True Mandalorians The True Mandalorians were a Mandalorian group of supercommandos who remained loyal to Jaster Mereel , their leader and the reigning " Mand ' alor " , when Mereel ' s reformist ideals for the Mandalorians were met with opposition from Tor Vizsla ' s radical splinter group known as the Death Watch . Assembled from the standing full - time army of the planet Mandalore , and a number of prominent Mandalorian clans , the True Mandalorians were a highly organized and skilled group of soldiers whose moral code put them in heated opposition to the Death Watch . They were followers of the Supercommando Codex , and the True Mandalorians believed in Jaster Mereel ' s ideals for a Mandalorian culture in which honor and decency was valued over the barbarism and brigandage favored by Death Watch . Across the galaxy , the True Mandalorians battled the Death Watch in a series of conflicts that collectively came to be known as the Mandalorian Civil War . On Korda Six , Jaster Mereel was betrayed by his trusted ally Montross and was slain by Vizsla , but he was succeeded as " Mand ' alor " by his surrogate son Jango Fett , who exiled Montross and continued to lead the True Mandalorians against Death Watch . The Battle of Galidraan , however , would prove to be the True Mandaloians ' undoing . Nearly eradicated by a Jedi strike force fooled by a Death Watch lie , Fett was the sole True Mandalorian to survive the events of Galidraan . The man who went on to wage a lone war on the Death Watch that saw the sect broken and Vizsla killed , before distancing himself from the Mandalorian people to become a famous bounty hunter . Though the True Mandalorians were destroyed at Galidraan , their code of honor and ethics survived , and served to inspire the core ideology of the later Mandalorian Protectors . Organization and philosophy . The True Mandalorians were a group of Mandalorian supercommandos who rallied to the cause of " Mand ' alor " Jaster Mereel following Tor Vizsla ' s attempts to divide the Mandalorians usurp Mereel ' s leadership over the warrior culture with his spinter - faction of violent radicals known as the Death Watch . The True Mandalorians supported Mereel ' s attempts to lead a reform of the Mandalorians ' more savage members , and followed the teachings of the Supercommando Codex that Mereel author ed . The Codex outlined honorable behavior through a modernization of the ancient Canons of Honor and elaboration on the six " Resol ' nare " , the basic tenets of the Mandalorian culture which the True Mandalorians heeded . Highly skilled and well organized soldiers , the True Mandalorians had been primarily assembled from the planet Mandalore ' s full - time army , in addition to drawing numerous members from several of the Mandalorian homeworld ' s most prominent clans . Despite being well organized , True Mandalorian rank and unit structure remained nebulous beyond their loyalty to the " Mand ' alor " authority , as most Mandalorians of their era held little regard for official rank and preferred an informal command structure . Instead , the True Mandalorians divided their forces based upon the tactical necessity of a coming mission , choosing trusted and respected soldiers to serve as squad commanders for the duration of combat . The True Mandalorian army existed primarily as a fighting force to combat and destroy the threat of the Death Watch , for whom the organization ' s members harbored a strong hatred . When not embroiled in conflict with their rogue Mandalorian foes , the True Mandalorians would sometimes offer their martial services to prospective parties as a mercenary company . Jaster Mereel saw an honest nobility in mercenary work , which had become a staple in the Mandalorian culture over the centuries . Among themselves , the True Mandalorians fostered a strong sense of camaraderie , respect , and care for each other ' s well being , exemplifying the Mandalorian tradition of looking out for one ' s comrades on and off the battlefield . Tactics and equipment . Like most members of the Mandalorian warrior clans , the True Mandalorians wore personally owned sets of Mandalorian armor with plates that were colored in a variety of shades and combinations . Common designs favored overall palettes of greens or grays — colors which traditionally represented the concepts of duty and mourning , respectively , in the Mandalorian culture — while others adorned their armor with paint schemes favoring red , yellow , silver , and blue . Some True Mandalorians also elected to don the faction ' s unique identifying sigil on their armor , and decorated their torso plates with personal symbols . Multi - pouch utility belts and capes of various sizes were common armor accessories among the True Mandalorian ranks . Numerous True Mandalorians customized their armor with modular weaponry , including gauntlet - mounted flamethrowers , vibroblades , and rocket launchers , while a number of others elected to wear jetpacks for the added benefit of flight . The True Mandalorians were armed with an array of blasters , ranging from rifles to carbines . Others preferred to carry blaster pistols , and some were known to wield dual pistols into combat . Some True Mandalorians equipped their blaster rifles with combat knives to create improvised bayonets . The True Mandalorians ferried their forces into battle aboard " Meteor " - class dropships , often launched down into a planet ' s atmosphere from larger carrier vessels in orbit . Operational in air as well as the vacuum of space , the dropships possessed heavily armored hulls and twin blaster cannons that protected the onboard contingent of soldiers until they could be deployed on the ground . Members of the True Mandalorians convened for mission briefings prior to battle , in which intelligence was shared , strategy was discussed , and assignments were given out . True Mandalorians preferred performing first - hand reconnaissance rather than rely on intelligence provided by others , and kept in constant contact with one another in the field via their helmets ' built - in comlinks . When assaulting a ground - based target , the True Mandalorians would rapidly insert their troops from the air , coming down in " Meteor " - class dropships , around which a secure landing zone was quickly established . True Mandalorians recognized the advantage of air support in combat , and often designated a portion of their forces to provide cover for their ground units from the air using jetpacks . The True Mandalorians were known to plan and execute tactical ambushes , utilizing the advantages of surprise and their surroundings to their benefit , such as the tight confines of a narrow street or the high ground an overhanging balcony afforded them , in order to box in and eliminate foes . They were not opposed to the use of various deceptive techniques in order to better strike at their enemies , including disguises to blend in among a larger crowd , and feigning frailty to lower an opponent ' s guard . Armored enemy transports were felled using mines , attached covertly to the vehicle ' s outer hull and detonated remotely . When engaging Force - sensitive opponents , the True Mandalorians understood the limited effectiveness of blaster weaponry when faced with the ability of a lightsaber to deflect energy bolts . They instead preferred the use of projectile and explosive weapons , in addition to close - quarters unarmed combat . History . Formation . In the year 200 BBY , multiple Mandalorian clans clashed with the Ithullan race in a war over a narcolethe distillery . Upon their victory , these clans proceeded to engage in the genocide of their defeated foes , wiping out nearly the entirety of the Ithullan people . In the wake of what was considered by a variety of historians to be the greatest crime of its era , many Mandalorian soldiers were dissatisfied with the wide - spread savagery and brigandage that had become prevalent among a number of their contemporaries . Close to a century and a half later , in 60 BBY , the title of " Mand ' alor " — the traditional leader of the Mandalorian clans — was claimed by a charismatic soldier by the name of Jaster Mereel ; a respected and highly principled man , formerly a Journeyman Protector of Concord Dawn , Mereel sympathized with the clans ' dissatisfaction and set out to institute a reform . He revived and modernized the ancient Canons of Honor that the Mandalorians of the past had once followed , creating a series of several hundred commandments governing moral Mandalorian behavior , which he entitled the Supercommando Codex . The Codex , like the Canons before it , drew heavily from the " Resol ' nare " , the six central tenets of the Mandalorian culture . From the Codex , Mereel preached that any Mandalorians who wished to fight would no longer be allowed to act as raiders and brigands , but merely highly - paid soldiers , and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries . However , not all agreed with the Codex or Mereel ' s reforms . The New Mandalorians — a pacifistic political faction in existence since the aftermath of the Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY — believed in peace and non - violence above all , and despite Mereel ' s reforms , any act of Mandalorian violence was fundamentally against what the New Mandalorians stood for . More dangerously , though , were the Mandalorian rogues Mereel had sought to reign in : immoral mercenaries who enjoyed their lives of lawlessness and unaccountability , and would - be revanchists , conspiring against the peaceful New Mandalorians who they saw as an affront to the Mandalorians ' warrior traditions . Under the leadership of the barbaric Tor Vizsla , these outlaws banded together in order to oppose Mereel ' s reforms , calling their new splinter faction the Death Watch ; Death Watch dreamed of a return to the ways of the ancient Mandalorians and the downfall of the hated New Mandalorians , and plotted to eventually wage a second war of conquest across the galaxy . From numerous clans and Mandalore ' s full - time army , those who were most loyal to Mereel and his ideals rallied to their leader , recasting themselves as " True Mandalorians " in opposition to the Death Watch outcasts . With pressure to destroy the Death Watch from Mandalorian hardliners , tensions escalated until open conflict broke out between Death Watch and the True Mandalorians , and civil war ensued . Civil War . Soldiers of Jaster Mereel . As the Mandalorian Civil War between the True Mandalorians and the Death Watch began in earnest , the New Mandalorians elected to remain neutral in the conflict , with their government refusing to aid either group . In 58 BBY , the war had spilled onto Concord Dawn , an agricultural world located in the Outer Rim ' s Mandalore sector , and the homeworld of Jaster Mereel . There , the True Mandalorians engaged the Death Watch in a lengthy firefight , but were ultimately forced to withdraw , scattering their forces while retreating into the fields of crops belonging to the local farmers . Mereel and his troops found refuge on the homestead of the Fett family , but Death Watch soon followed , intent on destroying the True Mandalorians . They savagely interrogated the father of the family and threatened the life of his young son , Jango Fett , if he refused to provide Death Watch with the True Mandalorians ' location . Chaos broke out when the boy ' s mother attempted to defend her son and husband with a blaster rifle , leading to the death of the young Fett ' s parents and the kidnapping of his sister , Arla , when Death Watch struck back . Amidst the violence , Mereel broke from the True Mandalorians ' cover in the fields in order to rescue Jango Fett , grabbing the boy as the True Mandalorians provided covering fire long enough to flee deeper into the fields . Unwilling to let the True Mandalorians get away a second time , Death Watch set the fields ablaze , hoping to turn their enemy ' s cover against them . As the fire closed around them , Jango Fett showed the True Mandalorians to a large irrigation pipe that they were able to enter and use to escape the burning field unharmed . With his parents dead , Jaster Mereel brought Fett along with his soldiers to the nearby town , where the True Mandalorians began to lay an ambush for Death Watch . In the belief that they had been victorious in finishing off the True Mandalorians , the Death Watch rode into the town with intentions to pillage as they pleased before moving on , but when a Death Watch soldier accosted an older man with a walking stick on the street , the individual revealed himself to be a True Mandalorian in disguise , throwing aside his cloak and stick as he opened fire . From the overhead balcony of a nearby building , the True Mandalorian soldier Montross fired down on the Death Watch , his shots providing cover as the young Fett planted an explosive mine on the underside of Death Watch ' s armored transport ; as soon as Fett was clear , the mine was detonated and the tank was destroyed . What Death Watch warriors remained alive were picked off as Mereel and his troops moved in from the surrounding alleyways , while Fett himself killed the man responsible for his family ' s death . Though Tor Vizsla ultimately escaped with his life , the battle on Concord Dawn proved a victory for the True Mandalorians . The Death Watch had been all but eliminated , and Jango Fett was taken in by Jaster Mereel , becoming a Mandalorian . Years passed without another appearance from Vizsla , and the True Mandalorians believed the Death Watch to be no more in the wake of the battle on Concord Dawn . Finding themselves now without a foe to fight , the True Mandalorians were reinvented by Jaster Mereel as a mercenary army . In 52 BBY , six years after Death Watch ' s defeat , the True Mandalorians were contracted by the Korda Defense Force to extract a team of rookie security personnel pinned down under fire on the planet Korda Six by a group of local hostiles . Intelligence collected by the Kordan s indicated these native fighters were poorly armed and without a formal army , and upon accepting the job , the True Mandalorians traveled to the Korda system in the Inner Rim . En route to their destination , the members of the True Mandalorians were briefed for the coming mission , first by Jaster Mereel , who outlined the objective and the mission parameters , and then by Montross , who issued assignments to the troops . For the Kordan job , the forces of the True Mandalorians were divided into three units : Vertigo Company , a jetpack - equipped aerial unit under Montross ' command ; Headhunter Company , the armed extraction team under Jaster Mereel ' s command , tasked with recovering the security personnel ; and Jango ' s grunts , a rear - guard unit assigned to defend the landing zone and provide cover fire , under the command of Jango Fett . Arriving in orbit over Korda Six following the briefing , the True Mandalorians boarded " Meteor " - class dropships and disembarked from the carrier toward the surface below . As the True Mandalorians entered the atmosphere , their fleet of dropships were overwhelmed by a barrage of ion cannon fire . Several were struck and rendered without power , forcing the dropships to make to a series of rough crash landings with various degrees of success . The ships that were able to land and deploy troops did so under heavy fire from a large and heavily armed hostile Kordan force , the likes of which the True Mandalorians ' intelligence hadn ' t anticipated . The Mandalorian troops were forced to move into trenches for cover in order to survive the powerful onslaught , while those that were unable to reach the safety of cover in time were cut down by enemy fire . With reports of mounting casualties and the realization that their intelligence had been woefully inaccurate , Jaster Mereel ordered all units to rendezvous at Jango Fett ' s position at the landing site , and commanded Vertigo Company to abort their planned attack run on the Kordan hostiles . Montross , however , insisted that the True Mandalorians push forward , refusing Mereel ' s orders to retreat as he led Vertigo Company to press their attack . Montross and his soldiers assaulted an enemy emplacement at the top of a large ridge , but fell prey to heavy blaster fire and a sudden grenade strike . While his troops made for the True Mandalorians ' landing zone , Mereel personally attacked the Kordans alone , rescuing Montross . At the same time , Fett had chosen to use Montross ' ill - guided assault as a diversion in order to make for the security team with his own troops in an attempt to complete the mission . When Fett ' s True Mandalorians arrived at the forested extraction point , however , they discovered not a team of security personnel in need of rescue , but a Death Watch ambush . A firefight erupted , and Fett attempted to stem the Death Watch ' s initial advantage of surprise with a stream of fire from his gauntlet flamethrower , but the skirmish quickly devolved into close quarters combat , necessitated by the tight confines of the area ' s trees . Their presence on Korda Six revealed , Death Watch moved to confront Jaster Mereel personally on the battlefield . From the troop bay of an armored tank , Tor Vizsla lashed out at Mereel with a wrist - launched rocket that the " Mand ' alor " barely evaded , while Montross leaped clear with his jetpack . As the tank ' s blaster cannons opened fire , Mereel called to Montross for an airlift , but Montross rejected his plea ; dissatisfied with taking orders from Mereel , Montross left the Mandalorian leader to Death Watch as he flew back to regroup with the other True Mandalorians . Though Mereel attempted to return fire before retreating on foot , and Jango Fett rushed to aid him , Mereel was overpowered and mortally wounded by the tank ' s sustained assault . Fett arrived in time to see Montross depart , but he was only able to comfort Mereel as he died , and subsequently carried the " Mand ' alor " body back to the True Mandalorian extraction point . There , Montross had claimed that both Mereel and Fett had died in combat as part of a bid to claim the title of " Mand ' alor " for himself . When Fett arrived carrying Mereel ' s body , he informed the others of Montross ' betrayal : Montross was exiled , and Fett succeeded Mereel as " Mand ' alor " with the backing of the True Mandalorians . Jango Fett ' s army . Though the Death Watch had caught the True Mandalorians by surprise with their return , under Jango Fett ' s leadership , the True Mandalorians not only made it off of Korda Six with the majority of their forces alive , but went on to hunt the Death Watch across the galaxy . Eight years after the events on Korda Six , in 44 BBY , the True Mandalorians followed the trail of Death Watch to the planet Galidraan in the Thanium sector . Upon discovering rumors that the Governor of Galidraan was harboring Tor Vizsla and financing his efforts to rebuild the Death Watch , the " Mand ' alor " Fett arranged to aid the governor in his struggle against a group of local rebels in exchange for information on the whereabouts of Vizsla and the Death Watch . The True Mandalorians assaulted the Galidraan rebels at their base , striking from the air with jetpacks before landing and engaging the rebels on the snow - covered ground . A short and overwhelming attack , the Galidraan rebels were unable to match the True Mandalorians ' blasters , wrist - rockets , and flamerthrowers , and subsequently perished . With their task complete , Fett ordered his troops back to the camp they had established on Galidraan , while Fett himself journeyed to the governor ' s palace in order to collect their payment . There , Fett met with the governor and informed him of the rebels ' defeat , but when he asked for the agreed upon information on Vizsla ' s whereabouts in return , the governor denied that Vizsla was on Galidraan . At that moment , Vizsla and a cadre of Death Watch soldiers broke from their hiding place within the palace and attacked Fett , forcing the Mandalorian leader to flee the governor ' s palace via a large window usig his jetpack . Vizsla fired his blaster after Fett , striking and damaging his jetpack , and forcing him to crash land in the snow far from the True Mandalorian camp . Though the True Mandalorians had succeeded in locating the Death Watch , their hunt only played into yet another trap Death Watch had set for their foes . While the True Mandalorians fought the rebels , the governor of Galidraan had contacted the Jedi Council on Coruscant , the capital world of the Galactic Republic , asking for the Jedi Order ' s aid in dealing with an army of Mandalorians he claimed had been slaughtering political activists . No sooner had Fett uncovered Vizsla ' s presence on Galidraan , when " Consular " - class cruisers bearing a Jedi strike force descended upon Galidraan . Vizsla instructed the governor to direct the Jedi to the True Mandalorians ' camp and inform them that Fett ' s troops were responsible for the murder of innocent women and children — Death Watch itself would provide the necessary bodies for evidence of the True Mandalorians ' supposed crimes . Though Fett was able to spot the Jedi ships , his helmet ' s comlink had been damaged in the fall , forcing Fett to run to the camp through the snow on foot in order to warn his comrades . Jango Fett arrived at the True Mandalorian camp only moments before the Jedi . The task force , led by Jedi Master Dooku , took the lying governor at his word and demanded the Mandalorians ' immediate surrender in order to bring them into custody on the charge of murder , with Dooku ' s Padawan Komari Vosa adding that should they resist , the Mandalorians would be killed . Innocent and indignant , Fett ordered the True Mandalorians to open fire on the Jedi , specifically targeting Vosa . Though their blasters were effective at holding the Jedi at bay , the energy bolts that were reflected by the Jedi ' s lightsabers proved dangerous and costly to the True Mandalorian ranks , and Fett instead had his soldiers switch to harder to deflect projectile weapons . As True Mandalorians launched volleys of wrist - fired rockets at their Jedi foes , Fett ordered several jetpack - equipped soldiers to provide air support and cover for the troops on the ground . A number of Jedi fell to the attacks , and numerous Mandalorians perished either to the Force or the slash of a Jedi ' s lightsaber . An airborne True Mandalorians by the name of Myles was cut down in midair by a Jedi ' s blade while Fett could only watch . During the melee , Fett personally killed six Jedi with no weapon beyond his own hands , feet , and armored body ; the Jedi responsible for Myles ' death was disarmed and violently subdued by Fett , before the Mandalorian leader finally ended his life with a fibercord garrote . Despite his efforts , Fett couldn ' t change the outcome of the battle : though the Jedi ' s forces had been halved — eleven of their original twenty slain by the True Mandalorians — every True Mandalorian on Galidraan , save for Fett himself , was killed by the Jedi . With his comrades dead , a defeated and emotionally exhausted Fett fell to his knees in the Galidraan snow and allowed the Jedi to take him into custody . He was stripped of his Mandalorian armor and turned over to the authority of Galidraan ' s governor , who subsequently sold Fett into slavery while keeping his armor as a treasured prize . The Mandalorian Civil War had come to an end , and through their deceitful machinations , Death Watch triumphed over the True Mandalorians . Without the active opposition of the True Mandalorians to challenge them , the Death Watch was free to move against the New Mandalorians . While Fett was enslaved , Death Watch incited a bloody conflict on Mandalore that grew to be known as the Great Clan Wars . This second civil war divided numerous clans and pitted family members against one another , as some supported Death Watch ' s aims , while others believed in the ideals of the True Mandalorians . Many Mandalorians died over the course of the conflict , but Death Watch ultimately failed to unseat the New Mandalorian regime . Several of the chieftain warlords who had been swayed to war by Death Watch went into exile on Mandalore ' s moon , Concordia , along with several defeated Death Watch warriors . Tor Vizsla and those Death Watch troops who still followed him retreated to regroup and rebuild . The last hunt of the True Mandalorians . For two years , Jango Fett lived as a slave aboard a spice transport , until the day that transport came under attack by a group of pirates . During the chaos of the attack , Fett freed himself and killed his captors , before fighting his way off of the transport . Traveling back to Galidraan , Fett infiltrated the governor ' s palace and recovered the armor that had been taken from him , before demanding the location of the Death Watch from the governor on the threat of death . From there , Fett tracked Tor Vizsla ' s ship , the " Death Rattle " , to the planet Corellia . Assaulting the vessel with a starfighter of his own , Fett destroyed the " Death Rattle " engines in an unmanned ramming maneuver , while he personally blew his way into the ship through the " Rattle " forward viewport using a pair of wrist - launched rockets and only his armor for protection against the blast and the vacuum of space . Once aboard the crippled " Death Rattle " , Fett pursued a fleeing Vizsla to the vessel ' s escape pods , where the two engaged in a brief bout of unarmed combat that saw Vizsla temporarily victorious . Yet as the Death Watch leader moved to board an escape pod , Fett leaped after him , and their battle was taken from orbit down to the surface of Corellia . Emerging from the pod , Fett and Vizsla fought each other fiercely — their efforts attracted the attention of a pack of nearby dire - cat s — before Vizsla finally stabbed Fett in the torso with a poisoned blade from his gauntlet . Though the toxin was nonlethal , it sickened Fett and rendered him unable to defend himself against Vizsla , who used the opportunity to beat and berate his foe , all the while oblivious to the dire - cats that had moved in closer and caught Fett ' s notice . Before Vizsla could deal the killing blow , Fett slashed the Death Watch leader across his stomach , cutting between the gap in his armor ' s plates and drawing a substantial amount of blood . The scent of the blood caused the dire - cats to finally attack , mauling and killing Vizsla , while leaving Fett unharmed due to the smell of the poison in his bloodstream . With the death of Tor Vizsla , Fett had succeeded in avenging his fallen True Mandalorian comrades , and finally completed the work of his surrogate father , Jaster Mereel . Legacy . The loss of his comrades and his time as a slave made Jango Fett a bitter man , and he grew distant from the rest of the Mandalorian people and his role as " Mand ' alor " . With the True Mandalorians gone , Fett turned to the solitary life of a bounty hunter . The destruction of the True Mandalorians at Galidraan haunted Jedi Master Dooku for years after . While at the time he had been appalled by the carnage that had occurred , years later he would privately consider it a turning point in his life , the event that caused him to begin questioning the decisions of the Jedi Council , for Dooku and his Jedi strike force had killed the True Mandalorians on the basis of a lie told to the Council by the corrupt Galidraanian governor . The events of Galidraan contributed in part to Dooku ' s decision to leave the Jedi Order , and he eventually fell under the sway of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious , becoming his Sith apprentice , Darth Tyranus . Having seen the ferocity of Mandalorian soldiers firsthand , Tyranus captured the only living True Mandalorian beside Jango Fett , a soldier by the name of Silas , who had been absent from the battle on Galidraan and thus survived the massacre there . With the information on Fett he obtained from Silas before killing the man , Tyranus recruited Fett to serve as the progenitor of a clone army meant to one day destroy the Jedi . Fett claimed the first clone for himself , a child whom he named Boba and raised as a son , passing on the True Mandalorian teachings of Jaster Mereel until his death at the Battle of Geonosis . The scattered Death Watch carried on with their plans to bring about the downfall of the pacifist New Mandalorians in secret , free of the True Mandalorians ' interference . Over time , Death Watch rebuilt their forces in hiding , finally emerging at the start of the Clone Wars to again strike at the New Mandalorians , and in 20 BBY , the rogue Mandalorian sect was finally successful in bringing down the New Mandalorian faction . When Spar — an ARC trooper deserter from the clone army Jango Fett had spawned for the Republic — succeeded his progenitor as " Mand ' alor " , and proceeded to raise an army of Mandalorian supercommandos , his new Mandalorian Protectors were formed in the image of the True Mandalorians . Like the True Mandalorians who came before , the Protectors placed an importance on high moral standards , and followed the teachings of Jaster Mereel ' s Supercommando Codex . It was also the destruction of the True Mandalorians at the hands of the Jedi on Galidraan , in addition to the oppressive nature of the Republic , that prompted Spar to align the Mandalorians with the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars . Despite the relatively short time span of their existence , the True Mandalorians made a significant impact upon the historical records of the galaxy . The New Republic Historical Council detailed the rise and fall of the True Mandalorians over the course of the Mandalorian Civil War in their historical chronicle entitled " The New Essential Chronology " . The Jedi historian Tionne Solusar briefly mentioned the True Mandalorians in her compendium known as " " , and the historical scholar Vilnau Teupt discussed the True Mandalorians during his keynote address at the our - hundred - twelfth Proceedings of Galactic Anthropology and History at the Brentaal Academy , entitled " . " Notable True Mandalorians . Jaster Mereel . A native of Concord Dawn and a member of the world ' s law - keeping Journeyman Protectors , Jaster Mereel was an extraordinary soldier and a respected man of strong morals , morals that drove Mereel to kill a corrupt superior officer in an act that saw him banished from his home . Mereel later joined the Mandalorians , and sensing a general dissatisfaction with the decline in ethics among the more dishonorable members of the warrior culture , he fought to become the new " Mand ' alor " and bring a new ideal to the clans , beating out the barbaric Tor Vizsla in the process . With the Supercommando Codex , Mereel declared that any Mandalorian who wished to fight would do so as honorable , highly - paid soldiers . Opposed by the pacifistic New Mandalorian government , and Vizsla ' s own radical followers calling themselves the Death Watch , civil war broke out between the violent Death Watch and Mereel ' s own loyal soldiers , who proclaimed themselves the " True Mandalorians . " Mereel led his True Mandalorian soldiers against the Death Watch into battle on his home planet , where his troops were saved by the young Jango Fett , and managed to severely wound Vizsla in a skirmish that saw the Death Watch defeated . His family murdered by Death Watch , Mereel became a surrogate father to Fett , and inducted the boy into the Mandalorian culture . In the belief that the Death Watch was no more following their defeat on Concord Dawn , Mereel took to leading the True Mandalorians as a mercenary army . In 58 BBY , Mereel and the True Mandalorians were contracted to extract an inexperienced security team from hostile fire on Korda Six . With Kordan intelligence suggesting minimal resistance , Mereel viewed the mission as " easy credits " and brought his army in , only to find that an ambush had been laid by the Death Watch . When Mereel ' s second - in - command , Montross , refused to obey the " Mand ' alor " order to retreat and found himself surrounded by enemy forces , Mereel was forced to rescue his disobedient subordinate , only to come under fire by Tor Vizsla himself . Montross abandoned the Mandalorian leader , using his jetpack to escape Vizsla ' s assault while Mereel was left to perish . Jango Fett attempted to rescue his adoptive father , but could not reach the " Mand ' alor " in time ; mortally wounded , Mereel died in the arms of his surrogate son , and Fett returned the fallen " Mand ' alor " body to the True Mandalorians ' extraction point . There Montross argued his claim the " Mand ' alor " title , but when the truth of his betrayal was exposed , the True Mandalorians rallied to Fett as their new leader . Montross slipped into exile , as Fett succeeded Mereel as both " Mand ' alor " and the leader of the True Mandalorians in accordance with what his troops believed Mereel would have wanted . Jango Fett . The son of a Journeyman Protector , Jango Fett grew up on his family ' s farm on Concord Dawn . His quiet farming lifestyle was uprooted when he was still only a child , however , when the civil war between the True Mandalorians and Death Watch spilled onto his home planet . Fett ' s family was destroyed by Tor Vizsla and his Death Watch soldiers , and he only escaped their fate due to the intervention of Jaster Mereel , " Mand ' alor " and leader of the True Mandalorians . Fett was taken in by Mereel , who raised the boy as his surrogate son and training him to be a Mandalorian . When the True Mandalorians were contracted to rescue a security team under fire on Korda Six , Fett was given his first command role ; at the age of fourteen — now an adult in Mandalorian society — Fett led an infantry unit of True Mandalorian troops on Korda Six , where they discovered the entire mission had been launched on a ruse perpetrated by the Death Watch . Overwhelmed by the native Kordans , and succumbing to a Death Watch ambush , the True Mandalorian forces suffered heavy casualties , including the death of Jaster Mereel . With the backing of the other True Mandalorians , Fett succeeded his surrogate father as leader of the True Mandalorians and " Mand ' alor " . Under Fett ' s leadership , the True Mandalorians struck back at the Death Watch , hunting Tor Vizsla to the Outer Rim world of Galidraan . Fett and his soldiers put down a local rebellion against the governor of Galidraan in exchange for information on Vizsla ' s whereabouts , but when Fett went to collect on the governor ' s part of the agreement , he was ambushed in the governor ' s palace by Vizsla and a cadre of Death Watch troops . At the same time , a Jedi strike force touched down on Galidraan , seeking to arrest the True Mandalorians due to lies they had been fed by the governor as Vizsla ' s proxy . The True Mandalorians resisted and a battle between their forces and those of the Jedi broke out ; half of the Jedi strike team was slain , six of whom were felled by Fett ' s own hand , but by the battle ' s end , the True Mandalorians on Galidraan had been destroyed , with Fett as the only survivor . Subdued by the Jedi and delivered into the custody of Galidraan ' s governor , Fett was subsequently sold into slavery , until escaping two years later to finish the True Mandalorians ' work and eliminate the Death Watch . Tracking Death Watch to Corellia , he crippled their ship and clashed with Vizsla in a prolonged fight that moved from orbit to the surface of Corellia . There , he critically wounded the Death Watch leader , and Vizsla was devoured by a pack of nearby dire - cats that were drawn by the smell of blood . With the True Mandalorians gone , Fett grew distant from the rest of the Mandalorian people and his role as " Mand ' alor " , assuming a solitary life as a lone bounty hunter until his death . Montross . A Mandalorian soldier with a fearsome reputation , when the Death Watch formed in opposition to Jaster Mereel , Montross was one of many who rallied to the " Mand ' alor " , proclaiming themselves to be the True Mandalorians . Montross was one of several Mandalorian hardliners who demanded Mereel take definitive action against the Death Watch , and as civil war broke out , Montross followed Mereel into battle against Death Watch . On Concord Dawn , Montross took part in an ambush that devastated Death Watch forces and nearly saw the death of the rogue sect ' s leader , Tor Vizsla ; even as the victorious True Mandalorians made to depart the Outer Rim world , Montross lagged behind , shooting down fleeing Death Watch stragglers until Mereel ordered him to stand down . Montross and Mereel were often at odds over issues of tactics and Montross ' own tendency to inflict levels of collateral damage that Mereel found unacceptable . Years later , during the True Mandalorians mission to extract a security team under fire from local hostiles on Korda Six , Montross was placed in command of Vertigo Company , a unit of jetpack - equipped troops tasked with providing air support for True Mandalorian forces on the ground . Though the True Mandalorians incurred severe casualties due to the overwhelming hostile Kordans , Montross and Vertigo Company pressed their attack , disobeying Jaster Mereel ' s orders to fall back . Mereel personally rescued Montross from the Kordans , but when the Death Watch revealed their presence on the planet and attacked the True Mandalorians , Montross left Mereel to die to enemy fire , having grown tired of taking orders from him . Falling back to the True Mandalorians ' landing zone , Montross insisted the Mandalorians retreat in accordance with Mereel ' s last order , and presented himself as the best choice to succeed Mereel as leader . However , when Jango Fett — Mereel ' s surrogate son and fellow True Mandalorian — arrived back at the extraction point carrying Mereel ' s body , he revealed Montross ' betrayal . The True Mandalorians rallied behind Fett and appointed him the new " Mand ' alor " , while Montross was forced into exile . Banished from Mandalorian society , Montross became a bounty hunter known for his ruthlessness . He later competed with Fett for a bounty on the leader of the Bando Gora cult after Fett , too , became a bounty hunter following the destruction of the True Mandalorians on Galidraan . In a final confrontation between the former allies - turned - enemies , Fett defeated Montross on Bogden ' s moon of Kohlma , and left him to be torn apart by mindless Bando Gora cultists . Silas . A Human male Mandalorian , Silas grew up among the forces of the True Mandalorians . At a young age , he maintained a friendship with Jango Fett , the young surrogate son of " Mand ' alor " Jaster Mereel , whom he respected and admired greatly . When the True Mandalorians were contracted to extract a security team pinned down under heavy fire on Korda Six , Silas and Fett fought alongside each other in the fierce battle that ensued , moving to rescue the security officers while the bulk of the True Mandalorians engaged the native Kordan warriors . At the extraction site , however , Silas and the other members of his unit were ambushed by a resurgent contingent of the Death Watch splinter group ; though Silas was unfamiliar with the group , having joined with the True Mandalorians some time after the Death Watch ' s assumed destruction on Concord Dawn , he quickly adapted and engaged their new enemy . As Jaster Mereel came under attack by the Death Watch , Jango Fett rushed to his adopted father ' s aid , with Silas close behind . Upon reaching the battlefield , the two soldiers found that they were too late : in a hail of cannon fire from an armored tank , Death Watch leader Tor Vizsla struck down Mereel , while Silas was forced to restrain Fett from running to Mereel ' s side and joining the " Mand ' alor " in death . When Vizsla departed , satisfied that Mereel was dead , Fett and Silas recovered Mereel ' s body , and returned with it to the True Mandalorians ' landing zone . There , they found Mereel ' s traitorous second in command , Montross , attempting to succeed Mereel as the new " Mand ' alor " . Fett objected , on the grounds that Montross had abandoned Mereel to die alone on the battlefield , and Silas rallied to his comrade , insisting that if anyone should take Mereel ' s place , it should be Fett . With the backing of Silas and the other True Mandalorians , Fett became the new leader of their group , as well as the new " Mand ' alor " . Silas followed Fett faithfully , but when the True Mandalorians were destroyed at Galidraan , Silas was absent from the battle . Years later , he was captured by the former Jedi Master Dooku and brutally tortured for information on Jango Fett . Upon finally relenting and relating his time with Fett to Dooku , Silas was subsequently killed . Behind the scenes . The True Mandalorians first appeared in " Star Wars " canon in the 2002 comic series " " , written by W . Haden Blackman and illustrated by Ramón F . Bachs . " Open Seasons " , which focused on the early life of Jango Fett and his induction into the Mandalorian culture , featured the True Mandalorians in all four issues of the series . The True Mandalorians were later referenced in the LucasArts video game " " , which was released December 5 , 2002 . The organization and its actions were mentioned in Karen Traviss ' 2009 novel " " , and again in James Luceno ' s novel " Darth Plagueis " , published in 2012 . Further details on the True Mandalorians and their place within the larger Mandalorian culture were provided by the " Star Wars Insider " article " The History of the Mandalorians " , by Abel G . Peña . The informational entry for the Mandalorian Protectors in the " Galaxy at War " sourcebook referenced the True Mandalorians , as did " The New Essential Chronology " , and the online role - playing guide for the " Star Wars Galaxies " video game , entitled " The Way of the Warrior : A Guide to becoming a Mandalorian Soldier " . As part of their detailing of the history of the planet Mandalore and the Mandalorian culture , both " The Essential Atlas " and " The Essential Guide to Warfare " mentioned the True Mandalorians . During a discussion in Karen Traviss ' " Republic Commando " novel " Order 66 " , the veteran Mandalorian soldiers Kal Skirata and Walon Vau note that they both should have been with Jango Fett at the battle on Galidraan . Though this would suggest that Skirata and Vau were affiliated with the True Mandalorians , or felt some connection to the group , neither character has been canonically linked with the True Mandalorians at this point in time .