Mala was a Twi'lek female residing in a technologically underdeveloped and secluded village located on the planet of Ryloth. Approximately eight years following the commencement of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious, along with his Sith apprentice Darth Vader and Sergeant Erstin Deez from the Emperor's Royal Guard, made their way to the village. This occurred after they found themselves lost in the adjacent wilderness while visiting Ryloth. Upon the group's arrival, Mala was singing the Dirge of Valaunt with a melancholic tone, and the young Drua identified the singer to the Imperials. Subsequently, the Twi'lek villagers offered hospitality to the Imperials for a brief time, after which members of the Free Ryloth Movement launched an assault on the village, aiming to kill Palpatine. Amidst the ensuing pandemonium, the villagers sought refuge in a close by cave while Imperial reinforcements joined the conflict to support the Emperor. Following the Imperial victory, Sidious instructed Vader to eliminate the villagers, reasoning that they had seen too much.
Mala's initial appearance was in the novel Lords of the Sith, which was authored by Paul S. Kemp and published in 2015.