The Final Occultation was a religious group active during the Galactic Republic. Their goal was to unleash galactic pandemonium through the chaotic and anarchic aspects of the Force, drawing power from the Netherworld. This cult was headed by three holy men: Heldi Cerebron, Vasik Aldritch, and an "agent of disorder." Most of the cult's members were apprehended by Sith Lord Darth Sidious because they tried to expose his true identity. While being transported on a jail ship to a penal world, the cultists overwhelmed the crew and initiated a ritual to create a rift to madness, echoing screams across the galaxy. Darth Maul, the Sith apprentice dispatched by Sidious, journeyed to the vessel and eliminated at least two of the leaders before the ship crashed onto a nearby frozen planet.
The Final Occultation was a cult devoted to the Force, with the aim of spreading chaos, anarchy, and suffering throughout the galaxy. They sought assistance from entities residing in the Netherworld of the Force, a supposed afterlife where spirits journeyed after death, according to Force-believing societies. The cult rejected the dichotomy of the light and dark sides of the Force as championed by the Sith and the Jedi. Instead, they considered both sides as facets of the same entity, representing order. They strived to replace this order with chaos, viewing it as a superior form of universal governance, even though they still harnessed the power of the dark side.
At the helm of the cult was a triumvirate of priests, including Heldi Cerebron, Vasik Aldritch, and a third in command. Cereberon possessed the capability to release spores from her exposed brain, which could induce hallucinations in others. Aldritch was a combatant who based his erratic fighting style on his physical strength. The third leader proclaimed themselves to be a "emissary of chaos".
During the Republic Era, when the Jedi Order was at its peak, Sith Lords Darth Sidious and Darth Maul operated clandestinely, plotting revenge against the Jedi for the Sith's defeat and apparent destruction years earlier in the Jedi-Sith War. During this period, Sidious maintained a secret identity as Senator Palpatine from his home planet Naboo. Sometime between 40 BBY and 32 BBY, the Final Occultation uncovered the existence of the two Sith Lords and sought to expose them. The cult coveted the Sith's power and hoped that the Sith would be extinguished before they could take over the galaxy. However, Sidious preemptively had the three leaders and numerous members arrested. The cultists were then placed aboard a correctional vessel bound for a prison planet.
While traversing above a frozen world, the Final Occultation members seized control of the vessel, causing it to drop out of hyperspace. The third Final Occultation member then gathered the cult's followers to utilize the ship's hypermatter to create a rift to madness. After noticing that the ship had lost contact, Sidious attempted to re-establish communications, but only received a transmission of a sentient being. Sidious described the audio as sounding like thousands of voices crying out in pain, and described the imagery as that of disorder. He continued to state that such was the stuff of bad dreams and unstable dark arts, and instructed Maul to go to the prison transport to arrest and detain the cult once more.
Upon arrival, Maul entered a corridor saturated with Cerebron's spores. The Sith Lord encountered an afflicted crew member who revealed that the spores were Heldi's doing. Heldi then appeared behind Maul, and the spores began to affect him as well. Experiencing terrifying visions of Sidious, Cerebron, and a monstrous beast, Maul relied on his training and overcame the mental chaos. He sliced the cultist in half with his lightsaber. Proceeding to the detention block, Maul found the corpses of officers scattered across the floor. He then encountered Aldritch, who began firing at him with a blaster. Maul attempted to use his precision to counteract Aldritch's size and slowness, but he was overwhelmed by the cultist's chaotic combat style. Eventually, as Aldritch grabbed Maul, the latter used the Force to retrieve his lightsaber and sever the former's arms. Before plunging his weapon into Aldritch's chest, Maul demanded the location of the final priest, to which Aldritch told him to follow the screams.
Following the screams, Maul arrived in a vast open area filled with cultists led by the third and final priest. The priest explained the cult's beliefs to Maul, stating that once they had finished opening the rift to madness, screams would reverberate across the galaxy and all would live on a boiling red planet. The leader offered Maul the position of high priest if he ceased his attack on the cultists, but Maul instead threw his lightsaber into the origin point of the rift, disrupting the ceremony. After the Final Occultation leader sent the remaining followers after Maul, the Sith Lord fled to the ship's control room and used the controls to crash the ship into the ice planet below. Despite knowing that his master wanted to detain the cult as prisoners, Maul deliberately crashed the ship to kill all the cultists inside, believing that they were not worth interrogating or enlisting. Maul then cut a hole in the ship to escape, leaving the ship to crash into the snow. Establishing communication with his master, he questioned why Sidious hadn't eliminated them immediately instead of detaining them. Sidious stated that he sensed much confusion in Maul and believed that the Final Occultation had broken him, to which Maul replied that they nearly broke the galaxy.
The Final Occultation made its debut in Darth Maul – Black, White & Red 1, a graphic novel penned by Benjamin Percy, illustrated by Stefano Raffaele, and released by Marvel Comics on April 24, 2024. Prior to the comic's release, the cult was mentioned in a This Week! in Star Wars segment on the official Star Wars YouTube channel, which aired on January 24, 2024. Subsequently, the Final Occultation was first depicted in a preview of the issue that was released on March 20, 2024.