Maul

Biography

Early life

Born in 54 BBY on Dathomir, the boy who would become known as Darth Maul had a mysterious origin as the son of Mother Talzin. He was a Nightbrother, a Dathomirian Zabrak male, and had two blood brothers, Feral and Savage Opress. Maul later stated that he once had a real name but had long forgotten it. Talzin gave the Zabrak infants their first tattoos before his first birthday. Maul struggled with intense inner anger from his early years living in deep caves.

Legend says that Maul and one of his brothers lived in a house in the Nightbrother Village, where he often cared for his younger, weaker brother because Talzin was always away with the Nightsisters. He always felt a connection to nature and the forest outside their house, which was a result of his Force-sensitivity. When he was a child, Mother Talzin formed an alliance with Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, and the two shared knowledge of Dark Side arcana and Nightsister magicks. According to legend, Maul would hide in his room, afraid of Sidious and concerned about Talzin's growing relationship with him, whenever Sidious visited Talzin.

Taken by Darth Sidious

Sidious eventually noticed Maul's struggle with anger. Around 40 BBY, Sidious took Maul from Dathomir to become his Sith apprentice. Talzin claimed that Sidious betrayed her and stole Maul. According to a more detailed legend, Sidious threatened to break his promise to make Talzin his apprentice if she did not give Maul to a keeper. She reluctantly agreed, and Maul, overhearing the conversation from behind his door, angrily ran into the forest. The next morning, a Nightbrother took him and threw him into a pit, preventing him from saying goodbye to his mother.

Sidious orchestrated months of relentless domestic abuse as a test for Maul. He lived with his Nightbrother keeper's two sons, who beat him until he was unable to stand every few days and starved him by only giving him the scraps his "brothers" didn't eat. Maul's perceptions began to warp, and his love for his mother turned into resentment and hatred for abandoning him. As Sidious had hoped, his hatred began to manifest through the Dark Side, and he practiced using it whenever he could. 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 find 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 fit 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. Sidious, extremely pleased with Maul's progress and potential, declared Maul the winner and his new apprentice, much to Talzin's dismay. Sidious took Maul and left Dathomir, and Talzin vowed to reclaim her stolen son and get revenge on Sidious.

Serving the Sith

Apprentice of the Dark Lord

Maul trained as a Sith apprentice, Sith warrior, and Sith assassin under Sidious's guidance, eventually receiving the title "Darth Maul." Darth Maul spent years training to become a Sith weapon. He became an acrobatic warrior, trained to be relentless against his enemies, and learned to use a dual-bladed lightsaber. Eventually, he crafted his own using plans given to him by his master that Sidious had hidden in a forgotten entrance in the ancient Sith archives. Maul used stolen or otherwise acquired pieces for his lightsaber, noting to himself in the darkness before the Chommell sector summit that a great deal of pain and blood had gone into its construction. However, most of the blood spilled in creating the weapon was not his. Maul trained with Marksman-H training remotes during lightsaber training and learned martial arts through droid training.

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

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

First encounter with a Jedi

Darth Maul grew impatient several years into his training as Sidious's apprentice and longed 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 on Coruscant. Maul traveled to the swamp planet Twon Ketee to hunt rathtars while waiting for orders from Darth Sidious during one excursion. He first hired a group of big game hunters to scare the rathtars out of hiding as he watched from behind a tree. He calmed his mind, used the Force, and sensed the nearby presence of the beasts. A rathtar attacked the hunters, and Maul leaped onto the beast, killing it with a spear. Maul sensed another rathtar attacking him from behind, realizing they were pack hunters. Maul wanted to use his lightsaber, but he chose not to because he knew the hunters would notice his Sith nature. Maul cut off the creature's limbs one by one and eventually used a branch to kill the second rathtar. He returned to Coruscant after finishing his training. Maul reflected on the rathtars' viciousness, ruthlessness, and freedom while hunting them. Unlike himself, the rathtars he hunted had no master. Sidious warned Maul to avoid the Jedi until his plans were ready to be revealed. Sidious praised Maul for his thirst for vengeance but did not want Maul to reveal himself until the time was right and threatened Maul with death if he continued to risk detection.

Sidious sent Maul to the Kellux system to dispatch pirates who were interfering with the Trade Federation in an attempt to satiate Maul's bloodlust. Maul traveled to Kellux and dispatched 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 and 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 to find out where Xrexus's auction was being held. Maul got into a bar brawl after being accused of being a Jedi. Dirty Calgriz, a Quarren gangster, blinded him during the fight—whom Maul quickly killed afterward—and he was nearly surrounded when Bane, Sing, and Vorhdeilo intervened. Bane told Maul that the bounty hunters had obtained an invitation to Xrexus's auction after killing the Haddrex Gang and stealing their ship and protocol droid, FE-B3. Troo-Tril-Tek and Maul tortured FE-B3 until they learned the location of the auction.

Maul and the bounty hunters then traveled to a space station in the Drazkel system in the Haddrex Gang's ship to attend the auction. Xrexus told the attendees that the Padawan, a Twi'lek named Eldra Kaitis, had been discovered 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 gave a fake name, Seris Madreth of the Haddrex Consortium, to trick Xrexus. 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, where they killed Kra and his crew. 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.

Maul, Kaitis, and his bounty hunters survived the crash on the moon's surface. 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 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. Kaitis initially used her lightsaber to cause a landslide that buried Maul. As she moved in for the kill, Maul rose and stabbed her through the chest. He then destroyed FE-B3, after which Bane and the other bounty hunters picked him up in a stolen Flarestar-class shuttle. Maul compensated them, and they dropped him off at Xev's hideout. Maul killed Xrexus there to ensure the Sith's secrecy before returning 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.

Enlightening travels

Maul, disguised, created a fake cartel under Kaitis's name and later worked with the Force-sensitive Zek Peiro to intercept shipments of scarn, a compound used to make spice. Maul and Peiro fought several of their buyers and found the scarn. He killed Peiro with a piece of metal and left. Maul returned to Sidious, who expressed concern about Maul's antics and said he was as foolish as Peiro.

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

Maul traveled to the planet Kwenn in 33 BBY, when the pirate leader Zilastra planned a large-scale operation against Jedi Council members. His master admired Zilastra's ruthlessness and thought her contempt for the Jedi was interesting. Sidious, appearing as Senator Palpatine, contacted the Seneschal of the Kwenn Jedi outpost, Voh, and Maul discreetly entered the florist shop that Voh was holographically communicating from. Palpatine began speaking to Maul after finishing with Voh, confusing the seneschal until she was lifted with the Force and spun around to see the Zabrak.

Revealing the Sith to the Jedi

Maul became part of his master's plan to take over the Galactic Republic and destroy the Jedi after years of seeking revenge against them. Sidious, secretly Senator Palpatine of Naboo, conspired with the Trade Federation to invade his planet in retaliation for the taxation of trade routes in outlying Republic star systems. The Federation launched their vessels, blockaded Naboo, and prepared their battle droid army. Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, whom Palpatine intended to replace through the invasion, dispatched Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to resolve the situation, but 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.

Sidious dispatched Maul to find the queen and the Jedi because Amidala was essential to their plans—the queen needed to sign a treaty that would legitimize the illegal occupation of Naboo. Maul tracked a distress call from Sio Bibble, the governor of Naboo, which Queen Amidala received on Tatooine. Maul traveled to Tatooine to find the queen with his master's permission. He landed in the desert in his personal starship, using it as a mobile base for his operation. He launched a trio of Sith probe droids from his starship to find the queen and her Jedi protectors, and one of them discovered her ship just as it was preparing to leave. Maul rode across the Tatooine sand dunes on his Bloodfin, his personal vehicle, toward the queen's ship. However, he ran into Qui-Gon Jinn, one of the Jedi Knights protecting the queen, and a young boy named Anakin Skywalker.

Darth Maul launched an assault on Qui-Gon Jinn, leading to a lightsaber battle between them. The Jedi instructed Anakin to board the vessel and instruct the pilot to depart. The confrontation was brief yet intense, with Maul employing his formidable agility and aggression to exhaust Jinn using his brutal lightsaber skills. Just as Jinn was overcome by Maul's strength and fury, and Maul prepared to deliver the final blow, the queen's starship intervened, enabling Jinn to escape aboard, leaving the Sith Lord seething with anger on the sandy terrain.

Despite the escape of Jinn and the queen, the Sith's existence was revealed 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. Even though his targets evaded him, Maul reveled in his accomplishments and allowed himself to be further consumed by darkness and animosity. Unbeknownst to Maul, Skywalker, the young boy prophesied to be the Chosen One, would eventually contribute significantly to the Jedi's downfall and become a Sith Lord himself.

Skirmish on Naboo

Following their escape, the Jedi and the queen journeyed to Coruscant, where Sidious, under the guise of Palpatine, manipulated Amidala into demanding a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum, initiating a new election in which Palpatine was heavily favored to win and seize control of the Republic. Meanwhile, Maul, acting on his master's orders, returned to Naboo, where Amidala and the Jedi also reappeared to resist the Federation's occupying forces. Anticipating a confrontation with the Jedi, Maul plotted to select the location for their inevitable duel. The Naboo, along with the Gungans inhabiting Naboo's oceans, led the Federation army into battle away from the capital. Using this battle as a distraction, the queen and the Jedi fought to reclaim control of the city.

Upon arriving on Naboo, Maul was greeted by the Neimoidians, but he disregarded their attempts to console him, instead focusing on quickly identifying the ideal battleground. 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, practicing his lightsaber maneuvers and movements to familiarize himself with the environment. He leaped over the chasm in the center of the final chamber, where he intended to eliminate the Jedi. He dismissed the significance of the hole before receiving a communication from Gunray. Upon learning of the Queen's starship's arrival, Maul suppressed his urge to immediately engage and instead advised that they allow the Naboo and Jedi to come to them.

The struggle 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 relocating to a generator complex. The duel intensified throughout the generator rooms, with Maul dominating the proceedings; 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 the presence of laser barriers. Exploiting their separation, Maul engaged 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 sorrow over the loss of his master and friend. Despite Kenobi severing Maul's double-bladed lightsaber in half, leaving the Sith Lord with only one blade, Maul disarmed Kenobi and used the Force to hurl him over the edge of a large reactor shaft. Caught off guard, Kenobi dropped his lightsaber and found himself clinging to a small input nozzle, suspended above the abyss. Maul kicked Kenobi's lightsaber into the shaft below. As Maul mocked the young Jedi, attempting to dislodge him from the wall, Kenobi regained his composure and used the Force to leap back up and summon Jinn's lightsaber into his grasp. In a swift motion, Kenobi sliced through Maul's waist, severing him in half and sending him plummeting down the shaft.

On the same day, Sheev Palpatine ascended to the position of Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. Although Darth Maul's body could not be recovered from the depths of the power station, both he and the Jedi believed that Maul had died on Naboo. Consequently, Sidious appointed Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master whom he had already 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 them toward solutions.

Banishment in the Outer Rim

However, driven by his hatred and rage, Maul miraculously survived being bisected, his upper torso falling down the reactor shaft and into a waste container. A combination of Nightsister magic, Dathomirian physiology, and Sith resilience allowed him to cling to life even as his sanity deteriorated. Maul's mangled body was discarded on the junkyard planet of Lotho Minor, where he dwelled in the planet's underbelly. There, he salvaged discarded metal to construct a six-limbed apparatus that enabled 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 in order to join her crew. Upon their arrival on the planet, 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 then discovered that Maul had captured Seles. Maul, while muttering incoherently, hurled Seles at Brennar and proceeded to pursue them through the labyrinth. They eventually reached a dead end. Maul was on the verge of killing them when Gritz ensnared Maul in an electronet.

They then returned to the surface, with Maul in tow, to find Spikewheel awaiting them. Gritz and Spikewheel then revealed that they had been hired to locate and capture Maul, and that it was merely 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 then broke free from the electronet and confirmed that he had sent the message because he needed a ship to escape. Spikewheel attempted to shoot Maul, but the fallen Sith destroyed her. Seles panicked and attempted to seize control of the ship, causing it to launch directly into the sky. Riki opened the ship's door, and Maul and Gritz fell back to the surface of Lotho Minor. They departed the planet, and Maul killed Gritz.

During his exile, he struck a deal with a sentient, 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, but remained fixated on exacting revenge against Kenobi.

During those years, Anakin Skywalker, while practicing lightsaber combat at the Jedi Temple, modified a training droid, giving it Darth Maul's appearance.

The Clone Wars Era

Salvation by his sibling

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 that would aid him in locating Maul, and Opress embarked on a journey to find his brother. Opress located Lotho Minor and discovered his deranged brother living there, but Maul did not recognize Opress and barely maintained a grasp on his own identity, frequently erupting into fits of laughter and weeping. All that remained of the once-formidable 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 and, to restore Maul's memories, transported him to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin repaired Maul's mind and conjured a pair of cybernetic legs for him, using components from Separatist droids destroyed during the Battle of Dathomir.

Re-emergence in the galaxy

With his mind restored, Maul sought revenge against Kenobi for his defeat on Naboo, leading the now-Jedi High Council member to Raydonia by massacring civilians to provoke Kenobi's intervention. 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 attempted to enrage Kenobi by mentioning his murder of Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi was overwhelmed as a result, and decided it would be best for he and Ventress to escape the ship. Although Kenobi had escaped, Maul knew that the Jedi would begin pursuing him, which would play into Maul's hand in his quest for revenge.

Following these events, Maul encountered a child to whom he spoke about his return to galactic affairs, promising the child that he would soon have his revenge and expose the Jedi to be 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, Maul referred to himself as Opress's Master, in the same manner as 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. Although 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 cut off, Maul used the Force to push Kenobi down the tunnel, causing a cave-in before ordering a retreat. He also discovered that Ohnaka's forces 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.

Forming the Shadow Collective

Maul and Opress managed to escape Florrum, although they eventually passed out from lack of oxygen in their escape pod. As they floated aimlessly in deep space, they were discovered unconscious and half-alive by Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group led by former Governor Pre Vizsla. Discovering Maul's lightsaber, Vizsla decided not to kill them as his lieutenant, Bo-Katan Kryze, wished to do; Vizsla believed that if they were enemies of the Jedi, then they were his friends. 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 for a pair of new mechanical legs that returned him to his previous height. Waking after the surgery was completed, Maul was groggy and only tried to react 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 as to his links 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 purported 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 possessed 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.

Seizure of Mandalore

Now with an army under his command, Maul and the Shadow Collective planned to overthrow the government of Duchess Satine on Mandalore. Their goal was to make the Duchess look weak by sending the Collective's criminal elements to attack the capital city, Sundari, at which time Death Watch would arrive and drive them off. Maul also anticipated and counted on Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan betraying him, an act that he counted on as part of his own plans.

After Death Watch drove the criminals away, Maul's suspicions were confirmed when he and Opress were arrested. With Maul imprisoned, Death Watch declared themselves the leaders of Mandalore. Maul suspected that there would be other political prisoners nearby, other than the deposed and imprisoned Satine, who Maul could use for his own ends. The two Sith brothers broke out of their cells and sought to find a new ally, choosing 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 winner would gain the allegiance of Death Watch and become their new leader. After a long 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 split the Death Watch in two, with Bo-Katan and her forces refusing to pledge loyalty to Maul. The other half submitted to Maul's rule, while Almec was reinstated as Prime Minister—albeit with Maul as the true power on Mandalore.

Overlord of Mandalore

Vengeance upon Kenobi

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

After Kenobi infiltrated the palace and liberated his friend, Maul and the Mandalorian forces chased the two of them all the way to Kenobi's ship, Twilight. The Mandalorians fired missiles at the ship and crippled it, 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 give in to the dark side, all the while holding Kryze in a Force grip. Kenobi angrily refused, and told Maul he had been to the Sith Lord's village on Dathomir; Kenobi further brought up Maul's horrific past by saying that it had not been Maul's decision to join the dark side, but rather the Nightsisters 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 truly made Maul suffer for over ten years, and that it was time for Kenobi to share in 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.

Confrontation with Darth Sidious

Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls fought Maul's Mandalorian super commandos, bringing a civil war to Mandalore. As their forces collided, 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 old master's presence and prepared to face him. Maul claimed that he had taken Mandalore and built an army in the hopes 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 ended his Force grip on the pair, the three combatants ignited their respective weapons, initiating a fierce confrontation. Sidious, displaying an overwhelming superiority, quickly gained the upper hand. He incapacitated Maul by propelling him against a nearby wall with the Force, then focused his attention solely on Savage Opress. As Maul regained awareness, he witnessed Sidious fatally pierce Opress with his lightsaber blades. Rushing to his brother's side, Maul heard Opress lament his failure as an apprentice in his dying breath. The Nightsister magic that had altered Opress's form dissipated, reverting him to his original state as he passed away beside his sibling. Sidious, amused by Maul's distress, reminded him of the Sith's Rule of Two, emphasizing that Maul had been replaced.

Consumed by fury, Maul ignited both his personal lightsaber and the Darksaber, launching an assault on his former mentor. While Maul exhibited greater resilience than Opress, he was ultimately surpassed by the Dark Lord of the Sith's superior experience and skill, leading to his disarming. Sidious unleashed a barrage of telekinetic attacks upon Maul, slamming him against walls and crushing him into the ground, severely weakening him. Despite his weakened state, Maul begged for mercy, but Sidious retorted that the Sith offered no such thing, and proceeded to inflict sadistic torture upon him with bolts of Force Lightning. The Sith Lord then disclosed that he had no intention of ending his former apprentice's life, as he still had plans for Maul. He intended to use Maul as bait to draw Mother Talzin into the open, allowing for her defeat, though he kept this plan concealed from Maul.

Capture and escape

Following their duel on Mandalore, Sidious imprisoned Maul and transported him to Stygeon Prime, a desolate planet housing the Spire, a mountain fortress utilized as a prison by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Almec directed Maul's Death Watch forces to pursue Sidious's vessel, aiming to liberate their captured leader. Upon his imprisonment, Maul endured torture at the hands of Sidious, who reiterated his continued plans for his former apprentice. Their interaction was interrupted by Count Dooku, whose presence infuriated Maul.

After consulting with Sidious, Dooku returned to Maul, tasked by the Dark Lord with extracting information about the Shadow Collective and the identities of Maul's associates. Dooku interrogated his predecessor, employing electric shocks in an attempt to glean the desired information. Maul resisted the torture, refusing to divulge any details. Following Dooku's departure, Rook Kast and Gar Saxon of Death Watch launched an assault on the prison, successfully rescuing their captured leader. The Mandalorians breached Maul's cell, and together they descended the mountain via rappelling lines 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 reunited with additional forces on Zanbar. Upon arrival, Maul communicated with Prime Minister Almec via hologram, who revealed that the prison break served as repayment for Maul's previous liberation of Almec from imprisonment. Once again in command of his forces, Maul reclaimed his Darksaber and assured the Mandalorians that the war they craved was imminent. Shortly thereafter, Separatist forces under the command of General Grievous arrived on Zanbar. Grievous launched a full-scale assault on Death Watch, resulting in significant casualties on both sides. During the battle, Maul destroyed four of Grievous's MagnaGuard droids and engaged Grievous himself. Despite Maul's evident power, Grievous repelled him with a kick during their blade lock. With his forces decimated, Maul ordered a retreat. Grievous permitted Maul's escape, adhering to Dooku's instructions, with the expectation that Maul would seek assistance from Mother Talzin.

Alliance with Dooku

As Dooku had foreseen, Maul contacted Mother Talzin after departing Zanbar, reaching out to her through the Force for guidance. She manifested before him in a cloud of smoke and he informed her of his prison escape and defeat on Zanbar. Talzin anticipated that Sidious intended to ensnare her, so she instructed Maul to proceed to Ord Mantell, where the Black Sun maintained a base of operations. Once there, Talzin desired him to assemble his forces for another confrontation against the Separatists, this time to lure Dooku and Grievous into a trap and capture them—an action Talzin believed Sidious would not anticipate. Talzin herself would not venture to Ord Mantell, aware that she was a target for the Sith Lords.

Maul arrived on Ord Mantell and conferred with his Shadow Collective allies, including Ziton Moj of Black Sun and Fife of the Pyke Syndicate. He informed them of an impending battle against the Separatists, who were being lured to Ord Mantell under the false pretense of capturing Maul. Despite some misgivings from his allies, Maul expressed confidence in the success of his plan and their ability to ensnare the two Separatist leaders. Maul and his allies promptly formulated their attack strategy against the Separatists, which involved directing the droid army to a designated point within Black Sun–controlled territory, enabling the Shadow Collective forces to launch an ambush.

As the Collective prepared for battle, a contingent of Nightbrother warriors, led by Brother Viscus, arrived, dispatched from Dathomir by Mother Talzin to bolster Maul's army. While Maul greeted his fellow Nightbrothers, the Separatists arrived in orbit and initiated an attack, bombarding Ord Mantell's surface with their fleet. Maul immediately commanded his forces to execute their assault, while instructing the Nightbrothers to remain in the command center awaiting instructions. Maul, meanwhile, proceeded to 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—along with Count Dooku—to the planet, swiftly overwhelming the Shadow Collective army. Maul's ships targeted General Grievous's command vessel, attaching itself to the Separatist ship's hull to allow Maul and his forces to board and advance to the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, Maul and Death Watch eliminated the battle droids guarding the cyborg general, and 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 eliminated 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 once more to apprise her of the events on Ord Mantell. Talzin assured Maul that, with Dooku and Grievous in captivity, they would also capture Sidious—and exact their revenge upon him. Maul and his forces departed Ord Mantell, leaving minimal evidence of their presence, and proceeded to Vizsla Keep 09, a Mandalorian supply outpost.

From the outpost, Maul contacted Darth Sidious, informing him of the capture of Dooku and Grievous. Claiming he had no further need for the two, Sidious instructed Maul to execute them, but the former Sith Lord harbored alternative plans. Grievous was confined to the brig, while Maul attempted to persuade Dooku to join him. They had both been betrayed by Sidious, so Maul proposed that he and Dooku could be natural allies. Dooku doubted the possibility of challenging Sidious, and stated that he did not think he should ally with Maul and Mother Talzin, the latter of whom once attempted to kill Dooku. Talzin herself materialized using Nightsister magic and recounted her past alliance with Sidious, her subsequent betrayal when Sidious claimed Maul, and Sidious's ongoing efforts to replace the Count. Neither Talzin nor Maul believed Dooku would genuinely ally with them, and simply 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. With their lives in peril, Dooku feigned allegiance with Maul, while Grievous escaped amidst the chaos using an escape pod. Maul and Dooku engaged the Jedi in a lightsaber duel, which persisted until Kast detonated a small explosive near the Jedi, incapacitating them and enabling Maul and Dooku to escape.

Failure on Dathomir

Having fled the outpost, Maul and his followers journeyed towards Dathomir. En route, Maul received communications 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 Sidious's impending demise, which would enable the Shadow Collective to seize control of the galaxy. To secure their loyalty, Maul instructed Saxon to maintain control over the Pykes and Black Sun. He also revealed to Dooku that he was aware of the Sith Lord's insincerity, and that Sidious had instructed his apprentice to feign allegiance with Maul.

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 prepared for the next phase of their plan, so Dooku was brought before Mother Talzin, who appeared before them in a cloud of smoke. She unleashed her magic upon the Sith Lord, using it to draw Dooku's life force so she could physically manifest herself again; Talzin's physical return required a sacrifice, and they had chosen Dooku for that purpose. They were interrupted, by an explosion ripping through the area, and the arrival of Grievous and Sidious. Sidious reminded his former apprentice that there was only one plan that mattered: Sidious'.

The arrival of the Dark Lord and Grievous led to a lightsaber duel, one which Talzin joined after she took control of Count Dooku's body. Talzin fought Sidious while Maul fought the cyborg general, and Sidious quickly gained the advantage over the Dathomir witch. Sidious bombarded Talzin with Force lightning, and the witch released Dooku and appeared in physical form once more. Maul, meanwhile, Force-pushed Grievous out of the opening that the explosion created. Once Sidious attacked her with a barrage of lightning, Maul pleaded with his mother to use his own life force to grow more powerful, but Talzin demanded that he retreat as she held off the Dark Lord's attacks. The witch used her powers to toss Maul from the fray and he was dragged away by Kast and another Death Watch warrior. As they fled, Maul watched as Grievous returned to fatally stab Talzin with his lightsabers.

Maul fled from Dathomir, which was being attacked by the Separatists. The Shadow Collective, meanwhile, had also been defeated by Separatist forces. In Sidious's eyes, despite Maul's escape, the former Sith Lord had been eliminated as a rival to the future Sith rule of the galaxy.

A new plan

Maul and other parts of his loyal forces would eventually return to Mandalore, where they remained in hiding for a short time. The Pyke Syndicate and Black Sun also eventually rejoined the Shadow Collective. At some point, Maul also forged ties with the criminal organization Crimson Dawn, led by Dryden Vos. He continued to rule his operation, one part of which involved the transportation of a large shipment of spice by the Pykes.

The Pykes hired Rafa Martez to deliver the spice, but after a heavy ethics debate between Martez and the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Martez's sister, Trace, dumped the spice into hyperspace. With no shipment to deliver, the three were taken into custody by the Pykes on Oba Diah. Shortly afterward, Maul contacted the new leader of the Pykes, Marg Krim, via hologram about the lost shipment of spice. Krim attempted to assure Maul that the delay of the spice would not jeopardize his plans. Maul warned Krim of further delays, informing him that every piece of his plan was important and if one part of it faltered, the entire plan could be jeopardized. Krim attempted to defend himself by informing him of the ever-growing interference of the Republic against his shipments: one shipment that had arrived on Coruscant was raided by the Republic the week prior.

Maul asked if any Jedi were involved, but Krim did not know since none of his men survived, which allowed Maul to come to the conclusion that there were. Just then, Maul noticed something hiding in the pipework surrounding where the meeting was taking place and turned to try to see what it was. After searching for a few seconds, he discovered nothing and, not realizing it was Tano, turned back towards Krim, informing him that he had other things to attend to. Maul warned him that if he caused any more delays, he would allow Crimson Dawn to take over the spice operation. With that warning, Maul ended the transmission.

Siege of Mandalore

Maul had a premonition which revealed Anakin Skywalker as the key to Sidious's triumph as his future Sith apprentice, and therefore sought to lure him and Kenobi to Mandalore. Maul hoped to deprive Sidious of his prized disciple and ultimately exact his revenge on Kenobi. During the concluding stages of the Clone Wars, and two days after his return 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. Almec informed Maul that a Jedi was present on Mandalore. Assuming the Jedi to be Kenobi, Maul instructed the Shadow Collective to set a trap for "Kenobi." The Shadow Collective led Ahsoka Tano and the clones through the undercity, where they killed all of the clones, including Captain Vaughn. Upon seeing that it was Tano that came to confront him, Maul told her that he was expecting Kenobi and asked why she was on Mandalore.

Maul continued, telling Tano that he had hoped Kenobi would have come alongside his "loyal foal," Anakin Skywalker, to which Tano revealed that Kenobi had a more important engagement. When Tano asked Maul to surrender, he claimed that it would be pointless, as the Jedi Order and the Republic would soon be reduced to nothing and the galaxy would come under the control of Darth Sidious. Just then, clone forces led by Rex arrived and opened fire, forcing Maul and his Mandalorian forces to flee.

During the ensuing combat, Maul captured and interrogated ARC trooper Jesse about Ahsoka's history, but Jesse refused to tell him anything. Maul ordered Gar Saxon to assassinate the captured Almec before he could reveal any vital information to the enemy. Afterward, he focused again on Jesse and eventually managed to make him reveal everything he wanted to know using a mind probe.

Later, Maul was speaking 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 took the time to thank him, Rook Kast, and the other Mandalorians for saving him weeks prior, and explained to them that the galaxy would be remade soon and that they needed to seize as much power as they could. He assured them that if they were to die, it would be on the battlefield, as warriors, again 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 waved away her blaster bolts and subdued her before handing Jesse back to them as a show of "good faith." After Tano told Bo-Katan and Rex to leave, Maul was left alone with her. As the battle outside was raging on, Maul began talking in a calm manner to Ahsoka, reminding her of the hypocrisy of the Jedi Order, which caused her to leave, and that they were both tools used by a greater power.

Maul then told her again that what she called justice would soon be changed along with the entire galaxy, revealing that he was talking about Sidious. Ahsoka suggested that Maul help the Jedi stop Sidious before this would happen, only for Maul to insist that it was already too late, as the Republic was too corrupted to be saved and the Jedi couldn't possibly stop Sidious. Maul then asked Ahsoka to join him, suggesting that together they could defeat Sidious. After a long moment of consideration, Ahsoka agreed on the condition that Maul answer one question: what did he want with Skywalker. He stated that he was the key to everything, to destruction, and that he had a vision which revealed that Sidious sought to make Skywalker his new apprentice.

When Ahsoka accused him of lying, Maul explained that he had engineered the conflict on Mandalore to lure out Kenobi and Skywalker, so that he could kill the latter before he would turn to the Dark Side. Hearing this, Ahsoka changed her mind and ignited her lightsabers, stating that she knew Skywalker and 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 very tough opponent for Maul, despite the latter being stronger and far more experienced than her. Maul managed to disarm Ahsoka of her main saber, though she quickly retrieved it with the Force. Ahsoka then taunted Maul, stating he was lucky Anakin had not shown up. Maul compared this to Kenobi's arrogance. The two continued fighting and briefly engaged in a saber lock, with Maul gaining the upper hand, though he was caught by surprise by Ahsoka, who managed to kick him outside through a glass window.

Caught and released

Outside, Ahsoka chased Maul to the top of a building. As his Mandalorian forces were being overrun, Saxon contacted Maul asking for reinforcements, but he abandoned him, saying that a ship would soon be arriving to pick him up. Saxon and his forces were outnumbered by clone troopers and forced to surrender shortly afterward. As Maul reached the top of the building, Ahsoka caught up with him and the two resumed their duel, before Maul's ship arrived to pick him up. Ahsoka stopped 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 gave her one last chance to join him, but she refused, causing him to slash at her angrily. Dodging his strikes, Tano grabbed Maul's saber and tripped him over the edge of the beam, though she saved him from falling to his death with the Force.

Preferring to die rather than be captured, Maul told Ahsoka to let him fall, but she refused, just as three LAAT gunships arrived. Maul furiously told Ahsoka she had no idea what she had just done and that they were all going to die soon, before being stunned and taken into custody. The Shadow Collective would collapse after Maul's defeat at 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 told by the Jedi High Council to bring him to Coruscant so that he could stand trial for his crimes. En route to Coruscant however, Palpatine (who had revealed himself as Darth Sidious) initiated Order 66, causing Rex and the rest of Ahsoka's clone troopers to turn on her. Maul sensed these events while in his captivity, before a pair of clones arrived to execute him, having received a different order from Sidious, who wanted to be rid of his former apprentice once and for all.

Before the clones could shoot the renegade Sith Lord, Ahsoka knocked them out and subsequently freed Maul from his restraints. He expressed his surprise that Tano had survived, but she threatened him with her lightsabers and demanded to know if he was behind the events, which the former Sith denied. She then revealed that the clones had turned against her and Maul laughed at the "brilliance" of Sidious' plan to use the Jedi's army to destroy them, much to her disgust. Maul went on to explain that despite being Sidious's apprentice, he was unaware of the plan's finer details. He then proposed a team-up with the former Jedi Padawan, but she harshly rejected his offer and told him he was merely a distraction to cause some chaos, refusing to lend him one of her weapons to aid in his escape. Despite being unarmed, Maul, using the Force to rip panels from the walls, tore a path of destruction through the ship, slaughtering every clone trooper in his way. 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 to the hyperdrive chamber, still eavesdropping on the clones via his pilfered wrist communicator. Two clone troopers appeared and aimed their weapons at him, but he effortlessly used the Force to lift and choke them. Upon entering the hyperdrive room, Maul swiftly eliminated all the clones using the Force. He then ripped the control panel away and collapsed the hyperdrive generators, causing the ship to abruptly exit hyperspace above an unidentified moon, where it was ensnared by the moon's gravitational pull. As the vessel plunged towards the lunar surface, Maul hurried to the hangar and sprinted towards a shuttle. Ahsoka spotted him and pursued him, but Maul used the Force to attack her, declaring he was merely instigating the chaos she desired. In response, Ahsoka, consumed by anger, almost fatally wounded him with her lightsabers. He countered by pushing her into a pit, but the astromech droid RG-G1 rescued her. Maul attempted to escape in the shuttle, and despite Ahsoka's renewed attempt to stop him, using the Force to grab the shuttle, she was forced to release her grip when clone troopers shot both R7-A7 and Rex (whose behavioral modification biochip had been removed by Ahsoka). Maul then escaped into hyperspace, intending to rebuild his criminal empire.

Age of the Empire

A hunted shadow

Just as Maul had predicted, Anakin Skywalker succumbed to the dark side, becoming Sidious' new apprentice and adopting the name Darth Vader. With his apprentice at his side, Sidious established the Galactic Empire and initiated the Great Jedi Purge, a crucial step in his overarching scheme. Vader and the Jedi-hunting Inquisitorius were unleashed to eradicate the Jedi Order, the same Order Maul had once sought to overthrow. Maul himself became a target for these Inquisitors, but despite their considerable skills, they failed to locate him. Over the years, Maul remained so elusive to the Imperial hunters that they began referring to him as "The Shadow." Furthermore, The Grand Inquisitor utilized components from Maul's ship, the Scimitar, in the construction of his personal TIE Advanced v1. Eventually, Maul obtained a new lightsaber that appeared to be constructed from salvaged parts of an Inquisitor's double-bladed lightsaber.

Following the onset of the Jedi Purge, Maul became an object of interest for the rogue Padawan Ferren Barr, who maintained a file on the former Sith Lord within the archives of Endee, an R1-series astromech droid in his possession. Barr had compiled information on Maul, along with other figures, in an effort to understand how the Jedi Order had fallen so rapidly to the Sith. During the Invasion of Mon Cala in 18 BBY, Vader discovered Barr and his disciples. Before his confrontation with Vader, Barr instructed Endee to upload a backup of the archive onto a datacard and then self-destruct. Barr subsequently perished in combat with Vader.

In either 8 BBY or 7 BBY, Kenobi, now in hiding on Tatooine, was confronted by moisture farmer Owen Lars, who cautioned Kenobi to stay away from his nephew, Luke Skywalker, who was secretly Anakin Skywalker's son. Lars asserted that Kenobi was a dangerous individual who was perpetually embroiled in conflict. After Lars departed from his home, Kenobi mentally concurred with Lars' assessment, while also acknowledging his own remarkable ability to survive, recalling his encounters with Maul, Dooku, Grievous, and Jabba.

Leading the Five Crime Syndicates

At some point following his escape during the Purge, Maul returned to Dathomir, establishing residence and becoming the enigmatic leader of Crimson Dawn, with Dryden Vos serving as his public face. Despite the collapse of the Shadow Collective, he retained control over the Five Crime Syndicates, preventing internal conflicts. However, dissent arose among syndicate members, with Black Sun operative Alorium expressing the belief that Maul was "keeping them under his boot". Despite this, the wealth generated by Maul's leadership generally silenced dissenters, and Maul ensured that any vocal critics were dealt with. Driven by a desire for independence from Maul, Alorium's attempt to seize control of a portion of the Black Sun organization was unsuccessful. During his tenure as leader of Crimson Dawn, Maul initiated a search for an ancient Sith holocron, employing stealth tactics such as wearing a hooded cloak to conceal his identity and replacing his double-bladed lightsaber with another one that incorporated a wooden component to resemble a staff.

Following Alorium's failed coup, Vos's subordinate Qi'ra had her first encounter with Maul, an event she considered a point of no return that would forever shape her destiny. In 10 BBY, after Vos's death, Qi'ra contacted Maul, informing him that Vos had been betrayed and murdered by Tobias Beckett and his associates, whom he had employed, and that their shipment of coaxium had been stolen while being refined on the desert planet Savareen.

Annoyed, Maul summoned Qi'ra back to Dathomir, where he declared that they would jointly determine how to address Beckett and the other traitors. He then ignited his new lightsaber and informed Qi'ra that they would be working more closely together moving forward, promoting her to Vos's former position. Maul instructed Qi'ra in the ways of the Sith Order, revealing, among other things, the Rule of Two. He also disclosed 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 outlined his plan to utilize Crimson Dawn to dismantle the Empire, and he trained Qi'ra in Sith combat techniques. Through Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn, Maul's pursuit of vengeance against the Sith continued as the organization sought to destroy them.

Maul became aware of the Fermata Cage, a weapon of the dark side of the Force capable of freezing moments in time, which was used to contain an ancient Sith Lord. Maul intended to release the Sith Lord and observe them target both Sidious and Vader, in accordance with the Rule of Two. However, Maul's attempts ultimately failed.

Faces of the Damanos castle

During the Imperial Era, Maul's obsession with destroying Sidious and exacting revenge on Kenobi intensified. Recognizing that he could not underestimate either adversary, he traversed various worlds in search of an advantage in his endeavors. Sometime between 19 BBY and 5 BBY, one such journey led Maul to a Sith castle on the ash-gray planet Damanos in the Outer Rim Territories, where he encountered visions of unexpected and familiar figures. Inside the castle, he first encountered a vision of Savage Opress, who disavowed Maul for being neither his brother nor his master. The vision initiated a duel with Maul, who initially blocked the powerful, rage-fueled assault until the false specter of his brother knocked him down. Maul turned away and swung his blade at the specter's feet, which "Opress" avoided by leaping away. After circling each other, Maul told "Opress" that he knew what he wanted, which was to balance the scales for what they did to him, their mother, and himself.

"Opress" responded with mocking laughter, claiming that Maul's true motivation was a desire to escape the feeling of powerlessness. Maul's anger intensified with each word, and he attacked, ultimately pinning his brother's fake specter and crashing his lightsaber into his opponent's. While "Oppress" managed to parry Maul's next strike, Maul detected a weakness in his posture and realized that the figure before him was an imposter, not his actual brother. Eventually, Maul cornered him, grabbed the back of his neck, and pulled him close. The fake Oppress began to plead, but Maul declared that he was no brother of his and thrust his blade through the imposter's abdomen, leaving the fake Sith to collapse lifelessly. Pushing the body aside, Maul glanced down momentarily, but found no reason to linger. Whether he was confirming his enemy's death or seeking one last glimpse of his brother's face, he was instead met with a vision of his own corpse and a whisper in Opress's voice, suggesting that Maul had failed him. Angered, Maul cast another glance at his "corpse" before continuing onward.

Maul descended further into the castle, entering what he believed to be its throne room, and began contemplating the time that had passed since anyone had traversed its halls, as well as the nature of life on the planet. Sensing a potent energy, Maul ventured deeper into the castle and encountered a vision of General Grievous, who ambushed him from the ceiling, wielding all four of his lightsabers. Barely avoiding the attack, Maul rolled out of "Grievous's" path and glared at his opponent. "Grievous" inquired if he remembered their encounter on Dathomir, during which he had slain Maul's mother, Talzin. Focusing his gaze on the cyborg, Maul recalled the event and stated that Kenobi had killed him, to which "Grievous" responded with further mockery, questioning how it felt for Maul's sworn enemy to steal his revenge. Maul channeled his anger, choosing to suppress another strong emotion—the pain of his losses—and attacked "Grievous," disarming him of two hands and their lightsabers before pinning him down. Grievous, however, laughed and recalled Maul's anguished expression after he killed his mother, wondering if that expression would reappear as he plunged his lightsabers into him next. Maul responded with a scream, declaring that the Grievous before him was not real, a fact that the specter admitted to be true. "Grievous" then inquired if Maul found any solace in knowing that the person who murdered his mother was no longer alive. Seeing that Maul was unable to answer, he answered for Maul and kicked him, catching him off guard and knocking him back.

Maul immediately assumed a defensive stance, anticipating an attack from "Grievous," but the cyborg remained silent, staring at him. Consumed by uncontrollable anger, Maul raged at the cyborg, recalling how he had no choice in the life he was forced to live, to which "Grievous" responded that Maul was refusing to let go of that life. Maul screamed and lunged at "Grievous," clashing lightsabers with the general's apparition, who parried each hate-filled attack without launching any offensive maneuvers himself, a detail that Maul noticed and found peculiar. Instead, "Grievous" continued to taunt Maul about his lost family and purpose, to which Maul responded by drawing on the anger those words provoked and severing another of "Grievous's" hands, leaving the cyborg with only one remaining lightsaber. Seemingly unaffected by his injuries, "Grievous" inquired about Maul's other feelings and laughed at the former Sith Lord, whose internal darkness, combined with the darkness of the Sith castle, left Maul with a sensation akin to an open wound. Just as he had done with his mother, Maul drove his lightsaber through "Grievous," silencing his maniacal laughter. "Grievous" fell silently back into the darkness, vanishing without leaving Maul with any satisfaction, just as the specter had predicted: even after slaying the person who had killed his mother, Maul only felt rage within himself, prompting him to scream.

Maul proceeded to the center of the temple, drawn by a dark power that he hoped to harness to destroy his enemies. Wondering about the conflicts that had occurred on the planet, Maul remained vigilant, uncertain whether he was being taunted or tested. He was surprised to find a vision of Qui-Gon Jinn behind the final, simple door. Maul expected the deceased Jedi Master to engage in a final duel, but Jinn instead offered him a chance to embark on a new path. Clarifying that he was not suggesting Maul become a Jedi, Jinn offered Maul an opportunity to free himself from the prison of his past, questioning what awaited him once Sidious and Kenobi were dead. Maul assumed that Jinn was attempting to provoke his anger, but Jinn stated that they both knew Maul was feeling pain from his losses, not rage. Jinn asserted that Maul's desire to inflict harm on others would never heal his own pain, but Maul responded by attacking Jinn's specter.

When he stopped, Maul realized that Jinn was gone and felt empty. Moreover, he could no longer sense the dark power that had drawn him to the castle. Consequently, Maul returned to his ship and considered firing upon the castle, but he decided the temple was insignificant. Re-focusing on his quest for vengeance, he charted a new course and resumed his hunt for dark secrets and Sith temples.

Escape from Malachor

Maul's pursuit of the Sith holocron eventually led him to the planet Malachor, where he anticipated discovering the powerful weapon he sought 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 years.

Around 3 BBY, an Inquisitor known as the Eighth Brother tracked Maul to Malachor. It was also during this period that Maul encountered Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger, to whom he claimed that he had crashed his ship years earlier, leaving him stranded without contact with the wider galaxy. Introducing himself as the "Old Master," while also feigning the appearance of a frail elderly man, Maul asserted that he had been seeking the same Sith holocron as Bridger, with the shared goal of destroying the Sith. Maul offered to assist Bridger in acquiring the holocron, revealing that it was located within the temple. As Bridger agreed to collaborate in claiming it, Maul began to manipulate the young Jedi apprentice. During their time together, Maul shared details of his past with Bridger, stating that the Sith had taken everything from him. As Bridger's trust and empathy for Maul grew, Maul also introduced Bridger to the ways of the dark side, exploiting the boy's passionate and aggressive tendencies.

The pair successfully retrieved the Sith holocron after overcoming a series of physical challenges, with Maul guiding Bridger using the dark side. Encouraging him to embrace 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 from the nascent rebellion against the Empire. Witnessing their battle against Eighth Brother, Fifth Brother, and Seventh Sister, Maul led Bridger to their location. While Tano and Jarrus were hesitant to trust Maul, his assistance enabled the three of them to force the Inquisitors to retreat. Maul had learned about the Inquisitors' master, Darth Vader, and knew that they would inform him of the confrontation. Anticipating Vader's imminent arrival, Maul told the others that they would need to cooperate to defeat him.

Still unwilling to trust Maul, they only cooperated at the urging of Bridger, who remained convinced that Maul was on their side. Guided by Maul, the rebels ascended the temple in an attempt to reach the summit, where Maul claimed they could find the knowledge needed to defeat the Sith. Along the way, Maul and Bridger engaged the Seventh Sister, with Maul easily subduing her using a Force choke. Maul then urged Bridger to strike her down. When Bridger hesitated, Maul threw his lightsaber at her, killing her instantly. Maul reprimanded Bridger for his hesitation, warning him that it could cost him his life or the lives of his friends in the future. Maul and Bridger continued their ascent and reunited with their 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 approaching Malachor. However, he 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, and Jarrus also managed to damage the Eighth Brother's lightsaber. As the Eighth Brother attempted to escape using his weapon, it malfunctioned, causing the Inquisitor to fall to his death below.

With all the Inquisitors dead and Ezra nearing the top, Maul betrayed the Jedi, attacking Jarrus and blinding him. With Jarrus subdued, Maul engaged Tano and the two briefly dueled. He then revealed that the holocron was intended to power an ancient superweapon and that Maul intended to make Bridger his apprentice. Tano departed to retrieve Bridger and confronted Darth Vader as Jarrus recovered, with Tano declaring to the former Sith Lord he would have to face Jarrus to get to her. Underestimating Jarrus, Maul stated that he would quickly eliminate the Jedi. However, using his other senses, amplified by the Force, Jarrus caught Maul's arm and tripped him, causing the Nightbrother to fall 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 plans were in ruins, Maul took a personal interest in Bridger. His influence had a profound effect on Bridger, who drifted closer to the dark side.

Discovering Kenobi

Months later in 2 BBY, Maul resurfaced and resumed his pursuit of the rebels. Managing to board a Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette, Maul interrogated one of the rebels on board, compelling him to reveal 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. Believing it to be the work 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 give him 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 politely requested that Syndulla give him a "tour" of the Ghost, prompting Sabine Wren to urge her not to, to which Maul replied that she should trust him, as he had once ruled her people. Surveying each living quarter, Maul identified Jarrus's as the dull and dour one, befitting a Jedi. Instructing Syndulla to reveal the location of the Jedi holocron, the Twi'lek claimed that she knew nothing about Jarrus. Recognizing this as a lie, 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 being held in a compartment below Jarrus's bed.

While Maul was struggling to open the holocron, the Ghost's crew seized the opportunity to escape. Utilizing their restraints to destroy the reprogrammed tour guide droids guarding them, the rebels quietly moved down to the cargo hold, planning to magnetize it in order to immobilize Maul's robotic legs. Discovering their absence, Maul went searching for the rebels and eventually made his way to 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 rest of the rebels promptly rushed into the cargo hold and started firing at him; however, Maul deflected one of the bolts into the control interface, deactivating the magnets. Knocking the crew down with the Force, Maul threatened the rebels with their deaths once their usefulness was over.

Having already notified the Jedi about the location of their meeting, the Mandalorian asteroid base, Maul piloted the Ghost to a hangar within the outpost. He then entrusted the rebel prisoners to his reprogrammed droids for supervision. Upon the Jedi's arrival, they convened with Maul inside the hangar, where the Dathomirian instructed Bridger to be escorted by the droids to the command center, while Jarrus accompanied Maul. Seeking to succeed where he had previously failed on Malachor, Maul guided the Jedi toward an airlock, forcibly pushed him inside, and initiated his ejection into space. Under the assumption that Jarrus was deceased, Maul proceeded to meet with Bridger. He quietly instructed one of his droids to eliminate the rebel crew.

Maul and Bridger, intending to combine the knowledge within, sat down and activated the holocrons. Following the fusion of the holocrons, Bridger, seeking the means to destroy the Sith, witnessed both familiar and unfamiliar locations, while Maul perceived nothing. Shortly thereafter, the Ghost crew, liberated by Jarrus after his return to the hangar, arrived at the command center but were overwhelmed by the holocrons' intense light. Bridger exclaimed that he saw "twin suns," and Jarrus urged his apprentice to avert his gaze, while Maul encouraged the Jedi to concentrate. Following his master's advice, Bridger closed his eyes, triggering an explosion of energy from the holocrons that enabled Maul's escape. As Maul made his way back to his ship, he realized the significance of what he had glimpsed in the holocrons, repeating the phrase, "He lives."

Return to Dathomir

As a consequence of the ritual involving the two holocrons, Maul and Ezra established a mental link, each acquiring information about the other's desires. Consequently, Maul discovered the location of Chopper Base on Atollon. Utilizing his command of the dark side, Maul tormented Ezra by subjecting the young Jedi to visions and auditory hallucinations of himself. On one occasion, Ezra even assaulted and nearly killed a rebel trooper, mistaking him for Maul. Later, he encountered Ezra and Kanan in the wilderness while they were in conversation with a mysterious Force wielder known as Bendu, who acted as an intermediary between the light and dark sides of the Force. Ignoring Bendu's warnings against turning around, Kanan and Ezra did so and discovered Maul observing them from atop a dune.

After complimenting the Jedi pair on their secure hiding place, Maul assured them that his intentions were peaceful and that he wished to speak with his "apprentice" Ezra. When Ezra inquired about how Maul had located him, the dark sider explained that Ezra's abrupt severance of their connection to the holocrons had resulted in them both seeing fragments of each other's visions and knowledge. Maul added that he required Ezra's assistance in retrieving 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 should he be killed.

Maul then offered to reveal to Ezra the means of destroying the Sith. With Kanan's reluctant consent, 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 attached a tracker to Ezra's wrist comm and followed them there. Maul led Ezra to the ruins of the Nightsister lair, explaining that he was the last surviving member of the Nightsisters. As Maul guided 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 had decorated the cave with artifacts from his past, including a damaged portrait of Duchess Satine Kryze and the Darksaber, a symbol of Mandalorian power. For the ritual, Maul and Ezra consumed glasses of magick water, causing their eyes to glow green and emit bright rays. Consequently, Maul and Ezra discovered that Obi-Wan Kenobi, his nemesis, was hiding on a planet with twin suns and that Kenobi possessed the key to destroying the Sith. Upon completing the ritual, they were confronted by Nightsister spirits who demanded that Maul and Ezra sacrifice their flesh and blood in exchange for the answers.

At that moment, Kanan and Sabine entered the cave and opened fire on the spirits. However, the spirits overwhelmed and possessed them. The possessed Kanan and Sabine attacked Maul and Ezra. Maul was forced to parry with the possessed Kanan, while Ezra was forced to evade the possessed Sabine's blasts. Following a struggle, Maul and Ezra reached the entrance of the cave. The Nightsister spirits were unable to leave, because the altar was the source of their power. Having accomplished his objective, Maul offered Ezra a place as his apprentice and claimed that their destiny was linked with the planet with the twin suns. However, Ezra refused to abandon his friends. Exasperated by the young man's sympathy and compassion towards his friends, Maul told Ezra that he had disappointed him before departing to find his old enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Death on Tatooine

Maul eventually journeyed to Tatooine, utilizing knowledge gleaned from the two holocrons months prior, in pursuit of his longtime nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi. While searching for him in the desolate desert, Maul became disoriented. Exhausted from his search and contemplating the prospect of perishing in the desert, he collapsed into the sand and desperately cried out Kenobi's name. However, he rediscovered his determination and resumed his pursuit of Kenobi. Realizing that he was unable to locate his old enemy on his own, he devised a plan to draw him out, utilizing the matrix he had obtained from the Sith holocron to reach out to his "apprentice," Ezra Bridger.

Inspired by the vision transmitted by Maul, Bridger traveled to Tatooine to prevent the former Sith Lord from assassinating Kenobi. The Jedi apprentice also hoped to enlist the old Jedi Master to join the burgeoning rebellion. Upon landing in a canyon at night, he discovered the fragment of the Sith holocron that Maul had strategically placed as bait to lure him in. Recognizing it as a trap, he and his droid were suddenly ambushed by a group of Tusken Raiders, who attempted to kill Bridger. While the Tuskens failed to kill him, they succeeded in destroying his ship. Shortly after Bridger was knocked unconscious by the explosion, Maul arrived and eliminated all of the Tuskens before seemingly abandoning Bridger.

Seeking a means of escaping the planet, Bridger and Chopper, who had hidden aboard Bridger's ship, debated whether to follow the natural ridgelines of the canyons in the hope of finding a nearby settlement or venturing across the vast desert before them. Maul appeared in an apparition and convinced Ezra to travel into the desert. Ezra and Chopper ventured into the desert but the two collapsed due to a sandstorm. A short while later, Bridger and Chopper were discovered by Kenobi, who was riding a dewback. Constructing a small campfire, Kenobi recharged Chopper with power from a portable light and tended to Bridger's wounds.

After Ezra awoke, Kenobi informed the boy that Maul had manipulated Ezra into leading the former Sith Lord to Kenobi. At that moment, Maul arrived to settle the score with his old archenemy. Having led Maul to Kenobi, Bridger insisted on fighting the former Sith himself, but Kenobi commanded Ezra to return to his friends. Ezra and Chopper left, with Maul bidding farewell to his "apprentice." Commenting on Kenobi's meager living conditions, Maul taunted his old rival by wondering aloud whether death would, in fact, be a mercy compared to Kenobi's lifestyle. Kenobi remained unfazed and responded by stating that because Maul defined himself by his empty desires to dominate, kill, and possess, he had nothing at all. Maul, stung by the verbal barb, ignited his lightsaber and struck the ground in front of Kenobi's small campfire, showering it with sand and extinguishing it. The former Sith Lord speculated on what could have brought Kenobi to Tatooine, knowing it was not simply hiding but deduced that he was there to protect something—or someone. He could see what was in Kenobi's thoughts: a boy.

Provoked by Maul's threatening implications 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 enemies locked gazes. Kenobi switched his stance from Soresu to Ataru, and Maul recognized Kenobi's new stance as having belonged to Kenobi's old master Qui-Gon Jinn. He charged Kenobi, and the adversaries exchanged two rapid strikes before Maul brought the hilt of his blade up to strike Kenobi's face—the same attack which had allowed him to kill Jinn decades earlier. However, Kenobi had been prepared for Maul's strategy, and he brought his lightsaber down in an overhand strike as Maul initiated his attack. Kenobi's attack passed straight through the hilt of Maul's weapon, cleaving it in two and carving a lethal laceration into Maul's chest.

A shocked Maul looked down at his wound. Unlike last time, both ends of the lightsaber remained functional. He turned them off before dropping to one knee, but Kenobi caught him before he could fall to the ground and held him. Knowing that his death was inevitable this time, Maul then begged his sworn enemy to answer whether or not the boy that he was guarding was the Chosen One. Sensing Maul's pain and desperation for closure, Kenobi confirmed that the boy was indeed the one to fulfill the prophecy and destroy the Sith. With this knowledge, Maul seemed to come to terms with his death and, with his final breath, states that the boy will one day avenge what Darth Sidious had done to them both.

With that, after so many years of rage and anguish, Maul finally passed away peacefully, believing that his master's wrath would soon be over. As a final gesture of mercy, Kenobi closed his eyes and laid him to rest.

Legacy

Remainder of the Imperial Era

Kenobi paid tribute to his former adversary by constructing a funeral pyre, an act he recalled shortly after becoming one with the Force. The Spectres' eyewitness accounts and information regarding Maul were archived in the Rebel Alliance Archives. Maul's ship, the Nightbrother, was commandeered by Ezra and Chopper and returned 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 loss, whereas Count Dooku was labeled as both a proton torpedo and a mere placeholder. While having a Force vision surrounding Luke Skywalker, Sidious appreciated that he was a simple boy not covered in demonic tattoos like those of Maul.

Crimson Dawn persisted for many years after Maul's death, but was subsequently led by Qi'ra. She aspired to accomplish what Maul had intended but failed to do, utilizing 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 horrific actions of Crimson Dawn and its public leader, Dryden Vos, voicing speculation that Vos was overseen by an "even worse" individual.

Imperial historians were cognizant 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—where Maul dueled Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi over three decades earlier—in order to access starfighters. Upon entering, Organa sensed, through the Force, remnants of Maul's dark power, feeling physically cold because of it.

Post-Imperial era

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

By 34 ABY, a bust of Maul could be found at Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities, one of the many shops in Black Spire Outpost on Batuu. Though it was believed that Palpatine had died in his confrontation with Luke Skywalker, he had in fact survived and continued his operations aided by the Sith Eternal cult on the planet Exegol. In 35 ABY, Sidious was permanently killed by the Jedi Rey Skywalker and the Sith Eternal was abolished through the efforts of the Resistance at the Battle of Exegol. Following the battle, the Resistance launched the Exegol Excavation Project, where files containing the biography of Darth Maul 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 uncovered Sith Eternal files as a source.

Maul was remembered long after the Clone Wars, and was mentioned by a member of the Whills as someone to be remembered in galactic history.

Personality and traits

As a former Sith Lord and a highly skilled combatant, Maul, throughout the majority of his existence, embodied the obsessive and frenzied elements of Sith vengeance. During his time as a Sith apprentice, Maul sought retribution against the Jedi for their victory over the Sith and desired to restore the Sith to a position of dominance in the galaxy. Following his banishment and the restoration of his sanity, Maul redirected his vengeful thoughts toward the galaxy itself, proclaiming himself and his brother as the true Sith Lords, and particularly toward Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi who defeated him and forced him into exile after their duel on Naboo. He experienced the void resulting from the loss of power, having been aware of the Clone Wars and intending to participate in them, only to discover that the Sith's plans had progressed without him. Consequently, Maul was prepared to go to extreme measures to achieve his vengeance, including the slaughter of civilians and the instigation of civil war on Mandalore to seize power and lure Kenobi into the open. He understood that the Jedi would not disregard a plea for assistance.

Like all Sith, Maul's fury served as his driving force. However, Maul actively cultivated his hatred. Maul believed that there was an abundance of reasons to hate, from the mists of Dathomir to the manner in which he was discarded as a child.

During his period of exile, Maul's mental state deteriorated significantly. He became fixated on revenge, fueled and sustained solely by his animosity towards Kenobi, despite suffering from mental instability and memory loss. His aggression and fear intensified in his deranged state, as Maul attacked Savage Opress upon their initial encounter on Lotho Minor. When his brother discovered him, he was unable to communicate coherently enough for Opress to understand him and would repeatedly recite lines from the Code of the Sith. It required magic from Mother Talzin to restore his mind, bringing him clarity again while still preserving his desire to seek revenge against those who had wronged him. Maul's personality was still deeply affected by his isolation and defeat by Kenobi. After his restoration, he lost much of his taciturn bearing and was prone to outbursts of anger and frustration whenever Kenobi came to mind. However, he regained enough of his discipline to keep his brother Savage in line. He also retained his bloodthirsty nature.

Maul's power made him crave dominance over the Sith and the galaxy, though he did not believe himself strong enough to take on his old mentor, Darth Sidious. It appeared that Sidious was the only being in the galaxy Maul ever feared, not only for his power but also his sadistic nature. Still, Maul had enough courage to take on his former master in open combat alone, as though he had nothing left to lose. And he would not break to either of Sidious and Count Dooku's torture sessions while incarcerated on Stygeon Prime.

Employing fear to ensure the obedience of his followers, Maul pursued wealth and authority as a crime lord. Maul seemingly exhibited a degree of honor despite considering it a weakness for the dark side as he freed the clone trooper Jesse when he no longer had a use for the soldier. Shortly later, however, he left his Mandalorian warriors to die.

Despite his ruthless and vindictive nature, Maul was not completely heartless, as he displayed a genuine attachment 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 only downplayed him by not being rivals to him. Although Maul often ordered Savage around and defined their relationship in the Sith tradition of master and apprentice, much to Savage's chagrin, they did genuinely care about each other. This was shown when Maul jumped to Savage's defense when he was wounded by Kenobi, and backed down when he was threatened by Death Watch. Furthermore, after witnessing Savage being killed by Sidious, Maul was grief-stricken and briefly mourned him before flying into a rage and attempting to avenge him by beating Sidious. Maul was extremely loyal to his mother and reciprocated her loving and protective affection for him. Even when cornered by Sidious and his minions, he refused to leave her behind and was devastated by her death.

Even after many years, Maul still held an extremely bitter grudge against Sidious and all those who served him for taking everything he cared about from him. He also saw great potential in Ezra's abilities, desiring him as an apprentice, and even saving his life twice. However, he sought entirely to manipulate Bridger and use him to further his own obsessive agenda for power and revenge and attempted to kill Kanan Jarrus on two occasions in order to free Bridger of the Jedi's influence.

While still practicing their beliefs, Maul disassociated himself from the Sith, mainly due to the Order's association with Sidious. Cunning and deceptive, Maul was perfectly willing to feign weakness to accomplish his purposes, or even side with the Jedi if necessary. He was not above taunting such "allies," as evidenced by his calling Ahsoka "Lady Tano" and "a part-timer" in mockery of her departure from the Jedi Order as well as referring to Jarrus as "Master Jedi." Maul also saw aspects of himself in Tano, noting how they had both departed their respective orders and saying they had both been used as "tools." He hoped to ally with her to defeat Sidious, but she rejected his offer when he revealed his visions of Anakin Skywalker's fall. All the same, he made yet another offer at the end of their duel and during Order 66.

Desiring hope, Maul kidnapped Bridger and Jarrus's rebel companions in a successful effort to force them to surrender the Sith holocron from Malachor and Kanan's Jedi holocron. He wanted to merge the holocrons in order to create the clarity of vision needed to see his ultimate desire: Kenobi's death by his hand. Maul also hoped to take Ezra as his apprentice. Despite his promise to Bridger that he would not harm his friends, Maul secretly made an attempt on Jarrus's life and ordered his droids to execute the other Spectres in an attempt to claim Bridger as his apprentice. Despite Jarrus convincing Bridger to close his eyes and stop the vision, Maul nonetheless learned that his old enemy Obi-Wan Kenobi was still alive.

Maul's still-burning desire for vengeance against Kenobi led him to use his mastery of the dark side to torment Bridger in an effort to gain his attention. While Maul was aware of the high price of Nightsister magic, his desire to learn Kenobi's location led him to risk the wrath of these spirits. Due to their revelations, Maul came to believe that his destiny was linked to finding and killing Kenobi on Tatooine. Maul regarded Bridger as an excellent candidate to be his apprentice. However, Bridger's attachment and loyalty to his friends angered Maul, who chastised his desired apprentice as a "disappointment" for refusing to break the chains of the past.

Later, Maul's vendetta towards Kenobi led him to once again use his mastery of the Force to lure Bridger to Tatooine. Despite his hatred for Kenobi, before their battle he pondered if he should spare him after seeing he was reduced to hiding on the desert planet. Maul reconciled with his adversary in his last moments. Maul passed away with the belief that Kenobi was protecting the Chosen One who would restore balance to the Force and avenge them by destroying the Sith.

This concludes that Maul was not entirely the monster that most saw him as, but truly a tragic character who had lost everything he cared about due to Darth Sidious' actions (much like his successor Darth Vader), but showed that he could not let go of his hate until his final moments.

Powers and abilities

Lightsaber abilities

As Darth Sidious's apprentice, Maul underwent training to become a weapon for the Sith, with the purpose of aiding Sidious in annihilating the Jedi and seizing control of the galaxy. Maul's training under Sidious transformed him into one of the most lethal and meticulously trained Sith warriors in the Order's history. He evolved into a highly skilled and acrobatic Sith warrior, capable of relentlessly pursuing adversaries while wielding his distinctive double-bladed lightsaber. Indeed, Maul mastered multiple forms of lightsaber combat. His initial test of these skills occurred during a duel with Jedi apprentice Eldra Kaitis; although the young Twi'lek resisted the Sith for a period, Maul emerged victorious. Later, in his duel against Jinn and Kenobi on Naboo, he exhibited the ability to fight both the Jedi Master and his skilled apprentice simultaneously on even footing, and he overpowered Kenobi after Jinn's demise.

Kenobi's victory over Maul was partly attributable to Maul's arrogance and disregard for Jinn's fallen lightsaber. After his re-emergence from exile, Maul surpassed Kenobi in multiple encounters, including the battle over Raydonia, although their Florrum duel concluded in a draw. Maul also possessed exceptional skills in unarmed combat, frequently incorporating it into his fighting style. A prime example is his defeat of an armed Pre Vizsla with minimal reliance on the Force.

Maul also demonstrated considerable proficiency in Jar'Kai, effectively holding his own against Jinn and Kenobi concurrently on Naboo before separating them. He even mounted a respectable challenge against Darth Sidious on Mandalore during their dual-blade duel, even managing to land a kick on the Dark Lord. Following the Clone Wars, Maul showed the ability to use an additional weapon alongside his double-bladed lightsaber, at one point employing a walking stick as a club in conjunction with his connected blades.

Maul was capable of eliminating numerous foes, including Banking Clan droid guards, pirates, Hutt Clan forces, legions of Separatist battle droids, clone troopers, and four of General Grievous's MagnaGuards. He also held his own against Mace Windu and Aayla Secura at a Mandalorian supply outpost, the former being a long-standing and renowned member of the High Council; Maul considered this a "fair" fight. He successfully overpowered the notorious Jedi hunter General Grievous, although their first and second duels with the cyborg ended in a stalemate, as he was more than a match for him. However, in their second encounter, he overwhelmed Grievous, capitalizing on the cyborg's momentary lapse in concentration.

More than a decade later, Maul's combat skills remained remarkably sharp. While on Malachor, he assisted Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus against three members of the Inquisitorius, easily defeating them. He also engaged Tano and Jarrus in combat, but Jarrus gained the upper hand, blinding Maul with his lightsaber.

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

Unlike the Inquisitorius, whose lightsabers could rotate, and General Grievous, whose split arms allowed him to wield a weapon in each hand and spin, Maul possessed the unique ability to twirl a double-bladed lightsaber using only one hand.

Maul also demonstrated exceptional skill in deflecting blaster bolts with his lightsaber. He deflected the combined shots of Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, and Zeb Orrelios, even when at a disadvantage.

Force powers

Beyond his lightsaber expertise, Maul proved to be exceptionally strong with the Force, powerful enough to survive being bisected. Maul attributed this survival to his hatred of Kenobi and Sidious's training.

During a skirmish on Florrum, Maul employed a Force push of such magnitude that it propelled Obi-Wan Kenobi over a considerable distance and triggered the collapse of the tunnel they were in. Later, he telekinetically pulled an Eta-class shuttle from a plateau shortly after sustaining severe injuries that resulted in the loss of one of his cybernetic legs. During his time on Mandalore, he was able to Force choke Satine Kryze to the point where he could hold her suspended in midair without any hand gestures, which was a testament to his continued growth. During the Battle of Zanbar, he unleashed a massive Force Wave that swept away many battle droids.

As the dark side of the Force intensified throughout the galaxy during Order 66, Maul's raw power briefly increased as well. He demonstrated the ability to telekinetically manipulate pure energy in the form of blaster bolts, effortlessly causing Bo-Katan's shots to curve and deflect away from him into the surrounding walls with a simple wave of his hand. Shortly after his capture during the Siege of Mandalore, Maul was freed by Ahsoka Tano when Order 66 was issued and the clones turned against her. After being released, Maul murdered several clones using only his telekinetic abilities, tearing panels off the walls to defend himself from the shots and crush and decapitate the clones. The rampage ultimately culminated in Maul disabling the Venator-class Star Destroyer, which had been ferrying the renegade Sith, solely through his mastery of the Force. He used the Force to crush the massive hyperdrive generators of the Venator Tribunal, resulting in its complete destruction. Over a decade later, Maul told Ezra Bridger that his advanced age had diminished his abilities. However, this was later revealed to have been a deception meant to gain the boy's trust. Indeed, Maul had been able to Force Grip the Seventh Sister against her active resistance while simultaneously killing her with a Saber Throw.

Maul was also skilled in telepathy, specifically the mind probe technique, as demonstrated when he used the power on Hera to find the location of Kanan Jarrus's Jedi holocron and his true identity; he had even succeeded in using the technique on Obi-Wan Kenobi prior to their final duel, discovering the existence of Luke Skywalker. It is not improbable that he employed it on Ahsoka Tano, learning much about her past, and it was likely that he probed the minds of the Inquisitors to decipher their intentions and the name of their master. Maul was also familiar with the magick practices of the Nightsisters, including a scrying spell which involved two people sharing a potion of magical ichor. He was able to manipulate the Force-bond he gained with Ezra Bridger as a result of holocron fusion to cause the young Jedi to hallucinate. He also used the fragment of a Sith holocron to activate Kanan's Jedi holocron and the Malachor Sith holocron as part of a plot to trick Ezra into luring Kenobi out of hiding.

Even so, by the time of the Clone Wars, Maul's Force powers were still outclassed by those of Sidious, as the Dark Lord telekinetically pinned both him and Opress to a wall with no visible effort. But, as Maul had grown more powerful, Sidious nonetheless considered him to be a rival. Darth Tyranus evidently thought rather highly of Maul, as he at one time referred to his predecessor as a great Sith Lord. Obi-Wan Kenobi, prior to his and Maul's final duel, said that his old enemy had the power to "alter the course of many things," which would indicate Maul's vast knowledge of the dark side.

Other abilities

Maul was a capable manipulator and a skilled military and political strategist as demonstrated by, amongst other achievements, forming the Shadow Collective in a very short amount of time and use it to conquer Mandalore. He had enough cunning to trick and capture both General Grievous and Darth Tyranus in a single stroke. Earlier, Maul must have surveyed the Theed power generator on Naboo before his Jedi adversaries arrived, thus setting a trap for them.

After being rescued by Death Watch, Maul said that he had become "indifferent to pain," suggesting a high pain threshold. Maul was experienced in surveillance, tracking, and espionage, acting primarily as a covert operative during his apprenticeship. Maul showed exceptional agility and was skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

Equipment

Overview

During the Naboo Crisis Maul wore Sith clothing that allowed freedom of movement, including loose-fitting pants for high-kicks. Under a black cloak he wore an undertunic, heavy-action boots, and protective gloves. At some point, the R3-series astromech droid R3-B0017 was programmed to serve Maul and scavenge Dathomir.

Maul's Scimitar was believed to be the deadliest Sith vessel ever built by the time of its creation. It was armed with six laser cannons, spy and surveillance gear, interrogator droids, and a cloaking device. The ship carried Maul's Razalon FC-20 speeder bike, the Bloodfin.

Lightsabers

Maul's first lightsaber was a double-bladed lightsaber he wielded in the Invasion of Naboo and the Clone Wars. It was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi during their duel on Naboo, and Maul continued to use the remaining half in several battles until he temporarily lost it in his duel with his former master on Mandalore. He recovered the half after being freed from prison, and reformed it into a double-bladed hilt but lost it for good after 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 retreat. Maul continued to use the Darksaber in several subsequent battles, such as 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 new double-bladed lightsaber which was also a cane lightsaber. The lightsaber produced two crimson-red blades, and the upper grip-guard resembled that of the Inquisitors' lightsabers, albeit broken and bent outward. Indeed, the lightsaber appeared as if it had been built out of pieces retrieved from an Inquisitor's blade. He would hide the hilt by attaching a piece of wood to it, and pretending it was a walking stick, all the while masquerading as a feeble old man. Maul later used it on his hunt for his old nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was in this final duel that Maul was defeated, the lightsaber was bisected in a similar manner to his first when Kenobi sliced it in two. However, unlike last time, both halves of the lightsaber remained functional, only deactivating when Maul lost grip of them as he succumbed to his wounds.

Behind the scenes

Appearances

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

Development

Iain McCaig designed the character for The Phantom Menace, finding the task of creating a new Star Wars villain intimidating. He recalled George Lucas describing Maul as "a figure from your worst nightmare," and McCaig drew upon his own nightmares for inspiration. McCaig described his worst nightmare as a lifeless face pressed against a window in a thunderstorm, a dead yet alive figure who stares at him through the rain. McCaig used that as the first design, adding metal teeth and blood-red ribbons falling on it rather than rain. Lucas apparently felt it was too intense, saying "Okay. Now draw me your second worst nightmare..."

McCaig spent much of the three-year pre-production time drawing masks, attempting to design something similar to Ralph McQuarrie's original design for Darth Vader from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Eventually, however, he felt he was on the wrong track. He ended up finding his stride when he drew members of the Episode I Art Department as Sith Lords, using their personalities and faces to design characters. At one point, McCaig used a circuit board as a face, a design that intrigued Lucas. Lucas also liked a concept based on production photographer Greg Gawlowski.

Darth Maul's design went through a number of other variations until McCaig created a series of Rorschach designs by creating splattered ink patterns, which led to the tattooed look of Darth Maul. McCaig wanted to soften the look of the character, at one point adding feathers the top of Darth Maul's head. McCaig saw these feathers are being part of the Sith Lord's personality; "every morning I imagined Darth Maul would get up and bind his head with this piano wire, and that the feathers had to end up at the right points—it was just a part of the focusing of the Sith." These feathers were interpreted as horns, however, which became part of the final design.

With the face of the character completed, McCaig also designed Maul's costume. Originally, Maul wore a large muscle suit, "making him larger than life," with Batman-like spikes on his neck. That costume made it through most of the storyboarding process until McCaig changed the costume and made it smaller after Lucas talked about an acrobatic lightsaber duel. The costume was therefore made smaller, resulting in the Sith robes Maul wore in The Phantom Menace. In the February 1999 issue of Vanity Fair promoting the film, Maul was identified as a menacing "pre-Vader dark side Jedi" despite Lucas making reference to Sidious as a Sith in the same interview. Also described as a mysterious figure, Maul was pictured in a lightsaber battle against Kenobi in a promotional image of Tatooine included in the issue.

Return to life

For his return in The Clone Wars, Witwer knew that Maul was a popular character and felt a responsibility to get it right and respect the character's iconic status. He described Maul as broken and attempted to convey a shattered mind through his acting. One way of doing so was to quote the Code of the Sith from the Expanded Universe, part of which made it into the episode. The character's design on the show was very similar to his look in The Phantom Menace, and the animators used the designing of the character as an opportunity to improve animation on the series. Because the character's appearances required him to show emotion such as anger and hatred using only facial expressions, the animators spent time improving the modeling process to achieve better expressions. Because Maul had been cut in half 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 created by Industrial Light & Magic concept artist Aaron McBride for the Infinities graphic novel Star Wars: Visionaries.

Lucas originally planned to use the aged Maul as a villain in the sequel trilogy, taking on the Legends character Darth Talon as an apprentice, and becoming "the godfather of crime in the universe." Although the Zabrak never appeared in the sequel films, the idea of a crime lord Maul was later brought to live action in 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story. While developing the second season of Rebels, it was initially intended for Maul to die at the hands of Darth Vader in the season finale "Twilight of the Apprentice," but it became unwieldy as there were too many storylines and not enough emotional material between Maul and Vader.

To prevent leaks about Maul's appearance as the true leader of Crimson Dawn in Solo: A Star Wars Story, he went unnamed in the script, even causing some of the filmmakers to think the decision of who was Crimson Dawn's leader was still undecided. Prior to Maul's selection, the first draft of the film's script had Dryden Vos as Crimson Dawn's second-in-command with a Hume Cronyn–esque genial but ruthless character known as The Kazier. While Sam Witwer voiced Maul in the finished film, Maul's original voice actor Peter Serafinowicz initially recorded Maul's lines for the film, but his performance was ultimately cut in favor of Witwer's.

In the fandom

Since his first appearance in the trailer for The Phantom Menace, Maul has been a hit amongst the Star Wars fandom. On May 4, 2015, a costume of Darth Maul was added to The Sims 4 for playable Sims to wear in-game. The costume is purely cosmetic and offers no gameplay changes.

Contradictions

The description blurb for the Witches of Dathomir Squad Pack stated that Savage Oppress was the oldest of Mother Talzin's sons, which would make Maul his younger sibling. However, Oppress's own Databank Download page for the set stated Maul was older than him. As such, this article does not assume which of the two was born first.

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