Secret Mandalore The title of Secret Mandalore was one assumed by the leader of the radical Mandalorian splinter group known as the Death Watch . Also known as the Death Watch Overlord , these individuals held the belief that they were the true claimants to the traditional role of " Mand ' alor " , leader of the Mandalorian people and clans . They stood in opposition to the " Anti - Mandalore , " who ruled the pacifistic New Mandalorian people , and the " True Mandalore , " chosen by the members of the mainstream Mandalorian warrior clans . Notable Secret Mandalores . Pre Vizsla . At the start of the Clone Wars , Pre Vizsla had stood publicly as the governor of Concordia , one of Mandalore ' s two moons , but in secret , he was the latest leader of the radical Mandalorian splinter group known as Death Watch . Vizsla despised the pacifistic New Mandalorians and their leader , Duchess Satine Kryze , believing the Mandalorians would be better off reclaiming their ancient role as conquering warriors . To this end , Vizsla aligned Death Watch with the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars , promising his support to the cause if the Confederacy ' s leader , Count Dooku , aided him in deposing Kryze . Despite their efforts to manipulate the Galactic Republic into moving against Mandalore , believing an armed Republic occupation would trigger the New Mandalorian populous to violently rebel and rally to Death Watch , Kryze was able to stem the Republic ' s occupation plans by speaking out before the Galactic Senate on Coruscant , and Vizsla ' s plans were dashed . Death Watch was eventually exiled from the Mandalore system , and Pre Vizsla had a falling out with Dooku that left his face scarred and his hatred for the Confederate leader immense . Vizsla led the now nomadic Death Watch across the galaxy , settling on the snowy world of Carlac , before moving on to the swamp - covered moon of Zanbar . During one of Death Watch ' s travels , Vizsla came across the Sith Lord Darth Maul , and through the Zabrak Sith , found a new path to overturning the New Mandalorians ' pacifism . Vizsla formed an alliance with Maul , and together they established a criminal contingent known as the Shadow Collective by recruiting elements of Black Sun , the spice - dealing Pyke Syndicate , and the foot soldiers of the Hutt Cartel s . With their army of criminals , Vizsla and Maul put a plan for overthrowing the New Mandalorian government into action : the Collective ' s gangsters would assault the New Mandalorian capital city of Sundari and create chaos , making Duchess Kryze appear weak in the eyes of her people , only for Death Watch to arrive and rescue the New Mandalorian citizenry from their attackers and win public favor . The plan went as intended , with the New Mandalorian police unable to combat the numbers and firepower of the offworld criminals ; the New Mandalorian people sought the aid of an administration that could do nothing to protect them , and it was only when Death Watch took to combating the criminals overtaking Sundari that order was restored . With the backing of the people , Pre Vizsla stormed the Sundari Royal Palace and had Kryze arrested . The Secret Mandalore of Death Watch took his place as the new leader of the New Mandalorians . Vizsla ' s time as " Mand ' alor " of the New Mandalorians was short - lived , however , for with his goals met , he turned upon his Sith ally and tried to have Darth Maul incarcerated . Maul escaped his confines and challenged Vizsla to a fight to the death for leadership . Though Vizsla fought fiercely , making use of the full arsenal his Mandalorian armor made available to him , he was defeated and killed by Maul , who proclaimed himself to be the new leader of Death Watch and Secret Mandalore . Darth Maul . From a young age , the Dathomir - native named Maul was raised and trained as a Sith by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious . Becoming Sidious ' Sith apprentice and earning the title of Darth upon his ascendance to Sith Lord , Maul became a fearsome force in his master ' s plan to conquer the galaxy . However , his time under Sidious was cut short when , in 32 BBY , Maul was grievously wounded by the Jedi Obi - Wan Kenobi while on Naboo . Cut in half at the waist , it was only Maul ' s hatred and the power of the dark side of the Force that kept him alive , languishing for years in squalor on a garbage - covered world where his body had ended up until he was found , half insane , by his estranged brother Savage Opress . Opress took Maul back to Dathomir , where his mind was restored and his body was rebuilt with cybernetics by the Nightsister Mother Talzin . Possessed of his faculties once more , Maul set out to exact revenge upon Kenobi , taking Opress as his own Sith apprentice . Maul ' s pursuit of vengeance eventually led him into an alliance with the radical Mandalorian Death Watch and their leader , Pre Vizsla . Seeing their combat prowess and efficiency as useful , the Sith agreed to help Vizsla topple the regime of the pacifist New Mandalorians . Together they assembled a collective of criminals comprised of gangsters from Black Sun , the Pyke Syndicate , and the Hutt kajidics , only to set them lose on the New Mandalorian capital of Sundari to spread fear and chaos in order to undermine the pacifist administration . With the people in a panic , Death Watch was sent in to stop the criminals , putting on a show for the populace that won the public ' s favor . Disgraced , the New Mandalorian leader Satine Kryze was deposed and Pre Vizsla took her place , only to immediately turn upon Maul and his apprentice . Unbeknownst to the Death Watch leader , Maul had anticipated his betrayal : the Sith Lord challenged Vizsla to a duel for leadership , killing him and proclaiming himself to be the new Secret Mandalore in charge of Death Watch . Maul ' s leadership was challenged by elements of the Death Watch loyal to Vizsla ' s lieutenant , Bo - Katan Kryze , who refused to follow a non - Mandalorian like Maul , instead breaking away from those who swore fealty to the Sith Lord . Maul reinstated the former Prime Minister Almec to serve as a puppet ruler of the New Mandalorians , so that he could affect control over both factions while remaining unseen by the galaxy at large . Despite this , Maul ' s former master , Darth Sidious , was able to track his one - time apprentice to the planet Mandalore , where he engaged Maul and Savage Opress in a lightsaber battle that ended with Opress ' s demise and a beaten Maul brought to heel by the Dark Lord of the Sith for his own purposes . Lorka Gedyc . After Death Watch fractured and turned upon itself following Maul ' s ascension to leadership , Lorka Gedyc formed a new iteration of Death Watch , assuming leadership over the group by 19 BBY . Gedyc thought highly of the Mandalorians of old , who had forged an empire that spanned across vast swaths of the galaxy . The now diminished state of the Mandalore sector was abhorrent to Gedyc , and the Death Watch leader felt that the Mandalorians ' penchant for mercenary and bounty hunting work was tantamount to scrambling for crumbs . Following the Republic ' s reorganization into the Galactic Empire , Lorka Gedyc saw an opportunity to restore the glory and power Death Watch believed the Mandalorians had lost . Gedyc allied Death Watch with the new Empire , and directed Death Watch members Dred Priest and Isabet Reau to assist the Imperials in establishing their garrison on Mandalore , just outside the planetary capital city of Keldabe in the " City of Bone . " Priest thought highly of Gedyc and the Death Watch leader ' s plans , though he was killed for his ties to the radical sect by fellow Mandalorian Mij Gilamar , and the Empire ultimately moved to enslave Mandalore and its people . Unidentified . By the year 1 ABY , with Mandalore now firmly under the control of the Galactic Empire , a remnant of the Death Watch had fled to the forested moon of Endor . Operating out of a hidden underground bunker , they were led by a Human male Mandalorian who made use of the Overlord title . From the bunker , the new Overlord commanded a force of Death Watch Wraiths , Ghosts , and Bloodguard s , while rekindling Death Watch ' s relationship with Black Sun during the Clone Wars , contracting with the syndicate ' s assassins in exchange for their aid in furthering Death Watch goals . Though Death Watch had fallen into obscurity , word of their survival on Endor eventually reached Imperial Commander D ' krn on Tatooine , who believed that the Death Watch ' s Overlord could be a promising candidate for a new wave of cloned stormtroopers , just as Jango Fett had been for the former Republic ' s Grand Army . To that end , D ' krn hired a group of spacers to retrieve a sample of the Overlord ' s blood . The survival of Death Watch on Endor had also come to the attention of Boba Fett , who was working for Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine at the time . As the son of Jango Fett — who had fought Death Watch to their near eradication decades earlier — Boba Fett sought to see the splinter group dealt with once and for all , offering assistance in breaching the bunker and payment to the spacers if they eliminated the rogue Mandalorians . The spacers eventually assaulted the Endor bunker , killing numerous Death Watch troops including their Overlord , before returning to D ' krn with a vial of his blood . Behind the scenes . Death Watch and its leader were first introduced to the " Star Wars " universe with the release of the " " series , written by Haden Blackman and published in 2002 . A year later , in 2003 , the " Star Wars Galaxies " video game put out an update entitled " An Empire Divided , " wherein a new Death Watch leader was depicted in the Imperial era , one possessing the title of Overlord . The " Republic " and " Imperial Commando " series of novels by author Karen Traviss , as well as the television series also introduced other leaders of Death Watch during and after the Clone Wars , but it was only with the 2013 release of " " reference book by Jason Fry , Daniel Wallace , and Ryder Windham , that the Death Watch leader was given the proper title of Secret Mandalore .