A Mandalorian vault, also known as a Mandalorian sarcophagus, was a mobile prison cell utilized by the warriors of the planet Mandalore to contain captured Force-sensitives. The Mandalorians used these devices in the years prior to the Clone Wars to imprison Knights of the Jedi Order, though they were eventually outlawed by Duchess Satine Kryze, who ushered in an era of peace for her war-stricken planet. By 19 BBY, only one vault remained. Following the Siege of Mandalore in that same year, that last device was used to transport deposed ruler Maul from Mandalore's capital city of Sundari to the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal, scheduled to deliver the rogue dark sider to the planet Coruscant.
While the ship was en route to the Core Worlds, however, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine delivered Order 66 to the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic, instructing them to execute all Jedi. Clone Commander Rex of the 501st Legion dispatched two clone troopers to execute Maul as well, but they were subdued by the former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who freed Maul from his prison so that he could serve as a distraction while she escaped the clones.
The window in the front of the vault
A Mandalorian vault, also known as a Mandalorian sarcophagus, was a prison device designed to contain Force-users. Developed by the Mandalorian culture, it was sized to hold an adult humanoid inside it, standing as a rectangular slab with angled corners which was noticeably taller than an adult human. The vault floated slightly off the ground while being moved around, but had to be manually pushed by its escorts. Grey on the outside, the vault's door was decorated with a bas-relief of Mandalorian warriors fighting Jedi, with prominent depictions of Mandalorian helmets. A clear window in the top centre of the door showed the face of the prisoner held inside, but also let them see out. However, the vault was soundproof, preventing a prisoner from hearing anything outside of their confinement.
The vault had four orange control buttons on the left side, with one positioned above the others. Pressing the three lower buttons in succession from right to left would open the vault's door, while pressing the final button afterwards would release the prisoner. The vault's interior was grey with illuminated circuitry which glowed bright orange when active. It contained a recess shaped to hold a humanoid, with two arm holes, two leg holes, and a spot for the prisoner's head. Removable wrist restraints prevented prisoners from moving their hands, and a rigid gag moved in front of a prisoner's mouth to prevent them from speaking. The vault was capable of holding powerful Force-users, and even if the door was open, fully-restrained prisoners could not escape the vault without external assistance.
Duchess Satine Kryze outlawed Mandalorian vaults during her reign.
The Mandalorians, a predominantly human warrior culture originating on the Outer Rim Territories planet Mandalore, had a long history of enmity with the Jedi Order, a powerful organization whose members wielded the light side of the Force. The two groups fought multiple wars against each other. The conflicts led the Mandalorians to develop technology which could restrain Jedi and other Force-users such as the Sith, ancient enemies of the Jedi who wielded the dark side of the Force, despite their Force powers, leading to the development of the Mandalorian vault.
In the final decades of the Republic Era, Mandalore was engulfed in a civil war which was won by the pacifist New Mandalorians, led by Duchess Satine Kryze. As part of the new era of peace she hoped to usher in, Satine outlawed Mandalorian vaults. By 19 BBY, only one vault remained in existence. That same year, the New Mandalorian government was overthrown by the traditionalist warriors of Death Watch, a sect which opposed Satine's pacifist ways and included her sister, Bo-Katan Kryze. However, the subsequent overthrow of Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla by Darth Maul, a rogue Sith Lord whom Vizsla had previously allied with in order to carry out the takeover, led Kryze and her Nite Owls to rebel against him. Their enmity was compounded by Maul's later murder of Satine, kicking off another civil war.
The vault containing Maul is brought onboard the Tribunal
Kryze eventually allied herself with former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano to take down Maul. Tano went to her former Master, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, for help. Due to the ongoing Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Skywalker was unable to come personally as he was called away to the Battle of Coruscant, so he gave Tano the 332nd Division of clone troopers, a newly-created sub-unit of the 501st Legion led by her friend Clone Commander Rex. In the subsequent Siege of Mandalore, Tano captured Maul after a lightsaber duel on the beams of the dome of Mandalorian capital city Sundari. Tano had been asked by the Jedi High Council to transport Maul to Coruscant, the Republic's capital planet in the Core Worlds, and Kryze had Tano briefly hand Maul over, handling him by having him locked inside the last vault.
After a meeting with several Jedi Council members, Tano and Rex were met at the Sundari shipping docks by Kryze and several of her warriors, including Ursa Wren, escorting the Mandalorian vault containing Maul. Tano was impressed, and Kryze stated the vault was a relic of a bygone era when Mandalorians had had reason to imprison Force-users, adding that it was the last of its type when Tano remarked that she thought Duchess Satine had outlawed them. The vault was handed over to shock troopers of the Coruscant Guard, who along with Rex moved the vault onboard a Rho-class transport shuttle. Tano boarded the shuttle herself after bidding farewell to Kryze, and the starship departed Mandalore to rendezvous with the waiting Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal. The shuttle was met by an honour guard, and the Coruscant Guard troopers moved the vault to the Star Destroyer's detention level and secured it inside a cell.
Maul was imprisoned in a Mandalorian vault but later set free
Shortly after the Tribunal jumped into hyperspace, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, publicly the Republic's own Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, issued Order 66, a command which compelled the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to turn on and execute their Jedi commanding officers through inhibitor chips implanted in their brains. Tano narrowly escaped death on one of the starship's bridges, after which a mind-controlled Rex ordered two shock troopers to execute Maul in his cell before beginning a search for Tano. Sealed in the vault, Maul had sensed the deaths caused by Order 66. When the shock troopers arrived, Maul sensed their intent, struggling against his restraints as they opened the vault's door. However, he was held fast, only surviving due to the arrival of Tano, who knocked the shock troopers unconscious. Warning Maul to not make her regret anything, she released him from the vault because she needed a diversion for the clones, after which the two departed the cell and went their separate ways. The Tribunal, with the vault onboard, subsequently crashed into a moon, with only Tano, a freed Rex, and Maul surviving by escaping the stricken vessel beforehand.
The Mandalorian vault appeared in "Shattered," the eleventh episode of the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was released on Disney+ on May 1, 2020. It was first identified as a Mandalorian vault in the corresponding StarWars.com Databank entry.