Almec

Coming native to the planet Mandalore, Almec dedicated himself to Duchess Satine Kryze and her pacifist governance for numerous years. By the time the Clone Wars erupted, Almec had ascended to the role of Prime Minister of Mandalore, leading the Mandalorian Government Council of ministers responsible for the planet's administration. During the conflict, Almec engaged with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Grand Salon, who was dispatched by the Jedi Council to investigate allegations of Kryze's military buildup and potential alliance with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Kenobi also shared a long-standing friendship with the Duchess. Almec reassured Kenobi that the rumors were unfounded, asserting that Mandalore would never betray the Galactic Republic and that its history of violent conflict was a relic of the past.

Despite Kenobi's counterargument citing the example of Jango Fett, a mercenary who wore Mandalorian armor and was considered a Mandalorian due to his upbringing as a foundling, Almec dismissed Fett as a mere bounty hunter who had acquired Mandalorian armor through dubious means. During Kenobi's audience with the Duchess, Almec voiced his opposition when the Jedi Master presented a recording of a Mandalorian saboteur responsible for an attack on a Republic cruiser, proclaiming that no Mandalorian would commit such an act. While expressing interest in the saboteur's whereabouts, Almec was taken aback when Kenobi revealed that the man had chosen suicide rather than face interrogation. It was later uncovered that the saboteur belonged to the Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group determined to revive the Mandalorians' warrior traditions, and that Pre Vizsla, the Governor of Mandalore's moon Concordia, was leading the faction.

In the aftermath of these revelations, Almec was part of the entourage that accompanied Kryze to her personal starship, the Coronet, for her journey to Coruscant. There, she intended to persuade the Galactic Senate that the Death Watch did not represent the views of the Mandalorian people as a whole. While the Duchess addressed the Senate chamber, Almec remained on Mandalore, where he received a disturbing report from a Mandalorian scout: the Death Watch was assembling an army at their base on Concordia. Almec concurred with the scout's assessment that the Death Watch could not seize control of Mandalore without popular support, but also speculated that a Republic military force deployment, as planned, would drive the populace to embrace the Death Watch as liberators against foreign oppression. With no other options available, Almec placed his trust in Duchess Satine's efforts, a trust that was rewarded when she dissuaded the Senate from dispatching clone troops to Mandalore.

Although the Duchess successfully kept Mandalore out of the Clone Wars, this neutrality meant the loss of important Republic aid in the form of supply shipments. Almec, in desperation, took it upon himself to establish a network for black market trading. His goal was to keep the New Mandalorian people supplied with the necessities they needed. However, the creation of this market also gave Almec more power and wealth, while the humanitarian supplies didn't reach the people. Despite his original reasons for starting the black market, he became more and more involved in criminal activity. Later, Senator Padmé Amidala from Naboo visited Sundari, the capital of Mandalore, to promise the government that help would come from supportive people in the Senate.

During her visit, Amidala and Kryze learned about the illegal smuggling ring that was going around the previous loss of Republic trade, when it was found to be putting Mandalorian children in danger. The Moogan smugglers who were moving the goods had weakened the imported tea by adding the chemical slabin, which was toxic to people who drank it in the high amounts used by the smugglers. Almec was told about this by Amidala and Kryze, but he quickly blamed the Death Watch for the illegal activity. When the Duchess and senator shut down the smuggling ring and told Almec about the growing corruption in the Mandalorian government, he offered to create a committee to look into the matter further.

Soon after, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, a Jedi, was invited to Mandalore to give a lecture at the Royal Academy about the dangers of corruption. Almec, Kryze, and a group of Mandalorian academy cadets met her at the landing platform in Sundari. These cadets—Amis, Lagos, Soniee, and Duchess Kryze's nephew, Korkie—along with Tano, found out that Almec was involved in the black market trade network, and that he was therefore responsible for the poisoning of Sundari's school children. Almec used the Mandalorian secret service, which was under the authority of the Prime Minister's office, to arrest the cadets and Tano. He also arrested Duchess Kryze when he found out that she knew about his involvement.

He tried to get the Duchess to sign a confession of conspiracy, but when she refused, Almec used a shock collar to try to persuade her. When Kryze still refused, he turned his attention to her nephew, Korkie. Tano and the cadets fought back and were able to overpower Almec and his guards. They then put a shock collar on Almec himself, forcing him to surrender. Almec and his fellow conspirators were arrested and then imprisoned. Even so, Almec held on to his honor and refused to admit that what he had done was wrong.

Some time later, after Death Watch joined forces with crime syndicates and the Sith brothers, Maul and Savage Opress, Kryze was overthrown in a political coup led by Pre Vizsla. She was imprisoned in a cell next to Almec. Almec called out her name, and when he realized that his former political rival was in the cell next door, he refused to apologize for what he had done in the past. He mocked Kryze for her beliefs, saying that her belief in peace had finally betrayed her. Soon after, Vizsla betrayed Maul and publicly arrested him, saying that he didn't agree with Maul's vision of a growing criminal empire. He imprisoned Maul and his brother along with their political rivals. The two Sith brothers easily escaped soon after and visited Satine to ask her where the other political leaders were. Satine coldly said that the only one who hadn't sided with Vizsla or been killed was Almec, who she described as corrupt and vile. However, this pleased Maul, who went to see Almec. Almec admitted that he was the former Prime Minister who had been imprisoned after being charged with corruption. After learning that Maul and Savage were no longer working with Vizsla and Death Watch, he quickly agreed to join Maul when he revealed that he planned to challenge Vizsla to a duel to the death for leadership of the Death Watch. Almec didn't want to be killed and wanted to go back to his former position, so he accepted his role in their plan as their puppet ruler, even though the planet had gone back to the martial traditions that he had previously strongly opposed.

Maul then challenged Vizsla to an honorable death match for the allegiance of Death Watch, which Maul won. Almec was put back in as Prime Minister. In his first speech, he told the public that Satine had murdered Vizsla. His speech to the crowd was short, and Almec went back to Maul to ask what was needed of him. Maul told him to set up his new cabinet, and warned him that he would be held responsible for any failures they made. Almec was later in the throne room when Obi-Wan Kenobi was brought before Maul. He watched as Maul murdered Satine as a way to torture Kenobi.

Maul's takeover of Mandalore also caused conflict between those who were still loyal to Pre Vizsla and those who had pledged their allegiance to Maul. During the fighting, Maul was captured by his former master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Sidious took Maul to Stygeon Prime where he was imprisoned so that the Sith could use him for their own purposes. Almec ordered Death Watch forces to chase after the Sith and rescue Maul before meeting on Zanbar. During the rescue, Gar Saxon and Rook Kast spoke directly with Almec via hologram. Almec ordered them to continue with the extraction and then meet up with their forces on Zanbar. When the rescue was complete, Almec spoke to Maul, who was on Zanbar, via hologram. He told the Sith that the prison break was repayment for releasing Almec from prison on Mandalore.

As the Clone Wars were coming to an end, Maul returned to Mandalore shortly before the world was invaded by a mix of Republic and Mandalore resistance forces led by Tano, Clone Commander CT-7567 "Rex," and Bo-Katan. After they had launched their Low Altitude Assault Transports and Kom'rk-class fighter/transports, Almec contacted them. He demanded to know why they had invaded Mandalore, since the Republic presence violated their treaty. After Bo-Katan answered him, saying that his time had come and that they were after Maul, the Prime Minister realized that she was behind the attack and believed that her alliance with the Republic would turn the people of Mandalore against her. Almec then spoke with his forces, telling Gar Saxon to get the Mandalorian super commandos ready for an all-out attack. He also told Rook Kast to inform the Shadow Collective about the siege. After giving his orders, Saxon asked the Prime Minister if he was ready for the battle.

Because their defenses were facing stronger resistance than they had planned for, Almec, who was also told that their enemies were getting closer to his location, ordered the super commandos to move to the Undercity. He said that they would be met there. After this, Tano went into the lower levels while Bo-Katan and some of her soldiers went to the throne room where Almec was stationed. After being told that the former Padawan was falling into Maul's trap, Almec, who was now wearing a suit of gilded Mandalorian armor, and the Mandalorian warriors in the throne room fought Bo-Katan's forces. Bo-Katan's side quickly defeated them, and Bo-Katan asked Almec where Maul was.

At first, Almec only joked that she had never been as good a politician as her sister. However, Bo-Katan demanded an answer by firing a shot from her gauntlet. Almec revealed that Maul had tricked her, because the rogue Sith Lord had wanted her to bring the Jedi to the planet. Instead, she had brought Tano, who Almec called the wrong one. Realizing that Tano was heading into a trap, Bo-Katan tried to contact her as Almec was held at gunpoint by two other Mandalorian rebels and smiled. Unfortunately for her, Tano never received the communication. Because of this, Tano's clone troopers in the Undercity were killed, and she came face-to-face with Maul, but she was rescued by Commander Rex and his squad.

After being captured by the Nite Owls, Almec was held in the Sundari royal prison. Rex, Tano, and Kryze visited him there and questioned him about Maul's plans to escape Mandalore. Almec said that he was flattered by the visit, but that Maul had no plans to escape because he thought it was pointless. Instead of believing that he could defeat his opponents, Maul had been consumed by a sense of dread for weeks and didn't remember him saying anything about his master Darth Sidious. Kryze asked why he wanted Kenobi to find him on Mandalore, and Almec answered that he wasn't interested in Kenobi, but in someone else. Ahsoka asked who, and Almec pretended to be absent-minded until she told Bo-Katan to help him remember. As he started to speak, he was hit by two bolts from a Galar-90 rifle fired by Gar Saxon, who had been ordered by Maul to make sure that the former Prime Minister was silenced. As Rex called for a medic, the dying Almec told Ahsoka that Maul had had a vision about her master Anakin Skywalker."

Almec was a tall man, standing at 1.89 meters tall. He had blond hair, fair skin, and violet-colored eyes. Almec seemed to truly believe in the peaceful ways of the New Mandalorians. He showed this by dismissing Jango Fett, who was thought to be a Mandalorian, as nothing more than a common bounty hunter when Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi questioned him. Even though he held a high-ranking position in the Mandalorian government, he saw himself as a servant of the people. However, he was also a shrewd politician who was able to correctly guess the Death Watch's plan to gain support for their cause by causing a Republic invasion so that they could appear to be liberators to the Mandalorian people. Almec was friends with Duchess Satine Kryze, the leader of the New Mandalorians, and had a lot of faith in her leadership abilities, until he was arrested for black market activities. Even though he was corrupt, he was a skilled leader and public speaker.

When the Mandalorian people were at risk of starvation after the Republic closed down trade routes to Mandalore because the planet had declared its neutrality, Almec took it upon himself to find a solution to the problem that was hurting his people. To do this, he created an illegal black market trade network to smuggle the needed goods from the galaxy into Sundari. However, by doing this, he put himself at risk of greed and corruption. By trying to help his people, Almec instead made it possible for Moogan smugglers to poison innocent children throughout Sundari with tea that contained toxins. He tried to cover it up, even turning against the Duchess. He betrayed his government's pacifistic beliefs by torturing Kryze and threatening to do the same to her young nephew, Korkie. Even after being imprisoned, he insisted that what he had done was not wrong.

By the end of the Clone Wars, Almec had long since abandoned the New Mandalorian's pacifist beliefs because Maul had given him a chance to return to power. In fact, he openly told the Mandalorian public that they would reclaim their past as a warrior people. As the puppet ruler of Mandalore, Almec served Maul, even though the rogue Sith's influence was destroying the people of Mandalore. He also helped direct the Mandalorian super commandos during the joint Republic-Mandalore resistance siege of the world. Almec even wore a suit of Mandalorian armor and fought Bo-Katan Kryze in hand-to-hand combat. When Kryze tried to contact Ahsoka Tano to warn her about the trap she was walking into, Almec smiled. Despite Almec's loyalty to Maul, with the Prime Minister even calling the rogue Sith his lord, he showed cowardice when threatened. When he initially pretended to forget what he knew, Tano told Bo-Katan to "help" Almec remember Maul's plan, and he was then willing to talk to avoid pain. Maul knew that Almec couldn't be completely trusted, so he had Saxon shoot the Prime Minister to prevent their enemies from learning information. Still, Almec lived long enough to tell Tano about Maul's vision where he had heard about Skywalker."

Almec first showed up in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Two episode "The Mandalore Plot," which was the first in a series of three episodes about the Mandalorians. He showed up again in the flashback at the beginning of the next episode, "Voyage of Temptation," before making his second real appearance in the last episode of the series, "Duchess of Mandalore." Voice actor Julian Holloway plays Almec.