Dha Werda Verda Dha Werda Verda was the name of both an epic poem , and a Mandalorian war chant , as well as the Taung people that lay at the heart of each . When translated from the language of " Mando ' a " , " Dha Werda Verda " meant " Warriors of the Shadow , " a name the Taung took for themselves during their legendary war with the Battalions of Zhell . On the ancient planet of Coruscant , then known merely as Notron , the Taung and the Zhell ' s conflict was interrupted by the eruption of a great volcano , that blanketed the skies in ash and blotted out the sun . The forces of the Zhell were devastated , and the Taung — seeing the eruption as divine providence — named their warriors for the massive shadow of the ash cloud that gave them an advantage over their Zhell enemies . Though the Zhell did recover and managed to drive the Taung from ancient Notron , the war and the eruption were recounted by the Taung in a poetic epic known only as the " Dha Werda Verda " , an epic the rest of the galaxy ' s scholars would later study from Taung relics left behind on the planet Roon during their journey to a new home . Under the reign of their leader , Mandalore the First , the Taung settled a new world they deemed Mandalore in the great chieftain ' s honor , and again remade themselves as the Mandalorians or " Mando ' ade " — sons and daughters of Mandalore . The Mandalorian Taung went on to conquer a number of other worlds , and over time , the Taung began to accept beings of various other races into their culture . All the while , their near constant crusades depleted the Mandalorians ' Taung population , and by the time of Mandalore the Ultimate ' s reign , the culture ' s Taung progenitors had become vastly eclipsed by the many other races that now called themselves Mandalorian . Into this atmosphere came a new iteration of the " Dha Werda Verda " , a great war chant also known as the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors . " This new chant was birthed by the Taung ' s understanding that they were in decline , and that the multi - species Mandalorian culture would long outlast them , a plea of sorts that their contributions and place in history not be forgotten . The new chant was accompanied by a ritual dance , wherein performers would drum the rhythm of the " Dha Werda Verda " on the armored chest and back of those beside them , and was passed down through countless generations of Mandalorians , even being taught to the clone soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic by their Mandalorian instructors as a way to honor their heritage as clones of Mandalore Jango Fett . History . On the ancient Core World of Coruscant , in a time when it was known only as Notron , the rival societies of the Taung and the early Human Zhell rose to prominence and came into conflict with one another . The two peoples warred for centuries , in a struggle that came to a head following the death of the Taung leader Doom of Ulmarah . Rallying behind Rexutu the Unconquerable , the warriors of the Taung gathered at their fortress to battle the Battalions of Zhell at dawn ; the Taung were fewer in number than the more populous Zhell , and expected the battle to end in their defeat . Before combat could begin , however , a large volcano erupted , devastating the forces of the Zhell as well as their capital city . The Taung , a highly religious society , saw the destruction of their foe as divine favor , and as an enormous cloud of volcanic ash blotted out the sun , the Taung proclaimed themselves the " Dha Werda Verda " — the " Warriors of the Shadow . " Though the Zhell were able to recover from the volcano ' s devastation and eventually succeeded in defeating the Taung , driving them from ancient Notron , the Taung still celebrated and recorded their legendary victory in a poetic epic they entitled the " Dha Werda Verda " . The poetic " Dha Werda Verda " . Authored by the Taung , the " Dha Werda Verda " was a epic poem that told the tale of their victory over the Zhell in the shadow a volcanic ash cloud that devastated the early Humans . The " Dha Werda Verda " was written in the ancient language of Notron Cant , a dialect of notable linguistic subtleties . In total , the " Dha Werda Verda " encompassed more than seven hundred verses , and was divided into eleven chapters . The ninth chapter , comprised of ten verses , was known as " The Maker Comes to Unmake . " Following their exile from ancient Notron , the Taung traveled through the galaxy , eventually settling on the planet Roon in the Outer Rim . Though they later moved on to a new world , on Roon the Taung left behind a number of relics including great axes , swords , and a copy of the " Dha Werda Verda " poem encoded in Notron Cant on a crystalline roonstone , precious gems that could store vast amounts of data . Millennia later , in the year 15 BBY , the roonstone encoded with the " Dha Werda Verda " was discovered by the explorer Mungo Baobab , who delivered the relic to the Baobab Archives on the planet Manda for study . The copy of the " Dha Werda Verda " on Manda was the best preserved record of the epic poem , though not the only one : over the millennia that followed the Taung ash - shrouded victory , historians and scholars studied partial records of the " Dha Werda Verda " from archaeological finds , despite the fact that the subtleties of the language of Notron Cant continued to defy complete translation . Over time , the most galactically well known portion of the " Dha Werda Verda " became " The Maker Comes to Unmake , " the ten verses from the epic ' s ninth chapter . By the Galactic Empire ' s rise to power , Coruscanti school children were being taught the Notron Cant verses of " The Maker Comes to Unmake " as part of their education , and artists , inspired by the tale of the ancient Taung , created various works based on the " Dha Werda Verda " . Mesh Burzon of the University of Byblos considered the Human veneration of the " Dha Werda Verda " an odd social phenomenon , as it chronicles the near destruction of the Human Zhell by the Taung . Hu Jibwe , a military history scholar at the Salmagodro Grand Academy , believed that the Taung and Zhell forces were significantly more technologically advanced than the " Dha Werda Verda " poetically portrays , but nonetheless found the imagery of the poem stirring . Eventually , the Baobab Archives succeeded in translating the ninth chapter of the " Dha Werda Verda " from Notron Cant to Galactic Basic Standard . The " Dha Werda Verda " reinvented . After departing Roon , the Taung found a new world to call home . Naming the planet Mandalore in honor of their leader , Mandalore the First , the Taungs , in turn , rechristened themselves the Mandalorians or " Mando ' ade " in their tongue — " sons and daughters of Mandalore . " As the Taung changed , so too did their culture and language : instead of Notron Cant , the Taung had begun to speak an archaic precursor to the Mandalorian language of " Mando ' a " , and over time , began to accept beings of various other races into their clans as equals under the " Resol ' nare " , the six basic tenets of the Mandalorian culture . However , the Mandalorian Taung had become zealous conquerors , engaging in holy crusades against other peoples such as the Fenelar and Basiliskan s in service first to their god Kad Ha ' rangir , then to the very divinity of war itself . Even as the Mandalorians swelled in number , the Taung were in decline , depleted by their many wars . By the reign of Mandalore the Ultimate , the Taung had come to realize that they were being eclipsed by the influx of non - Taung Mandalorians into the culture they had birthed . It was this atmosphere that led to the creation of a new iteration of the " Dha Werda Verda " , one born of the Taung ' s desire to be remembered by the Mandalorian generations that would long outlast them . Also known as the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors , " the new " Dha Werda Verda " was a ritual battle chant , sung in the Mandalorian language of " Mando ' a " instead of Notron Cant , with all new lyrical content , none of which was shared with the original " Dha Werda Verda " poem . It recalled the volcanic ash that had granted the Taung their legendary victory over the Zhell , and spoke to the Mandalorians ' Taung heritage , as well as the Taungs ' place as the founders of Mandalore and its culture . The new " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " iteration of the " Dha Werda Verda " was often accompanied by a ritual dance . While singing the lyrics , performers of the " Dha Werda Verda " would first drum the layered rhythms of the music on their own bodies with their fists , before turning to beat the complex tempo on the body of the individual next to them , specifically striking the chest and back . The " Dha Werda Verda " dance required stamina , timing , and trust in the individuals that surrounded a performer ; the rhythmic strikes were imbued with notable force , and to turn too quickly or too late was to risk sustaining an injuring blow , especially to the head or face . " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " was typically done while wearing armor , which softened blows and shielded the performer ' s body , but was also done in plain clothes on occasion . It was believed that engaging in the " Dha Werda Verda " and performing the complex rhythms with a group of comrades helped to sharpen the mind and taught cooperative coordination . A number of soldiers — both Mandalorians and outsiders alike — found the " Dha Werda Verda " an exciting exercise , and felt that they drew strength and courage from the act of performing the ritual dance ; to outsiders , it was a fearsome display of discipline and reflex that served to warn an enemy of the power of the force that opposed them . The " Dha Werda Verda " " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " incarnation proved popular to the Mandalorian people and culture : Mandalorian warriors chanted the " Dha Werda Verda " in honor of the Taung who came before , and the ritual dance was performed by Mandalorians for thousands of years after Mandalore the Ultimate ' s reign came to an end . In a manifesto author ed by the Death Watch founder Tor Vizsla , entitled " Ba ' jurne Kyr ' tsad Mando ' ad " , Vizsla wrote on the cultural importance of the " Dha Werda Verda " to the Mandalorian warrior clans , and discussed the idea that every time the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " was chanted , the Mandalorians were honoring their culture ' s Taung progenitors . The military history scholar Hu Jibwe studied the Mandalorian " Dha Werda Verda " , determining that the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " originated more recently than the original poem written in Notron Cant , cross - referencing the Mandalorian war chant with the " Dha Werda Verda " - encoded roonstone housed in the Baobab Archives on Manda . When writing her piece for Imperial Center Today entitled " A LONG TIME AGO . . . , " Eschul Shaywa heavily researched both incarnations of the " Dha Werda Verda " , speaking with several ancient history scholars and even attending a performance of the ritual dance . Shaywa found the Mandalorian battle chant mesmerizing . Adoption by the Grand Army . In 32 BBY , Mandalore Jango Fett was recruited to be the genetic template for an army of clone soldiers that would serve the Galactic Republic . In order to train the Grand Army of the Republic ' s special forces , Fett recruited a group of one hundred training sergeants known as the " Cuy ' val Dar " , seventy - five of whom were of Mandalorian origin . These Mandalorian instructors brought a number of Mandalorian traditions to the Grand Army , with the veteran Mandalorian soldier Kal Skirata introducing the " Dha Werda Verda " dance to the clone commandos that trained under him , including the " Null " - class Advanced Recon Commandos . However , like a number of other Mandalorian songs the clones learned in training , such as " Gra ' tua Cuun " , " Ka ' rta Tor " , and " Vode An " — which became the Grand Army ' s marching anthem — the " Rage of the Shadow Warrior " lyrics learned by the Grand Army ' s clone soldiers had been altered to remove its connection to Mandalorian culture . In the " Dha Werda Verda " tought to the clones , references to Mandalore were replaced with Coruscant , now the capital world of the Galactic Republic , and references to the Mandalorians were replaced with Jedi , who would be serving as generals in command of the army . In 22 BBY , the Grand Army was deployed against the droid army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems following the outbreak of the Clone Wars on Geonosis . After the battle on Geonosis came to a close , numerous clone commandos that had been involved in the fight were taken to the Fleet Support station on Ord Mantell . There , at the barracks , commando RC - 1309 sang a chorus of the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " as a means to comfort himself over the loss of the rest of his squad . He was joined shortly after by his peer , RC - 8015 , who lamented the demise of his own squad in the battle . Jedi Knight Bardan Jusik ' s time around the Grand Army ' s clone commandos led him develop an interest in the " Dha Werda Verda " , finding the ritual dance an inspiring sight that gave him courage just by watching it , and he learned to perform it with the men under his command . Although the " Dha Werda Verda " had only been taught to the clone commandos in the charge of the Mandalorian " Cuy ' val Dar " sergeants on their homeworld of Kamino , as the war progressed , bits of Mandalorian culture including the " Dha Werda Verda " began to filter through the larger army , spread man to man . Near the end of the first year of the war , after a rescue of the commando squads Delta and Omega brought them aboard RAS " Fearless " alongside the 41st Elite Legion ' s Sarlacc Battalions — themselves fresh from an extraction from Dinlo — the commandos taught their clone trooper comrades how to perform the " Dha Werda Verda " . As Jedi General Etain Tur - Mukan watched with Clone Commander Gett , the commandos of both Omega and Delta Squads led a performance of the " Dha Werda Verda " from the front of an assembly of close to fifty soldiers of the 41st Elite . Commander Gett recorded a portion of the rare performance , before joining in the ritual dance with General Tur - Mukan ' s permission . Tur - Mukan found the obvious word replacements in the lyrics and their effect of stripping the chant of its Mandalorian heritage a distasteful decision that further distanced the clones from what she saw as their inherited culture . Not long after , while taking part in a terrorist takedown on Coruscant alongside the commandos of Delta and Omega Squads , the " Null " - class ARC troopers Ordo and Mereel , and Jedi Generals Etain Tur - Mukan and Bardan Jusik , the former " Cuy ' val Dar " sergeant Kal Skirata wished he could engage in a round of the " Dha Werda Verda " to mentally bolster himself for combat . However , the low profile necessitated by the mission kept him from indulging . After the anti - terrorist operation came to a successful conclusion , all parties involved — clone , Jedi , and the Mandalorian Skirata — were invited to the CSF Social Club by the officers of the Coruscant Security Force . While in attendance , the commando by the name of Fi got a performance of the " Dha Werda Verda " going for the benefit of the assembled police officers : the commandos and ARC troopers took part in the chant and dance while wearing their armor , though Skirata did so with wearing only his civilian clothing . During the performance , the " Alpha " - class ARC trooper Maze used the blows of the " Dha Werda Verda " as an excuse punch his " Null " ARC contemporary , Captain Ordo , in return for a previous strike Ordo had inflicted upon Maze ; when the " Dha Werda Verda " came to an end , both soldiers shook hands , leaving their grievances settled and in the past . The elderly Skirata , having gone without armor during the ritual , emerged from the " Dha Werda Verda " performance sore and beginning to bruise , but exhilarated . Behind the scenes . Written by Ben Burtt , the " Dha Werda Verda " first entered " Star Wars " canon with the release of the " Shadows of the Empire " soundtrack on April 23 , 1996 , and was named in the soundtrack ' s liner notes . Burtt , who has developed numerous alien languages for the " Star Wars " franchise , was asked by the project ' s composer Joel McNeely to write a poem that could then be sung by a chorus for the soundtrack , specifically requesting that the language used be in style , with hard , harsh , guttural - sounding syllables . Burtt complied , and McNeely then used pieces of the poem in his compositions , though they were placed out of context . The poem — the in - universe discovery of which Burtt ties into characters and events he developed for the " " animated series of the mid - 1980 s — details the ancient conflict between the Battalions of Zhell and the Taungs . According to the poem , the battle of the two peoples was interrupted by a volcanic eruption which wiped out the Zhell , and the site of the battle eventually became Imperial City millennia later . Nearly a decade later , the " " video game and its accompanying were released on March 22 , 2005 . The soundtrack , composed by LucasArts music editor and composer Jesse Harlin , featured new audio that referred to the " Dha Werda Verda " in the thirteenth track entitled " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " . These lyrics , however , differed from the " Dha Werda Verda " written years prior by Burtt . " Star Wars " author Karen Traviss incorporated Harlin ' s lyrics from the " Republic Commando " soundtrack into the foundation of " Mando ' a " , the constructed Mandalorian language she developed for her work with the Mandalorian people , retroactively creating a link between the two versions of the " Dha Werda Verda " . In her " Republic Commando " novel series , Traviss featured the lyrics of the " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " first in " " , then in its sequel , " " . In " Triple Zero " , Traviss detailed an additional ritual war dance , highly reminiscent of the traditional " " ; Temuera Morrison , the actor who portrays Mandalorian warrior Jango Fett and his clones in the " Star Wars " films , is of Māori heritage , and has been known to demonstrate the haka for fans at conventions . " The Essential Guide to Warfare " , a " Star Wars " reference book co - authored by Jason Fry and Paul R . Urquhart and published April 3 , 2012 , was the first source to feature a canonical translation for the original " Dha Werda Verda " poem . In a section Fry likened to the style of the , the in - universe excerpt of the " Dha Werda Verda " chronicled the lead up to the climactic , ash - shrouded battle between the Zhell and Taung . The " Guide to Warfare " was originally going to have a more extensive history on the " Dha Werda Verda " , but it was cut for length , only to resurface on November 4 , 2013 , with the second installment of Jason Fry ' s official " Star Wars " Blog series , , entitled " Ancient Coruscant . " The blog entry finally outlined the canonical connection between the original poetic " Dha Werda Verda " as written by Ben Burtt with the later " Rage of the Shadow Warriors " track composed by Jesse Harlin , as two works with a shared name and inspiration in Taung history . The blog also identified the language of the poetic " Dha Werda Verda " , unnamed for more than a decade , as Notron Cant .