Bloodfin, also identified as the Sith Speeder, was the personal repulsorcraft speeder bike of the Zabrak Sith apprentice Darth Maul. Like all FC-20 speeder bike models, Bloodfin was originally manufactured by Razalon. However, the speeder was heavily modified to remove all nonessential systems, giving Bloodfin the maximum output of speed when traveling across land for Maul's stealth missions. During his apprenticeship to the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Maul kept Bloodfin docked aboard his modified Star Courier, Scimitar, and later used the speeder bike to pursue Queen Padmé Amidala's escort during the Naboo Crisis. When Maul reached the Queen's royal starship in the Tatooine desert, he leapt off Bloodfin and engaged the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in a duel, only moments before the Queen and the Jedi got away. This act revealed Maul and the Sith to the Jedi Order, after a millennia of plotting in secret.
Darth Maul, the Bloodfin, and DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids
Bloodfin was originally a standard-issue and crescent-shaped FC-20 speeder bike model from the manufacturer Razalon, with a single seat for one pilot and a length of 1.65 meters. The repulsorcraft was heavily modified, however, by its owner, the Zabrak Darth Maul. Maul had the exterior of the speeder bike pared-down and its nonessential systems removed—including its sensor and weapons systems—to make the Sith Speeder as fast as possible when in use. Additionally, Bloodfin had its energy systems modified to divert all power to speed. As a countermeasure to the intensity of the speed Bloodfin acquired, the speeder bike had a built-in "wait-mode" for dismount, which allowed Maul to have the Sith Speeder automatically decelerate before it went on standby for him to mount the speeder bike again.
As a Sith Lord, Darth Maul used Bloodfin on assignment from his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, during stealth missions. The Sith Speeder was kept aboard Maul's stealth ship—the Star Courier Sith Infiltrator Scimitar—until Maul needed its use. While Scimitar had a cloaking device, Bloodfin did not, so Maul used DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids to spy on his targets after landing planetside.
Maul kept Bloodfin docked aboard his modified Star Courier, the Sith Infiltrator Scimitar, when not in use.
Scimitar would act as the Zabrak's base of operations until Maul's targets were found using his probe droids, at which point he would unload his Sith Speeder and pursue his targets. Maul's modifications on Bloodfin ensured the speeder bike would reach its fastest speed possible during his pursuits, making the use of his starship unnecessary for such a task.
As part of the Sith plot to subjugate the galaxy, Darth Sidious orchestrated the blockade of the planet Naboo by collaborating with the Trade Federation and its Viceroy, Nute Gunray. When Gunray failed to take the Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, hostage and kill the Jedi ambassadors sent by the Galactic Republic, Sidious assigned Maul to the task instead. Maul, as the Sith apprentice of Sidious, obeyed his Master's command and was eager to gain revenge on the Jedi Order by completing his mission. As the Jedi had believed the Sith to be extinct for over a millennia, they did not expect—nor would they come to believe—that the Sith could have returned.
Using the Sith Infiltrator Scimitar, Maul tracked Queen Amidala's Naboo Royal Starship to Tatooine soon after she successfully escaped the Naboo invasion. To locate the Queen and her entourage, which included the Jedi ambassadors Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Maul used his starship's DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids to spy on the populace of Mos Espa until he located his target. Some time after the conclusion of the Boonta Eve Classic podrace, during which Jinn freed the human boy Anakin Skywalker from slavery, Maul located his targets and set a course to intercept the Jedi Master on his return to the Queen's starship. Using Bloodfin, Maul was able to catch up with Jinn and Skywalker just as they arrived at the Naboo Royal Starship in the desert.
Maul dismounted Bloodfin—using its "wait-mode"—when he attacked the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn during his pursuit of Queen Amidala.
Maul used the Sith Speeder's capabilities to slow Bloodfin down long enough for him to dismount, then used the Force to vault into position and engaged the Jedi Master in a duel. Moments earlier, the Sith Speeder nearly ran over the young Skywalker as he ran, but the boy avoided Bloodfin thanks only to Jinn's warning beforehand. Before Maul could defeat the Jedi Master in combat, Kenobi was able to get the starship to take-off, but not before getting Jinn safely aboard. Despite Maul's failure to complete his mission at that moment, his act—at last—revealed the Sith's continued existence to the Jedi, a fact which Jinn took back to the Jedi Council and was denied.
Darth Maul's speeder bike first appeared in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the 1999 Star Wars prequel trilogy film. The speeder bike was officially identified in Star Wars canon as Sith Speeder on the StarWars.com Encyclopedia.
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- Ultimate Star Wars
- Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
- Star Wars Helmet Collection 48
- Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
- Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles
- Star Wars Day-at-a-Time Calendar 2021
- Star Wars The Dark Side Pocket Expert