Famous Mandalorians from the Old Republic through the Clone Wars era

5. TOR VIZSLA

Group Affiliation: , Clan Vizsla, The Death Watch (founder)
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.9 meters)
Weight: 198 lbs (89 kilograms)
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black
Distinguishing Marks: He had a facial scar caused by a tank explosion he barely survived.
Species: Human, Fair-skinned
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Mandalore

Occupation: Leader of Death Watch, terrorist

Adversaries: Jaster Mereel, True Mandalorians, Jango Fett

Relatives: Tarre Vizsla, Pre Vizsla, Paz Vizsla

First Appearance: Star Wars: Jango Fett — Open Seasons # 1

Character History:

It’s difficult to accept that this was a descendant of the heroic Mandalorian-Jed, Tarre Vizsla, but — unfortunately — it was true. Born on Mandalore. Tor Vizsla was the founder of the terrorist group, the Death Watch. The group was formed in opposition to then Mand’alor, Jaster Mereel, and his Supercommando Codex, which sought to turn Mandalorians away from their marauding ways and remake them into honorable mercenaries.

Vizsla instead, wanted to return the Mandalorians back to their roots as raiders and world conquerors. Furthermore, Vizsla had grand aspirations of reigniting a new Mandalorian War that would bring about the conquest of new worlds, just as his forefathers had done.

However, another movement called the New Mandalorians opposed both Mereel and Vizsla’s direction for their culture, and wanted instead to seek a more neutral, pacifist lifestyle for all Mandalorians. Vizsla was adamantly against this as well and his animosity would carry forth to other members of his clan, such as his kinsman Pre Vizsla.

The resulting tensions between these three ideologically opposed factions boiled over into an outbreak of a Mandalorian Civil War, around 60 years prior to the Battle at Yavin. Vizsla’s Death Watch and Mereel’s True Mandalorians had many battles following this schism. One such skirmish ended with them fighting on Concord Dawn in the fields around the Fett’s homestead. Mereel had been forced to retreat during the firefight and sought refuge with the man who had replaced him as Journeyman Protector. The patriarch offered the True Mandalorians sanctuary but would soon pay for this shortly afterwards, when Vizsla and his Death Watchmen arrived at their doorstep looking for their sworn enemies.

Vizsla had the father savagely beat to within an inch of his life, before resorting to threatening the life of the Fett’s youngest son, Jango, to force them to reveal Mereel’s location. Jango’s mother came to the defense of her husband and son, killing one of Vizsla’s soldiers with a blaster rifle. In doing so, an intense firefight broke out, resulting in the death of both parents.

Jaster Mereel managed to save the young boy from his parents fate but couldn’t prevent their daughter, Aria, from being kidnapped. Vizsla had his men burn the fields afterwards, believing that he had succeeded in destroying his adversaries. Unbeknownst to him though, Mereel, his men, and the young boy had survived. They would later spring an ambush on Vizsla and his crew in the nearby town, resulting in the leader of the Death Watch being horribly disfigured thanks to a bomb planted on his tank by the youngest Fett.

Vizsla went missing for several years, finally emerging to bedevil his old foe once again. This time around, it was he sprung the ambush after Mereel had been hired to do a simple rescue mission on the planet Korda Six for the Korda Defense Force. In the ensuing battle, Mereel was injured while trying to save his second-in-command, Montross, who had defied direct orders and ended up wounded. Montross — bitter for being berated by his leader — in turn left his leader behind on the battlefield.

Vizsla arrived shortly afterwards and cut Mereel down with blaster fire from his armored tank. The mantle of Mand’alor would then pass over to Jango, after he proved that Montross had betrayed their leader. Jango would then pursue Vizsla’s whereabouts but this too ended up as a trap after Montross struck a deal with the corrupt governor of Galidraan that was supposed to be aiding Jango.

A civilian massacre committed by Vizsla and his Death Watchmen was afterwards blamed on Jango and his True Mandalorians. Despite their innocence, a Jedi strike team — led by Master Dooku — was called in to avenge the victims. After the staged battle between the True Mandalorians and the Jedi was over, only Jango and his fellow Mandalorian, Silas, were the last of their group left alive.

Jango was sold into slavery, while Vizsla went about planning his great galactic conquest. Eventually, Jango escaped his forced servitude and reclaimed his armor. He then tracked Vizsla’s ship, the Death Rattle, to over Corellia and proceeded to disable it, forcing his enemy to flee in an escape pod to the planet below.

The two Mandalorians fought on the planet’s surface, one time spilling over a cliff. Vizsla injected Jango with some poison he had hidden in his gauntlet but his younger opponent struck back with a slash across Vizsla’s abdomen. Vizsla scoffed at his adversaries weak attack, until he realized it had attracted the attention of some nearby dire cats that proceeded to attack and devour the Death Watch founder.

Powers/Skills: Tor Vizsla was a ruthless fighter and weapons master that utilized every advantage he could, no matter how underhanded, to gain victory. His tactics fit perfectly with his barbarian mindset and made him well-suited for leading the group of thugs he ruled, the Death Watch. He was also a master at staging ambushes/traps, negotiating with other low-level scum such as corrupt governors, and was brutally effective in his attacks.

Spaceship: The Death Rattle

Weapon(s): Vizsla wore gauntlets that housed a variety of weapons including: a flame-thrower, a whipcord launcher, wrist rockets, and an injectable poison syringe. Vizsla also relied on various blaster rifles, pistols, and heavier artillery such as an armored tank that he used on several occasions.

Hard to Believe: Not only is it hard to accept that Tor Vizsla and his ancestor Tarre Vizsla are related, but would you believe that his name ‘Tor’ translates into “Justice” in Mando’a? So, does that mean “Jaster” translates into “a**hat” then?