Jango Fett had a complicated relationship with the Jedi that started way before the prequelStar Warstrilogy. However, many fans have no idea where these feelings came from or why they drove him to such drastic actions. On the surface, Jango (Temuera Morrison) was just another low-level bad guy. He made a deal with the Sith to take revenge on the Jedi, and didn’t care about the millions of clones he sacrificed in the process. He even played a significant part in silencing Zam Wesell (Leeanna Walsman) after her failed assassination of Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) inStar Wars II: Attack of the Clones.The senator could have held her own, but the attempt leads to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) chasing Jango down and discovering the clone army on Kamino.
However, like any interesting character, there were layers to why Jango did such terrible things and many of them were rooted in past trauma around past conflicts between Mandolorians and Jedi. Does that justify his actions? Certainly not. But it does provide context into why the energy he put into plotting against the Jedi was only outmatched by Dark Side players like Darth Maul and Chancellor Palpatine.
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The Mandalorian Civil War
While theStar Warsmovies never showed it, Jango’s childhood on Mandalore was marked with conflict and strife. Satine Kryze led the New Mandalorians into a new peaceful way of life that rejected the old warrior culture of the True Mandalorians. In partnership with the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Council sent Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn to protect Satine in her radical endeavors. Jango was one of many True Mandalorians exiled to Concord Dawn for their refusal to spurn their warrior customs.
Later, Jango briefly stepped up as the leader of the True Mandalorians in place of his mentor Jaster Mereel. Then bad intel led to Master Dooku showing up with a Jedi task force, under the mistaken impression that the True Mandalorians were slaughtering innocents. It was the Mandalorians versus the Jedi in the Battle of Galidraan, and the results were devastating. Half of the 20 Jedi warriors fighting alongside Dooku were killed, but over 300 True Mandalorians were wiped out, with Jango as the last warrior standing. No wonder Jango had such a huge bone to pick with the Jedi.
Jango Fett the Bounty Hunter
In the Marvel comic seriesStar Wars: Age of Republic, Jango once told his ‘son’ Boba:
“We aren’t born with our reputations. We have to earn them.”
Jango lived by these words and became known as one of the most prolific bounty hunters in the galaxy. He acquired his iconic Mandalorian armor during the Mandalorian Civil Wars prior to the Mandalorians versus Jedi conflict. Yet, he earned his stripes by working withStar Warsfavorites like Hondo Ohnaka andthe notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane.
Jango was fast, strong, and smart with a deadly focus that left no job undone. If he said he would do something, he’d do it as long as the credits were delivered as promised. Jango also knew a good opportunity when he saw one. During one job, he stole a Firespray-31 starship and infamously named it Slave 1. Why he chose that name is anyone’s guess, as Jango was bound to no one but his own moral code during this time. It was just him, the open road (so to speak), and the next job. Then the Sith entered the picture.
Making Deals With the Sith
The video gameStar Wars: Bounty Huntershowed how Jango was recruited bySith Master Darth Tyranus, aka Count Dooku. When the Sith was still a Jedi Master, he had worked with his apprentice Komari Vosa to take down the True Mandalorians. Years later, Count Dooku used the same fallen apprentice as bait for Jango by putting a bounty on her head. This drew the bounty hunter into a deal, in which he agreed to become the template for a clone army.
All he asked for in exchange was 20 million credits and an unmodified clone to call his own: his son Boba Fett. It’s ironic that Jango was willing to work with the same person who had led the Mandalorian-Jedi conflict that ended with so many of Jango’s people dead. It’s even stranger when one considers that his resentment toward the Jedi was what motivated him to plot against them in the first place. But manyStar Warscharacters have made strange bedfellows for the sake of love and money.
Clone Troopers
Anyone making a deal with a Sith is arguably a bad person, right? There’s not a single moment inStar Warswhere a person can essentially get into bed with the Devil and not be deemed a villain. It’s even worse when said deal includes the creation of an army of soldiers conscripted into a war they had literally no say in fighting. By the time Obi-Wan found them on Kamino inAttack of the Clones, their numbers were in the thousands, and they were under the belief that they were to serve the Jedi. Instead, Jango had agreed to use them as a secret weapon against the Jedi,called to order when the time was right.
Too bad Jango didn’t see all the clones as his sons. Instead, he looked at the identical faces of the clone troopers and saw cannon fodder. He saw a source of funds. Even though Jango played a big part in the early days of their training, it’s arguable whether he even saw them as human beings. More importantly, he looked at them and saw a way to get back at the Jedi for their role in the Battle of Galidraan. Jango wanted them to pay for the Mandalorian-Jedi conflict and was willing to use the clones to do it.
Jango was one of the baddest characters inStar Wars– in both senses of the word. He kicked major butt, and he left no prisoners, especially when bringing someone in dead meant a bigger payoff for him and Boba. But he was also one of the worst. He let his resentment toward the Jedi cloud his judgment and a whole army of clones paid the price, even though the Mandalorian-Jedi conflict had nothing to do with them.
Yet, the clones were essential to the downfall of the Jedi inStar Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Jango hated the Jedi for what they took from him. Perhaps he even hated him for having a home to return to after helping the New Mandalorians take his. Whatever the reason, he hated the Jedi enough to become essential to Palpatine’s elaborate plans of genocide. He quite literally changed the trajectory of the Jedi presence throughoutStar Wars,only to die at the hands of Jedi Master Mace Windu during the bloody Battle of Geonosis.
