During the era of the Jedi Civil War, a massive conflict across the galaxy sparked by the Sith Lords Darth Revan and Darth Malak, there existed a notorious Human male bounty hunter known as Calo Nord. His early life was marked by tragedy when his mother and father sold him into slavery while he was still a boy. On his sixteenth birthday, he exacted a brutal revenge, killing his slave masters before hunting down and murdering his own parents. This act led to a bounty being placed on his head, but Nord proved to be more than a match for any mercenary sent after him, eliminating each one. After the attempts on his life ceased, Nord turned the tables, killing those who had issued the bounty and embracing the life of a bounty hunter, accepting jobs from anyone willing to pay. Nord occasionally took jobs from Davik Kang, a criminal syndicate boss from the Exchange, but he also accepted contracts from the Galactic Republic for operations within the Core.
In the final year of the Jedi Civil War, Nord found himself on the planet Taris, conducting business with Kang. Following the attack on the Republic ship Endar Spire, Malak, who had betrayed Revan and seized control of the Sith Empire, placed Taris under quarantine in an attempt to locate the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan, who was stranded on the planet's surface. Ultimately, Malak ordered the destruction of Taris, hoping to eliminate Shan. As the Sith began to bombard Taris, Nord and Kang tried to escape aboard Kang's freighter, the Ebon Hawk, encountering Shan and her companions during their attempt to steal the vessel. A fierce battle erupted, ending with Nord trapped beneath falling debris. Despite this setback, the bounty hunter managed to escape Taris and avoid the planet's destruction. He was subsequently employed by Darth Malak to track down Shan and capture her alive. Nord located Shan's companion, Revan—now a partially retrained Jedi Padawan—in the Eastern Dune Sea on the desert planet of Tatooine, where he was searching for the ancient Rakatan space station called the Star Forge. As Revan and his team emerged from some ancient ruins, the bounty hunter confronted Revan. Nord was defeated by Revan and his allies, resulting in his demise.
Calo Nord, a Human male, had a harsh beginning when his mother and father made the decision to sell him into slavery while he was still just a boy. During his years as a slave, Nord developed a reputation for being ruthless and devoid of emotion. When he reached the age of sixteen years on his birthday, Nord killed his slave masters in a brutal fashion. After gaining his freedom, he sought out and murdered his parents. A bounty was then placed on Nord's head, leading to numerous bounty hunters pursuing the young man. Nord carefully studied the methods employed by those who hunted him, learning valuable skills. He then used these newly acquired skills to eliminate each of his pursuers. Eventually, the attempts on his life stopped completely. The Bounty Hunters' Guild had determined that Nord was too dangerous, leading them to cancel the contract. However, Nord located and killed the individuals who had originally placed the bounty on him. Nord then became a bounty hunter himself, accepting contracts from anyone who was willing to pay. These contracts included operations for the Galactic Republic within the Core. As a bounty hunter, Nord commissioned the creation of personal armor, which was based on the design worn by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Once the armor was finished, Nord murdered the maker of the armor to ensure its uniqueness and avoid paying the designer.
He occasionally took jobs from Davik Kang, a crime lord in the Exchange crime syndicate. Kang's operations were based on Taris, an ecumenopolis located in the Outer Rim. When hired, Kang would task Nord with killing rancors and bringing back their heads to be displayed in his trophy room. During his time on Taris, Nord frequented locations like Zax's bounty office, a Hutt-owned establishment located within Javyar's Cantina in the Lower City. By the time the Jedi Civil War began, a massive conflict across the galaxy instigated by Darth Revan, Darth Malak, and their Sith Empire, it was rumored that Nord had killed more people than the Iridian Plague.
In the year 3957 BBY, Darth Malak seized the title of Dark Lord of the Sith after betraying his Sith Master Revan during an attempt by Jedi and Republic forces to capture them. A year later, Malak conquered Taris. After the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan crash-landed on Taris, the Dark Lord quarantined the planet and ordered his fleet to [blockade](/article/blockade-legends] the planet, allowing Sith forces to search for Shan.
During the Sith's quarantine of Taris, Nord, who was on the planet on business with Davik Kang, encountered a Republic soldier named Revan on two separate occasions. Revan, who was secretly the former Dark Lord of the Sith, had been marooned on Taris alongside Republic commander Carth Onasi, and they were searching for Shan. Nord's first encounter with Revan occurred in Javyar's Cantina, where the bounty hunter killed three Black Vulkars for disturbing him. Revan attempted to engage Nord in conversation, but Nord, wanting to be left alone, departed. Revan complied, not wanting to provoke the bounty hunter. Nord later encountered Revan while the soldier was exploring apartments in the Lower City. There, Nord killed two Rodians—the assassin Luugro and his companion—in order to collect the bounties on their heads.
Nord was present at Kang's estate when the crime lord's enforcer, the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, brought Revan, Onasi, and Shan—who had been successfully rescued by the two Republic soldiers—to the estate. Ordo introduced Revan to Kang as someone interested in joining the Exchange. Nord mocked Ordo, commenting that it was unusual for him to take on partners. He then accompanied Kang as the crime lord gave Revan and his companions a tour of his estate, including his freighter, the Ebon Hawk. Following the tour, Nord and Kang took Ordo, Revan, Shan, and Onasi to a guest room and warned Revan to remain in the guest wing of the estate. Kang left to investigate Revan's background as a precaution, and he instructed Nord to accompany him.
Aboard his flagship Leviathan, Darth Malak determined that the search for Shan was taking too long and ordered Admiral Saul Karath to have the Sith fleet destroy Taris to eliminate the Jedi. Nord and Kang, hoping to escape the bombardment, went to the hangar where the Ebon Hawk was located, only to find Revan and his companions attempting to steal the ship. After Kang spoke to the group, Nord declared his intention to kill them, stating that he had been looking forward to it. Kang urged Nord to hurry, warning that the Sith's lasers would kill them if they didn't escape. During the ensuing firefight, Nord realized they were outmatched. Kang was killed, and Nord—unwilling to let Ordo, the Republic soldiers, and the Jedi escape—tried to use a thermal detonator to kill everyone, including himself. Instead, the bombardment partially destroyed the hangar, burying Nord under rubble. Revan's group left Nord and the deceased Kang behind, boarding the Ebon Hawk and gathering the rest of their companions before fleeing Taris and the Sith bombardment.
Despite being buried in rubble on Taris, Nord survived the attack and managed to escape the planet. He later met with Darth Malak aboard the Leviathan. Admiral Karath presented Nord as a witness to Bastila Shan's survival. When Nord entered the bridge, Malak expressed surprise that Nord had survived his encounter with Shan and Onasi, to which Nord replied that he was difficult to kill. Nord agreed to capture Shan, and Karath assured Malak that the bounty hunter's services were worth the price. Malak instructed Nord to capture Shan alive if possible, but stated that her companions were of no value. Nord and Karath then met with Malak privately, during which Nord revealed that Revan, Malak's former Sith Master, had survived and was among those responsible for Shan's escape.
Nord set out to find both Shan and Revan, who was now a retrained Jedi Padawan tasked with finding the mysterious Rakatan Star Forge space station under Malak's control. The bounty hunter located Revan in the Eastern Dune Sea on the desert world of Tatooine and hired two Rodian and two Aqualish henchmen to confront the elusive Jedi. Nord set an ambush while Revan was inside a cave where a krayt dragon had made its nest. Nord confronted Revan after the Jedi found a second Rakatan Star Map, needed to locate the Star Forge, inside the cave. Nord acknowledged Revan's success in evading him but stated that no one could ultimately escape him. The bounty hunter and his accomplices were defeated and killed by the former Sith Lord and his companions.
Shortly after Nord's death, Admiral Karath informed Darth Malak of Nord's failure. Malak responded that the penalty for failure was death, but that the failure belonged to Nord, not Karath. Malak then dispatched his Shadow Hand, Darth Bandon, to kill Revan and capture Shan. Before his death, the leaders of the secret bounty hunter guild known as the GenoHaradan had considered recruiting Nord into their organization, but he had not yet proven himself worthy. Due to Nord's death at Revan's hands, the GenoHaradan's overseers decided to approach Revan with an invitation instead. Four thousand years after Nord's death, he was mostly remembered as a minor figure in Revan's career, with his accomplishments largely forgotten.
Calo Nord was a small Human male who appeared harmless at first glance. Nord spoke Basic, the common language of the Republic. He moved with careful precision and had an expressionless face. He was willing to accept contracts from anyone who paid him well. While his primary loyalty was to the highest bidder, Nord also enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. He liked toying with other mercenaries. Nord was known for his fearlessness in the face of potential enemies, as well as his cold, menacing, and unapproachable demeanor. He also possessed natural instincts for survival and killing. Some dismissed Nord's story as a myth created to frighten aspiring criminals. Among criminals in the Outer Rim, no name was more feared than Calo Nord.
On a few occasions, when someone disturbed Nord, he would count to three, saying a number after each interruption. After counting to three to give the person a chance to escape his anger, he would open fire on them for bothering him. Nord was determined not to be defeated and would go to great lengths to prevent it. When Shan, Ordo, and Revan overpowered him on Taris, Nord threatened to kill himself with a thermal detonator in an attempt to kill them as well. The bounty hunter also wanted to claim a pearl from a krayt dragon on Tatooine, considering it the ultimate hunting trophy.
Calo Nord was sold into slavery by his parents as a child. He murdered his slave masters at the age of sixteen and then hunted down and murdered his parents. After establishing himself as a bounty hunter, Nord worked for whoever offered him the most money. He had business relationships with Exchange crime lord Davik Kang, the Galactic Republic, and Darth Malak's Sith Empire. Nord frequently taunted the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, who also worked for Davik Kang. Darth Malak's Sith apprentice, Darth Bandon, disliked Nord and considered him pathetic, an opinion he expressed to Revan when they met.
Calo Nord primarily used two Mandalorian heavy blasters, but he was also skilled with a vibroblade when necessary. Nord also carried four stun grenades and two thermal detonators. He had a pair of goggles that gave him low-light vision and used a prototype energy shield of Verpine design for extra protection. Nord carried 2,000 credits and used a datapad to record his thoughts and trophy kills. At some point, Nord commissioned a custom suit of battle armor based on heavily modified Mandalorian designs. After the suit was finished, Nord murdered the armorer to ensure its uniqueness.
Calo Nord was initially created by the developers at BioWare as a boss-like villain for the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, released on Xbox and PC. A miniature of Nord was released in the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars Miniatures) expansion set for Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Miniatures role-playing game. The set was released on September 23, 2006. Contrary to the game's events, Nord's entry in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide states that he died during the Sith bombardment of Taris. However, his entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that Nord was killed near Rakata Prime during the final battle of the Jedi Civil War. A blog post titled So Uncivilized: Great Gunslingers in Star Wars, published in two parts, with the first part released on September 19, 2013, confirmed that Calo Nord died on Tatooine.
When John Jackson Miller, the writer of the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, was asked if there were any other Knights of the Old Republic video game characters he wished he had included in the series, Miller mentioned his regret at not including Nord. In June 2013, Calo Nord's outfit was made available for purchase by male and female players in the Cartel Market of the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic as part of the Archon's Contraband pack.
The planet where Revan confronts Nord depends on the order in which the five Star Maps are obtained. Nord can appear on Tatooine, the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, the Selkath homeworld of Manaan, or the ancient Sith tomb-world of Korriban. On Tatooine, Nord is accompanied by Rodian and Aqualish henchmen. On Kashyyyk, Nord confronts Revan with Wookiees loyal to Chieftain Chuundar. On Manaan, Nord is accompanied by two Twi'leks. If Revan encounters Nord in the Hrakert Station on Manaan, Nord explains that he used an underwater vessel to reach the station. On Korriban, Nord is accompanied by two students from the Sith Academy.
The first encounter with Nord in the game occurs in Javyar's Cantina in the Lower City of Taris. If the player attempts to speak with Nord, the bounty hunter simply tells them to go away. If the player continues to speak with Nord, the bounty hunter counts to three. If Nord finishes counting, he attacks, and the player is unable to defeat him and will be killed. However, it is possible to avoid death by quickly ending the conversation, which Nord acknowledges as a smart move before leaving the cantina. If Canderous Ordo is with the player when Nord is confronted for the final time, Ordo will comment on Nord bringing backup and taunt him.