A Jedi Master during all three Episodes of the Prequel Trilogy, Master Windu was a Jedi second only to Yoda in reputation, Force, and fighting skills.  Long known as one of the most effective Jedi at negotiating settlements, he could and did back himself up with his lightsaber.  As one of the highest ranking Jedi in the twilight of the Old Republic, he would make many difficult decisions, and chose to die a valiant death when the truth was revealed to him.

            Although it is unknown who trained Mace, we can surmise that they must have been someone very powerful, probably a high-ranking Jedi Master.  We know that he invented the seventh lightsaber form, and remained its only Master until the breakdown of the Republic, though two others knew some of it.  For years we were not given any information about him other than “he’s second only to Yoda.”  All that changed when Master Windu starred in the book Shatterpoint.  A masterful look at a masterful Jedi, this is the story of Mace Windu going in after his former apprentice and fellow Council member, Depa Billaba.  Besides getting into an extremely warlike planet nominally under Separatist control without being recognized as an high-ranking enemy commander, Mace Windu succeeds in destroying multiple armies, fleets, and mindsets as he breaks the stalemate in Haruun Kal and comes face-to-face with his past.  For he was born on Haruun Kal, though he was claimed by the Jedi soon after and only made one other journey there before this one.  One of the best things about this book is that we see how Mace thinks, which is radically different from Yoda, his counterpart.  Windu thinks like a warrior, always looking for weak points. 

It is also revealed that he is not only a great strategic general, able to win with almost nothing, but he is also a great fighter one-on-one.  Martial arts, lightsaber fighting, and Force battles are revealed to be his forte, and several times he forces himself to slow down, and not enjoy fighting as much.  But even he understands that sometimes it is better to lose, just as he did to Kar Vastor.  Of course, he defeated him later, and took him back to Coruscant to be tried for crimes against civilization, along with Depa Billaba.   It is not known if either of them were ever tried.

Probably the most significant thing that he did in between Episodes II and III, that we know of other than the events of Shatterpoint, was sending Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker along Outbound Flight to keep an eye on Master C’baoth.  Though that plan ultimately failed, surely both Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to learn something during their time with Jorus C’baoth, and when Outbound Flight vanished, surely the senior Jedi asked Master Kenobi and his apprentice to relate their experiences with the expedition.  Through that, the Masters would have learned about yet another experiment that had never been done before, and would have been interesting to observe if it had lasted longer.

By the time of Episode III, Master Windu knew that the end was near.  Suspicious of Chancellor Palpatine from the first, he was the one that Anakin Skywalker went to with the news that Palpatine was the Sith Lord.  Mace Windu had given his life, reputation, and considerable skills to defend a country and leader that had been corrupt for most of his career.  Still, he took it all in stride, and summoned Masters Tiin, Kolar, and Fisto to go with him and arrest Palpatine.  Perhaps they had not spoken about how they were going to do that, or perhaps the Sith Lord was able to block most of the entire team’s connection to the Force, or perhaps Palpatine was simply too powerful, but all three of the team members fell in seconds, leaving Mace to battle Chancellor Palpatine alone.  After a long battle, Master Windu trapped Palpatine, kicking away his lightsaber and declaring that he was under arrest.  At that moment, Anakin arrived, and after some maneuvering of Anakin by Palpatine, Skywalker cut off Windu’s hand when he attempted to kill Palpatine.  Distracted by this and by the second betrayal of the day, Anakin’s attack, Palpatine used Force lightning to push Master Mace Windu off of the ledge of Palpatine’s office and down to his death below.  This would be the next-to-the-last act necessary for Anakin to fully turn to the Dark Side, and become Darth Vader.