on the Mandalore.


Mandalore has a Force alignment, making him the only playable Human character to have a default Dark Side alignment. He is also the only human party member in The Sith Lords that can't be trained in the ways of the Force. In the game his voice is provided by John Cygan, who has often provided the voice for Dash Rendar in other Star Wars games. Game files include a Mandalore model without the helmet that is never used throughout the actual game. However, in one particular cut element, the Exile can ask T3-M4 if he knew Mandalore, in which T3 and the Exile react as if T3 is showing a hologram, possibly of Revan and Mandalore without his helmet, but the droid actually displays nothing. Canderous' helmet as Mandalore is probably used to show how the armor of Mandalorians developed between the Tales of the Jedi style and the movies' style. In the Star Wars Miniatures game, all Mandalorian Commander figure looks like mandalore, just with different weapons, which is a huge mistake, since there was only one Mandalore, who wore this outfit, the others were normal mandalorian warriors. Since Mandalore can not become a Jedi, and has no major upgrades available, there's no particular reason to gain Influence with him. Which is just as well since there aren't many places to Influence him anyway. Although he is not a very interesting character for me, and I didn't take him for too much missions with me, I decided to handmake a custom Mandalore figure, because his armor and his appearance is very cool and really unique.