00:00In the minds of most casual Star Wars fans, Mace Windu is probably best known for one thing.
00:05Samuel L. Jackson played him.
00:07But there's a lot more to Mace Windu than a Hollywood A-lister and his purple lightsaber, I'll have you
00:12know.
00:12And here's a list to prove it!
00:15I'm Gareth from WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 things you never knew about Mace Windu.
00:2110. He Almost Killed a Fellow Jedi
00:24Simply put, nothing upset Windu more than a fellow Jedi betraying their ideals.
00:29Don't you just hate it when that happens?
00:31This was because, more than almost any other member of the Order, Windu was devoted to maintaining the way and
00:37ideals of the Jedi.
00:38So it's not a surprise that Windu felt incredibly challenged when he learned that one of his fellow Jedi had
00:44betrayed the Order.
00:45This was way before Anakin Skywalker sent Windu sailing out of a Senate office window like an electrified hacky sack
00:51mind.
00:52Early in the Clone Wars, Windu was sent to investigate a planet called Hissrich.
00:55Part of Windu's team was a young Jedi called Praset Dibs.
00:59Dibs, of course, was concerned about the role the Jedi played in the Clone Wars,
01:03as he believed that the war had contaminated Jedi doctrine and so he confronted Windu with his concerns.
01:10Windu was having none of it though, and the two eventually found themselves in the midst of a duel.
01:15Windu ended the fight by force-pushing Dibs to the ground.
01:18Then, for a brief moment, Windu contemplated murdering Dibs there and then.
01:23Such was his anger for those he considered to be traitors.
01:26But Windu's better nature won out, and the Master instead arrested Dibs so he could stand trial.
01:329. He has Samuel L. Jackson to thank for his unique lightsaber
01:36One of Mace Windu's most recognisable features is his purple lightsaber, isn't it?
01:41In-universe, the lightsaber's unique colour is thanks to an amethyst kyber crystal at its core.
01:46In reality though, the purple lightsaber was a request of Samuel L. Jackson.
01:50His reasoning? He wanted to easily spot himself on screen, as you do.
01:55So thanks to Jackson, along with the character having a clearly defined personality,
01:59or at least being borderline compelling,
02:01he also came equipped with the coolest lightsaber in the galaxy.
02:058. Windu was considered the Jedi's greatest champion
02:08During the dark times of the Clone Wars, Windu was considered by the Jedi to be their greatest
02:14champion. He worked hard to preserve the Jedi's ancient traditions during the time of war.
02:19He was also elected to lead the Jedi Council during said conflict.
02:23His role as champion was less about his ability as a warrior and more about his devotion to the
02:27Jedi way. But he was also a pretty badass warrior, which always helps.
02:31Alongside Yoda, he was one of the most feared and most respected Jedi in all the galaxy,
02:36before, you know, said Pushing.
02:397. In his youth, he was deeply offended by heretics and con men
02:43Early in his life as a Jedi, Mace Windu had some, let's say, anger issues.
02:48Nothing got his blood boiling quite like a heretic though.
02:52And as chance would have it, he would come into contact with one of these con men
02:56on a mission on the planet Mathis. On this mission, a young Padawan Windu encountered a
03:00man named Druze. Druze had taken up residence in an abandoned Jedi temple. Whilst here, he had
03:06duped citizens of the planet into believing he was in fact a Jedi. And Druze charged a small
03:11fortune to perform fake miracles. Having such strong faith in both the Force and Jedi teachings,
03:17Mace found Druze very much offensive. So when Windu finally confronted Druze, he had some choice
03:22words for the false prophet. You would twist such a beautiful thing as faith into something so vile?
03:27Ring out what measly credit and adoration you could from these poor people? All while besmirching
03:32the esteem of the Jedi Order? I will make sure you never heard another soul again. This I vow
03:38as a true Jedi. A very articulate lad. 6. He ordered the attempted assassination of Count Dooku
03:45Windu was highly committed to ending the war with the Separatists. So much so that he argued for the
03:50assassination of former Jedi Master Count Dooku. This is a pretty drastic move when you think about
03:56it. Sure, with hindsight, we know that Dooku was a Dark Lord of the Sith under the manipulation of
04:00Darth Sidious. But during much of the Clone Wars, the Jedi were not entirely privy to this knowledge.
04:06As far as Windu was concerned, Dooku was no more than a political enemy. But after witnessing the
04:11devastation of war, Windu convinced the Jedi Council to send an assassin to kill Dooku.
04:16Yoda didn't exactly agree with this course of action. But with the support of Anakin Skywalker,
04:20the plan went forward. It ultimately failed, of course, but Dooku was later killed by Anakin,
04:25who consequently was responsible for the death of Mace Windu, too. As it goes, Anakin had some
04:30anger issues as well, didn't he? What's crazy about this plan is that Dooku was once palled with
04:34Windu. Windu was willing to kill Dooku for the slim chance of ending a galactic war.
04:405. Yoda taught him to fear attachment at a younger age by taking his rattle
04:46Yoda and Mace were two of the most stoic Jedi of their time, and they both felt that emotional
04:50attachment was a path to the dark side. But there was a time when, rather than colleagues,
04:55Yoda was more of a babysitter for Mace. Like all younglings, Mace was trained by Yoda as a boy,
05:00and his training actually started in the crib. In one of the many Star Wars novels,
05:05Windu describes his early struggles with attachment, and Master Yoda was simply having none of it.
05:10Mace relates his earliest memory of Yoda to this moment of him taking his toy rattle.
05:15Mace, of course, cried and reached out with the Force, but Yoda held it in place,
05:19and eventually the toy broke. Mace claims this was Yoda's way of teaching him a valuable lesson,
05:24but we should all consider the possibility that Yoda was just being a bit of a dick.
05:284. Windu used a dangerous lightsaber form that channeled the dark side
05:33Part of the reason Windu was able to fare so well with Palpatine is because he already sort
05:38of used the dark side. Okay, obviously Windu is not an out-and-out Sith Lord. He did,
05:43however, use the dark side of the Force to his advantage while in combat.
05:46This was through his use of the Form 7 lightsaber combat, known as Varpad, also called the Ferocity
05:53Form. Form 7 was known to be a very aggressive form of lightsaber attack. Unlike other lightsaber
05:58techniques, Form 7 encouraged an unchecked use of emotions. And if you know anything about the Jedi,
06:04you know they really hate those down emotions for some strange reason.
06:08Very few Jedi use Form 7 until Windu himself refined the technique in what he dubbed Varpad.
06:13It was thought to be a bit dangerous to use, to be honest, and even Windu was hesitant to allow
06:17other Jedi to study the form. However, his use of Varpad is probably what allowed him to best
06:22Palpatine in their lightsaber duel. And speaking of which…
06:253. He could have killed Palpatine
06:27With Windu's prowess as a warrior in mind, he was definitely going to kill Palpatine.
06:32There is some controversy about whether Palpatine feigned defeat to manipulate Anakin. But let's
06:37just take a quick look at said skirmish for a moment. When Windu confronts the Sith Lord,
06:41Palpatine dispatches Windu's three Jedi Master companions in short order. And many have argued
06:46that Palpatine does this to focus all his energy on his only true threat, Mr. Mace Windu.
06:52Windu and Palpatine engage in a prolonged bout until the Jedi eventually gets the upper hand.
06:56Whether you believe this was by Palpatine's nefarious design, or Windu truly bested the
07:01Sith, the truth most likely is Windu had Palpatine right where he wanted him. So if it hadn't been
07:06for little old Anakin, Palpatine would have been Mace Windu's further ticking. And the galaxy would
07:10have likely been a whole lot safer, to be honest. 2. His home planet appeared to be a gaseous
07:16nightmare scape Mace Windu hailed from a mid-rimmed planet called Harun Kal. Those words roughly
07:22translate to above the clouds in Galactic Basic. The reason Harun Kal is called above the clouds
07:27is that from orbit you might think this is an ocean world like Mon Cala or Camino. The ocean isn't
07:33water though, it's an extremely toxic cocktail of noxious gases. These gases emerge from thousands
07:39of active volcanoes on the planet's surface. A charming habitat if ever you'd seen one.
07:43Harun Kal's habitable zones are serene mountaintops and plateaus high enough to rise above the volcanic
07:49atmosphere. This mirrors the personality of Windu himself, who was calm and collected on the surface.
07:54However, he often channeled his submerged dark emotions to become a formidable Jedi warrior.
07:59How poetic.
08:011. He was trained by Sislin Muir
08:04It might be a bit hard to believe, but Mace Windu was once a Padawan,
08:08just like all young Jedi. I know, what are the odds? He also had a master as it goes,
08:12a woman named Sislin Muir. In fact, it was Muir who travelled with Windu to the planet Mathas to
08:17confront the false prophet, Druze. Outside of this mission, not much is known about Sislin Muir,
08:22as this is her only appearance in canon. In Star Wars Legends, of course, Windu was trained by the
08:27Jedi master, Thrasar. Owing to her species' extended lifespans, Thrasar lived through some of the galaxy's
08:33most intense conflicts. Thrasar was also a general during the Clone Wars. She survived the Jedi purge
08:38on the Galactic Civil War and went on to help found the new Jedi Order.
08:42So, all in all, what did we learn? Mace Windu was a devoted Jedi, a controlled and powerful
08:47warrior, and overall, a pretty cool dude. Before Anakin decided to help Sidious fire him out the
08:51window.
08:53And that's our list. Know any other things people never knew about Mace Windu? Let us know all about
08:57them in the comments section right down below, and do not forget to like, share, and click on that
09:01subscribe button while you're at it. Also, if you like this kind of thing, then head on over to
09:05whatculture.com and find some more incredible articles just like the one this video you're
09:09watching right now is based on. I have been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars, thank you as always
09:13for clicking on this video today, and I'm sure I'll see you very, very soon. Bye-bye!
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