Pre Vizsla Pre Vizsla ( ) was a human male Mandalorian warrior from the planet Mandalore and was the leader of the Mandalorian Death Watch faction during the Clone Wars . He is most famous for his wielding of the infamous Darksaber . Vizsla briefly achieved his goal and took the title of Mand ' alor before he was bested in combat and executed by his former ally Darth Maul . Biography . Plot to Overthrow the Duchess . Seeking to overthrow Duchess Satine Kryze and her pacifistic government , in order to restore Mandalore to its warrior past , Vizsla secretly allied himself with Count Dooku and his Confederacy of Independent Systems . While governing Mandalore ' s moon , Concordia , and maintaining loyalty to Kryze in public , Vizsla led the Death Watch in secret from several Concordian mining camp bases . The Death Watch ' s attack on a Jedi Cruiser and terrorist attacks on Mandalore came to a head when Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi arrived on Concordia with Kryze to follow leads on the Death Watch . When Kenobi discovered the Death Watch ' s secret base , Vizsla revealed himself as the renegades ' leader . Vizsla then used the Darksaber to duel with Kenobi , but Kenobi and Satine escaped Concordia . Assassination attempt on Kryze . Vizsla conspired with Mandalorian Senator Tal Merrik to capture Kryze during her journey to Coruscant , where she intended to plead her case directly to the Galactic Senate , but Merrik was defeated before he could complete his assignment . Amassing an army of Death Watch troops on Concordia in preparation to take over Mandalore , Vizsla was forced to wait until his and Dooku ' s plot to turn Mandalore against the Republic was completed . Vizsla dispatched an assassin to Coruscant to kill Kryze , as her death would remove the opposition to the Senate ' s upcoming vote to have Republic troops occupy Mandalore — an occupation which would allow the Death Watch to gain the support of Mandalore ' s populace and " liberate " them from the Republic . However , the assassin failed to murder Kryze , and the plot itself fell through , with the Senate voting against occupying Mandalore . With this turn of events , Vizsla was forced to postpone his attack on Mandalore , as his forces would be unable to hold the planet without its people ' s support . Plot against Dooku and Carlac . Following the aborted takeover of Mandalore , Vizsla then met with Dooku . During this meeting , Vizsla was betrayed by Dooku and scarred across his cheek by the Sith Lord ' s lightsaber . Vizsla then broke ties with the Confederacy and vowed to kill Dooku . The Death Watch under Vizsla maintain a small base on the world Carlac , where they committed dishonorable acts against it ' s native species , the Ming Po , forcing their women to work for them . Eventually Lux Bonteri in attempt take revenge against Count Dooku for death of his mother , Mina Bonteri , had allied himself with Pre Vizla and he was used try find and kill Count Dooku but failed . Pre Vizla was then confronted by the Ming Po elders who had demanded the return of their women . At first they complied but Lux ' s was shown true colors of the Death Watch as they began burning down the Ming Po village . Bonteri ' s Jedi companion Ahsoka Tano attempted stop this , but was ultimately overpowered and captured by the Death Watch warriors . Pre Vizla attempted to execute Tano , but with thanks of R2 - D2 and reactive droids , both Bonteri and Tano escaped . Shadow Collective and death . Later in the war , Vizsla and his soldiers came across an escape pod lost in deep space which held the stranded former Sith Lord Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opress . Harboring a common hatred of Obi - Wan Kenobi for his actions against them , they planned on having their revenge after their planned conquest of Mandalore . Gathering an army of criminals including the Hutt s , the Pykes , and the Black Sun . The criminal alliance attacked the capital , allowing Death Watch to act as heroes to a desperate population after the Duchess ' s forces failed to stop the criminals . With the support of the Mandalorian people , Vizsla ousted Satine and appointed himself Prime Minister , also assuming the title of Mand ' alor . He also betrayed his Sith allies who were imprisoned but who managed to escape . Maul challenged Vizsla to a duel to determine the true ruler of the Mandalorians . After a long and difficult duel , Maul defeated Vizsla and publicly beheaded him in front of the Death Watch for his failures , before claiming his position as leader of the Death Watch . But because Darth Maul was not a Mandalorian , Bo - Katan Kryze and the Nite Owls refused to follow him and would eventually ignite another Mandalorian civil war . Skills and abilities . As a Mandalorian warrior , Vizsla had advanced training in many forms of combat from ranged weaponry to hand - to - hand combat . A skilled unarmed combatant , Vizsla was able to compete with Obi - Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul in his duels with the two Force - wielding warriors . Vizsla was also a highly capable marksman , even able to shoot the lightsaber out of Maul ' s hand in their bout . In addition to his unarmed and ranged abilities , Vizsla had at least some degree of training with the Darksaber and was skilled enough to keep even a Jedi at bay . Equipment . Vizsla wore the traditional and resilient combat armor of the Mandalorian warriors . This armor was equipped with dual antennas , a jetpack variant , magnetized boots and a pair of Mandalorian vambrace s . Vizsla ' s vambraces were equipped with at least paired blaster barrels , a flamethrower , whipcord thrower and a launcher that fired disc - shaped buzzsaws . In addition to his armor , Vizsla wielded a pair of WESTAR - 35 blaster pistol s and the Darksaber , a legendary lightsaber created by his ancestor Tarre Vizsla that had been used by his clan and House to rule all of Mandalore long ago . Behind the scenes . The character of Pre Vizsla was created for the and first appeared in the series ' 2010 after being mentioned in several issues of the " Star Wars Insider " magazine . He was featured as the primary antagonist of the episodes " The Mandalore Plot , " " Voyage of Temptation , " and " Duchess of Mandalore , " all of which formed a story arc centered around the Mandalorians in the series . Vizsla was voiced in his television appearances by actor Jon Favreau , the director of the popular , whose role in portraying Vizsla marked his first contribution to " Star Wars " canon . Favreau was recruited for the part by Series Director Dave Filoni . According to an interview with Filoni that was featured in " Star Wars Insider 115 " , the name " Pre " is a title of stature , like " pre - eminent , " while the " Vizsla " name came from Tor Vizsla , the original leader of the Death Watch who was featured in the 2002 " " comic book series . Vizsla was given an entry in the " " book , released in June 2010 . He was also featured in Hasbro ' s 2010 toy figure line . A concept art model sheet that was published in " Star Wars Insider 116 " indicated that Vizsla ' s name was originally spelled " Visla . " On the same model sheet , the symbol on his cape was depicted as the , suggesting that the symbol was originally that of the Mandalorians and was adjusted for the final version of " The Mandalore Plot . " Because " Voyage of Temptation " was produced with the television series ' , well before the other installments in the Mandalorian story arc , the character model used for Vizsla in the episode was based on the Phase I clone trooper armor design — disguised only by his serape — instead of the finalized character design used in the later episodes .