Mace Windu doubted Qui-Gon Jinn's belief that the Sith had returned to threaten the Jedi and that Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy. He helped test Anakin's Force abilities, but agreed with Yoda that the boy was too old to be trained. He would always have doubts about Anakin's suitability for the life of a Jedi.

Qui-Gon had been right about the Sith -- Darth Maul killed him, and was slain in turn by Obi-Wan Kenobi. But Yoda brought up the unsettling point that there were always two Sith -- a master and an apprentice. Mace nodded, and asked the question on both their minds: Had Maul been the master, or the apprentice?

As the Separatist crisis deepened, Mace warned Supreme Chancellor Palpatine that there were too few Jedi to keep the peace in the event of the crisis becoming a civil war.

Mace refused to believe that the Separatist leader Count Dooku would order the assassination of a Senator such as Padmé Amidala. Dooku, after all, had been a Jedi Knight.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi tracked Padmé's would-be assassin Jango Fett to Kamino, the plot thickened: Someone had ordered the Kaminoans to create a massive army of clones, purportedly for the Republic.

And there were dark stirrings in the Force: emanations of fear and death. Mace and Yoda could feel Anakin's terrible emotional pain sending queasy reverberations through the Force.

With Yoda headed for Kamino to collect the mysterious clone army, Mace led a Jedi mission to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé.

Dooku, he now accepted, had renounced his Jedi heritage and was determined to wage war against the Republic. The old friends were now enemies.

No peaceful resolution was possible, and Mace was forced to fight for his life in the Geonosis arena as Dooku sent Separatist battle droids to kill the Jedi.

The Jedi fought bravely, but were vastly outnumbered, and forced to stand together against the huge number of droids.

Another hazard: Wild beasts released into the arena to kill the prisoners were running amok. Mace had to flee a charging reek.

Mace avoided the reek, then rushed Jango Fett, batting away the bounty hunter's laser blasts and striking off his head as Jango's son Boba watched in horror.

The Jedi ranks were inexorably thinned until they stood together in a circle of survivors. Offered the chance to surrender by Dooku, Mace refused: The Jedi would not be hostages for the Separatists to barter with. Moments later, Yoda arrived with the clone army and turned the tide.

During the Clone Wars, Mace helped direct the war effort from Coruscant and sometimes took the field himself. He played a leading role in the Republic campaign to free Ryloth from the Separatists.

To defeat the Separatist emir Wat Tambor, Mace had to win the Twi'lek freedom fighter Cham Syndulla over to the Republic's side, brokering a peace between Syndulla and the corrupt Senator Orn Free Taa.

Taking the capital city of Lessu required all of Mace's abilities with the Force, particularly after the Separatists turned off the plasma bridge over a chasm isolating the city.

Mace and Syndulla pressed the attack on the Separatist citadel, and the Jedi broke through Tambor's defenses and captured the Skakoan emir.

After the bounty hunter Cad Bane stole a Holocron containing the location of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy, Mace joined his Force powers with those of Obi-Wan and Anakin to compel the hunter to reveal the Holocron's location.

But Bane led Mace and Obi-Wan into a trap at Black Stall Station, which the Jedi narrowly escaped.

Mace was highly suspicious of the motives of the galaxy's politicians, including Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He made no secret of his disagreement with Palpatine's decision to bring the mighty Zillo Beast to Coruscant -- a move that soon led to the creature rampaging through the cityscape.

Boba Fett, meanwhile, had sworn to kill Mace and avenge his father's death. Boba disguised himself as a clone cadet in order to get close enough to the Jedi Master.

Boba's plot nearly succeeded, but R2-D2 saved Mace and Anakin after they were pinned in the wreckage of the Jedi Cruiser Endurance. An unrepentant Boba was sent to prison on Coruscant.

Late in the war, Mace traveled to Bardotta with Representative Jar Jar Binks to meet with Queen Julia and help her find several missing Bardottan mystics. Posing as Jar Jar’s servant, Mace explored a secret temple dedicated to the underworld Frangawl Cult, whose Force-stealing rituals threatened to plunge the galaxy into an age of eternal darkness.

Guided by the Force, Mace and Jar Jar followed Julia’s captors to the moon Zardossa Stix, where the Frangawl Cult planned to sacrifice the queen to their Great Mother. This mysterious figure turned out to be the Nightsister matriarch Mother Talzin, whom Mace confronted before she could complete a ceremony that promised to give her Force powers beyond those of the Sith or Jedi.

After the Battle of Coruscant, the Jedi Council accepted Palpatine's request that Anakin be made his personal representative to the Council, but refused to grant him the rank of Jedi Master. When Anakin reacted angrily to this decision, a furious Mace quickly put the headstrong Jedi in his place.

Mace warned Yoda and Obi-Wan that he didn't think Anakin could handle such a responsibility, and that putting him and Palpatine together was very dangerous.

After Obi-Wan killed General Grievous, the Jedi wondered if Palpatine would now relinquish the extensive slate of dictatorial powers granted to him during the war. They agreed that if Palpatine did not do so, he should be removed from office -- and Mace said the Jedi would then have to take control of the Senate to ensure a peaceful transition.

Though the Clone Wars were all but over, the Jedi were in terrible danger. Anakin revealed to Mace that the Sith Lord sought by the Jedi since the fight with Darth Maul was none other than Palpatine himself. The Separatist Crisis and the Clone Wars had been a plot to create a centralized military and bleed the Jedi Order so that the Sith could take over the galaxy.

Knowing the Jedi Order's fate hung in the balance, Mace and three other Jedi Masters -- Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto -- raced to Palpatine's office and attempted to arrest the Supreme Chancellor.

Knowing the Jedi Order's fate hung in the balance, Mace and three other Jedi Masters -- Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto -- raced to Palpatine's office and attempted to arrest the Supreme Chancellor.

Mace prevailed and appeared to defeat Sidious. Anakin begged Mace to spare the cornered Sith Lord's life, fearing that without Sidious's knowledge he would be unable to save Padmé Amidala. But Mace countered that Sidious already controlled the Senate and the courts, and so was too dangerous to be left alive. He raised his saber to strike Sidious down.

Before Mace's blow could land, a desperate Anakin ignited his own saber and struck off Mace's hand. Sidious then blasted Mace with Force lightning, killing the Order's great champion.