# Canderous Ordo

Canderous Ordo, or simply Mandalore the Preserver in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004), is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is voiced by John Cygan in both Knights of the Old Republic games. He first appears in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) as a mandalorian mercenary from the planet Ordo who is recruited by his former enemy Revan to defeat Darth Malak. He appears again in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004), as the leader of the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian-Jedi war, who helps the Jedi Exile defeating Darth Nihilus. Canderous's backstory was explained in various Star Wars media.
However, Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe works as Star Wars Legends in 2014 and declared them non-canon to the franchise, with that reason, Canderous become a non-canon character.

## Fictional character biography
### Backstory

Canderous is born before 3642 BBY in the planet Ordo who fought in the Mandalorian Wars. While serving with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, he participated in several battles, earning significant glory and prestige with his bold tactics and leadership. Despite their many successes, the Mandalorians were decisively defeated by Republic forces under the command of the Jedi Knight Revan, and Ordo was among the survivors who were forced to give up their weapons in unconditional surrender. The Mandalorians scattered across the galaxy and Ordo began working as a mercenary, eventually settling on the planet Taris.

### Knights of the Old Republic (2003)

Now, under the employ of local crime lord Davik Kang, Ordo encountered his former enemy, Revan, although Ordo did not recognize him, as Revan was suffering from amnesia and now served as a Republic soldier. Having grown bored of his life as an enforcer and eager to seek new challenges, Ordo decided to join the Republic soldier and left Taris, traveling with Revan and his companions to Dantooine for a meeting with the local Jedi Council. Revan, who was retrained in the Jedi ways, was given the task of finding the location of the Star Forge, an ancient superweapon being used by Darth Malak's Sith Empire. Ordo accompanied Revan on his mission, confident that he would find new challenges along the way. Contributing his experience as a warrior and commander, Ordo helped Revan throughout his journey, content with having found a task worthy of his efforts. When Revan finally regained his memories and revealed his true identity, Ordo remained loyal and declared that he was proud to serve alongside such a formidable warrior. After Darth Malak was defeated and the Star Forge destroyed, Ordo, along with Revan and his companions, was honored by the Republic for his role in the conflict.

### Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004)

Five years later after the events at the Star Forge, Ordo encountered another former opponent from the Mandalorian Wars, Meetra Surik, also known as the Jedi Exile. After learning that Surik was being hunted by the Sith Triumvirate, Ordo decided to aid her in gathering the Jedi Masters who had survived the Sith assassination campaign in order to prevent the Sith from regaining their power. While traveling with Surik, Ordo continued recruiting Mandalorian clans and was instrumental in helping Surik defeat the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus. After Surik eliminated the Sith Triumvirate, Ordo parted ways with her and awaited Revan's return from the Unknown Regions, keeping the Mandalorians ready for war.

### Other media

Canderous appeared in the 2011 novel The Old Republic: Revan, which it is set between the events of the two games. It is revealed that after the events of Knights of the Old Republic (2003), Ordo reclaimed the mask of Mandalore with Revan's help and became the second leader of the Mandalorians since their defeat in the war. Revan soon regained memories of a threat in the Unknown Regions and left known space, instructing Ordo to restore the strength of the Mandalorians in preparation for his return. Ordo then began the arduous task of reuniting the scattered clans and rebuilding their military power.
Also, Canderous appeared as hologram in the 2011 game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Canderous is mentioned in various Republic Commando novels, including Triple Zero, Order 66 and 501st.
Canderous became available as a unlockable character in the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes on November 16, 2018.

## Development and reception

For Knights of the Old Republic, he was written by Drew Karpyshyn, while for The Sith Lords, the character was written by Michael Chu. Although his birth date is unspecified due to the lack of canon sources on Mandalorian time measurement, Ordo was set to be sixty-three Mandalorian years old as of 3951 BBY. Ordo, along with Zaalbar, Carth Onasi, Bastila Shan, and Mission Vao, was inspired by James Ohlen's work on roleplaying campaigns for West End Games. His name can be loosely translated as a Mando'a combination of "kando," meaning "important, weighty," and "ruus," or "rock." Game files in The Sith Lords include a Mandalore model without the helmet that is never used throughout the actual game. However, in one particular cut element, Surik can ask T3-M4 if he knew Mandalore, in which T3 and Surik react as if T3 is showing a hologram, but the droid actually displays nothing.
The real-time strategy game Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption contains a reference to Ordo in the form of the Zann Consortium's Canderous-class assault tank.
GameRant listed Canderous as the 8th greatest Knights of the Old Republic companion, called the character's story arc "no filter and no qualms." Rhys McGinley of ScreenRant called Canderous "one of the best characters in the game." WatchMojo listed Canderous as the 5th greatest Mandalorian. Journalist Aaron Boulding, the former editor of IGN called the character is one of the reasons why the game is "This is Star Wars."