Pirate King Gorian Shard is a major antagonist in Season 3 of the 2019 Disney+ Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian. He is an evil pirate captain under the employ of Elia Kane, who in turn was following orders from Moff Gideon. He has a grudge against Greef Karga, who also comes into conflict with Din Djarin.
He was portrayed by Nonso Anozie, who also played Xaro Xhoan Daxos in Game of Thrones.
Appearance[]
Gorian Shard is a burly, slimey alien, with plant-like hair. He has green skin, orange eyes, and wears a large brown coat.
Biography[]
Gorian sent a few of his men down to Nevarro to speak to Greef Karga, only for the majority to be gunned down by Greef and Din Djarin. After Din leaves the planet, Gorian sets up a trap for him. This leads to a space battle, resulting in Din using the agility of his N-1 starfighter to shoot down many of the pirates who come after him, and when he sees Gorian Shard's ship, he tries to intimidate him into surrendering, but Din just uses the ship's hyperdrive to bolt away before he can react, leaving him extremely angry.
A few weeks later, Gorian contacts Greef Karga on Nevarro, announcing his intent to enact his revenge on him for previously shooting down his men, ignoring the fact that, as Karga points out, they tried to shoot him first. Despite Karga's attempts to convince him they're under the jurisdiction of the New Republic, Shard knows better and tells him not to contact him again unless it's to surrender. He then commences his attack on the city, forcing the citizens to evacuate. After this, Karga records an urgent message for the New Republic to send aid, which Carson Teva receives, and although he's unable to convince his superior, Colonel Tuttle to intervene due to a lack of resources, he then goes to where Din Djarin and the rest of the Children of the Watch are hiding to tell him about the situation. This leads to Din Djarin convincing the rest of the covert to form a rescue team and fight Shard despite their past conflict with Karga.
In the air, Din flies in first and acts as a decoy, getting the attention of most of his men, and while they're off trying to shoot him down, Bo-Katan flies down with her ship and starts attacking Gorian's. With few fighers to defend him, she easily does a lot of damage to the ship, and even when many of them come back upon Gorian realizing their strategy, Din goes back as well and the two of them continue outmaneuvering and shooting down most of the pirates. Meanwhile, the pirate's ground forces are dealt with fairly easily by squads of Mandalorians due to the latter group's protective armor and battle experience, as well as because Shard and the rest of his air-bound forces are too tied up with Din and Bo-Katan to help them. Even after nearly all his fighter pilots have been taken out (aside from Vane, who makes a cowardly retreat) and three of the four engines on his ship have been destroyed, Shard refuses to admit defeat and retreat, and instead makes a last-ditch attempt to fire on the citizens just outside the city. Din and Bo-Katan respond by quickly taking out his last engine before he can reach them, causing his ship to crash in a large explosion, killing him and the rest of his crew.
It is later revealed in a conversation between Elia Kane and Moff Gideon that they were behind his attack, meaning that the reason he gave for doing it (retaliating against Karga for shooting some of his men) was likely just pretense, and confirming Carson Teva's fear that the incident was both connected to Gideon's previous occupation of the planet and part of a growing danger.
Personality[]
Gorian Shard was a brutal, ruthless, and homicidal pirate king who would attempt to conquer and pillage peaceful settlements such as Nevarro, even on behalf of Moff Gideon out of common hatred for Greef Karga.
Merciless, Gorian was also willing to bombard the planet and kill its citizens if Karga didn't surrender to him, and making a futile effort to fire upon them on his crippled corsair. This would be his undoing when Din Djarin and Bo-Katan fired upon Gorian's ship last engine, bringing it down along with the captain and its crew.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Greef Karga (formerly)
- Bounty Hunters Guild
- Gideon's Imperial Remnant
- Moff Gideon
- Elia Kane
Enemies[]
- Greef Karga
- Mandalorians
- Children of the Watch
- Din Djarin
- Nite Owls
- Bo-Katan Kryze
- Children of the Watch
- Citizens of Nevarro
Gallery[]
.jpg "Gorian Shard (N-1 Fighter is coming).jpg (266 KB)")
.png "Greef Karga talking to Gorian Shard (Ep. 21).png (5.04 MB)")
.png "Gorian Shard speaks to Din Djarin (Chapter 17).png (435 KB)")
