There's a reason the old Republic feared us. I aim to remind the galaxy why.
—Theta, discussing his motivation for attacking the New Republic
Horatio Theta was a male Human from the moon of Dxun who was the cause of the intergalactic civil war in 18 ABY. Born to Clan Theta's elder, CT-1971, Horatio lived a pacifist life away from the perils of the ongoing Galactic Civil War. After his father's death, Horatio abandoned his right to become the leader of Clan Theta and left his home world. He became a bounty hunter, where he and a team removed the remainder of the Death Watch's forces from Endor's moon.
During one of his bounties, Theta uncovered an ancient Sith tomb and found a broken artifact inside. With the artifact in his hands, he felt a power awaken inside of him. He used this power to free his clan from Clan Ordo's rule. Horatio then attacked the planet of Onderon and assimilated it into his growing empire. He named his army the "Death Watch" and took the title of Overlord. He then set his sights on various Mandalorian controlled planets, starting a Mandalorian civil war. His focus shifted after forming an alliance with Imperial Remnant, which he helped battle the New Republic.
After destroying a space station, Horatio and his Death Watch became the target of a mercenary company known as the Wolf Star Coalition. He also did battle with the Wolf Star's mercenary team, consisting of Silas Nesneros, Echon Tarkin, and many other members throughout the intergalactic war he had help cause.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Horatio Theta was born to clone trooper CT-1971 and his wife on the Dxun, the moon of Onderon. From a young age, Horatio was shunned by the other Dxun clans for being the son of a pacifist. He would travel with his father to Coruscant and rally outside the Imperial Senate to end the Galactic Civil War.
Eventually, his father died, leaving Horatio to become the new clan leader. Horatio, unwilling to accept the honor, left Dxun. He became a bounty hunter and helped take down numerous bounties, including the extermination of the Death Watch organization. While on a planet in the Unknown Regions, Horatio discovered an ancient Sith tomb. He found a broken Sith blade while searching, which, as soon as he touched it, flooded his mind with images of war and death. The artifact seemed to convince Horatio to break his code of non-violence.
With the artifact in his possession, he found the strength to return to Dxun and take his place as clan elder. Upon his arrival in 16 ABY, he found that his clan had been overrun by Clan Ordo. Horatio challenged Ordo's elder, Jatne Ordo, to a duel. Jatne and Horatio battled for around two hours, unable to get the best of one another. Jatne knocked Horatio to the ground and turned to show the crowd his dominance over his opponent. Horatio quickly stood up, however, and used the artifact hidden in his belt to stab Jatne in the back, killing the Clan Ordo leader. The crowd roared in applause, as Horatio had freed them.
The Mandalorian civil war[]
Horatio soon attacked the remaining tribes on Dxun, demanding their elders join Clan Theta or face him in a duel. The clans, which had not seen battle in decades, were both equally impressed by the Mandalorian's strength and threatened by it. Of the three tribes, only Clan Abesh surrendered without a fight. The elder of Clan Norac challenged Horatio's might and fell to the same trick that had killed Jatne. Clan Traycn attacked the united clans with his soldiers, resulting in a firefight. After losing a significant number of troops, Traycn surrendered to the superior force. Though he had lost a number of troops, Horatio had successfully united the clans.
Once he had succeeded on Dxun, he focused his attacks on Onderon itself. After softening the Onderonian troops with artillery fire, Horatio sent his men to the planet in drop pods. When another firefight ensued, Onderonian Governor Weston Kira surrendered to the Mandalorians. By keeping the citizens in prisoner camps along with threats of killing them, he was able to keep the Onderonian soldiers in line and in his control.
With Onderon under his leadership, Horatio turned his sights on Mandalore. He called his new army the "Death Watch," after the former Mandalorian organization that he had helped to eliminate fifteen years before, since their ideals were one in the same. With his army in tow, he attacked the planet of Concord Dawn, starting another Mandalorian civil war.
The battle on Concord Dawn was nothing the Death Watch forces had seen before and proved to be an challenge for the army. However, due to his larger numbers, he was able to suppress the Concordians and capture the planet as well. After capturing and executing the leader of Concord Dawn, the citizens were placed into labor camps in order to help supply his troops in their attack on Kalevala. During the battle, Horatio's men captured Satine Kryze, the former Duchess of Mandalore, and brought her to him. Unable to bring himself to kill her or have his men do it, he had her imprisoned on board the Dar'yaim, a Mandalorian carrier he used to store other prisoners of war, including Weston Kira and the elder of Traycn. With the former duchess in his captivity, the Kalevalaians surrendered.
The intergalactic war[]
Around 18 ABY, Horatio, now going under the codename "Theta," was contacted by the Imperial Remnant, who wished to form an alliance in order to attack the New Republic. Despite his father's hatred of the former Empire, Horatio saw this as a moment to show the New Republic that Mandalorians should be feared. He accepted and helped them invade Naboo. With the combined might of the Remnant and Death Watch forces, the Naboo were unable to effectively fight the soldiers back, resulting in a quick, but deadly, battle.
After the invasion, Theta found information on an experimental hyperdrive system being built by the Arkens on Sluis Von and sent his troops to Entrench Station, an Arken space station orbiting the planet, in an attempt to capture the hyperdrive and any other technology within. However, the Arkens had designed far superior weaponry and were able to drive the Death Watch back for a while, giving them ample time to send a distress signal to their homeworld. Even with their superior weaponry, the station's security forces were no match for their opponent's vast numbers. The Death Watch were able to eventually prevail and capture the space station. The mission failed when an Arken operative activated the station's self-destruct sequence and the space station was destroyed. The Arken government then sent the Wolf Star Coalition, a mercenary company, to battle the Death Watch and Imperial Remnant, starting an intergalactic war.
Personality and traits[]
Horatio: “As cold...as ice.”
―A Mandalorian and Horatio commenting on the latter's defeat of Jatne Ordo in a duel
Horatio tended to have a dry, sterile attitude, especially with people he did not trust. He was taught from a young age that violence was wrong and that he should try to work any problem out with negotiating. Regardless, he liked to participate in duels. He also was willing to eliminate the Death Watch from Endor, though he attributed that to his Mandalorian heritage.
During his travels, he had uncovered an ancient Sith artifact. This artifact exerted some sort of energy that helped him believe that violence was a necessary wrong in order to survive in the galaxy, where negotiations were out of the question. Though he respected his heritage and their honor, he was not afraid to break the rules in a duel to win. He did, however, prefer to use threats of violence over actual violence but was not afraid to resort to it, unless it involved harming women and children, which he did not condone.
Talents and abilities[]
Though his father detested violence, he taught Horatio many of the skills he had learned from his training on Kamino for self-defense purposes. Horatio used his father's skills to perform non-lethal take-downs on opponents and bounties. After uncovering the Sith artifact, Horatio stopped holding back and killed numerous opponents during duels, including the elder to Clan Ordo.
Behind the scenes[]
Horatio Theta was created as the adversary for the Death Watch Revival Star Wars Role-Playing adventure from Wizards of the Coast. The character was designed by Josh Bender, Jacob Sorensen, Chris Swann, and Bluethunder213 with the idea of using the Death Watch from Sorensen. Bender and Swann would come up with the idea of using a Sith artifact to fuel his character, while Bluethunder helped to shape his personality. When the character Pre Viszla was revealed in the Clone Wars television series, the four expressed their discomfort in the similarities to Horatio. Though Horatio is a fanon character, the four like to joke that George Lucas and his writers read up on him while creating Viszla.
The character was originally named "Theta," with the authors planning to use it only as a codename and reveal his name later into the adventure. As the adventure continued, however, and side stories were established, Theta was given as his surname. The name Horatio was picked as the image Sorensen had based him on had been named Horatio. Bender jokingly said that he had only gone through with it as long as he said "witty one-liners as he put his helmet on." Ultimately, the name was accepted, much to the dismay of Chris and Bluethunder who did not agree with it.
On May 24, 2010, Horatio was nominated for Good Article status, however, user and Seer Brandon Rhea requested it to be nominated as a Featured Article instead. Horatio was accepted as a Featured Article on June 27, 2010. Horatio was nominated for the Sixth Wiki Awards for Best Other Individual and Best Overall Individual. Horatio lost to Camilla Sookanado for Best Other Individual and tied for first with Magnum Rockwater in Best Overall Individual.