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Revision as of 22:22, 23 November 2019
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| “ | We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers. | „ |
| ~ Mace Windu |
| “ | He has control of the senate and all the courts. He is too dangerous to be kept alive! | „ |
| ~ Mace Windu's last words, revealing why he believes Darth Sidious should have his life taken. |
Mace Windu was a major character in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He was an extremely powerful Jedi Master and second-in-command to the Jedi council. He appeared in the prequel trilogy of the Star Wars saga and served as a general in the Clone Wars.
He was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson who also portrays Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Carl Lee Hailey in A Time to Kill, Zeus Carver in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Danny Roman in The Negotiator and Frozone in The Incredibles. Mace made his debut as supporting character in The Phantom Menace, and one of the two secondary tritagonists of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
A part of Mace did not believe that Anakin Skywalker was the "Chosen one" and personally felt that Anakin was too old to be trained. During the war, Anakin's growing power and friendship with the Chancellor increased to a point when the Council did not trust either of them. Little did they know that Anakin's friendship with Palpatine would lead to the downfall of the Jedi.
Personality
Mace had a unique personality for a Jedi. He was serious, wise, intelligent and very cautious, to the point of occasional reluctance, a careful chooser of his friends, being slow to trust or being mistrustful. Despite this, he was highly compassionate and extremely brave, as he willingly risked life and limb many times to protect the people of the Republic, as well as his fellow Jedi and even the clone troopers under his command. He also had a certain value for life, as he refused to support the constant attempts to kill the mighty Zillo Beast, which he correctly presumed to be the last of its species. Mace firmly believed in the role of the Jedi as the Republic's servants rather than its masters, and displayed a fierce dedication to the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic alike. A staunch traditionalist, Mace was long regarded as the great champion of the Jedi Order.
However, despite these commendable/admirable traits, Mace was also rather arrogant and self-righteous; he was very confident in his own abilities and saw very little fault in the Jedi, believing they were always in the right and everyone else was in the wrong. As a Jedi, he was prideful and known to be outspoken, occasionally sarcastic, and was largely obstinate to anything that contradicted his views. However, he held his arrogance in check for the most part; he was humble towards individuals he believed were superior to him, such as Yoda, and treated most civilians and fellow Jedi with respect. Despite this, Mace didn't always hold his arrogance in check; he was shown to be somewhat cold, arrogant and dismissive towards individuals he believed were inferior to him, most notably fellow Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, all of whom he distrusted and treated with little respect, despite the fact that they are all exceptionally powerful Force users, skilled lightsaber duelists, strong characters and loyal members of the Jedi Order in their own rights.
During Ahsoka Tano's trial, Mace took his distrusting nature too far, to the point where he openly accused Ahsoka of lying to the Jedi Council and then coldly decided to strip her of her status as a Jedi, an act that most of the other Council members agreed with. After learning of her innocence, Mace joined the Council in offering to reinstate Ahsoka into the Order, but instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he claimed that the whole ordeal had been nothing more than a test given to Ahsoka by the Force. This shows that he was not only incapable of acknowledging or learning from his mistakes, but he was also incapable of apologizing or admitting when he was wrong.
Ultimately, Mace's true motivation for all he did was a divergence from Jedi philosophy, as his personal belief system was an extremist viewpoint of peace at all costs. In his mind, peace was created by only one thing; civilization, and he viewed the Republic as the ultimate and only true civilization in the entire galaxy, thus developing an attachment towards the institution, and leaving him with a willingness to do anything to preserve the Republic, even if it meant violating the Jedi Code. This proved to be his ultimate downfall, when he resolved to execute the seemingly helpless Chancellor Palpatine, an unarmed opponent, spurring Anakin Skywalker into action.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- The Force: Mace was extremely powerful and had an extremely strong connection to the Force. Although he was not quite as powerful as Anakin Skywalker, Mace was still one of the most powerful Force-users of his time.
- Telekinesis: Mace utilized Telekinesis either as offensive or defense.
- Mind control: Mace utilized Mind control, to control the minds of other sentient beings, however, it did not work on individuals who have very strong wills.
- Force Jump: Mace utilized Force Jump, to jump or leap at great distances.
- Force speed: Mace utilized Force speed, to move at amazing speed.
- Force vision: Mace utilized Force vision, to have visions of the past, the present and the future; however, like all force users, his visions were not always clear or sometimes had visions even when he was not utilizing this power at will.
- Force sense: Mace utilized Force sense, to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, or impending danger and the presence of the Dark Side.
- Shatterpoint: Mace utilized Shatterpoint to perceive faults through the Force and control them.
- Force rage: Mace utilized Force rage to channel his anger to increase his speed, strength and ferocity. He rarely used it, however.
Abilities
- Lightsaber Skills: Mace was extremely skilled in lightsaber combat and an extremely gifted duelist. He was arguably the greatest lightsaber duelist of his time, being able to defeat Palpatine in lightsaber combat, a feat which even Yoda could not achieve.
- Form V: Mace was extremely skilled in Form V.
- Form VII: Mace was a master of Form VII. In fact, he was the only Jedi known to have truly mastered the style, as Juyo/Vaapad was generally favored by Dark side users due to it's aggression and unpredictability.
- High-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader: Mace was highly intelligent; his intelligence and wisdom was rivalled only by Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and Palpatine. As a Jedi General and the former leader of the Jedi Order, Mace was a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader.
Weapons and Equipment
Lightsabers
Mace's valued weapon and possession was his purple lightsaber.
- First Lightsaber: Mace built his first purple lightsaber on Hurikane, it would remain in his possession until it was destroyed.
- Second Lightsaber: Mace had built a new purple lightsaber, sometime before the First Battle of Geonosis, and used it throughout his Jedi career and the entirety of the Clone Wars until his duel with Palpatine. It stood against Nightsister magicks and Sith lightning. It would remain in his possession until his death, but it is unknown what happened to it after Mace's death, but it was presumed destroyed; it was last seen falling out of a window.
Film Appearances
The Phantom Menace
Mace was the leader of the Jedi Order, and head of the Jedi Council when Qui-Gon Jinn came back from Tatooine with news of a Sith. He also asked the Council if they would train a boy named Anakin Skywalker, who he sensed was strong with the Force and found he had more midi-chlorians than Yoda. Mace was skeptical of Qui-Gon's claims, but they agreed to test him. The Council was impressed by Anakin's abilities, but refused to allow him to be trained, believing he was too old and dangerous, full of fear and anger.
Mace later attended Qui-Gon's funeral, along with Yoda. Qui-Gon was killed by the Sith Darth Maul on Naboo during the battle after Obi-Wan was separated from the duel due to the laser shields that lead to the chamber where the duel took place. While there Yoda said to him there are always a master and an apprentice with a Sith, Mace agreed but wondered which one Maul was.
Attack of the Clones
Ten years after Qui-Gon's death, a Separatist movement was being led by ex-Jedi Count Dooku, Qui-Gon's former mentor and Yoda's former apprentice. Also Senator Padmé Amidala was the victim of many assassination attempts. They had assigned Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker to protect her. After another attempt, the Council sent Obi-Wan to track the dart that killed Padmé's assassin and sent Anakin to Naboo to protect her. Later on, Obi-Wan reported that on the planet Kamino he found a bounty hunter named Jango Fett who he thought was the killer and the Council told him to arrest him. Later on they received a message from Obi-Wan who was on Geonosis who said that Dooku was working with Fett and Viceroy Nute Gunray is behind of the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala, although he was captured before he could finish. The message also went to Anakin who they denied rights to going to rescue Obi-Wan, although he disobeyed this to stay where he is currently. Windu led a strike team of Jedi to rescue him while Yoda went to get the Clone Army Obi-Wan told him about.
When Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé were about to be executed, Mace came to the top balcony and put his lightsaber around Jango's throat while telling Dooku that "this party's over", but was shot off the balcony by Super Battle Droids and Jango's retaliation. Many Jedi came from the stands and they began to fight. During the battle, Fett came down and Mace decapitated him, leaving his son, Boba, an orphan. All Jedi were surrounded, with several casualties, and were given the option of surrender, but Mace refused. Yoda and the Clone Army came and saved them and Mace went to fight the Battle of Geonosis in the same ship as Yoda, Mater Ki-Adi-Mundi and Jedi Knight Kit Fisto. The Clones became an army for the Republic and the Clone Wars started, in which Mace was made a general.
Revenge of the Sith
Three years after the start of the Clone Wars, Mace Windu was no longer the leader of the Jedi Order, or head of the Jedi Council, he had been replaced by Yoda.
During the Clone Wars, the Council became increasingly suspicious of Chancellor Palpatine and his growing power in the Senate. The fearsome cyborg, General Grievous, had taken him captive and brought him aboard his ship above Coruscant. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former Padawan Anakin Skywalker were sent by Mace to rescue him and they came back with him, claiming Anakin killed Dooku (who now went by Darth Tyranus). Palpatine pointed out that Grievous was the leader of the droid army; Mace promised the Council would make it their highest priority to find Grievous. Mace and the other Council members denied Anakin's request to become a Jedi Master and asked him if he could spy on Palpatine, who had chosen Anakin as his representative on the Council. Yoda left to Kashyyyk to assist the Wookiees that were under attack there, whilst Obi-Wan went to Utapau to kill Grievous now that he has been located there.
Mace was later informed by Anakin that Palpatine was really the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious. Mace left with Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin and Agen Kolar to kill Sidious in his office (originally, he was only going to bring Agen Kolar before learning of this). When they got there, Sidious killed Tiin and Kolar almost instantly. Kit was also slain very quickly and Mace managed to survive. After a short, but vicious duel, Mace shattered the window and disarmed Sidious. He had his opponent on the ground when the Dark Lord of the Sith began to shoot his Force lightning at him, but the Keeper of the Jedi Flame managed to deflect it back with his lightsaber, disfiguring Sidious and unmasking his true hideous appearance. Anakin, who was secretly married to Padmé who was pregnant and believed only Sidious could save her if she died in birth, came in and begged Mace to spare Sidious. Mace refused, telling him that Sidious was the real traitor of the Galactic Republic and keeping him alive would be far too dangerous. As the Keeper of the Jedi Flame was about to kill Sidious, Anakin intervened and cut off Mace's lightsaber arm. As Mace screamed in shock and pain, Sidious cackled, blasted him with Force lightning and Force-pushed Mace out of the broken window, sending him plummeting into the dark streets hundreds of stories below. Whether Mace survives his fall or not is unknown.
After Windu's supposed death, Anakin at first regrets his actions, but then becomes Palpatine's new apprentice and is renamed Darth Vader before Palpatine summons all the Clone Troopers to execute Order 66 to kill all of the Jedi knights (excluding Obi-Wan and Yoda).
Relationships
Yoda
Like virtually all Jedi, Mace deeply respected Yoda and was trained by him. He always obeyed the ancient Jedi Master, though as a senior member of the Jedi Council, he was one of the few who dared to question him, though he rarely did so.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Mace had a healthy respect for Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan held Mace in high esteem for his mastery of Form VII. Despite their mutual respect for each other, however, Obi-Wan often disagreed with Mace's questionable decisions. This was because Obi-Wan was a moderate who followed the Jedi Code while Mace was an extremist who had a secret emotional attachment to the Republic.
Qui-Gon Jinn
Although Mace and Qui-Gon were both Jedi Masters, they were often at odds due to their differing ways; Mace was a traditionalist who was staunchly committed to the Jedi Code and always yielded to the will of the Jedi Council. Qui-Gon, on the other hand, was a maverick who was perfectly willing to violate the Jedi Code or disobey the Council if he felt he needed to. Because of this maverick nature of Qui-Gon’s, Mace had a low opinion of him, though he did tolerate Qui-Gon to an extent. He was shown to think little of Qui-Gon’s opinions and beliefs; for example, he was skeptical of both Qui-Gon’s theory that the Sith had returned and his insistence that young Anakin Skywalker was the prophesied "Chosen One". In both cases, Qui-Gon ultimately proved to be right.
Ahsoka Tano
Like most Jedi, Ahsoka held Mace in high esteem for his legendary wisdom and fighting skills, but he held her in low esteem because of her young age and rebellious nature.
What bond they had between them was destroyed when Ahsoka was accused of treason; like most of the Jedi, Mace refused to believe in her innocence and coldly expelled her from the Jedi Order without a fair trial. After Ahsoka was proved to be innocent, Mace joined the Council in offering to reinstate her into the Order, but instead of apologizing and admitting he had been wrong to accuse her, he somewhat arrogantly claimed that Ahsoka's traumatic experience had been nothing more than a test given to her by the Force. When Ahsoka chose to leave the Jedi for good, Mace, unlike the others who were very sad to see her leave, only seemed disgusted; as she walked away, he frowned and his fists clenched. This indicates that he felt no remorse over his unjust treatment of her.
Anakin Skywalker
Mace first met Anakin Skywalker when Qui-Gon Jinn brought him before the Jedi Council for testing. As Mace was a firm believer in the Jedi Code, he thus believed Anakin, nearly ten years of age, was far too old to begin training as a Jedi. Unlike Yoda, he was skeptical of Anakin's status as the "Chosen One", and viewed the young boy as potentially dangerous due to his internal conflict. However, given Qui-Gon's last wish and Anakin's heroic actions during the Battle of Naboo, Mace reluctantly agreed to allow Anakin to be trained by Obi-Wan, though he remained doubtful of Anakin's suitability for the life of a Jedi.
Throughout Anakin's years as a Jedi, Mace's fear of the boy diminished somewhat and he developed a degree of respect for Anakin's skills. However, he continued to regard Anakin's status as the "Chosen One" with a degree of skepticism, and was disdainful of the boy's maverick ways. Anakin generally treated Mace with respect in spite of all this, but secretly harbored a degree of resentment towards the Jedi Master for his ill-concealed distrust. This resentment was intensified by most of Mace's questionable decisions; such as the decision to expel Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka Tano, when she was suspected of treachery, and the decision not to grant Anakin the rank of Master when he was placed on the Jedi Council, the latter of which Anakin (correctly) perceived as an insult.
Ultimately, Mace's distrust and underestimation of Anakin proved to be his undoing when he was the first to presumably be slain upon Anakin's turn to the Dark side.
Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious
At first, Mace respected and admired Palpatine for his clean slate. When Dooku revealed the existence of Darth Sidious and that the Dark Lord of the Sith had hundreds of Senators under his control, Mace, unlike Yoda, took it seriously and decided to keep a closer eye on the Galactic Senate. Throughout the Clone Wars, Mace often served as an adviser and protector to Palpatine, though as the latter amassed near-dictatorial power over the Republic as the war dragged on, the Jedi master became increasingly suspicious of the Chancellor's intentions.
Near the end of the war, Mace's trust and respect for Palpatine had all but evaporated. Following the death of Count Dooku, Mace grew concerned over whether Palpatine would relinquish his wartime authority as he once promised. He later had Anakin spy on Palpatine, and not long afterwards, the younger Jedi revealed that Palpatine and Darth Sidious were in fact the same person. Shocked and startled by this terrible revelation, Mace immediately confronted the Dark Lord and just barely managed to defeat him with a combination of his mastery of Vaapad and his shatter-point ability. Deciding that Palpatine was too dangerous to be kept alive, Mace prepared to execute the Dark Lord of the Sith, only to have his sword arm severed by an emotionally insecure and desperate Anakin, allowing Palpatine to presumably kill Mace by throwing him out the window.
Trivia
- Mace Windu is the second African-American Star Wars character after Lando Calrissian and before Finn.
- Mace Windu is the only Jedi Master whose lightsaber color is purple. All of the other Jedi Master's lightsabers are usually blue or green.
- In the book adaptation that Patricia C. Wrede, his arm is not cut off. Instead, Anakin knocks Mace Windu's lightsaber aside.
- In Angry Birds: Star Wars, he is portrayed partly by the Black Bird and partly by the Green Bird. He retains his former personality, but his shape is more similar to Bomb. He throws his lightsaber, and like the Kirby series's shooter cutter, it boomerangs back to his hand, like the Green Bird does. He is also merely knocked out rather than killed after he tries to kill Palpatine, and he kills Jango Fett (who isn't decapitated) off-screen, but Jango Fett and his son are still seen together afterward, as the latter cries over his father's death.
- In the Revenge of the Sith video game vs mode death star, Windu fighting Anakin implies his old master was slain by Palpatine and Windu lived in his place.
