Gar Saxon was a human male Mandalorian who was around during the final years of the Galactic Republic. He was originally a member of the Shadow Collective serving as a Mandalorian Super Commando during the Clone Wars. Following the end of the war, he joined the newly formed Galactic Empire and became the Imperial Viceroy of Mandalore.
He first appears in Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir as a protagonist villain and appears later in Star Wars: Rebels as a minor antagonist in Season Three.
He is voiced by Ray Stevenson.
History
Background
Gar Saxon was born on Mandalore during the final years of the Galactic Republic and became active during the Clone Wars. Sometime during the conflict, he joined the Shadow Collective led by the renegade Sith Lord Darth Maul and was appointed as a Mandalorian Super Commando. Nothing else is known about his past however.
Clone Wars Era
Mission to Stygeon Prime
In 19 BBY, Gar Saxon and Rook Kast traveled to the snowy planet of Stygeon Prime where their leader Maul was located at. He was being held in the Spire, a Separatist prison and was interrogated constantly by his former master, Darth Sidious, and his current apprentice, Count Dooku. Saxon and Kast made it to the Spire and were ordered by Prime Minister Almec to break in and rescue Maul on his orders. They broke into the Spire and broke Maul out and escaped on a Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter.
Ambush and Battle of Zanbar
After breaking Maul out of the Spire, Gar Saxon and the others returned to Zanbar and landed on the Death Watch Camp on the planet, which was now a Shadow Collective base. Maul was then contacted by Almec who ordered his rescue to pay a debt he owed to Maul for having broken Almec out of custody on Mandalore before. Maul's reunion with his forces was cut short however when a Separatist invasion force led by General Grievous arrived and began attacking the Shadow Collective forces on Zanbar. Saxon commanded the Mandalorian forces along with Maul against the Separatist droid forces but suffered heavy losses and were eventually forced to retreat and escape to Ord Mantell.
Defense of Ord Mantell
After loosing Zanbar, Maul and his troops escaped and fled to Ord Mantell, which the Shadow Collective had a facility on, and arrived on the planet. Knowing that the Separatists were not far behind, Maul began gathering his troops and recieved help from Mother Talzin who sent a group of Nightbrother warriors to aid and help him. Just as Maul predicted, the Separatists arrived and Saxon was put in charge of commanding the Shadow Collective's ground forces while Maul and the others engaged the Separatist fleet in space. On the ground, Saxon and his troops suffered heavy casualties as the Separatists overran them and was eventually forced to surrender and was nearly executed before Maul captured Grievous and the droid army shut down. He and the rest of his troops then moved in and captured Count Dooku before he could kill the Nightbrother leader Viscus.
Attack on Vizsla Keep 09
After defending Ord Mantell, Saxon and the Shadow Collective withdrew and went to Vizsla Keep 09, a Mandalorian supply outpost near the planet and was present in the control room where Maul presented a captured Dooku and Grievous to his former master to boast on how he'd failed. Saxon then left and took Grievous to a holding cell while Maul and Dooku conversed where Maul tried to covnince Dooku to betray Sidious and join forces with him to overthrow the dark lord. The Republic however, tracked Maul's location to the facility and began attacking it with Obi-Wan Kenobi leading the assault along with Tiplee. Saxon showed up during the battle and ordered Kast to shoot a missile at Aayla Secura and Mace Windu to cover Maul and Dooku's escape and withdrew from the facility leaving most of their forces behind and were captured by the Republic forces.
Second Battle of Dathomir
After loosing Vizsla Keep 09, Maul and the Shadow Collective fled back to Dathomir where Dooku was brought before Mother Talzin, the clan mother and leader of the Nightsisters, and had him brainwashed with Nightsister magic. Maul then ordered Saxon to keep Ziton Moj and a Pyke leader in check after they threatened to withdraw from the Shadow Collective had they not gotten paid. After Sidious showed up with Grievous and began attacking Talzin, Saxon was't present when Separatist forces began attacking Black Sun and Pyke Syndicate bases and resulted in both organizations pulling out and the dissolution of the Shadow Collective. After Talzin died at the hands of Grievous, Saxon and Kast took Maul and fled back to Mandalore.
Era of the Empire
Destroying the Protectors
Following the dissolution of the Shadow Collective and the end of the Clone Wars, Gar Saxon eventually joined the newly formed Galactic Empire and was isntalled the new Viceroy of Mandalore. As the leader of Mandalore, Saxon ruled the planet on behalf of the empire and eventually merged his followers together into a new group called Imperial Super Commandos and became soldiers for the Imperial Military. Sometime during the early days of the Galactic Empire, Saxon got into a rivalry with Fenn Rau, the leader of the Journeyman Protectors, a Mandalorian faction based in the Concord Dawn system. In 2 BBY, he found an opportunity to kill his rival after finding out that the Journeymen were affiliated with the rebellion and went over to their camp and destroyed it and killed most of the journeymen effectively destroying the organization entirely.
Fenn Rau eventually went back to the Third Moon of Concord Dawn after he lost contact with the Journeymen and Saxon's plan was complicated after Rau was found accompanied by Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger, Mandalorian girl/Clan Wren member Sabine Wren, and astromech droid Chopper. After they destroyed an Imperial Dwarf Prod Droid, Saxon's men intercepted the rebels and captured Ezra and Chopper.
Interrogating the rebels
After Ezra was captured, they were brought back to their camp where Ezra was interrogated and ordered the other commandos to search for Sabine and Fau. Chopper was eventually found and brought back to their camp where Ezra claimed that he and Chopper were actually scavengers for Hondo Ohnaka and his gang. One of the commandos said that there wasn't any sign of other rebels but Saxon was unsatisfied and continued his interrogation of the young Jedi. Ezra claimed that he didn't know of any rebellion which made Saxon angry and reminded him that he was a seasoned and professional Mandalorian warrior and not a fresh-faced graduate from the Imperial Academy but Ezra further played ignorance with the Imperial officer. Growing impatient, Saxon and his men fired blaster bolts near Chopper, startling him, which then made Ezra claim that he was Lando Calrissian but Saxon didn't buy it and went into Chopper's memory circuts.
Ezra then claimed that Fenn Rau had sent them which caught Saxon's attention, Saxon then continued interrogating him and asked for the whereabouts of Rau but, Ezra continued to play ignorant which further infuriated the Imperial commnader. Out of patience, he through Ezra against the wall and held Chopper at gunpoint and threatened to shoot and destroy the droid. Saxon began to fire on the droid but every shot was deflected away from Chopper by Ezra using the force to which Saxon noticed and then ascerted that Ezra was a Jedi and knew that he had a more valuable captive. Before he could deal with Ezra however, Sabine came in, threw smoke grenades, and escaped with Ezra and Chopper.
Showdown with Sabine
After Sabine broke Ezra and Chopper out, their ship flew away and they soon found themselves surrounded by Imperial Super Commandos. Saxon recognized Sabine from her armor and talked about how her mother came to the side of the empire after Sabine abandoned her studies at the Imperial Academy of Mandalore and chastised her for shaming her family's name. Out of respect for Sabine and Clan Wren, he offered her a choice to join him by his side and Sabine said yes and showed signs of her surrendering but, it was a trap and it distracted Saxon enough to allow Chopper to broadcast Frequency 337 into the helmets of the Imperial mandalorians. With Saxon and his men temporarily incapacitated, Sabine took the time to grab Ezra and Chopper and escape.
Sabine and Ezra flew away on a shared jetpack while Chopper flew via his rocket thrusters and Saxon pursued after them along with his men. A chase then ensued as the rebels flew through a canyon with Imperial Mandalorians chasing after and shooting at them. Ezra deflected the blasts while Sabine flew to avoid them and even shot down one of the commandos. During the chase, the rebels were heading into a more narrow part of the canyon and so Saxon ordered his men to split up and cut them off but, Sabine had rocks fall on some of the commandos killing two of them and then killed another by shooting his jetpack resulting in it blowing up.
Sabine and the rebels eventually made it to Saxon's ship however, Saxon caught up to him and soon, the rebels found themselves surrounded by him and the remaining Imperial Super Commando. Before Saxon could kill the rebels however, Fenn Rau came back in the Phantom II and attacked Saxon, destroying his ship and knocking down the remaining commando. Saxon attacked Sabine and tried to kill her but, she got away and escaped while Saxon could only look on at the burning ruins of his ship.
Entaglement with Clan Wren
Saxon eventually returned to Mandalore after the disaster in the Concord Dawn system and was in the Mandalorian capitol of Sundari when he was contacted by Ursa Wren, an Imperial mandalorian and the leader of Clan Wren, where she told the viceroy of the arrival of Sabine and two Jedi on the planet of Krownest at the clan's stronghold. Saxon, realizing that he could make up for his previous failure, said that she did the right think contacting him and that he would arrive with reinforcements to capture the rebels. Saxon eventually arrived on Krownest where he. the Imperial Super Commandos, and Pro-Imperial Clan Wren warriors surrounded Sabine, Ezrea, and Kanan and Saxon handed the Darksaber over to Ursa.
Tristen Wren, a member of Saxon's supercommandos and an Imperial soldier, objected saying that all of them were Mandalorians and betraying one another was pointless but Saxon was displeased and gave Tristen a choice to chose the empire or his family and he chose his family, objecting the viceroy. A firefight soon broke out and Saxon tried to kil Ursa but, he was stopped by Sabine and the two ended up in a lightsaber duel with Saxon using the darksaber while Sabine was using Ezra's lightsaber. The two Mandalorians dueled until Sabine had Saxon at his knees and was able to kill him but, she walked away. Furious, Saxon got up and tried to shoot her but was instead shot by Ursa and fell on the frozen lake dead.
Legacy
After Gar Saxon was killed, Fenn Rau had stated that Mandalore would eventually descend into chaos without the leadership of the viceroy. Rau said that it would be bad but, Ursa thought that the chaos would be good and necessary in rebuilding the military strength of the planet and Rau suggested that Sabine take the darksaber and succeede Saxon as the new leader of Mandalore. Sabine rejected it however and chose to stay behind and wanted to help instigate an uprising on Mandalore to free her father and find the rightful ruler for Mandalore and its people. Saxon was later succeeded by his brother, Tiber Saxon, who continued to retain Imperial dominance on Mandalore like Gar did.
Personality
Gar Saxon was a brutal, ruthless, and aggressive Mandalorian warrior who showcased high levels of dedication and loyalty towards those that he was placed under the command of. During the Clone Wars, he was a loyal follower of Maul and fought along his side during his personal crusade against his enemies during the final years of the conflict. He rescued Maul from Stygeon Prime and folllowed him from there on all the way until the downfall and occupation of Mandalore by the Galactic Republic. After the Republic had fallen and was reformed into the Galactic Empire, he swore allegience to the new government, which made many within Mandalore, such as Sabine Wren, to question whether or not he was truely aligned to Mandalore or himself because of his allegience to an outsider regime. After joining the ranks of the Empire, Saxon took over as Viceroy of the planet and lead the Imperial Super Commandos and showcased his ruthless nature against his enemies.
As the proxy ruler of Mandalore, he made sure that the planet remained under Imperial control and supressed any opposition to the Imperial regime by any means necessary. He violently supressed any opponents to the Empire, deeming them as traitors, with the most notable example being his crackdown and efforts against Clan Wren after Sabine broke away and defected from the Empire in response to what she was building for the regime and its military to use against Mandalore if needed. Saxon sought to destroy Clan Wren so he couold acquire the Darksaber to show that he must now rule Mandalore, but he had no right to it showing his apathy and lack of care towards Mandalore's traditions and values in favor of maintaining power at the cost of the Mandalorian people. In battle, Saxon wouldn't accept defeat and when he was beaten by Sabine in a fight, he wanted her to kill him instead of being captured. When she refused, he tried killing her, but was shot and killed by Ursa Wren before he could kill her daughter.
