Star Wars' Bounty Hunters' Guild: Everything We Know About Their Code, Ranks, & More (2024)

The Bounty Hunters' Guild played a big role in various Star Wars stories, from The Mandalorian to Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but relatively little is known about the group. Bounty hunters have been a staple of Star Wars movies and TV shows since the very beginning, but they've become even more popular over time. As the franchise has progressed, more and more bounty hunters have been introduced in Star Wars, and the franchise's next movie, , will put the hired guns directly in the spotlight. Though they've become one of the most important groups in Star Wars, the Bounty Hunters' Guild has remained mysterious.

Though most of the best bounty hunters in Star Wars - like Boba Fett, Din Djarin, Cad Bane, and more - were part of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, only bits and pieces of the group have been revealed so far. The information that's available about the guild only covers a few areas, but it goes very deeply into those aspects. The approach Star Wars has taken to the Bounty Hunters' Guild may not have given a wealth of knowledge into the organization, but it has created quite a bit of intrigue.

Bounty Hunters In The Guild Have A Code To Follow

One of the most important - and loosely defined - parts of the Bounty Hunters' Guild was its code. In The Mandalorian season 1, Greef Karga, who was then acting as the Guild Master of the Nevarro branch of the guild, mentioned a core tenet of the code. After Din Djarin had given Grogu to the Client, Karga said that asking unnecessary details about a bounty or being involved in a target after completion was against the guild's code. Guild bounty hunters were supposed to completely disregard a bounty as soon as they had turned their target in, and treat it as if it had never happened.

The guild's code was also referenced in a few off-screen Star Wars stories. The comic "Target Vader #1" established that part of the bounty hunters' code prohibited its members from stealing other hunters' bounties. Additionally, the junior novel "Ezra's Gamble" established that the code outlawed bounty hunters from killing other guild members, even if they had a price on their head. That particular facet of the code could be overturned, however, if the order came from a Guild Master. Greef Karga ordered the Nevarro branch members to hunt down Din Djarin and Grogu, since Din had himself broken the code and damaged the guild's reputation.

Most of the known parts of the Bounty Hunters' Guild's code seem to center around two central ideas: professionalism and the guild's reputation. Those focuses seem especially likely given that not all bounty hunters could be part of the guild. Greef Karga mentioned that the guild's clients would sometimes be alright with hiring non-guild hunters because they charged lower rates. Karga referred to those hunters as "sloppy," and since guild hunters charged more, part of the guild's business model was likely based around the promise of completing jobs well. Thus, the guild's code made sure its members upheld the organization's reputation.

Din Djarin

Din Djarin was once a lone bounty who has since tasked himself with raising his adopted son and Mandalorian apprentice, Grogu. Born on Aq Vetina and raised on Concordia by the Mandalorian faction the Children of the Watch, Din is an orphan and Mandalorian foundling who has risked both his life and his Mandalorian Creed to protect Grogu. Djarin has become an important part of the galaxy's fight against the Imperial Remnant that lingers in the wake of the Empire's fall, as he is now working under-the-table for the fledgling New Republic's rangers.

Created By

Jon Favreau , Dave Filoni

Cast

Pedro Pascal

First Appearance

The Mandalorian

Alliance

Mandalorians

Race

Mandalorian

Aside from non-guild bounty hunters, there was one notable exception to the Bounty Hunters' Guild. The guild had no qualms about killing its targets - bounties could be turned in "warm or cold" in Din's words - but it didn't accept actual assassination missions. Any client who wanted a target dead rather than captured would instead go to the assassins' guild. Fennec Shand was a member of the assassins' guild by the time of The Mandalorian, which explains why the guild accepted a bounty on her, as it wouldn't have gone against the code's rule that protected members from one another.

Hunters Need To Complete A Job For Initiation

Part of the reason there were non-guild bounty hunters at all was because it was rather difficult to join the guild. Toro Calican, a young bounty hunter who was trying to join the guild, and he explained to Din Djarin that he needed to complete a bounty on Fennec Shand to gain entrance. This initiation into the guild fits with the guild's code, as it would help maintain their reputation for professionalism. An aspiring guild member would have to prove that they could handle the danger inherent to bounty hunting and that their work met the guild's expectations.

The Mandalorian

4.0

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The Mandalorian is set after the Empire's fall and before the First Order's emergence in the ever-growing Star Wars universe. The series follows the travails of a lone gunfighter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. Acting as the first live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian has become incredibly popular on Disney+, partly due to Mando’s relationship with Grogu, which the internet dubbed “Baby Yoda” upon his introduction in season 1.

Cast

Werner Herzog , Emily Swallow , Pedro Pascal , Nick Nolte , Omid Abtahi , Gina Carano , Carl Weathers , Giancarlo Esposito

Release Date

November 12, 2019

Seasons

3

Showrunner

Jon Favreau

Toro Calican introduced the idea of initiation into the guild, but he's also the only character Star Wars has shown trying to join the guild. Therefore, it's not clear if his first job was typical for newcomers. That being said, the fact that Calican went after legendary assassin Fennec Shand could indicate that new guild members had to take dangerous jobs to prove their worth. Forcing newcomers to complete particularly dangerous bounties would also make sense given the guild's focus on its reputation. It would also play directly into the Bounty Hunters' Guild's ranking system.

There Are Various Classes Bounty Hunters Rank In

Though Fennec Shand eventually became an assassin, she was a member of the Bounty Hunters' Guild at one point. She established in Star Wars: The Bad Batch that there was also a ranking system for the guild's individual members that seemed to separate jobs based on skill level. Shand said that the Empire was looking for "class one" bounty hunters to track down and kidnap Force-sensitive children for Project Necromancer. Later, The Bad Batch season 3 confirmed Cad Bane was a class one bounty hunter, which also seemingly confirmed that class one was the highest rank in the guild.

Fennec Shand

Little is known of Fennec Shand's early life; she emerged as a bounty hunter early on during the Dark Times of the Empire's reign, and continued to work for various criminal cartels for years. In The Mandalorian era, Boba Fett earned Fennec Shand's loyalty after he saved her life, and she now stands by his side.

Created By

Jon Favreau

Cast

Ming-Na Wen

First Appearance

The Mandalorian

Alliance

Boba Fett's Crime Syndicate

TV Shows

The Mandalorian , The Book of Boba Fett , Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Unfortunately, The Bad Batch didn't give much information beyond the top of the ranking system. Presumably, class one bounty hunters would have access to any job they chose, including the highest priority and highest paying assignments. Bounty hunters with a lower ranking and reputation would be locked out of the best jobs, with each subsequent rank only having access to less desirable work. Interestingly, The Mandalorian seemed to confirm that for some extremely high profile jobs - like the Client's bounty on Grogu - any bounty hunter could participate regardless of ranking. That seems to be an exception rather than a rule, however, but it happened on at least one occasion.

Star Wars hasn't confirmed how bounty hunters move up the ranking system and become class one hunters, but it could tie into the guild's initiation. Since new bounty hunters had to complete a job to join the guild in the first place, it seems reasonable to assume that moving further up the ranks would require a hunter to complete more guild jobs. That would help raise their reputation among clients and other hired guns, and it would also be proof to the guild's leadership that they could reliably get their targets.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

5.0

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch is an action-adventure animated series set after the events of The Clone Wars, following Clone Force 99 (a.k.a. the Bad Batch.) Finding themselves immune to the brainwashing effects of Order 66, the Bad Batch become mercenaries for hire while outrunning the empire, now seeing them as fugitives of the law.

Cast

Dee Bradley Baker , Michelle Ang , Noshir Dalal , Liam O'Brien , Rhea Perlman , Sam Riegel , Bob Bergen , Gwendoline Yeo

Release Date

May 4, 2021

Seasons

3

Showrunner

Dave Filoni

In that way, the ranking system could be a sort of trust-based hierarchy where hunters have to prove that they're capable of being given more dangerous and important marks. Part of the reason that's a likely way for the ranking system to work is because it would benefit both individual hunters and the guild itself mutually. The system would make sure its members never take jobs that they're not qualified for, which would keep them alive longer. It would also limit the number of jobs that the guild failed, which would help protect its reputation and justify having higher rates than non-guild hunters.

Even with all the confirmed and likely information about the Bounty Hunters' Guild, there's still quite a bit that has been left unsaid. It's not clear how individual branches of the guild are connected to each other, whether the guild has a central leadership beyond those branches, or how the guild operated during different parts of the Star Wars timeline beyond the Imperial and New Republic eras. Suffice to say, there's plenty of room for future bounty hunters and future Star Wars stories to give even more information on the Bounty Hunters' Guild.

Star Wars

Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.

Created by

George Lucas

First Film

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

TV Show(s)

The Mandalorian , Andor , Obi-Wan Kenobi , The Book of Boba Fett , Ahsoka , The Acolyte , Star Wars: Skeleton Crew , Lando , Star Wars: The Clone Wars , Star Wars Rebels , Star Wars: The Bad Batch , Star Wars: Resistance , Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures , Star Wars: Visions