In Attack of the Clones, Jango Fett met his end when he fought Mace Windu. As Windu advanced on Jango, he deflected Jango’s blaster shots and decapitated him with his lightsaber.
This was a surprising and puzzling death for the top bounty hunter in the Galactic Republic.
Why did Jango Fett die so easily when fighting Mace Windu? There are two main ways to explain it.
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What Jango Fett Could Have Done Differently?
During the Battle of Geonosis, we saw Jango Fett die abruptly. Fans have wondered what he could have done differently to avoid this fate.
As a top-notch Mandalorian bounty hunter near the end of the Galactic Republic, Jango Fett could have drawn on numerous options to better defend himself and perhaps even win the fight.
His weapons included a flamethrower that could have been used to thwart Mace Windu’s advance. Jango used a ZX miniature flamethrower that blasted fire from his wrist gauntlets that extended five meters (16 feet) outward and one meter (over 3 feet) in diameter.
That range of fire could have even inflicted Windu with heavy damage.
Jango could have also used his jetpack to fly up and around Mace Windu. Yet, that was damaged earlier by a Reek that had overrun him. Likewise, he still had his twin Westar-34 blaster pistols, but only used one in the fight with Windu.
He could have fired at Windu with both of them, but he had lost one in his previous battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Still, Jango had other options like his whipcord launcher or thrower. This item cast out a lariat that could entrap his opponent and stop them from moving. In addition, he had poison darts, or Kamino saberdarts, that could have altered the course of the battle.
Yet, all of these options fell by the wayside. How come?
Why Jango Fett Died So Easily
One main way to explain why Jango Fett died so easily is that he did not have time to deploy his array of weapons. Drawing on his flamethrower, whipcord, and poison darts, could have bought him more time and provided more of an advantage but in the heat of battle Windu advanced too quickly.
As this article contends, Jango’s defeat ultimately came down to his malfunctioning jetpack and the loss of his second blaster.
The above article also suggests that Jango may have lost some of his fighting ability because of his involvement with the cloning operation on Kamino.
By spending his time training the clone army, Jango took away from his bounty hunting time, which kept him sharper and ready for combat. He also had Boba to take care of now, which may provide us with a secondary explanation.
The other primary explanation for his quick defeat is that Mace Windu was just that good of a Jedi. At the time of the battle, Windu was known to be the top fighter of the Jedi Order and especially skilled with his lightsaber.
He was ranked close to Yoda and did beat Darth Sidious in the climactic duel in Revenge of the Sith.
In this recent ranking of top lightsaber fighters, Mace Windu earns the number one spot, beating out Yoda, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Sidious. His strength with the Force and defeat of Sidious helps him earn that title.
While we may disagree, Windu was a supreme fighter that could best even the best bounty hunter.
Fan responses to this question indicate that Jango may have been overconfident since he had previously won against Obi-Wan Kenobi and just dispatched with Jedi Coleman Trebor. Jango may have also been influenced by his Mandalorian roots to jump right into the arena.
In addition, Jango saw that Windu was distracted fighting a Reek and calculated he could use that time to his advantage.
Yet, Windu managed to recover his lightsaber.
These insightful remarks provide additional reasons, but the two main explanations still seem more probable: Jango did not have his full arsenal available or Mace Windu was too skilled a Jedi.
Jango Died Quickly
We can recognize several factors to explain why Jango Fett died so easily at the hands of Mace Windu. Maybe he had lost some of his fighting abilities or overestimated his skills in battle.
Yet, it seems most likely that he was not fully ready to fight Windu or that the latter was just too powerful. More likely still, it was a combination of the two.
Todd Wahlstrom is a creative and analytical freelance writer and life-long Star Wars fan. He has covered such topics as Darth Vader, the Jedi, Boba Fett, and AT-AT Walkers. Todd has published a non-fiction book, holds a Ph.D. in history, and enjoys hiking, running, and reading about science.