The Mandalorian Connection You Never Knew About Darth Revan

The Star Wars universe is massive, both in terms of its fictional size and the amount of media it spans. From feature films to comic books, the chronology of a galaxy far, far away has no limits and is daunting for it. To best make sense of this endless stream of space-faring adventures, the mythology is broken down into a handful of different sections. In the current canon, the Star Wars timeline is divided across the High Republic, the Clone Wars, the Galactic Civil War, and the Resistance eras. The now-defunct Star Wars Legends includes a few others, the most prominent being the age of the Old Republic.

Thousands of years before the Clone Wars, the Sith and the Jedi vied for power across the galaxy — leaving destruction in their wake. In the midst of their warfare, a conflict known as the Mandalorian Wars came to be, pitting the Galactic Republic against the culture of armored warriors. Iconic names emerged on both sides, perhaps none more well-remembered than Darth Revan. Introduced for 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game, Revan has done it all in the Star Wars galaxy. The Force user has embraced both the Light and the Dark Sides, putting his strengths to good use on the battlefield no matter where he aligned.

Aside from being a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars, Darth Revan has a much deeper connection to Mandalorian culture that you likely never noticed.

Revan's defining feature is his legendary mask, and the little-known story behind it is actually quite interesting. As revealed in Knights of the Old Republic 42: Masks from 2009 (via CBR), the helmet once belonged to a Mandalorian woman who served under Cassus Fett during the Battle of Cathar. He fully intended to murder the entirety of Cathar's population, and she disagreed with him, intervening on their behalf. Ruthless as ever and unwilling to negotiate, Fett killed her along with them.

A decade later, Revan discovers the relic during a trip to Cathar with his Jedi allies. They all share in a vision of Fett's violence and it shakes them to the core, but Revan really took the scene to heart. He elected to wear the helmet in the Mandalorian woman's honor, promising not to remove it until her people pay for their transgressions. However, long after the Mandalorian Wars concluded, Revan kept the mask on, even after he fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Revan. At that point, it had become a symbol of his power and a tool to strike fear into the hearts of all who heard his name. 

Following his capture, at the hands of the Jedi, Revan loses his memories and is implanted with false ones. Jedi Bastilla Shan also takes the Mandalorian mask from him, fearing that if he kept it, his old memories would return and he'd terrorize the cosmos yet again. That theory was proven correct when Meetra Surik returned it to him, with it later falling into the custody of various Sith until Revan was killed on Yavin IV.

Revan's reason for taking the Mandalorian helm was noble, but it became corrupted by his greed and lust for power. Nevertheless, the mask will be synonymous with him forevermore, despite its origins.