Malachor

Malachor presented as a desolate planet within the Outer Rim Territories, specifically located in the Malachor system of the Chorlian sector. Concealed beneath its surface was a Sith temple, resembling a frozen ocean of liquid carbonite. The planet's surface was dotted with small, pyramidal stone foothills, positioned at equal distances from one another. A vast crater, encircled by slender spires, marked Malachor's central latitude.

The Sith managed to establish a stronghold on Malachor at some point, constructing a grand temple deep beneath its surface. This temple housed a massive kyber crystal, which served as the power source for the entire structure. Thousands of years prior to the brewing war between the First Order and the Resistance, the planet became the site of a colossal battle, where the Jedi Order launched a full-scale assault against the Sith. During this conflict, the temple's weapon malfunctioned, turning everyone on the planet into stone. Following this catastrophe, Malachor was declared forbidden to the Jedi, though tales of the event persisted, forming the basis of numerous legends. Millennia later, the remnants of the war still littered the landscape. Any record of the planet's existence was purged from the Jedi Archives, in an attempt to completely erase the Sith's secrets.

Despite these efforts, many spacers claimed to have located the planet, returning with Sith artifacts. While some were clearly fraudulent, others possessed genuine ties to the dark side. Smugglers also purported to create Ashes of Malachor from the pulverized remains of those who perished in the battle. Consuming these ashes was said to grant increased power, but at the cost of one's morality.

Alongside the Sith worlds of Jaguada, Rhelg, and Ziost, Malachor was placed under quarantine during the time of the Galactic Republic.

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious once ventured to Malachor, where he experienced a vision of the ancient Sith. At one point, Sidious took the former Nightbrother Maul as his apprentice, and together they traveled to Malachor. There, Sidious revealed to Maul a vision of the conflict between the Sith and the Jedi. Later, the two Sith returned to Malachor, where Sidious presented Maul with another vision, in which Maul became a Jedi but ultimately betrayed his allies. Sidious used this to teach Maul the importance of careful consideration before acting. These visions were induced by inhaling the ashes of deceased Force-users. On another occasion, Sidious visited Malachor and retrieved a Sith Chalice.

Due to its notorious reputation, Malachor became a common curse word. While pondering how to extract himself and his team of astromech droids from the desert planet of Abafar, Colonel Meebur Gascon declared that there was "no way in Malachor" that he would lead his team in an assault on a Separatist landing field. Years later, during the reign of the Galactic Empire, the crime lord Cikatro Vizago of the Broken Horn Syndicate used Malachor as an expletive while collaborating with the smuggler Lando Calrissian.

During their rebellion against the Empire, three rebels—the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, along with Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi—journeyed to the Jedi Temple on Lothal seeking spectral guidance from Jedi Master Yoda with the hope of defeating the Sith Lord Darth Vader and his Inquisitors. Yoda informed Bridger that to stand a chance in the fight, they needed to locate Malachor. Following their assistance in establishing a base for the Phoenix Cell on Atollon, Jarrus, Bridger, and Tano traveled together to Malachor.

Upon arriving at Malachor, the two Jedi and Tano discovered a deep abyss leading to an ancient Sith temple. There, they were ambushed by an Inquisitor known as the Eighth Brother. Bridger became separated and fell into a tunnel, where he encountered the former Sith Lord Maul, who also sought the destruction of the Sith. Maul befriended Bridger, and they joined forces to explore the temple in search of the "secret" that could annihilate the Sith. Together, they retrieved a Sith holocron from the temple.

Bridger and Maul then reunited with Jarrus and Tano, who were under attack by the Eighth Brother, the Fifth Brother, and the Seventh Sister. After Maul drove off the Inquisitors, he convinced Bridger and the others to enter the Temple to activate the holocron, claiming it held the knowledge needed to destroy the Sith. The Inquisitors soon caught up with them. While Jarrus and Tano battled the Inquisitors, Maul directed Bridger to place the holocron at the top of the temple. Meanwhile, Maul killed the Inquisitors before betraying Jarrus and Tano, blinding Jarrus but being stopped by Tano. As Jarrus pushed Maul off the cliff, Tano went to confront Bridger. Bridger, in the meantime, inserted the holocron into the temple's obelisk. He then encountered a female voice who revealed that the temple was an ancient Sith superweapon capable of eradicating all life. Bridger rejected the use of the Temple's knowledge and was subsequently attacked by Darth Vader, who had arrived in his TIE Advanced starfighter.

Tano arrived to rescue Bridger and engaged in a duel with Vader while Jarrus and Bridger worked together to remove the holocron. As the temple was building up power, the removal of the holocron caused it to implode. Jarrus and Bridger managed to escape before the temple collapsed, but they were unable to assist Tano, who ensured their escape before resuming her duel with Vader in the collapsing temple. Tano fought against her former master, refusing to abandon him despite Vader's intent to kill her.

Chopper rescued Jarrus and Bridger, and the three departed without Tano. Maul, having survived his fall, eventually escaped the planet using one of the fallen Inquisitors' TIE Advanced v1s.

As Vader and Tano's duel continued, Vader began to gain the upper hand. Just as he prepared the final blow, Bridger and the Force wielder-related convor Morai pulled Tano from the collapsing temple into the World Between Worlds, saving her life. Tano was confused about her sudden departure from Malachor and her new surroundings, but Bridger explained what had occurred. Later, Tano exited the World Between Worlds and returned to Malachor, entering the Sith temple. Before the convor departed the temple, Morai guided Tano through the temple's flooded depths so she could reach another portal to the World Between Worlds.

Meanwhile, a wounded Darth Vader escaped the collapsing temple, limping away from the ruins as Morai watched. An Imperial cruiser later recovered the Sith Lord.

Within Star Wars Legends continuity, Malachor V, its designation in that timeline, was a planet initially referenced in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game established it as the location of the Battle of Malachor V, the concluding engagement between the Galactic Republic, under the command of Revan, and the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders during the Mandalorian Wars. The world subsequently appeared as the final destination in the sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, revealing it to be a fractured and devastated world consumed by the energies of the Mass Shadow Generator. This event resulted in a pyrrhic victory for the Republic, decimating both Mandalorian and Republic forces. In The Sith Lords, Malachor V housed the Trayus Academy, an ancient Sith academy utilized by the Sith Triumvirate of Darth Traya, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Sion following the Jedi Civil War. The Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik, traveled to the Trayus Academy, where she triumphed over Sion and Traya during the game's final stages.

The name Malachor was later employed as an expletive by Meebur Gascon in "Missing in Action," an episode of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which, following the 2014 canon reboot, remained part of official Star Wars canon.