The first time I heard about the idea of Mace Windu being alive, and possibly showing up in the Mandoverse, I thought it was a terrible idea. I was actually annoyed by it because I totally felt that Mace died when he was blasted out the window. But then I started thinking about it. Star Wars has a habit of bringing back people who fell to their death. Unless we actually see them die, like Qui-Gon Jinn or Obi-Wan Kenobi, it is safe to assume they are not quite dead yet.
Another point in favor of Mace surviving the fall is The High Republic. Yeah, the books set like 300 years before the prequels. Why do I bring them up? Well in one of the first scenes, we meet Bell Zettifar, who is practicing controlled descent with his master, Loden Greatstorm. Mastering this technique is one of the things Bell needs to accomplish before he faces the trials. If I remember correctly, after Bell fails, the other Jedi at the outpost comfort him by talking about their first attempts at controlled descent.
See where I am going with this? Mace was a Jedi Master. He would have passed his trials, he knew controlled descent. He would have saved himself. However, this is what bothers me: Mace Windu would not just give up. He would not go “well, I failed, guess I go into exile now”….lookin’ at you Master Yoda! Mace would have got back into the turbolift, went up to the Chancellor’s office and said something like “motherfucker, that all you got???” And did his best to take down Palpatine.
So if I were creating a new series for Disney+, I would start it from the moment he is blasted out the window. Switch to the perspective of Master Windu. The lightning blast knocks him out for a few minutes, when he comes to he is falling fast, he begins to control his descent (maybe we flashback to a young padawan Mace learning this skill). As he starts to slow his fall, he gets clipped by a speeder, ends up falling, and hitting the ground hard. We see a medical crew attempting to rescue him, then as someone identifies him, they see that he is wanted. Emperor Palpatine is alerted immediately.
The Emperor has the med-droids induce a coma while Mace heals naturally of his broken bones. No bacta or advanced healing. Once Windu is healed, Palpatine takes his body somewhere and performs Sith sorcery which erases Mace Windu’s mind. Then he places a tracking device inside his body, and sends him to some penal colony for punishment. What a way to torture one of the few Masters who Palpatine feared could defeat him.
Then the series shows Mace as a broken down prisoner, growing older, and not knowing anything about his past. He does what he can to survive, and eventually meets a young person who wants to escape, and convinces Mace to help him. They eventually break out, but everywhere they go, the Empire finds them. Eventually, the person with Mace dies (maybe he sacrifices himself for Mace to survive).
Then you know, stuff happens. Mace has to fulfill some last wish for this person, while also trying to figure out who he is. Or maybe he has dreams that lead him somewhere. I do not know, let the writers figure that out.
So either he regains his memories either by sheer force of his own will, OR the moment Luke kills the Emperor, the sorcery fades, and Mace Windu remembers everything. The things he has been searching for has led him to a secret planet (Exegol), and he discovers the Emperor’s clones. He is about to destroy one of the clone tanks, when he hears the snap-hiss of a lightsaber. He turns and there is a young Palpatine. The clone attacks and Master Windu and the Clone Emperor have an epic battle (look, I do not know how or when Mace finds his lightsaber, or builds a new one, that is a problem for the writers, not me).
The Clone Emperor is young, fast, and powerful. Master Windu is old, his body is broken from years of back-breaking work plus his injuries. Mace manages to defeat the Clone, but he is about to die, his last act is to destroy the rest of the clones, or maybe he does something that ruins them, and the only one that emerges is Snoke…if we want to somehow connect the weirdness of Snoke/Palpatine.
Go ahead Disney, use this idea. I know you folks read my Fantastic Four movie idea and incorporated it. Might as well use this as well. Hire good writers, they can make this work.
