Star Wars: Clone Wars features the onscreen debut of the deadly bounty hunter Durge, a mysterious, armored, enforcer of few words, whose species seems almost invincible. Hired by Count Dooku to reinforce the CIS’s outmatched Banking Clan on Muunilinst, Durge became one of the main antagonists of the Legends-era animated series. Durge fights Obi-Wan and his Clone Troopers twice, each time enduring damage that would brutally kill most humanoids. As his armor is destroyed, it’s clear that Durge’s species, the Gen’Dai, is new to the Star Wars mythos, and would be explored further in other Legends-era material.
Durge was born over two thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, becoming a bounty hunter during the New Sith Wars. Though not a Mandalorian, Durge was trained in their warrior ways early in his career, and he was regularly hired by the Sith to kill Jedi, which Durge became frighteningly skilled at. After the war (and the seemingly final defeat of the Sith), Durge was tortured by the Mandalorians in retaliation for assassinating their leader. The torture drove Durge insane and he spent almost a century physically recovering from it. By the time the Clone Wars began, Durge had a pathological hatred of Mandalorians, so he eagerly joined the CIS to kill Clone Troopers (who are all Mandalorians in Legends).
Durge is a Gen’Dai, a rare and distinctive species in the galaxy. Gen’Dai are essentially formless bundles of nerve and muscle, with potent regenerative abilities that make them notoriously difficult to kill. Moreover, Gen’Dai had extremely long lifespans, leading some beings to think they’re immortal. Most Gen’Dai wore full suits of armor to give them a humanoid shape and appearance, rather than protect them. Durge is a rarity among the already-rare Gen’Dai, as his bounty hunter vocation contrasts with his species’ normally-peaceful culture. When Durge’s armor is mostly destroyed by Clone Trooper blaster fire and explosives, his massive and formless Gen’Dai body can be fully seen, aside from his face.
In both of his battles with Obi-Wan, Durge is dismembered by lightsaber strikes. His Gen’Dai regenerative abilities allow him to reattach and later regrow lost limbs. Durge also demonstrates his species’ lack of a heart when he shrugs off a lightsaber stab to the chest. With almost every Jedi and Clone attack proving unable to kill Durge, Obi-Wan finally defeated him after the bounty hunter swallowed him up inside his corded body. Obi-Wan used the Force to make Durge explode from within, but this only defeated him. Durge would return to menace Republic forces in later Clone Wars material.
Gen’Dai are one of the most durable species in the galaxy, but they aren’t invincible. Their regenerative healing abilities don’t apply to their brains, making the organ one of their few vulnerabilities. The Sith Empire nearly drove the Gen’Dai extinct, possibly due to exploiting this weakness. In addition to the torture he endured, Durge’s long life span and subsequent brain degeneration contributed to his mental instability during the Star Wars: Clone Wars. As shown in the Star Wars: Obsession comic series, Gen’Dai can also be killed by complete disintegration. Anakin Skywalker managed to finally kill Durge by trapping him in a vessel’s escape pod and sending it hurtling into a star.