Maul

The boy who would become known as Darth Maul was born in 54 BBY, the son of Mother Talzin on the planet Dathomir, shrouded in mystery. Being a Zabrak male from Dathomir, he was a Nightbrother with two blood-related brothers, Feral and Savage Opress. Later in life, Maul asserted that he once had a true name, but it had been forgotten long ago. Before his first birthday, Talzin gave the Zabrak infants their first tattoos. From his earliest days living in the deep caves, Maul struggled with intense inner rage.

Legend says that Maul spent his childhood alongside one of his brothers in a house within the Nightbrother Village, often having to care for his younger, weaker brother because Talzin was frequently away with the Nightsisters. Growing up, he always felt a connection to nature and the forest outside their house, a consequence of his Force-sensitivity. While he was still a child, Mother Talzin formed an alliance with Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, with the two exchanging knowledge of Dark Side arcana and Nightsister magicks. Legend also says that whenever Sidious visited Talzin, Maul would hide in his room, fearful of the man and concerned about Talzin's growing connection with him.

Maul's struggle with anger eventually drew Sidious's attention. Around 40 BBY, Sidious removed Maul from Dathomir to make him his Sith apprentice. According to Talzin, Sidious betrayed her and stole Maul away. A more detailed legend claims that Sidious ordered Talzin to hand Maul over to a keeper, threatening to break his promise to make her his apprentice if she didn't. She reluctantly agreed, and Maul, overhearing the conversation from behind his door, angrily ran into the forest. Upon his return the following morning, a Nightbrother seized him and threw him into a pit, preventing him from saying goodbye to his mother.

For months, Maul endured relentless domestic abuse orchestrated by Sidious as a test. He lived with his Nightbrother keeper's two sons, who beat him to the point of incapacitation every few days and kept him starved by only giving him the scraps his "brothers" didn't eat. This gradually distorted Maul's perceptions, and his love for his mother transformed into resentment and hatred for abandoning him. As Sidious desired, his hatred began to manifest through the Dark Side, and he practiced using it whenever possible. Eventually, the two brothers stopped beating him after realizing that their provocations no longer affected him. Rumors then began to circulate about a man arriving soon for the Selection to acquire a warrior apprentice, and all the Nightbrother boys prepared for it.

When the day arrived, Maul's keeper refused to let him participate, but he used the Dark Side to break down his locked door and follow anyway. At the Selection Arena, Maul discovered that the visitor was Sidious. In a sudden burst of anger, he used the Dark Side of the Force to Force-choke the two brothers and then the keeper, all in front of Sidious and Talzin. Extremely pleased with Maul's progress and potential, Sidious declared Maul the winner and his new apprentice, much to Talzin's dismay. Sidious took Maul and left Dathomir, with Talzin vowing to reclaim her stolen son and exact revenge on Sidious.

Under Sidious's guidance, Maul trained as a Sith apprentice, Sith warrior, and Sith assassin, eventually receiving the title "Darth Maul." For years, Darth Maul was trained to be a weapon of the Sith. He became an acrobatic warrior, trained to be relentless against his enemies, and learned to use a dual-bladed lightsaber, eventually crafting his own using plans provided by his master. Sidious had hidden the plans in a forgotten entrance within the ancient Sith archives. For his lightsaber, Maul used pieces that he had stolen or otherwise acquired. As he reflected while sitting in darkness before the Chommell sector summit, a significant amount of pain and blood had gone into the construction of his weapon. However, most of the blood spilled in creating the weapon was not his. During lightsaber training, Maul trained with Marksman-H training remotes, and he also learned martial arts through droid training.

During his training, Sidious took Maul to Malachor to witness a great battle that had occurred between the Jedi and the Sith. Maul mastered his anger, allowing it to burn within him, and under his master's supervision, began to transform his anger into hate. Sidious forced Maul to breathe in the ashes of Sith warriors who had been slain when an ancient weapon was activated in the Sith temple on the planet. While breathing in this ash, Maul had visions of members of the Sith order being struck down by the Jedi. He felt the slash of saber after saber, experiencing the death of his Sith brethren. His Sith training instilled in Maul a longing for revenge against the Jedi Order, which had defeated the Sith a millennium earlier. With his master, Darth Maul hoped to destroy the Jedi and restore the Sith to galactic power.

However, Maul's hatred of the Jedi was more personal. He was filled with anger when he realized that the Jedi had not come for him as a child. Maul didn't know if they found him unworthy or simply ignored him, and their neglect fueled his rage, counting the days until he could exact his revenge. He grew impatient with his master's planning, resenting the pain and suffering he endured as he waited for his time to unleash himself on the galaxy that had caused him so much hurt. At some point during his apprenticeship, Maul traveled to the planet Umbara under Sidious's orders and kidnapped the world's senator Sly Moore, though she was eventually freed.

Several years into his training as Sidious's apprentice, Darth Maul began to grow impatient, longing for a confrontation with the Jedi. Maul enjoyed hunting wild game and stalking the Jedi Khaat Qiyn and her Padawan, Bairdon Jace, in the shadows of Coruscant. During one excursion, Maul traveled to the swamp planet Twon Ketee to hunt rathtars as he awaited orders from Darth Sidious. Beforehand, he hired a group of big game hunters to scare the rathtar out of hiding as he watched from behind a tree. He quieted his mind and used the Force, sensing the nearby presence of the beasts. A rathtar attacked the hunters, and Maul leaped onto the beast, killing it with a spear. However, Maul sensed another rathtar attacking him from behind, realizing that they were pack hunters. Maul wanted to use his lightsaber, but knowing that the hunters would notice his Sith nature, he chose not to. Maul severed the creature's limbs one by one and eventually used a branch to kill the second rathtar. Having finished his training, he headed back to Coruscant. It was while hunting rathtars that Maul reflected on their viciousness, ruthlessness, and freedom. The rathtars he hunted had no master, unlike himself. Sidious warned Maul to avoid the Jedi until his plans were ready to unfold. While he praised Maul for his thirst for vengeance, Sidious didn't want Maul revealing himself before the time was right, threatening him with death if he continued to risk detection.

In an attempt to satiate Maul's bloodlust, Sidious sent him to the Kellux system to dispatch pirates who were interfering with the Trade Federation. Maul traveled to Kellux and eliminated the pirates who had kidnapped members of the Trade Federation. A pirate, mistaking Maul for a Jedi, begged for his life in exchange for information. The pirate informed Maul that Xev Xrexus of the Xrexus Cartel had captured a Jedi Padawan who was going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Maul dispatched the remaining pirates as well as the kidnapped members of the Trade Federation and began his search for the Padawan.

Maul hired a group of bounty hunters (Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, Vorhdeilo, and Troo-tril-tek) and traveled to Nar Shaddaa in an attempt to learn the location of Xrexus's auction. Maul got into a bar brawl after being accused of being a Jedi. He was blinded during the fight by the Quarren gangster Dirty Calgriz—whom Maul quickly killed thereafter—and was nearly surrounded when the fight was intercepted by Bane, Sing, and Vorhdeilo. Bane informed Maul that the bounty hunters had obtained an invitation to Xrexus's auction, having killed the Haddrex Gang and stolen their ship and protocol droid, FE-B3. Troo-Tril-Tek and Maul tortured FE-B3 until they extracted the location of the auction.

Maul and the bounty hunters then traveled in the Haddrex Gang's ship to a space station in the Drazkel system to attend the auction. Xrexus told those gathered that the Padawan, a Twi'lek named Eldra Kaitis, had been found on a crashed Republic transport vessel that had been attacked by pirates. While Xrexus greeted her guests, Maul searched the space station and found Kaitis in a holding cell. Xrexus caught Maul sneaking around the station, and Maul provided a fake name, Seris Madreth of the Haddrex Consortium, to deceive her. Maul then spoke with Bane and the other bounty hunters to devise a clean escape and a backup plan.

Maul returned to the auction, where he allowed the Moogan Jee Kra to take Kaitis. Maul and his bounty hunters then confronted Jee Kra and his crew at their ship, killing them. Maul told Bane to get the ship into space and confirmed to Kaitis that he was a Sith. However, Xrexus had planted an explosive on the shuttle, forcing it to crash-land on Drazkel's moon.

On the moon's surface, Maul, Kaitis, and his bounty hunters survived the crash. Maul and his bounty hunters saw that Xrexus was sending ships after them and split up; Maul and Kaitis would lead the hunters away while Bane, Sing, and Vorhdeilo would take a ship from them. When they were surrounded by the hunters, Maul gave Kaitis her lightsaber, and the two of them fought the hunters together. After defeating the hunters, Maul and Kaitis prepared to fight each other.

Both proved to be a match for each other. At first, Kaitis used her lightsaber to cause a landslide that buried Maul. As she was going in for the kill, Maul rose and stabbed her through the chest. He then destroyed FE-B3, after which he was picked up by Bane and the other bounty hunters using a stolen Flarestar-class shuttle. Maul compensated them, and they dropped him off at Xev's hideout. There, Maul killed Xrexus to ensure the Sith's secrecy. He then returned to Lord Sidious on Coruscant. His master knew he had killed the young Padawan, but he pleased his master by telling him that his lust for Jedi was not satisfied.

Maul, in disguise, formed a fake cartel under Kaitis's name and later worked with the Force-sensitive Zek Peiro in intercepting shipments of scarn, a compound used to manufacture spice. Maul and Peiro fought several of their buyers and found the scarn. He killed Peiro with a piece of metal and left him. Maul returned to Sidious, who spoke of his concern about Maul's antics and how he was as foolish as Peiro.

After killing Peiro, Maul and Sidious returned to Malachor to expand his Sith training. During his time on Malachor, Maul breathed the ashes of the long-dead Sith and had a Force vision. In his vision, Maul was a Jedi and saved a fellow Zabrak from a creature. Maul was invited to dinner with other Zabraks to thank him. Maul, disgusted by the Zabraks' idolization of the Jedi, became a Sith and beheaded the entire group. After his vision ended, Maul was praised by his master, and Maul realized that it would take more than his rage and emotions to destroy the Jedi.

In 33 BBY, when the pirate leader Zilastra planned a large-scale operation against members of the Jedi Council, Maul traveled to the planet Kwenn, as his master admired Zilastra's ruthlessness and thought her contempt for the Jedi was of interest. When Sidious, appearing as Senator Palpatine, contacted the Seneschal of the Kwenn Jedi outpost, Voh, Maul discretely entered the florist shop that Voh was holographically communicating from. When Palpatine was finished with Voh, he began to speak to Maul, which confused Voh until the seneschal was lifted with the Force and spun around to see the Zabrak.

After years of seeking revenge against the Jedi, Maul became part of his master's plan to take over the Galactic Republic and destroy the Jedi. Sidious, secretly Senator Palpatine of Naboo, conspired with the Trade Federation to invade his planet as retaliation for the taxation of trade routes in outlying Republic star systems. The Federation launched their vessels and blockaded Naboo, preparing their battle droid army. Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, whom Palpatine aimed to replace through the invasion, dispatched Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to resolve the situation. However, the Federation attempted to kill the two Jedi, forcing Jinn and Kenobi to the surface. Once there, as the invasion began, they rescued Queen Padmé Amidala and escaped from Naboo.

Because Amidala was essential for their plans—the queen needed to sign a treaty legitimizing the illegal occupation of Naboo—Sidious dispatched Maul to find the queen and the Jedi. Maul traced a distress call from Sio Bibble, the governor of Naboo, which Queen Amidala received on Tatooine. With his master's permission, Maul traveled to Tatooine to locate the queen. He landed in the desert with his personal starship, establishing it as a mobile base for his operation. From his starship, he launched a trio of Sith probe droids to seek out the queen and her Jedi protectors. Thanks to one of them, he discovered her ship just as it was preparing to leave. Maul rode across the Tatooine sand dunes on his Bloodfin, his personal vehicle of choice, towards the queen's ship. However, he encountered Qui-Gon Jinn, one of the Jedi Knights trying to protect the queen, and a young boy named Anakin Skywalker.

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Nevertheless, the Sith Lord initiated an assault against Qui-Gon Jinn, leading to a fierce lightsaber battle. The Jedi instructed Anakin to board the vessel and order the pilot to depart. The confrontation was brief but intense, with Maul leveraging his impressive agility and brutality to exhaust Jinn using his aggressive lightsaber skills. Just as Jinn was overwhelmed by Maul's might and fury, and Maul prepared to deliver the final blow to the Jedi, the royal starship of the queen intervened, allowing Jinn to escape onboard, leaving the Sith Lord seething with anger on the sandy terrain.

Even though Jinn and the queen managed to flee, the Sith's presence had been unveiled to the Jedi for the first time in a thousand years, prompting the Jedi Order to question how the Sith could have resurfaced after such a long absence. Despite his targets eluding him, Maul reveled in his achievements and allowed himself to be further consumed by darkness and animosity. Unbeknownst to Maul, Skywalker, the young individual prophesied to be the Chosen One, would eventually contribute significantly to the Jedi's downfall and become a Sith Lord himself.

Subsequent to the Jedi and the queen's escape, they journeyed to Coruscant, where Sidious, under the guise of Palpatine, manipulated Amidala into advocating for a Vote of No Confidence against Chancellor Valorum. This action spurred a new election in which Palpatine was heavily favored to win and seize control of the Republic. Meanwhile, Maul, following his master's orders, returned to Naboo, where Amidala and the Jedi also reappeared to combat the Federation's occupying forces. Anticipating the impending clash with the Jedi, Maul strategically planned to select the location for their inevitable duel. The Naboo, along with the Gungans residing in Naboo's oceans, directed the Federation's army into battle away from the capital. Capitalizing on this diversion, the queen and the Jedi fought to regain control of the city.

Upon his arrival on Naboo, Maul was greeted by the Neimoidians, but he disregarded their attempts at comfort and instead focused on swiftly completing his task of choosing the battlefield. He resolved to lure the Jedi into the network of corridors and catwalks leading to and within the power generation facilities situated near the hangar. He practiced his lightsaber movements and agility to familiarize himself with the environment. He leaped over the chasm in the final room, where he intended to eliminate the Jedi, dismissing its significance before receiving a communication from Gunray. Ignoring his desire to hunt upon learning of the Queen's starship's landing, Maul advised that they allow the Naboo and Jedi to come to them.

The conflict for the capital extended to the royal palace, where Maul awaited Jinn and Kenobi. The Sith Lord engaged the Jedi in combat within the palace hangar before transitioning to a generator complex. The duel continued intensely throughout the generator rooms, with Maul maintaining dominance. However, he strategically retreated to guide the Jedi through the complex. Maul separated the Jedi by knocking Kenobi down to lower levels, preventing Kenobi from rejoining Maul and Jinn due to laser barriers. Exploiting this separation, Maul battled Jinn alone and ultimately impaled the Jedi Master through the torso, inflicting a mortal wound.

When Kenobi finally caught up, a fierce battle ensued, fueled by Kenobi's anger and grief over his master's death. Although Kenobi severed Maul's double-bladed lightsaber, leaving the Sith Lord with a single blade, Maul disarmed Kenobi and used the Force to push him over the edge of a vast reactor shaft. Caught off guard, Kenobi dropped his lightsaber and found himself clinging to a small input nozzle over the abyss. Maul kicked Kenobi's lightsaber into the shaft below. As Maul taunted the young Jedi, attempting to dislodge him, Kenobi regained his composure and used the Force to leap back up and summon Jinn's lightsaber. In a swift move, Kenobi sliced through Maul's waist, severing him in half and causing him to plummet down the shaft.

On that same day, Sheev Palpatine ascended to the position of Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. Despite the inability to recover Darth Maul's body from the depths of the power station, both he and the Jedi believed that Maul had perished on Naboo. Consequently, Sidious appointed Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master whom he had converted to the dark side, as his new apprentice, while the Council shifted its focus to other matters, preferring to allow the Force to guide solutions as it saw fit.

However, fueled by his unyielding hatred and rage, Maul miraculously survived being bisected, his upper body falling into a trash container within the reactor shaft. A combination of Nightsister magic, Dathomirian physiology, and Sith resilience enabled him to cling to life, even as his sanity began to erode. Maul's fragmented body was discarded on the junkyard planet of Lotho Minor, where he dwelled in the planet's depths. There, he repurposed discarded metal to construct a six-limbed apparatus, enabling him to walk once more.

During Maul's exile, the droid Captain Spikewheel coerced several individuals, including Gritz, Riki, Brennar, and Seles to spend a night on Lotho Minor to qualify for her crew. Upon their arrival, a dispute erupted between Gritz and Brennar, causing the ground to collapse into a labyrinth.

While exploring, Seles became separated from the group, prompting Brennar to search for him. Brennar discovered that Maul had captured Seles. Maul, while muttering incoherently, hurled Seles at Brennar and pursued them through the labyrinth. They eventually reached a dead end. Maul was about to kill them when Gritz ensnared Maul in an electronet.

They returned to the surface with Maul in tow, where Spikewheel awaited them. Gritz and Spikewheel revealed that they had been hired to locate and capture Maul, and that this was a test for Gritz to become first mate. While listening to the message from their employer, Gritz and Spikewheel realized that the message originated from Maul himself. Maul escaped from the electronet and confirmed that he had sent the message to secure a ship for his escape. Spikewheel attempted to shoot Maul, but the fallen Sith destroyed her. Seles panicked and inadvertently launched the ship into the sky. Riki opened the ship's door, causing Maul and Gritz to fall back to the surface of Lotho Minor. They departed the planet, and Maul killed Gritz.

During his exile, he entered into an agreement with a sentient and cunning Anacondan named Morley, who agreed to provide Maul with food in exchange for his leftovers. Over the years, Maul was consumed by madness, rage, and despair, yet remained fixated on exacting revenge against Kenobi.

During those years, Anakin Skywalker, while training in lightsaber combat at the Jedi Temple, modified a training droid to resemble Darth Maul.

Mother Talzin was aware that Maul had survived. During the Clone Wars, she informed his brother, Savage Opress, that the former Sith Lord could be found in the Outer Rim. Talzin provided Opress with a talisman to aid in locating Maul, and Opress embarked on a mission to find his brother. Opress located Lotho Minor and discovered his deranged brother living there. Maul did not recognize Opress and barely retained his own identity, frequently erupting into fits of laughter and weeping. All that remained of the former Sith Lord was his insatiable desire for revenge against the Jedi. Believing that Morley had harmed his brother and driven him insane, Opress killed the Anacondan. To restore Maul's memories, he transported him to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin repaired Maul's mind and provided him with cybernetic legs through an incantation, utilizing parts from Separatist droids destroyed during the Battle of Dathomir.

With his mind restored, Maul sought revenge against Kenobi for his defeat on Naboo. He lured the now-Jedi High Council member to Raydonia by slaughtering civilians to provoke Kenobi. Maul and Opress captured Kenobi, but the Jedi was rescued by Asajj Ventress, a former acolyte of Darth Tyranus and the Dathomir Witch who once commanded Opress. Kenobi and Maul engaged in a lightsaber duel for the first time in over a decade, and Maul provoked Kenobi by mentioning his murder of Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi was overwhelmed and decided that it would be best for him and Ventress to escape the ship. Although Kenobi escaped, Maul knew that the Jedi would pursue him, which would aid Maul in his quest for revenge.

Following these events, Maul encountered a child and spoke about his return to galactic affairs, promising the child that he would soon have his revenge and expose the Jedi as a false order. The brothers embarked on a rampage across the galaxy, which led them to the Cybloc Transfer Station in the Cybloc system. After defeating the station's guards, the brothers discovered a credit coffer filled to the brim. Maul demonstrated his martial superiority to his brother by disarming him, earning the latter's respect. From that point onward, Maul referred to himself as Opress's Master, mirroring the traditional Sith Rule of Two dynamic.

After stealing the valuables on the space station, the brothers traveled to Florrum, where they bribed a squad of pirates into joining them. While some joined, others questioned Maul and Opress's motives and were killed as a result, as Hondo Ohnaka, the pirate leader, was forced to watch. Eventually, the brothers faced off against Kenobi and Adi Gallia, a fellow member of the Jedi High Council, who tracked them there. After a duel that resulted in Gallia's death, Kenobi lured the brothers into the pirate base, where they continued their duel in an isolated passage. When Opress had his arm severed, Maul used the Force to push Kenobi down the tunnel, causing a cave-in before ordering a retreat. He also learned that Ohnaka's forces had reconciled with the renegade pirates, and likewise, Maul's hired group had turned on him. The brothers promptly escaped, although the effort cost Maul one of his artificial legs. They later barely escaped the doomed ship after one of Ohnaka's pirates shot out its engines with a rocket launcher. Because of this, Hondo believed that Maul and Opress were incinerated in the crash, though Kenobi suspected otherwise.

Maul and Opress managed to escape Florrum, but they eventually lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen in their escape pod. As they drifted aimlessly in space, they were discovered unconscious and near death by Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group led by former Governor Pre Vizsla. Upon discovering Maul's lightsaber, Vizsla decided not to kill them, as his lieutenant, Bo-Katan Kryze, wanted to do; Vizsla believed that if they were enemies of the Jedi, then they were his allies. Vizsla and his men returned to their base on Zanbar, with Maul and Opress in tow.

On Zanbar, medical droids healed Maul from his wounds and replaced the legs he had received from Mother Talzin with new mechanical legs that restored him to his previous height. Upon waking after the surgery, Maul was groggy and only reacted when he saw the still-unconscious Opress next to him, as the droids fitted the wounded brother with a mechanical arm. Vizsla and Bo-Katan entered and began to interrogate Maul, threatening to kill Opress if Maul refused to answer. Maul revealed that they were Sith Lords, which immediately led Vizsla to question him about his connections to Count Dooku. Maul angrily stated that he and Opress served no one and that they were brothers, the true Lords of the Sith. Satisfied, Vizsla asked him his intentions, and Maul revealed his plans to seek power and influence to gain his revenge over the Jedi. He also informed the Mandalorians that the Jedi responsible for their troubles was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Having faced Kenobi before, and knowing that the Jedi Master was a close friend of Vizsla's enemy, the Mandalorian Duchess Satine Kryze, Vizsla ordered the droids to complete the repairs to the brothers.

Maul was later taken to Vizsla's shelter and revealed himself as a member of Death Watch, who claimed to be the descendants of Mandalore's true warrior faith, which had been rejected by the pacifists who ruled Mandalore. Vizsla also informed Maul of his and his warriors' exile from Mandalore after failing to overthrow the Mandalorian government and mused against the one responsible for their exile: Kenobi. Realizing that they shared a common goal and a common enemy, Maul proposed an alliance between the brothers and Death Watch, claiming that it was the will of the Force. Bo-Katan rebuffed him, stating that the last time they had allied with a Sith, they had been betrayed. She also denigrated the Sith as being no better than the Jedi. Maul used the Force to choke her, and as the Mandalorians aimed their weapons at him, he claimed that thanks to their alliance, Mandalore would be theirs and they would dispose of all their enemies, as well as gaining their revenge against Kenobi and Dooku. He then released Bo-Katan, and Vizsla sent him to see to Opress while they put the alliance to a vote among the Mandalorians.

Opress emerged from his coma and proceeded to destroy the medical droids with his new mechanical arm while Maul watched. As Opress grew agitated, Maul appeared to calm him and informed him of who they had fallen upon. He insisted that the Mandalorians would be more useful to their plans than the pirates ever would have been because the Mandalorians had honor. While Opress rejected this as a weakness, Maul stated that his plans would be better served by them and, once they had reclaimed Mandalore, they would use its resources to further their own plans, with the Death Watch under their command. Vizsla then arrived and announced that the alliance had been accepted by the Death Watch.

Maul convinced Pre Vizsla they needed to recruit Black Sun so they could build an army, and with that, the alliance proceeded to go to Mustafar to recruit the Black Sun into their army. They were met by Ziton Moj, who brought the group to their council. Maul asked the council to join them, but they refused despite Maul giving them a second chance, and on Maul's orders, Savage activated his lightsaber and threw it across the table, decapitating the council and prompting Moj to form an alliance with Maul's forces. Upon returning to their camp on Zanbar, the Pykes also declared their allegiance to the Sith brothers.

Next, the alliance traveled to Nal Hutta to convince the Grand Hutt Council to join their group. The Hutts refused to join as they had no credits to buy their allegiance, so Maul and his forces battled the Hutts' enforcers and hired bounty hunters. After defeating the bounty hunters and the guards, they met Oruba the Hutt, who was captured by Bo-Katan and her forces. The Hutt pleaded for help, but Maul callously ordered his brother to kill him. Before he could, Maul interrogated Oruba on the location of the other Hutts. Fearing for his life, Oruba responded with Tatooine, to which Vizsla identified as the location of Jabba's Palace. Dissatisfied that the only thing Oruba could tell them was information so blatantly obvious, he gestured Opress to execute the frightened Hutt, and they headed to Jabba's Palace and besieged it. Overwhelmed by the Death Watch, Jabba agreed to join the Shadow Collective.

While searching to create his crime family, Maul and Opress sat in a cantina, planning to gain the favor of the leader of the Morubas crime family, Jjan. However, a patron at the bar overheard them and snitched on Maul to Jjan, who planned to poison Maul during his arrival. When arriving at the base, Savage led forces in an attempt to capture the Stronghold of the Morubas crime family. Maul entered Jjan's throne room, allowing himself to get captured in order to allow his forces to seige the stronghold, taking the crime family's power.

Now commanding an army, Maul and the Shadow Collective plotted to overthrow Duchess Satine's government on Mandalore. Their strategy involved making the Duchess appear weak by dispatching the Collective's criminal elements to attack the capital city, Sundari, at which point Death Watch would arrive and drive them off. Maul also anticipated and counted on Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan betraying him, considering it a crucial part of his own scheme.

After Death Watch repelled the criminals, Maul's suspicions were confirmed when he and Opress were apprehended. With Maul imprisoned, Death Watch proclaimed themselves the rulers of Mandalore. Maul suspected that other political prisoners, besides the deposed and imprisoned Satine, were nearby and could be utilized for his own purposes. The two Sith brothers broke out of their cells and sought a new ally, selecting former Prime Minister Almec as a puppet; Almec had been imprisoned by the Duchess on corruption charges.

Having fought his way out of prison, Maul stormed into the Mandalorian throne room, the Grand Salon, and challenged Pre Vizsla to an honorable death match, knowing that the victor would gain the allegiance of Death Watch and become their new leader. After a prolonged and spectacular duel, Maul overpowered Pre Vizsla and beheaded him with his own weapon, the Darksaber that ancient Mandalorians had stolen from the Jedi, which Maul then claimed as his own. However, Maul's victory fractured Death Watch, with Bo-Katan and her forces refusing to pledge loyalty to Maul. The remaining members submitted to Maul's rule, while Almec was reinstated as Prime Minister—albeit with Maul wielding the true power on Mandalore.

Shortly after the coup, Maul discovered that the Duchess had attempted to escape from prison and had transmitted a distress call to the Jedi. Having learned of Kenobi's past friendship and relationship with Kryze, Maul realized she could serve as bait for his archenemy and the perfect instrument for his revenge against the Jedi Master. As Mandalore was technically neutral during the Clone Wars, Maul knew that Kenobi could not receive official sanction from the Jedi Council for a rescue mission. As such, he predicted that Kenobi would attempt a solo rescue.

After Kenobi infiltrated the palace and freed his friend, Maul and the Mandalorian forces pursued them all the way to Kenobi's ship, Twilight. The Mandalorians launched missiles at the ship, crippling it and forcing Kenobi and Kryze to abandon ship before it was destroyed. Although dazed from the crash, Kenobi recognized Maul and Opress and attacked them, but Maul disarmed him and ordered his forces to bring Kenobi and the Duchess to the palace.

In the throne room, Maul taunted Kenobi to succumb to the dark side, all the while holding Kryze in a Force grip. Kenobi angrily refused and revealed that he had visited the Sith Lord's village on Dathomir; Kenobi further emphasized Maul's horrific past by stating that joining the dark side was not Maul's choice, but rather the Nightsisters had forced it upon him. The comments struck a nerve, angering Maul and causing him to lash out. He reminded Kenobi that it was the Jedi Master who had truly made Maul suffer for over ten years, and that it was time for Kenobi to experience his agony. At that moment, Maul activated the Darksaber and stabbed it through the Duchess's chest. Kryze died in Kenobi's arms, before Maul ordered that Kenobi be taken to the prison to contemplate his loss. Kenobi later escaped with the help of Bo-Katan, who revealed herself to be the Duchess's sister.

Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls fought Maul's Mandalorian super commandos, initiating a civil war on Mandalore. As their forces clashed, Darth Sidious arrived at the royal palace, having sensed that Maul was growing stronger and had become a rival after learning of Maul's activities from Masters Kenobi and Skywalker. When Sidious arrived, Maul sensed his former master's presence and prepared to face him. Maul claimed that he had seized Mandalore and built an army in the hope of becoming Sidious's apprentice once more, but the Dark Lord saw through Maul's deception and attacked the brothers, demonstrating his superior power through Force attacks.

After Sidious released the pair from his Force grip, the three combatants ignited their weapons, initiating a fierce lightsaber duel. Sidious's superior combat abilities proved too much for Maul and Savage Opress, as he swiftly incapacitated Maul with a Force push into a nearby wall, then focused his attack on Opress. Just as Maul regained his senses, he witnessed Sidious fatally strike Opress with his lightsabers. Rushing to his brother's side, Maul heard Opress lament his failure as an apprentice in his dying breath. Maul watched as the Nightsister magic that had empowered Opress faded, leaving Opress's original form to perish. Sidious, amused by Maul's sorrow, coldly reminded him of the Sith's Rule of Two, stating that Maul had been replaced.

Consumed by rage, Maul ignited both his lightsaber and the Darksaber, launching a renewed assault against his former master. While Maul performed better than Opress, he was ultimately outmatched by the Dark Lord of the Sith's greater skill and experience, leading to his disarming. Sidious then unleashed a barrage of telekinetic attacks, repeatedly slamming Maul against walls and the floor, severely weakening him. Despite Maul's pleas for mercy, Sidious retorted that the Sith knew no such thing and began to inflict sadistic torture using Force Lightning. The Sith Lord then revealed that he had no intention of killing Maul and that he still had a purpose for him: to lure Mother Talzin into the open, though this plan was kept secret from Maul himself.

Following their confrontation on Mandalore, Sidious imprisoned Maul on the remote planet of Stygeon Prime. This world housed the Spire, a prison fortress operated by the Confederacy of Independent Systems and nestled within the mountains. Almec, under Maul's command, ordered Maul's Death Watch forces to pursue Sidious's ship, intending to rescue their leader. Upon his imprisonment, Maul was subjected to torture by Sidious, who reiterated his plans for his former apprentice. Their interaction was interrupted by Count Dooku, whose arrival provoked Maul's anger.

After conferring with Sidious, Dooku returned to Maul, tasked by the Dark Lord with gathering information about the Shadow Collective and the identities of Maul's allies. Dooku interrogated his predecessor, using electricity to extract the desired information. Maul resisted the torture, refusing to disclose any details. After Dooku's departure, Rook Kast and Gar Saxon of Death Watch launched an assault on the prison, successfully rescuing their leader. The Mandalorians breached Maul's cell, and together they rappelled down the mountain and escaped aboard a Death Watch vessel. Unbeknownst to Maul and Death Watch, the Sith orchestrated Maul's escape to lead them to Mother Talzin.

Maul and Death Watch regrouped with their forces on Zanbar. Upon arrival, Maul communicated with Prime Minister Almec via hologram. Almec explained that the prison break was a repayment for Maul's earlier release of Almec from imprisonment. Once again in command, Maul reclaimed his Darksaber and promised the Mandalorians that the war they had long awaited was imminent. Shortly thereafter, Separatist forces under the command of General Grievous arrived on Zanbar. Grievous launched a full-scale assault against Death Watch, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. During the battle, Maul destroyed four of Grievous's MagnaGuard droids and engaged Grievous in combat. Despite Maul's power, Grievous repelled him with a kick during their blade lock. With his forces decimated, Maul ordered a retreat. Grievous, following Dooku's instructions, allowed Maul to escape, hoping he would seek aid from Mother Talzin.

As Dooku foresaw, Maul contacted Mother Talzin after his departure from Zanbar, seeking her guidance through the Force. She materialized before him in a cloud of smoke, and he informed her of his prison escape and defeat on Zanbar. Talzin, anticipating that Sidious intended to trap her, instructed Maul to proceed to Ord Mantell, where the Black Sun maintained a base of operations. There, she wanted him to rally his forces for another confrontation with the Separatists, with the goal of luring Dooku and Grievous into a trap and capturing them—a move Talzin believed Sidious would not expect. Talzin herself would remain absent from Ord Mantell, aware that she was a target of the Sith Lords.

Maul arrived on Ord Mantell and consulted with his Shadow Collective allies, including Ziton Moj of Black Sun and Fife of the Pyke Syndicate. He informed them of the impending battle against the Separatists, who were being lured to Ord Mantell under the false pretense of capturing Maul. Despite reservations from his allies, Maul remained confident in the success of his plan to ensnare the two Separatist leaders. Maul and his allies swiftly devised a strategy, which involved drawing the droid army to a specific location within Black Sun territory, where the Shadow Collective forces would ambush them.

As the Collective prepared for battle, a team of Nightbrother warriors, led by Brother Viscus, arrived from Dathomir, dispatched by Mother Talzin to reinforce Maul's army. While Maul greeted his fellow Nightbrothers, the Separatists arrived in orbit and commenced an attack, bombarding Ord Mantell from their fleet. Maul immediately ordered his forces to execute their plan, while instructing the Nightbrothers to remain in the command center for further instructions. Maul then proceeded to the Mandalorian warships, which he and Death Watch forces would utilize to assault the Separatist fleet in orbit.

Maul arrived in orbit as the Separatists began deploying their troops—including Count Dooku—to the planet, quickly overwhelming the Shadow Collective army. Maul's ships targeted General Grievous's command vessel, attaching themselves to the hull to allow Maul and his forces to board and reach the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, Maul and Death Watch eliminated the battle droids guarding the cyborg general. Maul then subdued Grievous, presenting him with a choice: disable the signal powering the droids on the surface, or face death. Grievous reluctantly complied and was taken into custody. Dooku, who engaged and killed the Nightbrothers in battle, was captured by Shadow Collective forces on the surface, while the disabled battle droids were destroyed.

Following the battle, Maul contacted Mother Talzin again to update her on the events on Ord Mantell. Talzin assured Maul that with Dooku and Grievous in their custody, they would also capture Sidious and exact their revenge. Maul and his forces departed from Ord Mantell, leaving minimal evidence of their presence, and headed towards Vizsla Keep 09, a Mandalorian supply outpost.

From the outpost, Maul contacted Darth Sidious, informing him of the capture of Dooku and Grievous. Sidious, claiming they were no longer of use, instructed Maul to kill them, but Maul had other plans. Grievous was imprisoned, while Maul attempted to sway Dooku to his side. Citing their shared betrayal by Sidious, Maul suggested they could be allies. Dooku, however, doubted that Sidious could be challenged and expressed reservations about aligning with Maul and Mother Talzin, the latter of whom had previously attempted to assassinate him. Talzin materialized using Nightsister magic, recounting her past alliance with Sidious, her own betrayal when Sidious took Maul, and Sidious's ongoing search for a replacement for Dooku. Neither Talzin nor Maul genuinely believed Dooku would join them, but they sought to ensure his transport to Dathomir.

As they conversed, a Jedi-led Republic assault team attacked the supply outpost. The Jedi, including Kenobi, Aayla Secura, Mace Windu, and Tiplee, had tracked the Shadow Collective from Ord Mantell. Facing a common threat, Dooku feigned an alliance with Maul, while Grievous escaped in the ensuing chaos using an escape pod. Maul and Dooku engaged the Jedi in a lightsaber duel, which continued until Kast detonated a small explosive near the Jedi, incapacitating them and allowing Maul and Dooku to escape.

After fleeing the outpost, Maul and his followers journeyed to Dathomir. En route, Maul received a communication from Moj and the Pykes, who expressed concerns that Maul's vendetta was jeopardizing the Shadow Collective's objectives. Maul reassured them of their eventual payment and the death of Sidious, which would pave the way for the Shadow Collective to control the galaxy. To ensure loyalty, Maul tasked Saxon with maintaining control over the Pykes and Black Sun. He also revealed to Dooku that he was aware of the Sith Lord's insincere alliance, and that Sidious had ordered him to feign allegiance.

Upon arriving on Dathomir, Maul was greeted by Brother Viscus, who had survived his encounter with Dooku on Ord Mantell. The Nightbrother informed Maul that they were ready for the next phase of their plan, and Dooku was brought before Mother Talzin, who materialized in a cloud of smoke. She unleashed her magic upon the Sith Lord, attempting to drain his life force to physically manifest herself; Talzin's return required a sacrifice, and Dooku was chosen. Their ritual was interrupted by an explosion and the arrival of Grievous and Sidious. Sidious reminded his former apprentice that only his plan mattered.

The arrival of the Dark Lord and Grievous sparked a lightsaber duel, with Talzin joining the fray after possessing Count Dooku's body. Talzin battled Sidious while Maul fought Grievous, but Sidious quickly gained the upper hand against the Dathomir witch. Sidious bombarded Talzin with Force lightning, causing her to release Dooku and reappear in her physical form. Meanwhile, Maul used the Force to push Grievous out of the opening created by the explosion. As Sidious unleashed another barrage of lightning, Maul pleaded with his mother to use his life force to empower herself, but Talzin insisted he retreat while she defended against the Dark Lord's attacks. The witch used her powers to throw Maul from the battle, and he was dragged away by Kast and another Death Watch warrior. As they fled, Maul witnessed Grievous fatally stabbing Talzin with his lightsabers.

Maul escaped from Dathomir, which was being attacked by the Separatists. The Shadow Collective had also suffered defeat at the hands of Separatist forces. In Sidious's eyes, despite Maul's escape, the former Sith Lord was no longer a threat to the future Sith dominance of the galaxy.

Maul and his loyal forces eventually returned to Mandalore, where they remained hidden for a time. The Pyke Syndicate and Black Sun eventually rejoined the Shadow Collective. At some point, Maul also established connections with the criminal organization Crimson Dawn, led by Dryden Vos. He continued to oversee his operations, which included the transportation of a large shipment of spice by the Pykes.

The Pykes hired Rafa Martez to transport the spice, but after a moral debate between Martez and the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Martez's sister, Trace, jettisoned the spice into hyperspace. With no shipment to deliver, the three were apprehended by the Pykes on Oba Diah. Shortly thereafter, Maul contacted the new leader of the Pykes, Marg Krim, via hologram to discuss the lost shipment. Krim attempted to reassure Maul that the delay would not compromise his plans. Maul warned Krim against further delays, emphasizing the importance of each element of his plan and the potential for its collapse if any part failed. Krim defended himself by citing the increasing interference of the Republic with his shipments, including a raid on a shipment that arrived on Coruscant the previous week.

Maul inquired about Jedi involvement, but Krim was unaware, as none of his men survived. Maul deduced that Jedi were involved. At that moment, Maul detected something hidden in the pipework surrounding the meeting and turned to investigate. After searching for a few seconds, he found nothing and, unaware that it was Tano, turned back to Krim, stating that he had other matters to attend to. Maul warned that any further delays would result in Crimson Dawn taking over the spice operation. With that warning, Maul ended the transmission.

In a vision, Maul foresaw that Anakin Skywalker was the key to Sidious's victory as his future Sith apprentice. He hoped to lure Skywalker and Kenobi to Mandalore to deprive Sidious of his prized disciple and exact his revenge on Kenobi. During the final days of the Clone Wars, two days after returning to Mandalore, Maul and his forces were besieged by Bo-Katan Kryze's legion of Mandalorians and a division of clone troopers led by the recently promoted Commander Rex and former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, rather than Skywalker and Kenobi. Maul learned from Almec that a Jedi was on Mandalore. Assuming it was Kenobi, Maul instructed the Shadow Collective to set a trap. The Shadow Collective led Ahsoka Tano and the clones through the undercity, where they killed all of the clones, including Captain Vaughn. Upon discovering that it was Tano, Maul expressed his expectation of Kenobi and inquired about her presence on Mandalore.

Maul continued, stating that he had hoped Kenobi would bring his "loyal foal," Anakin Skywalker, but Tano revealed that Kenobi had a more pressing engagement. When Tano demanded Maul's surrender, he claimed it was futile, as the Jedi Order and the Republic would soon be destroyed, and Darth Sidious would control the galaxy. At that moment, clone forces led by Rex arrived and opened fire, forcing Maul and his Mandalorian forces to retreat.

During the ensuing battle, Maul captured and interrogated ARC trooper Jesse about Ahsoka's history, but Jesse refused to divulge any information. Maul ordered Gar Saxon to assassinate the captured Almec to prevent him from revealing vital information to the enemy. Afterward, he focused on Jesse and eventually extracted the desired information using a mind probe.

Later, Maul was in communication with Shadow Collective leaders Marg Krim of the Pyke Syndicate, Ziton Moj of the Black Sun, and Dryden Vos of the Crimson Dawn, ordering them to go into hiding, when Saxon returned to report the success of his mission. Maul thanked him, Rook Kast, and the other Mandalorians for saving him weeks earlier, and explained that the galaxy would soon be remade and that they needed to seize as much power as possible. He assured them that if they were to die, it would be on the battlefield, as warriors, rallying the Mandalorians to his cause.

Sometime later, Maul returned to the throne room when Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan, and Rex entered. Bo-Katan attempted to attack him, but Maul effortlessly deflected her blaster bolts and subdued her before handing Jesse back to them as a show of "good faith." After Tano instructed Bo-Katan and Rex to leave, Maul was left alone with her. As the battle raged outside, Maul calmly addressed Ahsoka, reminding her of the hypocrisy of the Jedi Order, which led to her departure, and that they were both tools used by a greater power.

Maul reiterated that what she called justice would soon be transformed along with the entire galaxy, revealing that he was referring to Sidious. Ahsoka suggested that Maul help the Jedi stop Sidious, but Maul insisted that it was too late, as the Republic was too corrupt and the Jedi were incapable of stopping Sidious. Maul then asked Ahsoka to join him, suggesting that together they could defeat Sidious. After a moment of consideration, Ahsoka agreed, on the condition that Maul answer one question: what did he want with Skywalker. He stated that Skywalker was the key to everything, to destruction, and that he had a vision revealing Sidious's intention to make Skywalker his new apprentice.

When Ahsoka accused him of lying, Maul explained that he had orchestrated the conflict on Mandalore to lure out Kenobi and Skywalker, intending to kill the latter before he turned to the Dark Side. Upon hearing this, Ahsoka changed her mind and ignited her lightsabers, asserting that she knew Skywalker and that he could never turn. Angered by the rejection, Maul stated that Ahsoka needed one more lesson and activated his own lightsaber. The two Force-Sensitive Outcasts then engaged in a fierce duel, during which Ahsoka proved to be a formidable opponent, despite Maul's greater strength and experience. Maul disarmed Ahsoka of her main saber, but she quickly retrieved it with the Force. Ahsoka then taunted Maul, stating he was fortunate Anakin had not arrived. Maul compared this to Kenobi's arrogance. The two continued fighting and briefly locked sabers, with Maul gaining the advantage, but he was surprised by Ahsoka, who kicked him through a glass window.

Outside, Ahsoka pursued Maul to the top of a building. As his Mandalorian forces were being overwhelmed, Saxon contacted Maul requesting reinforcements, but he abandoned him, stating that a ship would arrive soon to pick him up. Saxon and his forces were outnumbered by clone troopers and forced to surrender. As Maul reached the top of the building, Ahsoka caught up with him, and they resumed their duel before Maul's ship arrived. Ahsoka prevented him from escaping, only for Maul to disarm her of both her lightsabers and slash the beam she was standing on. With Tano cornered, Maul offered her one last chance to join him, but she refused, prompting him to slash at her in anger. Dodging his strikes, Tano grabbed Maul's saber and tripped him over the edge of the beam, but she saved him from falling to his death with the Force.

Preferring death to capture, Maul told Ahsoka to let him fall, but she refused, just as three LAAT gunships arrived. Maul furiously told Ahsoka that she had no idea what she had done and that they were all going to die soon, before being stunned and taken into custody. The Shadow Collective collapsed after Maul's defeat on Mandalore. Maul was subsequently imprisoned within a Mandalorian vault designed to restrain Force-users and placed aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal commanded by Ahsoka, who was instructed by the Jedi High Council to bring him to Coruscant for trial. En route to Coruscant, Palpatine (having revealed himself as Darth Sidious) initiated Order 66, causing Rex and the rest of Ahsoka's clone troopers to turn against her. Maul sensed these events while in captivity, before a pair of clones arrived to execute him, having received a different order from Sidious, who wanted to eliminate his former apprentice.

Before the clones could shoot the renegade Sith Lord, Ahsoka knocked them out and freed Maul from his restraints. He expressed surprise at Tano's survival, but she threatened him with her lightsabers and demanded to know if he was behind the events, which he denied. She revealed that the clones had turned against her, and Maul laughed at the "brilliance" of Sidious's plan to use the Jedi's army to destroy them, much to her disgust. Maul explained that despite being Sidious's apprentice, he was unaware of the plan's finer details. He proposed a team-up with the former Jedi Padawan, but she rejected his offer and told him he was merely a distraction to cause chaos, refusing to give him a weapon to aid his escape. Despite being unarmed, Maul used the Force to rip panels from the walls, creating a path of destruction through the ship and slaughtering every clone trooper in his path. When a group of clones attempted to seal themselves off from him, he used the Force to pull one of the troopers' arms through the closing blast door, severing it and providing Maul with an active wrist comm connection to the clones' radio chatter.

Maul then proceeded toward the hyperdrive chamber, eavesdropping on the clones via his pilfered wrist communicator. Soon after, two troopers appeared, training their weapons on him, but he effortlessly levitated them and constricted their throats. Upon entering the hyperdrive room, Maul swiftly eliminated all the clones using the Force, then ripped out the control panel before dismantling the hyperdrive generators. This forced the ship to exit hyperspace above a moon, where it was ensnared by the moon's gravitational pull. As the vessel plummeted from the sky toward the lunar surface, Maul hastened to the hangar and sprinted toward a shuttle. Ahsoka spotted him and pursued, but Maul assailed her with the Force, declaring he was merely instigating chaos, as she desired. Incensed, Ahsoka nearly delivered a fatal blow with her lightsabers, but he countered by shoving her into a chasm, although the astromech droid RG-G1 rescued her. Maul then attempted to escape in the shuttle, and, though Ahsoka tried to prevent him, seizing the shuttle with the Force, she was ultimately compelled to release him when clone troopers shot both R7-A7 and Rex (whose behavioral modification biochip had been removed by Ahsoka). Thus, Maul escaped into hyperspace, intending to rebuild his dominion.

Just as Maul had predicted, Anakin Skywalker succumbed to the dark side, becoming Sidious's new apprentice and adopting the name Darth Vader. With his new disciple at his side, Sidious inaugurated the Galactic Empire and initiated the Great Jedi Purge, the next phase of his master plan. Vader and the Jedi-hunting Inquisitorius were unleashed to obliterate the Order that Maul had once sought to overthrow. Maul himself became a target of these Inquisitors, but, despite their abilities, they failed to locate him. Over the years, Maul proved sufficiently elusive to the Imperial hunters that they began to call him "The Shadow." Furthermore, The Grand Inquisitor incorporated components from Maul's ship, the Scimitar, into the construction of his personal TIE Advanced v1. Eventually, Maul obtained a new lightsaber that seemed to be constructed from salvaged parts of an Inquisitor's double-bladed lightsaber.

Following the commencement of the Jedi Purge, Maul attracted the attention of the rogue Padawan Ferren Barr, who maintained a file on the former Sith Lord within the archives of Endee, an R1-series astromech droid under his command. Barr had amassed information on Maul, as well as other individuals, in an effort to comprehend the Jedi's rapid downfall at the hands of the Sith. During the Invasion of Mon Cala in 18 BBY, Barr and his disciples were discovered by Vader. The Padawan instructed Endee to upload a backup of the archive to a datacard before ordering the droid to self-destruct. Barr himself perished in combat with Vader shortly thereafter.

After his escape during the Purge, Maul returned to Dathomir, establishing his residence and becoming the enigmatic leader of Crimson Dawn, with Dryden Vos serving as his public representative. Despite the collapse of the Shadow Collective, he also held sway over the Five Crime Syndicates, preventing internal conflicts. However, dissent existed within the syndicates, with Black Sun member Alorium believing that Maul "[kept] them under his boot". Nevertheless, the wealth generated by Maul's leadership silenced most objections, with Maul ensuring the suppression of any outspoken critics. Driven by a desire for autonomy from Maul, Alorium unsuccessfully attempted to seize control of a portion of the Black Sun organization. During his tenure as leader of Crimson Dawn, Maul initiated a quest for an ancient Sith holocron. While searching, Maul employed stealth tactics, donning a hooded cloak to conceal his identity and replacing his double-bladed lightsaber with another one, modified with a wooden component to resemble a staff.

Following Alorium's failed coup, Vos's subordinate Qi'ra encountered Maul for the first time, an encounter she considered irreversible, thus sealing her destiny. In 10 BBY, after Vos's demise, Maul received a communication from Qi'ra, who informed him that Vos had been betrayed and murdered by Tobias Beckett and his associates, whom he had employed, and that his shipment of coaxium had been stolen during its refinement on the desert planet Savareen.

Annoyed, Maul summoned Qi'ra to Dathomir, where he declared that they would jointly determine the appropriate course of action against Beckett and the other traitors. He then ignited his new lightsaber and informed Qi'ra that they would be working more intimately from that point forward, promoting her to Vos's former position. Maul instructed Qi'ra about the Sith Order, revealing his interpretations of the Rule of Two, and disclosing that Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine was, in fact, the Dark Lord of the Sith known as Darth Sidious, and that the Imperial enforcer Darth Vader was his Sith apprentice. Maul unveiled his plan to utilize Crimson Dawn to dismantle the Empire. He also trained Qi'ra in the ways of the Sith. Through Qi'ra and the Dawn, Maul's pursuit of vengeance against the Sith persists as the organization endeavors to destroy them.

Maul became aware of the Fermata Cage, a weapon of the dark side of the Force capable of freezing individual moments, which was used to contain an ancient Sith Lord. Maul intended to liberate the Sith Lord and observe their subsequent pursuit of both Sidious and Vader, in accordance with the Rule of Two. Regrettably, Maul's efforts were unsuccessful.

During the Imperial Era, Maul developed an obsession with eliminating Sidious and exacting revenge on Kenobi. Recognizing that he could not underestimate either adversary, he explored various worlds in search of an advantage in his endeavors. Sometime between 19 BBY and 5 BBY, one of these expeditions led Maul to a Sith castle on the ash-gray planet Damanos, where he encountered a vision of unexpected familiar figures. Inside the castle, he first interacted with Savage Opress, who disowned Maul for not being his brother or master. He then engaged in a duel with his deceased brother, blocking his powerful assault just as his blade flashes in front of his face. Savage was strong, and the force of his strength, fueled by his rage, knocked him down. Maul turns away from him and swings his blade at his brother's feet; he leaps, avoiding the attack, and takes a step back to give them some space. The two circle each other, each waiting for the other to strike. Maul told Savage he knew what he wanted, and all he wants was to balance the scales for what they did to him, their mother, and himself. Savage begins to laugh, mocking him for wanting revenge. It may have been once, long ago, that motivated him, but now he fears, and what he truly wants was to no longer feel powerless. Maul's rage grows with each word Savage speaks, and by the time he's finished, he's on top of him, crashing his lightsaber into his. Maul pulls his weapon away from him and then lowers it again. Savage raises his blade in time to parry, and he notices the horror in his eyes. His posture was defensive, timid, and weak; if he didn't know the truth, he would be ashamed for his brother. This terrible sorcery, whatever it was, did not bring back Savage Opress; it was an imposter. Eventually, Maul corners him, grabs back of his neck, and pulls him toward him. Savage began to beg, Maul told him that he was no brother of his and thrust his blade through the imposter's belly, crumpling lifelessly to the ground. He drew his lightsaber back and pushed the body at his feet aside. He looks down for no apparent reason for a little moment. After all, he was just another defeated enemy, another impediment cleared from his path.

Next, he ventured deeper into the castle, sensing a potent energy, and encountered General Grievous, who ambushed him from the ceiling, wielding four lightsabers. Maul dodges Grievous's attack, his blades slicing the air where he was, narrowly missing him. When he gets back to his feet, he tightens his grip on his lightsaber, narrows his eyes, and glares at the opponent in front of him. Maul was asked whether he remembered the last time he saw him and how he witnessed him murdering his mother. Keeping his eyes on the cyborg, he recalled and told him that Kenobi had killed him. Grievous laughs maniacally, echoing throughout the entire room, and asks how he felt knowing that his sworn enemy, Kenobi, stolen his revenge from him. Maul screams and lunges at Grievous, his lightsaber slashed against his. He instantly relieves him with one of his lightsabers, and he screams in pain. Striking at him repeatedly, releasing his rage, his red blades swing in aggressive arcs, and soon he had severed another lightsabers, and the appendage attached to it. Despite being pinned down, Grievous laughed and recalls Maul's anguish expression after he killed his mother, and wonders if that expression would appear when he uses his lightsabers into him next. Despite Maul's yelling that he was not real, Grievous knew and asked if he felt any comfort in knowing the person who murdered his mother was no longer alive. He responds for Maul with a kick driving him into his chest, catching him off guard, knocking him back. Maul immediately jumped into a defensive position, expecting Grievous to attack, but he doesn't and instead stood there, silent. Suddenly, Maul screamed as he rushed at the cyborg, whirling forward and swinging his blades against his. No matter how hard he attacks, no matter how much he uses his wrath, Grievous defends strike after strike and, strangely, he never goes on the offensive. Grievous taunts Maul, asking how he feels and what he thinks about his mother and brother, as well as how swiftly his master abandoned him after he fell. Their weapons clashed again, and Maul turned around, severing another hand and left Grievous with only one remaining saber, seemingly unharmed by his injuries.

Grievous pressed him, messed with him; all Maul could think of was his rage, and he felt like an open wound. The blackness of this place, mixed with the darkness within him, was nearly too much for Maul to bear; it makes him feel vulnerable in ways he doesn't comprehend, and Grievous laughs, mocking everything he represents. Just as he did with his mother, Maul drove his lightsaber through him, cutting his maniacal delight short. Grievous falls silently back into the darkness, and Maul knows without looking that he has vanished. After slaying his enemy and destroying him just as he had hoped for long, he feels nothing and finds no satisfaction. Nothing inside him had changed, and he was still consumed by the same rage that Grievous, or the specter in his form, had predicted. In the center of the temple, Maul was confronted by a vision of Qui-Gon Jinn, who offered him a chance to leave the Temple and begin a new path away from revenge. When Maul refused, Jinn vanished, and Maul realized he could no longer feel the power that had drawn him to Damanos in the first place.

Maul's pursuit of the Sith holocron ultimately led him to the planet Malachor, where he anticipated discovering the potent weapon within the Sith temple. Maul grew frustrated by his inability to access the temple. However, his ship crashed, leaving Maul stranded on the planet for several years.

Around 3 BBY, an Inquisitor known as the Eighth Brother tracked Maul to Malachor. It was also during this period that Maul came in contact with Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger, to whom he claimed that he had crashed his ship years prior, rendering him isolated from the broader galaxy. Introducing himself as the "Old Master," while feigning the guise of a frail elderly man, Maul asserted that he was seeking the same Sith holocron that Bridger sought, also with the intention of destroying the Sith. Maul proposed assisting Bridger in acquiring the holocron, revealing that it was located within the temple. As Bridger consented to collaborate in obtaining it, Maul began to manipulate the young Jedi apprentice. Throughout their alliance, Maul shared his past experiences with Bridger, recounting that the Sith had taken everything from him. As Bridger's trust in and empathy for Maul deepened, Maul also elucidated the ways of the dark side, exploiting the boy's passionate and aggressive inclinations.

The pair successfully retrieved the Sith holocron after overcoming a series of physical trials, with Maul guiding Bridger through the dark side. Encouraging him to harness his feelings of loss and anger, Maul and Bridger discovered a key to access the front of the temple, where they encountered Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano, who were members of Phoenix Cell within the nascent rebellion against the Empire. Observing them engaged in combat with Eighth Brother, Fifth Brother, and Seventh Sister, Maul led Bridger to their position. While Tano and Jarrus were hesitant to trust Maul, with his aid, the three of them compelled the Inquisitors to retreat. Maul had learned of the Inquisitors' master, Darth Vader, and knew that they would inform him of the confrontation. This implied that Vader would soon arrive, and Maul informed the others that they would need to cooperate to defeat him.

Remaining unwilling to trust Maul, they only cooperated with him at Bridger's insistence, who remained convinced that Maul was on their side. With Maul's direction, the rebels scaled the temple in an attempt to reach the summit, where Maul asserted they could find the knowledge necessary to defeat the Sith. Along the way, Maul and Bridger confronted the Seventh Sister, with Maul easily subduing her with a Force choke. It was at this point that Maul urged Bridger to strike her down. Bridger hesitated, so Maul flung his lightsaber at her, killing her instantly. Maul reprimanded Bridger for his hesitation, cautioning him that it could jeopardize his life or the lives of his allies in the future. Maul and Bridger continued onward and rejoined their other two companions, who were engaged in a lightsaber duel with the Fifth Brother and Eighth Brother.

It was then that Maul sensed the presence of Darth Vader, who was approaching Malachor. He, however, dismissed his feeling to Ezra when the young Jedi asked him what was wrong. Maul then engaged the Inquisitors while Bridger continued on alone. Maul, with Tano's assistance, slew the Fifth Brother, with Jarrus also managing to damage the Eighth Brother's lightsaber. As the Eighth Brother attempted to escape using his weapon, it malfunctioned, and the Inquisitor fell to his death below.

With all the Inquisitors eliminated and Ezra nearing the summit, Maul then betrayed the Jedi, attacking Jarrus and blinding him. With Jarrus incapacitated, Maul engaged Tano in a brief duel. He then revealed that the holocron was intended to power an ancient superweapon and that Maul intended to make Bridger his apprentice. Tano left to get Bridger and confronted Darth Vader as Jarrus regained himself, with Tano claiming to the former Sith Lord he would have to face Jarrus to get to her. Underestimating Jarrus, Maul declared that he would finish off the Jedi quickly. However, using his other senses, amplified by the Force, Jarrus caught Maul's arm and tripped him, where the Nightbrother fell from the temple to the ground below.

Maul survived the fall and eventually fled the planet using one of the fallen Inquisitors' TIE Advanced v1s, following the destruction of the Sith temple on Malachor. Realizing his schemes were thwarted, Maul took a personal interest in Bridger. His influence profoundly affected Bridger, drawing him closer to the dark side.

Months later in 2 BBY, Maul resurfaced and persisted in pursuing the rebels. Managing to board a Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette, Maul interrogated one of the rebels on board, coercing him to disclose the location of the rebel freighter, and Ezra Bridger's home, the Ghost. Shortly thereafter, Bridger and Kanan Jarrus arrived at the transport and learned of the attack. Suspecting the involvement of an Inquisitor, the pair contacted Hera Syndulla, the Ghost's pilot, and discovered that Maul had taken her and the rest of the crew hostage. In exchange for their friends' lives, Maul demanded that the Jedi surrender both the Sith holocron and the Jedi holocron, to which they agreed.

While Jarrus and Bridger returned to the planet Atollon to retrieve the Sith holocron, Maul gently requested that Syndulla provide him with a "tour" of the Ghost, prompting Sabine Wren to urge her not to, to which Maul responded that she should trust him, as he had once ruled her people. Examining each living quarter, Maul identified Jarrus's as the somber and austere one, befitting a Jedi. Instructing Syndulla to reveal the location of the Jedi holocron, the Twi'lek claimed ignorance of Jarrus's possessions. Perceiving this as a falsehood, Maul probed her mind with the Force and learned that it was Syndulla's idea to recruit Bridger, and that the boy had once stolen the holocron, which was concealed in a compartment beneath Jarrus's bed.

While Maul struggled to open the holocron, the Ghost's crew seized the opportunity to escape. Utilizing their restraints to disable the reprogrammed tour guide droids guarding them, the rebels stealthily descended to the cargo hold, intending to magnetize it in order to immobilize Maul's robotic legs. Discovering their absence, Maul searched for the rebels and eventually reached the cargo hold. Seconds later, the rebel crew's astromech droid, C1-10P, activated the magnets, causing Maul's legs to adhere to the vessel's ceiling. The remaining rebels promptly stormed into the cargo hold and commenced firing at him; however, Maul deflected one of the bolts into the control interface, deactivating the magnets. Overpowering the crew with the Force, Maul threatened the rebels with death once their usefulness had expired.

Having already informed the Jedi of their rendezvous point, the Mandalorian asteroid outpost, Maul landed the Ghost in one of its hangars and placed the rebel prisoners under the supervision of his reprogrammed droids. Upon the Jedi's arrival, they met with Maul in the hangar, where the Dathomirian instructed Bridger to accompany his droids to the command center, while Jarrus remained with Maul. Seeking to succeed where he had failed on Malachor, Maul led the Jedi to an airlock and shoved him inside, proceeding to eject him into space. Believing Jarrus to be deceased, Maul went to meet Bridger, quietly ordering one of his droids to execute the rebel crew.

Exchanging holocrons, Maul and Bridger sat on the floor and activated the devices, aiming to merge them and obtain answers to their questions. After combining the holocrons, Bridger, who sought the key to destroying the Sith, witnessed both familiar and unfamiliar locations, while Maul perceived nothing. Shortly thereafter, the Ghost crew, who had been freed by Jarrus after he returned to the hangar, arrived at the command center but were blinded by the light emanating from the holocrons. Bridger exclaimed that he saw "twin suns," and Jarrus urged his apprentice to avert his gaze, while Maul encouraged the Jedi to concentrate. Heeding his master's warning, Bridger closed his eyes, causing the energy from the holocrons to erupt and providing Maul with an opportunity to escape. As Maul returned to his ship, he realized what he had perceived in the holocrons, repeating the phrase, "He lives."

As a result of the ritual involving the two holocrons, Maul and Ezra became mentally linked, both gaining information about their respective desires. Consequently, Maul located Chopper Base on the planet Atollon. Utilizing his command of the dark side, Maul tormented Ezra by causing the young Jedi to experience visions of him. On one occasion, Ezra even attacked and nearly killed a rebel trooper whom he mistook for Maul. Later, he approached Ezra and Kanan in the wilderness while they were conversing with a mysterious Force wielder known as Bendu, who served as an intermediary between the light and dark sides of the Force. Despite Bendu's warnings not to turn around, Kanan and Ezra did so and discovered Maul observing them from atop a dune.

After complimenting the two Jedi on their secure hiding place, Maul assured them that he had come in peace to speak with his "apprentice" Ezra. When Ezra demanded to know how Maul had tracked him down, the dark sider replied that Ezra's abrupt severance of their connection to the holocrons had caused them to see fragments of each other's visions and knowledge. Maul added that he needed Ezra to accompany him in order to retrieve the remaining fragments of the vision from his mind. When Kanan refused to negotiate with Maul, the dark sider threatened to activate a homing beacon that would alert the Empire to their presence in the event of his death.

Maul then offered to demonstrate to Ezra how to destroy the Sith. With Kanan's reluctant approval, Ezra complied with Maul's ultimatum and departed with Maul on the Nightbrother. Maul transported his unwilling apprentice to his homeworld of Dathomir. Unbeknownst to them, Kanan and Sabine had placed a tracker on Ezra's wrist comm and followed them there. Maul led Ezra to the ruins of the Nightsister lair and explained that he was the last survivor of the Nightsisters. As Maul led Ezra into his cave-dwelling, he explained that the only way to retrieve the information was to merge their minds again in a ritual.

Maul's cave was filled with artifacts from his past, such as a damaged portrait of Duchess Satine Kryze and the Darksaber, a symbol of Mandalorian power. For the ritual, Maul and Ezra consumed magick water, causing their eyes to glow green and emit bright beams. Consequently, Maul and Ezra learned that his nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was concealed on a planet with twin suns and that Kenobi held the key to the Sith's destruction. Upon completion of the ritual, they were confronted by Nightsister spirits who demanded a sacrifice of flesh and blood in exchange for answers.

At that moment, Kanan and Sabine appeared in the cave and began firing upon the spirits. However, the spirits overcame them and took possession of their bodies. The possessed Kanan and Sabine then launched an attack on Maul and Ezra. Maul was compelled to defend against the possessed Kanan, while Ezra had to evade the possessed Sabine's blasts. After a struggle, Maul and Ezra reached the cave's entrance. The Nightsister spirits were unable to leave, as their power originated from the altar. Having achieved his goal, Maul offered Ezra a position as his apprentice, asserting that their destinies were intertwined with the planet of twin suns. However, Ezra declined to abandon his companions. Frustrated by the young man's empathy and compassion for his friends, Maul expressed his disappointment before departing to seek out his old adversary, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Utilizing knowledge gained from the two holocrons months prior, Maul eventually journeyed to Tatooine in pursuit of his long-time enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi. As he searched the desert wastelands, Maul became disoriented and lost. Overcome with exhaustion from his fruitless search and contemplating his impending death in the desert, he collapsed in the sand, desperately shouting Kenobi's name. However, he rallied his resolve and continued his quest. Realizing his inability to locate his old enemy alone, he devised a plan to lure him out, employing the matrix acquired from the Sith holocron to contact his "apprentice," Ezra Bridger.

Spurred by the vision Maul sent, Bridger traveled to Tatooine to prevent the former Sith Lord from assassinating Kenobi. The Jedi apprentice also hoped to enlist the seasoned Jedi Master in the growing rebellion. Upon landing in a canyon at night, he discovered a fragment of the Sith holocron that Maul had intentionally left as bait. Recognizing it as a trap, he and his droid were suddenly ambushed by a group of Tusken Raiders who attempted to kill Bridger. Although the Tuskens failed to kill him, they successfully destroyed his arrival vessel. Shortly after Bridger was rendered unconscious by the explosion, Maul arrived and swiftly eliminated all the Tuskens before seemingly abandoning Bridger.

Seeking a means of escape, Bridger and Chopper, who had secretly boarded Bridger's ship, debated whether to follow the canyon's natural ridgelines in hopes of finding a nearby settlement or venture across the expansive desert before them. Maul appeared as an apparition, persuading Ezra to venture into the desert. Ezra and Chopper proceeded into the desert, but collapsed due to a sandstorm. Shortly thereafter, Bridger and Chopper were discovered by Kenobi, who was riding a dewback. Constructing a small campfire, Kenobi recharged Chopper using a portable light and tended to Bridger's injuries.

Upon Ezra's awakening, Kenobi informed him that Maul had manipulated him into leading the former Sith Lord to Kenobi. At that moment, Maul arrived to settle his long-standing rivalry with his old archenemy. Having unknowingly led Maul to Kenobi, Bridger insisted on confronting the former Sith himself, but Kenobi instructed Ezra to return to his friends. Ezra and Chopper departed, with Maul bidding farewell to his "apprentice." Commenting on Kenobi's humble living conditions, Maul mocked his old rival, questioning whether death would be a preferable alternative to Kenobi's current existence. Kenobi remained unfazed, retorting that because Maul defined himself by his futile desires for domination, murder, and possession, he possessed nothing of true value. Provoked by the verbal jab, Maul ignited his lightsaber and struck the ground in front of Kenobi's small campfire, scattering sand and extinguishing the flames. The former Sith Lord speculated on the reasons for Kenobi's presence on Tatooine, knowing it was more than just hiding and deduced that he was there to protect something—or someone. He could see what was in Kenobi's thoughts: a boy.

Prompted by Maul's threatening insinuations towards his charge, Kenobi activated his lightsaber and assumed the Soresu ready stance. Maul, in turn, activated the second blade of his weapon, and the two adversaries locked eyes. Kenobi transitioned from Soresu to Ataru, and Maul recognized Kenobi's new stance as that of Kenobi's former master, Qui-Gon Jinn. He charged Kenobi, and the combatants exchanged two swift strikes before Maul raised the hilt of his blade to strike Kenobi's face—the same maneuver that had enabled him to kill Jinn decades earlier. However, Kenobi had anticipated Maul's strategy and brought his lightsaber down in an overhead strike as Maul initiated his attack. Kenobi's attack pierced straight through the hilt of Maul's weapon, severing it in two and inflicting a fatal wound to Maul's chest.

A stunned Maul gazed down at his injury. Unlike their previous encounter, both ends of the lightsaber remained functional. He deactivated them before collapsing to one knee, but Kenobi caught him before he fell and supported him. Knowing that his death was now inevitable, Maul pleaded with his sworn enemy to reveal whether the boy he was protecting was the Chosen One. Sensing Maul's agony and yearning for closure, Kenobi affirmed that the boy was indeed destined to fulfill the prophecy and destroy the Sith. With this knowledge, Maul seemed to reconcile with his impending demise and, with his last breath, declared that the boy would one day avenge what Darth Sidious had done to them both.

Thus, after countless years of rage and torment, Maul finally departed peacefully, believing that his master's reign of terror would soon end. As a final act of compassion, Kenobi closed his eyes and laid him to rest.

Kenobi paid tribute to his former adversary by constructing a funeral pyre for him, an event he recalled shortly after becoming one with the Force. The Spectres' eyewitness accounts and information pertaining to Maul were archived in the Rebel Alliance Archives. Maul's ship, the Nightbrother, was commandeered by Ezra and Chopper and taken back to Chopper Base to serve as a new vehicle for the Alliance. It played a crucial role in the Battle of Atollon, where Ezra and Sabine utilized it to transport members of Clan Wren to disable an Imperial Interdictor and facilitate the Rebels' escape from Grand Admiral Thrawn's blockade.

Sidious considered Darth Maul to be a significant loss, while Count Dooku was merely regarded as a proton torpedo and a temporary substitute. While experiencing a Force vision involving Luke Skywalker, Sidious appreciated that he was a simple boy, devoid of the demonic tattoos that adorned Maul.

Crimson Dawn persisted for many years after Maul's death, now under the leadership of Qi'ra. She aspired to accomplish what Maul had intended but failed to do, using Crimson Dawn to dismantle the Empire and the Sith who led it. After Crimson Dawn resurfaced in the galaxy between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, Lando Calrissian recalled the atrocious deeds of Crimson Dawn and its public figurehead, Dryden Vos, speculating that Vos was controlled by an "even more sinister" individual.

Imperial historians were aware of Maul's association with Sheev Palpatine. Historical records indicated that Maul was the owner of the heavily modified Star Courier, the Scimitar. It was theorized that the Scimitar was customized by Raith Sienar for Palpatine, who then gifted the ship to Maul.

Twenty-three years after the end of the Clone Wars, Palpatine's Galactic Empire was overthrown by the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the last Jedi Knight in the galaxy: Luke Skywalker, the son of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. Luke's twin sister, Princess Leia Organa, traveled to Naboo shortly before Operation: Cinder, which compelled her, the queen, and her escort Shara Bey to reopen the Theed Royal Palace hangar—the site of Maul's duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi three decades prior—in order to access starfighters. Upon entering, Organa sensed, through the Force, remnants of Maul's dark power, experiencing a chilling sensation as a result.

Following the collapse of the Galactic Empire, Maul's manipulations within the Shadow Collective became public knowledge.

By 34 ABY, a bust of Maul was displayed at Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities, a shop located in Black Spire Outpost on Batuu. Despite the widespread belief that Palpatine had perished during his confrontation with Luke Skywalker, he had secretly survived and continued his operations with the assistance of the Sith Eternal cult on the planet Exegol. In 35 ABY, Sidious was permanently defeated by the Jedi Rey Skywalker, and the Sith Eternal was dismantled through the efforts of the Resistance at the Battle of Exegol. In the aftermath of the battle, the Resistance initiated the Exegol Excavation Project, where files containing Darth Maul's biography were discovered in the Arcane Library. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, Resistance historian Beaumont Kin included details about Maul's life, citing the recovered Sith Eternal files as a source.

Maul remained a figure of remembrance long after the Clone Wars, and was acknowledged by a member of the Whills as someone whose story should be preserved in galactic history.

Maul, a former Sith Lord and a formidable warrior, largely embodied the obsessive and frenzied aspects of Sith vengeance throughout his life. As a Sith apprentice, Maul sought retribution against the Jedi for their victory over the Sith and aimed to restore the Sith's dominance over the galaxy. Following his exile and the restoration of his sanity, Maul redirected his vengeful thoughts towards the galaxy itself, proclaiming himself and his brother as the true Sith Lords, and particularly towards Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi who had defeated him and forced him into exile after their duel on Naboo. He experienced the void of lost power, having been aware of the Clone Wars and intending to participate, only to discover that the Sith's plans had progressed without him. Consequently, Maul was willing to resort to extreme measures to achieve his vengeance, including the slaughter of civilians and the manipulation of Mandalore into a civil war, all to gain power and lure Kenobi into the open, knowing the Jedi would respond to a plea for help.

Like all Sith, Maul's anger served as his fuel. However, Maul actively cultivated his hatred. He perceived a vast array of things to despise, from the mists of Dathomir to the manner in which he was discarded as a child.

During his period of exile, Maul's mind was fractured. He became consumed with vengeance, sustained solely by his hatred for Kenobi, despite losing his sanity and many memories. His aggression and fear intensified in his deranged state, as evidenced by his attack on Savage Opress upon their initial encounter on Lotho Minor. When discovered by his brother, he lacked the coherence to communicate effectively with Opress and repeatedly recited lines from the Code of the Sith. Mother Talzin's magic was required to restore his mind, providing him with clarity while preserving his desire for revenge against those who had wronged him. Maul's personality remained deeply affected by his isolation and defeat at the hands of Kenobi. Following his restoration, he lost much of his reserved demeanor and was prone to outbursts of anger and frustration whenever Kenobi was mentioned. However, he regained sufficient discipline to maintain control over his brother, Savage. He also retained his bloodthirsty nature.

Maul's power fueled his desire for dominance over the Sith and the galaxy, although he believed himself to be insufficiently strong to challenge his former mentor, Darth Sidious. Sidious appeared to be the only being in the galaxy whom Maul feared, not only for his power but also for his sadistic tendencies. Nevertheless, Maul possessed the courage to confront his former master in open combat alone, as if he had nothing left to lose. He also resisted breaking under the torture inflicted by Sidious and Count Dooku while imprisoned on Stygeon Prime.

Maul utilized fear to ensure the obedience of his followers, seeking wealth and power as a crime lord. He seemingly displayed a degree of honor, despite considering it a weakness for the dark side, by freeing the clone trooper Jesse when he no longer had a use for the soldier. However, he subsequently abandoned his Mandalorian warriors to their fate.

Despite his ruthless and vindictive nature, Maul was not entirely devoid of compassion, as he demonstrated genuine affection for his brother, Savage Opress, and their mother, the Dathomir Witch Mother Talzin. He also knew how to forgive those he considered weak, such as the fleeing Black Sun members, who were inconsequential to him. Although Maul frequently issued orders to Savage and defined their relationship in the Sith tradition of master and apprentice, much to Savage's annoyance, they genuinely cared for each other. This was evident when Maul rushed to Savage's defense when he was wounded by Kenobi and relented when threatened by Death Watch. Furthermore, after witnessing Savage's death at the hands of Sidious, Maul was grief-stricken and briefly mourned him before erupting in rage and attempting to avenge him by attacking Sidious. Maul was fiercely loyal to his mother and reciprocated her loving and protective affection for him. Even when cornered by Sidious and his minions, he refused to abandon her and was devastated by her death.

Even after numerous years, Maul harbored an intense grudge against Sidious and all those who served him for taking everything he cherished. He also recognized great potential in Ezra's abilities, desiring him as an apprentice and even saving his life on two occasions. However, his primary intention was to manipulate Bridger and exploit him to further his own obsessive agenda for power and revenge, and he attempted to kill Kanan Jarrus twice to free Bridger from the Jedi's influence.

While still adhering to their beliefs, Maul distanced himself from the Sith, largely due to the Order's association with Sidious. Cunning and deceptive, Maul was perfectly willing to feign weakness to achieve his objectives, or even ally himself with the Jedi if necessary. He was not above taunting such "allies," as demonstrated by his referring to Ahsoka as "Lady Tano" and "a part-timer" in mockery of her departure from the Jedi Order, as well as addressing Jarrus as "Master Jedi." Maul also saw aspects of himself in Tano, noting how they had both departed their respective orders and stating that they had both been used as "tools." He hoped to collaborate with her to defeat Sidious, but she rejected his offer when he revealed his visions of Anakin Skywalker's fall. Nevertheless, he extended another offer at the conclusion of their duel and during Order 66.

Driven by a desire for hope, Maul kidnapped Bridger and Jarrus's rebel companions in a successful attempt to force them to surrender the Sith holocron from Malachor and Kanan's Jedi holocron. He sought to merge the holocrons to gain the clarity needed to achieve his ultimate desire: Kenobi's death at his hand. Maul also hoped to recruit Ezra as his apprentice. Despite his promise to Bridger that he would not harm his friends, Maul secretly attempted to kill Jarrus and ordered his droids to execute the other Spectres in an attempt to claim Bridger as his apprentice. Despite Jarrus's urging Bridger to close his eyes and resist the vision, Maul nonetheless discovered that his old enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was still alive.

Maul's enduring desire for vengeance against Kenobi led him to utilize his mastery of the dark side to torment Bridger in an effort to gain his attention. While Maul was aware of the high cost of Nightsister magic, his desire to learn Kenobi's location prompted him to risk the wrath of these spirits. Due to their revelations, Maul came to believe that his destiny was intertwined with finding and killing Kenobi on Tatooine. Maul considered Bridger an ideal candidate for his apprentice. However, Bridger's attachment and loyalty to his friends angered Maul, who berated his desired apprentice as a "disappointment" for refusing to sever ties with the past.

Subsequently, Maul's vendetta against Kenobi once again led him to employ his mastery of the Force to lure Bridger to Tatooine. Despite his hatred for Kenobi, he contemplated sparing him before their battle, upon seeing that he had been reduced to hiding on the desert planet. Maul reconciled with his adversary in his final moments. Maul passed away believing that Kenobi was protecting the Chosen One, who would restore balance to the Force and avenge them by destroying the Sith.

In conclusion, Maul was not entirely the monster that most perceived him to be, but rather a tragic figure who had lost everything he held dear due to Darth Sidious's actions (much like his successor, Darth Vader), but demonstrated that he could not relinquish his hatred until his final moments.

As Darth Sidious's apprentice, Maul was trained to be a living weapon of the Sith, intended to assist Sidious in destroying the Jedi and seizing control of the galaxy. Under Sidious's guidance, Maul became one of the deadliest and most efficiently trained Sith in the Order's history. He evolved into an acrobatic and highly skilled Sith warrior, capable of relentlessly pursuing his enemies while wielding his double-bladed lightsaber. Indeed, Maul had been trained in multiple forms of lightsaber combat. He first put these skills to the test in his duel against the Jedi apprentice Eldra Kaitis; although the young Twi'lek managed to hold her own against the Sith for a time, Maul emerged victorious. Later, during his duel on Naboo against Jinn and Kenobi, he demonstrated the ability to fight both the Jedi Master and his talented apprentice simultaneously on equal footing, as well as overpower Kenobi after he killed Jinn.

Although Kenobi defeated Maul, this was partly due to Maul's arrogance and disregard for the fallen Jinn's lightsaber. He later surpassed Kenobi in several encounters after emerging from exile, including the fight over Raydonia, although their duel on Florrum ended in a stalemate. Maul was also highly skilled in unarmed combat, which he frequently incorporated into his fighting style. This was most evident when he defeated an armed Pre Vizsla with minimal assistance from the Force.

Maul also displayed considerable skill in Jar'Kai, holding his own against Jinn and Kenobi simultaneously on Naboo before separating them. He even put up a reasonable fight against Darth Sidious on Mandalore when they dueled with dual blades, even landing a kick on the Dark Lord. After the Clone Wars, Maul demonstrated the ability to wield an additional weapon alongside his double-bladed lightsaber, on one occasion using a walking stick as a club in conjunction with his connected blades.

Maul was capable of destroying numerous enemies, including Banking Clan droid guards, pirates, Hutt Clan forces, hordes of Separatist battle droids, clone troopers, and four of General Grievous's MagnaGuards. He also held his own against Mace Windu and Aayla Secura on a Mandalorian supply outpost, the elder Jedi being a longtime famed member of the High Council; this was a fight that Maul deemed "fair." He successfully overpowered the infamous Jedi hunter General Grievous; although he fought to a stalemate with the cyborg in their first duel, he overwhelmed him in their second and third encounters.

Over a decade later, Maul's fighting skills remained as sharp as ever. While on Malachor, he assisted Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus against three members of the Inquisitorius, easily defeating them. He also battled Tano and Jarrus individually, but lost the high ground to Jarrus, whom he blinded with his lightsaber.

Despite Maul's dueling prowess, Darth Sidious defeated both him and his brother Savage Opress. Though he pressured Sidious, he was disarmed before being overpowered by the elder Sith Lord's Force abilities. In his final duel, Maul was fatally wounded within seconds of challenging his old rival, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Unlike the Inquisitorius, whose lightsabers could rotate, and General Grievous, whose split arms were able to spin with a weapon in each hand, Maul had the ability to twirl a double-bladed lightsaber with the use of only one hand.

Maul was also very skilled at deflecting blaster bolts with his lightsaber. He deflected the combined shots of Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, and Zeb Orrelios, even when he was in a disadvantageous position.

In addition to his skill with a lightsaber, Maul demonstrated substantial Force abilities, enough so that he survived being bisected. Maul himself attributed this survival to his intense hatred of Kenobi and the rigorous training imparted by Sidious.

During a clash on Florrum, Maul unleashed a Force push so potent that it propelled Obi-Wan Kenobi a considerable distance and triggered the collapse of their tunnel. Later, despite suffering severe injuries which resulted in the loss of a cybernetic leg, he telekinetically retrieved an Eta-class shuttle from a plateau. His time on Mandalore saw him Force choking Satine Kryze to the point of suspending her in the air without any hand gestures, a clear indicator of his continued growth in power. During the Zanbar conflict, he released a massive Force Wave that decimated numerous battle droids.

As the dark side of the Force intensified across the galaxy during Order 66, Maul's raw strength also briefly spiked. He exhibited the capability to affect pure energy telekinetically, effortlessly deflecting blaster bolts fired by Bo-Katan with a mere wave of his hand, redirecting them into nearby walls. Shortly after his capture during the Siege of Mandalore, Ahsoka Tano freed Maul when Order 66 was executed and the clones turned on her. Upon his release, Maul brutally dispatched several clones using only telekinesis, tearing wall panels to both shield himself from blaster fire and to crush and behead his attackers. This violent outburst culminated in Maul disabling the Venator-class Star Destroyer carrying him, the Tribunal, solely through his mastery of the Force. He achieved this by crushing the vessel's massive hyperdrive generators, leading to its total destruction. More than a decade later, Maul misled Ezra Bridger by claiming his advanced age had weakened his powers; this was a ruse to gain the boy's confidence. In actuality, Maul was capable of simultaneously Force Gripping the Seventh Sister against her resistance and executing a fatal Saber Throw.

Maul also possessed skill in telepathy, notably the mind probe technique, which he employed on Hera to locate Kanan Jarrus's Jedi holocron and uncover his true identity. He had previously used this technique on Obi-Wan Kenobi before their final confrontation, discovering the existence of Luke Skywalker. It is plausible that he used it on Ahsoka Tano, gaining insights into her past, and likely probed the minds of the Inquisitors to understand their motivations and their master's identity. Maul also possessed knowledge of the magick practiced by the Nightsisters, including a scrying spell involving the sharing of a potion made of magical ichor. He could manipulate the Force-bond he had established with Ezra Bridger through holocron fusion, causing the young Jedi to experience hallucinations. Additionally, he used a fragment of a Sith holocron to activate Kanan's Jedi holocron and the Malachor Sith holocron as part of a scheme to bait Kenobi out of hiding by manipulating Ezra.

Despite his abilities, Maul's Force powers remained inferior to those of Sidious during the Clone Wars era. The Dark Lord effortlessly pinned both Maul and Opress against a wall using telekinesis. Nevertheless, Sidious recognized Maul as a potential rival as Maul's power grew. Darth Tyranus held Maul in high regard, once referring to his predecessor as a great Sith Lord. Obi-Wan Kenobi, before his final duel with Maul, acknowledged that his old adversary had the power to "alter the course of many things," indicating Maul's extensive knowledge of the dark side.

Maul was an adept manipulator and a capable military and political strategist, evidenced by his rapid formation of the Shadow Collective and its use in conquering Mandalore. His cunning allowed him to simultaneously deceive and capture both General Grievous and Darth Tyranus. Earlier, Maul evidently surveyed the Theed power generator on Naboo before the arrival of his Jedi opponents, enabling him to set a trap.

After being rescued by Death Watch, Maul stated that he had become "indifferent to pain," suggesting a high tolerance. Maul was skilled in surveillance, tracking, and espionage, primarily functioning as a covert operative during his apprenticeship. He demonstrated exceptional agility and proficiency in hand-to-hand combat.

During the Naboo Crisis, Maul donned Sith clothing designed for unrestricted movement, featuring loose-fitting pants for executing high-kicks. Beneath a black cloak, he wore an undertunic, durable boots, and protective gloves. At some point, the R3-series astromech droid R3-B0017 was reprogrammed to serve Maul and scavenge resources on Dathomir.

Maul's Scimitar was considered the deadliest Sith vessel of its time. It was equipped with six laser cannons, spy and surveillance equipment, interrogator droids, and a cloaking device. The ship also housed Maul's Razalon FC-20 speeder bike, known as the Bloodfin.

Maul's initial lightsaber was a double-bladed weapon used during the Invasion of Naboo and the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi bisected it during their duel on Naboo, after which Maul continued to wield the remaining half in various engagements until he temporarily lost it during his battle with his former master on Mandalore. After his release from imprisonment, he retrieved the half and reconfigured it into a double-bladed hilt, only to lose it permanently in a duel with Ahsoka Tano.

Maul's second lightsaber was the Darksaber, which he wielded against his former master on Mandalore and later against Grievous, although he was forced to withdraw. Maul continued to employ the Darksaber in several subsequent engagements, including the battle of Ord Mantell, the assault on Vizsla Keep 09, and the Second Battle of Dathomir.

Maul's third and final lightsaber was a newly constructed double-bladed weapon that also functioned as a cane lightsaber. This lightsaber emitted two crimson-red blades, and its upper grip-guard resembled that of the Inquisitors' lightsabers, though it was broken and bent outward. It appeared to have been assembled from salvaged parts of an Inquisitor's blade. He concealed the hilt by attaching a piece of wood to it, disguising it as a walking stick while posing as a frail old man. Maul later used this weapon in his pursuit of Obi-Wan Kenobi. During their final duel, Kenobi bisected this lightsaber in a similar manner to Maul's first. However, unlike the previous instance, both halves remained functional, deactivating only when Maul lost his grip as he succumbed to his injuries.

Darth Maul debuted in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, portrayed by actor and martial artist Ray Park. Although the character was a prominent presence throughout the film, he spoke only three lines, all voiced by actor Peter Serafinowicz. For the character's appearances in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, he was voiced by actor Sam Witwer (who also voiced Starkiller in the Force Unleashed games). Park provided motion capture reference for the seventh season of the former. Park reprised the role for Maul's cameo in the 2018 Star Wars Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Witwer again providing the character's voice. The Solo script only referenced a "Boss" character; director Ron Howard selected Maul from a list of potential candidates.

Iain McCaig designed the character for The Phantom Menace, a task he found daunting. He recalled George Lucas describing Maul as "a figure from your worst nightmare," prompting McCaig to draw inspiration from his own nightmares. McCaig's worst nightmare was a lifeless face pressed against a window during a thunderstorm, a dead yet alive figure staring through the rain. This image served as the basis for his initial design, featuring metal teeth and blood-red ribbons instead of rain. Lucas deemed it too intense, requesting McCaig to draw his "second worst nightmare..."

McCaig dedicated much of the three-year pre-production period to drawing masks, attempting to emulate Ralph McQuarrie's original Darth Vader design from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. However, he eventually felt he was on the wrong path. He found his inspiration when he depicted members of the Episode I Art Department as Sith Lords, incorporating their personalities and facial features into the designs. At one point, McCaig used a circuit board as a face, a concept that intrigued Lucas. Lucas also favored a concept based on production photographer Greg Gawlowski.

Darth Maul's design underwent numerous revisions until McCaig created a series of Rorschach-inspired designs using splattered ink patterns, which ultimately led to the character's tattooed appearance. McCaig sought to soften the character's look, at one point adding feathers to the top of Darth Maul's head, envisioning them as integral to the Sith Lord's personality. He imagined Darth Maul meticulously arranging these feathers each morning, a ritualistic part of focusing his Sith powers. These feathers were interpreted as horns, which became a defining feature of the final design.

After finalizing the character's face, McCaig also designed Maul's costume. Initially, Maul wore a bulky muscle suit to appear larger than life, complete with Batman-like spikes on his neck. This costume remained in place through most of the storyboarding process until McCaig redesigned it to be smaller after Lucas emphasized the importance of an acrobatic lightsaber duel. The resulting costume was the Sith robes Maul wore in The Phantom Menace. In the February 1999 issue of Vanity Fair, which promoted the film, Maul was described as a menacing "pre-Vader dark side Jedi," despite Lucas referring to Sidious as a Sith in the same interview. Also depicted as a mysterious figure, Maul was shown in a lightsaber battle against Kenobi in a promotional image of Tatooine included in the issue.

For his return in The Clone Wars, Witwer recognized Maul's popularity and felt a responsibility to honor the character's iconic status. He portrayed Maul as broken, attempting to convey a shattered psyche through his performance. One method was to quote the Code of the Sith from the Expanded Universe, a portion of which was incorporated into the episode. The character's design in the series closely resembled his appearance in The Phantom Menace, and the animators took the opportunity to enhance the animation quality. Because the character's appearances required him to express emotions like anger and hatred solely through facial expressions, the animators focused on improving the modeling process to achieve more nuanced expressions. Given that Maul had been bisected in The Phantom Menace, he required a new set of cybernetic legs for The Clone Wars. The cyborg form of Darth Maul had previously been conceived by Industrial Light & Magic concept artist Aaron McBride for the Infinities graphic novel Star Wars: Visionaries.

Lucas initially intended to use an aged Maul as a villain in the sequel trilogy, pairing him with the Legends character Darth Talon as an apprentice, and establishing him as "the godfather of crime in the universe." While the Zabrak did not appear in the sequel films, the concept of Maul as a crime lord was later realized in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story. During the development of the second season of Rebels, the original plan was for Maul to be killed by Darth Vader in the season finale "Twilight of the Apprentice," but this idea was abandoned due to the complexity of managing too many storylines and the lack of sufficient emotional connection between Maul and Vader.

To maintain secrecy regarding Maul's appearance as the true leader of Crimson Dawn in Solo: A Star Wars Story, he was not named in the script, leading some filmmakers to believe the decision of who was Crimson Dawn's leader was still pending. Before Maul's selection, the first draft of the film's script featured Dryden Vos as Crimson Dawn's second-in-command, with a Hume Cronyn–esque genial but ruthless character known as The Kazier as the leader. While Sam Witwer voiced Maul in the finished film, Peter Serafinowicz, Maul's original voice actor, initially recorded Maul's lines for the film, but his performance was ultimately replaced by Witwer's.

Since his debut in the trailer for The Phantom Menace, Maul has been a popular character among Star Wars fans. On May 4, 2015, a Darth Maul costume was added to The Sims 4, allowing playable Sims to wear it in-game. The costume is purely cosmetic and does not affect gameplay.

The description for the Witches of Dathomir Squad Pack stated that Savage Oppress was the eldest of Mother Talzin's sons, implying that Maul was his younger brother. However, Oppress's own Databank Download page for the set stated that Maul was older than him. Therefore, this article does not assume which of the two was born first.

Star Wars The Dark Side Pocket Expert incorrectly lists Maul's height as 1.83 meters.