If you’re a Star Wars fan, even just a casual one, chances are you’ve heard the name Vizsla before. House Vizsla is one of the most important and powerful houses in Mandalorian society. The house started with Tarre Vizsla, the legendary ruler of Mandalore. Tarre is the only known Mandalorian to have become a Jedi during his lifetime. As a Mandalorian Jedi, he succeeded in transferring black energy into a Kyber Crystal and created the one-of-a-kind Darksaber. He then used the saber to unite all of Mandalore and become its leader.
As a result, the treasured artifact remained in the house of Vizsla and was claimed by his descendants. The Darksaber is a very coveted artifact to have because Mandalorians see any Mandalorian who wields the Darksaber as their ruler, even if they’re not officially named the ruler of Mandalore. This explains why Pre Vizsla (Jon Favreau) garnered such a large following of supporters during the reign of Duchess Satine Kryze (Anna Graves).
Pre’s story was detailed in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the show marks his sole appearance in the Star Wars TV/film universe so far. However, his story is vital to understanding the history of Mandalore and how the planet reached its current state in The Mandalorian.
Pre Vizsla’s story explained
Pre was a Mandalorian and descendant of Tarre who rose to prominence on the planet of Mandalore during the Clone Wars. Satine had risen to power shortly after the Mandalorian Civil War and, thus, sought a period of peace to allow the planet to recover from the brutal war. However, Pre cherished the martial history of the Mandalorians and wanted them to take up their war-like traditions again. Therefore, he formed the Death Watch, a terrorist faction of Mandalorians who sought to overthrow Satine. He was joined by Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and forged an alliance with Darth Maul’s (Sam Witwer) Shadow Collective for extra power.
Darth Maul and Pre initially bonded over the fact that they both had beef with Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor). However, after conquering Mandalore, he disagreed with Maul’s vision to conquer other neutral planets. Maul was then imprisoned while Pre named himself Prime Minister of Mandalore, but Maul soon escaped and challenged him to a duel to determine the true leader of the planet.
The two engaged in one of the fiercest duels in Star Wars history, but Maul ultimately proved the winner. He killed Pre, took the Darksaber, and named himself the new ruler of Mandalore. Even though he wielded the Darksaber, it wasn’t quite enough for the Mandalorians to submit to his rule because he was an outsider. This led Bo-Katan and Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar) to revolt against and defeat Maul. Sadly, Maul’s rule was only followed by the takeover of Mandalore by the Galactic Empire, which subsequently carried out the Purge of Mandalore.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
