| Mace Windu | |
|---|---|
| Star Wars character | |
Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu |
|
| Portrayed by | Samuel L. Jackson (prequel films) |
| Voiced by | Terrence C. Carson (2002 video game, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Clone Wars universe) Samuel L. Jackson (2008 animated film) Kevin Michael Richardson (Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles, Star Wars: Obi-Wan, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter) Tesshō Genda (Japanese dub; multiple projects) |
| Fictional profile | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Position | Jedi Master, Jedi Council Member, High Jedi General, former Master of the Order |
| Homeworld | Haruun Kal |
| Affiliation | Jedi Order, Galactic Republic |
Mace Windu is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, most famously portrayed by actor Samuel L. Jackson in the prequel films. However, Windu has also been voiced by other actors in assorted video game and animated projects.
Mace Windu is a Jedi Master and one of the last members of the Jedi Council before the fall of the Galactic Republic. Windu is the Council's primary liaison to the Supreme Chancellor, although the Clone Wars cause him to question his firmest held beliefs.[1]
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Mace Windu is one of the earliest named and created characters in Star Wars history, being the narrator of the original 1973 drafts of the original Star Wars film (later named Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope).[2] Through the process of redrafting and copyediting, his character was removed from the original film and its two successors, but he was reintroduced in 1994 when series creator George Lucas began writing the prequel trilogy.
When Lucas offered Samuel L. Jackson the role of Mace Windu, Jackson signed on, but with certain stipulations on the portrayal of his character. Aware that the climax of the prequel trilogy would eventually call for Mace Windu's death, one of the conditions was that his character die in a spectacular fashion, rather than being killed off ingloriously "like some punk".[3]
Also, according to an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 13, 2005, Windu's purple lightsaber was a personal request from Jackson to Lucas as a quid pro quo for appearing in the films, as well as a way of making the character unique and easily distinguishable. Jackson, a huge Star Wars fan, especially wanted his own color so that his character could be easily spotted and recognizable in the final battle scene of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones amid all of the other Jedi.
Windu first appears in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as the Master of the Jedi Order.[1] He is present when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) brings Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) before the Jedi Council, claiming that the young slave is the "Chosen One" who Jedi prophecy foretells will bring balance to the Force. Windu shares the Council's concerns that the boy exhibits a great deal of fear, and agrees with the body's decision to deny Qui-Gon permission to train him as a Jedi. However, following Qui-Gon's death at the hands of the Sith Lord Darth Maul (Ray Park), the Council reconsiders and allows Qui-Gon's apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), to train Anakin. He is present at Qui-Gon's funeral, at which time he confirms with Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) that Qui-Gon's killer was undoubtedly a Sith.
In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set 10 years later, Windu tries to help the Council defeat the growing threat presented by the Separatists, led by Jedi Master-turned-Sith lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). He also watches with growing concern as the now-adult Anakin (Hayden Christensen) begins to rebel against Obi-Wan's tutelage. In the film's climactic scene, he leads a large group of Jedi in a battle against Dooku's army. In this battle, Windu kills bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), the template for an army of clone troopers.
Windu makes his final film appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. By this point, he has fought in the Clone Wars for three years, during which time he has come to distrust the Republic's Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). When Palpatine appoints Anakin as his personal representative on the Jedi Council, Windu fears that the move is designed to give the Chancellor a vote in Jedi affairs, and casts a key vote in denying Anakin the full rank of Jedi Master.
Shortly afterwards, Anakin tells Windu he has learned that Palpatine is in fact the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Windu, accompanied by Jedi Masters Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin, goes to the Chancellor's office to confront him. Resisting arrest, Palpatine brandishes a red lightsaber and launches himself at the Jedi, killing all three of Windu's companions and engaging him in a lightsaber duel. Windu gains the upper hand and disarms the Sith Lord, who fires Force lightning at him; Windu blocks the lightning with his lightsaber and directs it back at Palpatine, scarring the Sith Lord's face. Anakin then arrives and Palpatine begs for help, stating that only he can save Anakin's wife, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman). Anakin pleads with Windu not to kill the Chancellor, and that he should stand trial before the Senate. Windu replies that Palpatine controls both the Senate and the courts, and is too dangerous to be kept alive. As Windu prepares to strike, Anakin intervenes and severs Windu's lightsaber hand. Palpatine then casts off his illusion of weakness, and hits Windu with another torrent of lightning, sending Windu plunging out of the chamber window to his death.[4]
Mace Windu appears extensively in the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" of novels and comic books. He is a major supporting character in the animated micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars, which appeared on Cartoon Network from 2003 to 2005. In the series, he is portrayed by voice-actor T. C. Carson.
In episodes 12 and 13 of Volume One, he is shown defending the grasslands planet Dantooine against a large hovering "fortress", and over the course, he loses his lightsaber, forcing him to instead use a lethal form of unarmed combat powered by the Force. In episode 25, the final episode of Volume Two (and the series), he and fellow Jedi Master Yoda help defend the planet Coruscant from an attack by Dooku's second-in-command, General Grievous. In the midst of the battle, he realizes that the attack is a ruse to distract the Jedi from Grievous' true objective: to kidnap Palpatine. He is too late to save the Chancellor, but uses the Force to crush Grievous' chest, inflicting upon the cyborg general the wheezing, asthmatic cough heard in Revenge of the Sith.
In the 2008 CGI film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Samuel L. Jackson reprised his role as Mace Windu. However, Terrence C. Carson reprised his role as Mace Windu in the television series that followed the film.
Windu is the central character of Matthew Stover's novel Shatterpoint, in which he is called to his home planet of Haruun Kal to defeat his former apprentice, Depa Billaba, who has turned to the dark side of the Force. The novel establishes that Windu has the unique talent of seeing "shatterpoints", or faultlines in the Force that could affect the destinies of certain individuals, and indeed the galaxy itself. It also explains that Windu is the creator and sole master of a style of lightsaber combat called Vaapad (Form VII), in which the combatant skirts dangerously close to the dark side — without giving into it — by actually enjoying the fight and the thrill of victory. Stover also referenced these abilities in his novelization of Revenge of the Sith.
Besides Shatterpoint, Windu has appeared in other Expanded Universe novels, such as Cloak of Deception, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Rogue Planet, Outbound Flight, The Cestus Deception, Jedi Trial, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous and Labyrinth of Evil.
A Mace Windu action figure was added to the Star Wars Transformers toy line in 2006. It was a remold of the toy first used for Obi-Wan Kenobi, he becomes an Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor starfighter with Astromech droid R4-M6.
IGN reported Mace Windu as the 27th top Star Wars character, stating that he is an important component of the series.[5]
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