“Our enemies wanna separate us. But Mandalorians are stronger together.”
―Bo-Katan Kryze
Bo-Katan Kryze is a female Mandalorian, who appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and The Mandalorian. Introduced in the fourth season of The Clone Wars as a supporting antagonist, her role in the series gradually shifted to more of a heroine during the fifth season, culminating with her serving as the tritagonist of the seventh and final season. She later returns in the premiere of the final season of Star Wars Rebels and made her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian.
She is voiced in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels by Katee Sackhoff, who also physically portrays her in The Mandalorian.
Bo-Katan, or simply Bo, is the sister of Satine Kryze, who once ruled as the Duchess of Mandalore, and served the Mandalorian terrorist group Death Watch during the Clone Wars until the Sith Lord Maul killed her leader Pre Vizsla. This, along with the demise of her sister at Maul's hands, led her to stage a rebellion against Maul's rule, attracting the attention of the Republic. While Mandalore was neutral in the Clone Wars, Bo-Katan asked the Republic to send forces to Mandalore to help capture Maul. As Anakin and Obi-Wan had been sent to rescue Palpatine from Dooku and Grievous' flagship above Coruscant, Ahsoka and Rex were sent instead, greatly angering Maul, who was anticipating Kenobi to come. Ahsoka, Rex, and Bo were able to capture Maul after a lightsaber fight, but did not heed his warnings about the impending disaster: Order 66, which Maul was familiar with despite no longer being associated with Palpatine.
During the Galactic Civil War, Bo Katan would later aid Sabine Wren and the crew of the Ghost in destroying a superweapon that could destroy Beskar armor. When the weapon was destroyed, Sabine would give her the Darksaber to showcase that she was the rightful leader of Mandalore.
Bo-Katan would later lead the Mandalorians into battle against the Empire, and witnessed the Great Purge. Bo-Katan would later survive the Great Purge on Mandalore when the Galactic Empire tried to wipe out Mandalorians. Her Darksaber was stolen by Moff Gideon in the battle, and her people were rendered few and divided.
Five years after the Battle of Endor, Bo-Katan would later encounter Din Djarin on Trask as part of a Mandalorian, where he had been attacked by Quarren pirates who tried to kill him and the Child to steal his armor. Bo-Katan and her squad rescued Din Djarin and the Child, asking him to aid them in stealing Imperial weapons and supplies in exchange for aid in finding the Jedi to return the Child to them. Din Djarin was at first disturbed by Bo-Katan's removal of her helmet, believing she was not Mandalorian. However, this turned out to be the norm for most Mandalorians, as he was shocked to learn that he was part of a sect of Mandalorians that broke away from the mainstream Mandalorian society in favor of the old ways. Djarin agreed, proceeding to help them take the transport vessel. Suffering close calls and no casualties, the four Mandalorians commandeered the ship, while Bo-Katan tried to interrogate the captain as to whether Moff Gideon had the Darksaber. The captain refused to give her a straight answer, killing himself with an electric implant in his teeth rather than facing Moff Gideon's wrath. Afterwards, Bo-Katan tried to convince Djarin to join her, but the latter told her he had to remain obligated to his quest. Understanding, Bo-Katan told him to seek out Ahsoka Tano in the city of Calodan on the forest world of Corvus before they parted ways.
Some time later, Bo-Katan and her Nite Owl comrade Koska Reeves are having a snack at a bar when they are approached by Djarin accompanied by former bounty hunter Boba Fett. Djarin enlisted the help of Bo-Katan to save Grogu (The Child) from the clutches of Moff Gideon. Bo-Katan refuses at first and even calls Boba a fake Mandalorian, which he does not deny because he has never considered himself as such. She changes her mind, however, when Djarin reveals to have the coordinates of Gideon's cruiser and was willing to leave the cruiser to her to reclaim Mandalore. When Boba mocked Mandalore's interest, Bo-Katan called him a disgrace for his armor and daring to refer to Jango Fett as Boba's donor instead of his father as she knew by his voice that he was just a clone like the Clone Troopers. A fight ensued between Boba and Koska that Bo-Katan quickly stopped before accepting Djarin's offer, especially wanting to recover the Darksaber.
After infiltrating the Imperial cruiser using subterfuge, Bo-Katan, Cara Dune, Koska, and Fennec Shand fight their way to the bridge taking out every Stormtroopers and Imperial officer in their path as Djarin goes. look for Grogu. Once the bridge is under their control, Bo-Katan cannot find Gideon and a bit later, Djarin joins the four women with Grogu and a handcuffed Gideon, much to Bo-Katan's shock as she can no longer claim the Darksaber only Gideon had taken from him during the purge. Gideon then tries to get Bo-Katan to kill Djarin to take back the sword to no avail and Djarin voluntarily wants to return the weapon to the leader of the Nite Owl but she resigns herself. The next moment, Gideon's Dark Trooper droids begin punching through the armored door separating them from the group whose chances of beating the blaster-proof droids. Luke Skywalker suddenly arrives aboard the ship, easily destroying the Dark Troopers and prompting Gideon to shoot Bo-Katan only to attempt to take Grogu down before being overpowered by the rest of the group. Surviving thanks to her beskar armor, Bo-Katan then watches as Grogu walks away with Skywalker and R2-D2.
Some time later, a Mando reunited with Grogu, meeting Bo-Katan at her family's ancestral home on Kalevala, Mando claiming to have come to join her. Bo-Katan is skeptical of this and reveals that she lost both her allies and her resources as she had not returned with the Darksaber, putting her desire to reclaim Mandalore back on hold. Mando then tells her about the Mines of Mandalore where the Living Waters needed for his return to the Tribe are located due to having his helmet removed on Gideon's ship, only for Bo-Katan to try to discourage him from doing this journey because of the planet state and old beliefs she never believed in, even stating that the Children of the Watch are the cause of the fracturing of Mandalorian society. As Mando persists, she nevertheless reveals to him that the mines are under Sundari.
About a day later, at the sight of Mando's N-1, Bo-Katan goes out to meet him to let it be known once and for all that she wants to be left alone, suddenly changing her mindset when she seeing that Grogu is in command, she then leaves for Mandalore to rescue Mando. Confronting the Alamites on her way, Kryze finds Mando prisoner of a cyborg and uses the Darksaber to defeat him. After Mando recovered from the event, Bo-Katan ultimately chose to help him find the mines. As the two walked amid the ruins of Sundari, Bo-Katan fondly recounts how marvelous her ancient civilization was until the Empire destroyed it. She also talks about her late father. The trio finally reach the mines and then the Living Waters where Mando begins the rehabilitation process but suddenly sinks to the bottom of the waters. Bo-Katan manages to save him once again by using her jet-pack to return to the surface, discovering an authentic living Mythosaur. She decides to keep it to herself before the return trip.
Approaching Kalevala, the trio is attacked by TIE Interceptors up to the mountain of the planet where they manage to destroy them with their two individual ships. Much to Bo-Katan's misfortune, TIE Bombers bombard her castle. Without her being able to take revenge because of the Imperial reinforcements arriving in excess, Bo-Katan follows Mando into hyperspace. They take refuge on the planet where the Tribe resides but they are initially not welcome, the other Mandalorians seeing them as apostates, Mando for having transgressed the Way of Mandalore and Bo-Katan because his House is rejected. out of the way a long time ago. The Armorer confirms through the Living Waters sample that Mando bathed there and reintegrated him into the clan before stating to Bo-Katan that she also accomplished the rehabilitation by entering the waters, making her a of theirs.
Following the abduction of a foundling by a Raptor, a gigantic local flying beast, Bo-Katan leads a squad to rescue the boy after finding the creature's nest. The next day, the Mandalorians scale the cliff where the nest is located but sooner or later they reach it than Paz Vizsla's recklessness in rescuing the foundling, who is his son Ragnar, wakes the baby Raptors and lures their mother almost feeds them Ragnar. The squad is able to defeat the Raptor and rescue Ragnar, while bringing the now orphaned babies back to be foundlings. Having lost his right pauldron in the struggle, Bo-Katan agrees to have the Armorer make her a new one, this time with the Mythosaur symbol. She simultaneously tells the blacksmith about her encounter with the living Mythosaur on Mandalore, without the Armorer actually seeming to be convinced.
Bo-Katan helps free Nevarro soon after, bringing the Mandalorians to the ground before going to lend Mando a helping hand against the Gorian Shard Pirates. She and Mando are able to destroy the starship of a defeated Shard as he tries to take the city down with him. After the Mandalorians' victory, Bo-Katan meets the Armorer who asks her to remove her helmet before giving her a personal mission as she saw a Mythosaur, the mission to reunite the Mandalorians still scattered in the galaxy so that they reform a people again and may one day return to Mandalore.
Accompanied by Mando and Grogu, Bo-Katan searches for her former followers now led by Woves after she fails to retrieve the Darksaber. The trio finds traces of the Mandalorians on Plazir-15 and as soon as they land, they are summoned by the planet's leaders who offer them that in exchange for taking care of a rogue droid problem they can meet the hired Mandalorian fleet. on Plazir-15 as a protection force. Directed by Commissioner Helgait to the Ugnaught workers, the two Mandalorians only learn that the Ugnaughts have no doubts about their success in reprogramming the droids before redirecting the duo to the loading dock.
There, Bo-Katan is surprised to see so many battle droids since she hasn't seen one since The Clone Wars. A super battle droid attacks Mando after he jostles it and flees through the city, only to be shot by Bo-Katan. The spark pad found on the droid brings the duo to The Resistor bar where Bo-Katan and Mando argue over how to get information, with Mando focusing too much on intimacy while she leaves more benefit of the doubt. The bartender droid reveals that all droids frequenting the bar, including those of Separatist origin, exclusively consume Nepenthe. By analysis in a laboratory, they discover that the Nepenthe has been condemned by nano-droids of the Techno Union, bought by Helgait.
No sooner have they confronted the Commissar than the latter threatens to simultaneously activate all the nano-droids affecting the droids of Plazir-15 by the single press of a main button, which would produce a terrible wave of violence. Bo-Katan easily concludes that Heilgait is a Separatist before neutralizing him with an electrify dart. With their end of the bargain accomplished, the trio went to meet the Mandalorians on their personal land, which also served as a docking for the ships that Bo-Katan had previously collected. Bo-Katan is quick to challenge Woves for leadership and beats him soundly. A beaten Woves taunts Bo-Katan for not claiming the Darksaber and for leaving it to a man with no Mandalorian blood in his veins but Bo-Katan refutes this statement, telling everyone that Mando follows the creed like every one of their ancestors, making him as much of a Mandalorian as any of them. Woves then mentions the ancient law requiring the wielder of the Darksaber to rule Mandalore, only for Mando to reveal that Bo-Katan saved his life from the cyborg on Mandalore, causing her to regain the right to wield Darksaber while killing the cyborg who had captured him. With everyone approving, Mando hands the Darksaber to Bo-Katan and this time she accepts it.
With the two distinct clans of Mandalorians assembled on Nevarro, Bo-Katan wasted no time in planning the recapture of Mandalore. His first objective is to find and secure the location of the Great Forge while the fleet waits in orbit and once the forge is found, the other Mandalorians can come. To do so, she asks for volunteers for the exploration team and wins Mando, Grogu, the Armorer, Vizsla, Koska, and Woves among the members. The next day, the team lands on Mandalore and continues on foot when they encounter survivors of the Great Purge, the latter recognizing Bo-Katan as their former leader. In the evening, around dinner, she confesses to the survivors that she had capitulated to the Empire in the hope of avoiding the bombardment of their planet, that was how she lost the Darksaber to Gideon who despite having given his word still launched the purge. If Bo-Katan is still ashamed for what she did, Mando still affirms his faith in her and that they will rebuild Mandalore.
The next day, after the Armorer joins the fleet to escort the wandering Mandalorians unable to follow, the team makes their way to the forge, only to be attacked by a giant reptilian creature. The majority of Mandalorians manage to reach the underground caves and then come across the now extinct Great Forge. Suddenly, Jumptroopers in beskar armor attack, beginning a fierce battle costing lives on both sides until the Imperials retreat deep into the cavern. Pursuing the enemy brings the Mandalorians to a secret Imperial base filled with TIEs, only for the team to be divided by armored doors closing in on them. Bo-Katan watches helplessly as Mando is captured and a Gideon arrives equipped in armor resembling the Dark Troopers but making beskar he had looted on Mandalore. After Gideon orders the TIE launched against the Mandalorian fleet, Bo-Katan yells that she should have killed him when she had the chance, to which the despicable Moff demands that she return the Darksaber to him and that Mandalore is his now. Refusing to give in this time, Bo-Katan opens an entrance in the armored door with the Darksaber to allow her comrades to escape, She then bids farewell to Paz Vizsla having decided to stay behind to cover for them.
Continuing to flee underground, Bo-Katan warns Woves via transmission that Gideon has launched starfighters against their fleet so she orders the Mandalorians to evacuate it for a ground assault while using the Light Cruiser as a diversion. After she and Koska impede their pursuer, Bo-Katan is briefly contacted by a freshly escaped Mando while she and her companions are under enemy fire until the leader of the survivors leads them to safety. Inside the underground hideout, Bo-Katan finds that the vegetation there is flourishing, a fact resulting from the farming of the ancient Mandalore native species. Afterwards, the Armorer informs Bo-Katan of the arrival of reinforcements, so she assaults him to reclaim their planet once and for all.
A fierce dogfight against the Imperials ensues, Bo-Katan notices Mando at Gideon's mercy and she attacks the Moff to allow Mando to go and help Grogu battling three Praetorian Guards while she confronts Gideon in battle. Armed with his Dartk Troopers armor and an electrostaff, Gideon gets the better of Bo-Katan and ends up breaking her hand, destroying the Darksaber in the process. Mando returns to the charge and the two Mandalorians are able to outrun Gideon before the Light Cruiser crashes into the bass. While Gideon is consumed by the flames, Bo-Katan and Mando are saved thanks to Grogu's Force mastery.
With the Imperial occupation eradicated, Bo-Katan is present when Mando officially adopts Grogu as his adopted son so that he may one day become a real Mandalorian. The leader of the Nite Owls subsequently proceeds to revive the Great Forge, much to the delight of both Mandalorian factions.
Trivia[]
Bo-Katan Kryze is both voiced and portrayed by Katee Sackhoff in her animated and live-action appearances.
Bo-Katan is one of only five characters introduced in The Clone Wars to appear in live action, the others being Saw Gerrera, Ahsoka Tano, Cad Bane, and Mon Mothma.
While in Rebels, Bo-Katan agreed to take the Darksaber to guide the Mandalorians against the Empire, she refused to take it when Djarin handed it to her because she now believed it could only be won in combat. This is further explained in The Book of Boba Fett, with the Armorer revealing that Darksaber legend speaks of a curse on whoever is offered the weapon without earning it. So it's likely that Bo-Katan became superstitious about the Darksaber after the Mandalore havoc.
Bo-Katan Kryze on Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki
