Mission to Tatooine (Imperial Era)

In his youth, Darth Maul, a Dathomirian, was taken by Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord, who trained him as a Sith apprentice throughout the last decades of the Galactic Republic. Following his bisection by Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Padawan, during the Battle of Naboo against the Trade Federation during their invasion of Naboo, Sidious abandoned Maul. After his rescue by his brother Savage Opress, Maul sought vengeance against Kenobi, his former adversary, for nearly killing him and causing him to forfeit his position within the Sith during the Clone Wars.

Maul formed the Shadow Collective and briefly took control of Mandalore. However, Sidious apprehended Maul on Mandalore; and his new apprentice Count Dooku, along with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, destroyed the Shadow Collective. Maul eluded the Sith and was once again compelled to conceal himself. Years after escaping the former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Maul found himself on Malachor, an ancient Sith world. He aimed to enter the Malachor Sith Temple, believing it contained a Sith holocron that held the key to destroying the Sith.

Around 3 BBY, Maul encountered Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi rebel, on Malachor, and sought to enlist him as his apprentice. After obtaining the Sith holocron and Kanan Jarrus, Ezra's Jedi master's holocron, Maul and Ezra participated in a ritual where Maul discovered that Kenobi was still alive. Following another encounter with Ezra on Dathomir, Maul and Ezra learned that Kenobi was in hiding on a world with twin suns.

Following the Great Jedi Purge, Kenobi had made Tatooine his home to evade the Galactic Empire and safeguard Luke Skywalker, the son of Anakin Skywalker, a former Jedi Knight. Kenobi pledged to watch over Skywalker until he reached adulthood. Unaware of his heritage, Luke resided on the Lars moisture farm with his uncle Owen Lars and his aunt Beru Whitesun Lars. While Ezra and Maul thought that Kenobi possessed the means to eradicate the Sith, it was actually Skywalker who was mentioned in the holocrons.

Maul eventually journeyed to Tatooine, but became lost in the planet's deserts and was unable to locate Kenobi. In desperation, the former Sith used a fragment of the Malachor Sith holocron to entice Ezra to Tatooine. Despite the objections of Kanan and Hera Syndulla, Ezra's mentors, the young Jedi commandeered a RZ-1T trainer and traveled to Tatooine with Chopper, the C1-series astromech droid, who had secretly boarded the trainer without Ezra's knowledge. Chopper only revealed his presence to Ezra after their ship exited hyperspace above Tatooine. Ezra employed another fragment of the Sith holocron and a fragment of the Jedi holocron as a makeshift compass. Upon landing, Ezra discovered the Sith holocron fragment and realized that Maul had lured them into a trap.

The pair were attacked by a group of Tusken Raiders who destroyed their starship. Maul then killed the Tusken Raiders before abandoning Ezra and Chopper to fend for themselves inside the canyon. At daybreak, Ezra and Chopper reached the end of the canyon. After some discussion, Ezra was swayed by an apparition of Maul to venture into the desert. Using the holocrons as a guide, Ezra believed that Maul was hiding in the desert. The two rebels then entered a sandstorm and were tormented by the heat, sand, and wind.

Chopper eventually ceased functioning as his power cells depleted. Succumbing to heat exhaustion, Ezra was tormented by apparitions of Maul. Master Kenobi eventually found the two exhausted rebels and brought them to his camp. Kenobi recharged Chopper's power cells and allowed Ezra to rest. After nightfall, Ezra awoke to find himself and Chopper in the company of Master Kenobi. Ezra conversed with Kenobi, who revealed that Maul had used the holocrons to lure him to Tatooine. After some discussion, Kenobi reassured Ezra that the Jedi Master was capable of handling Maul on his own.

Shortly thereafter, Maul arrived to settle his vendetta with Master Kenobi, interrupting his and Ezra's conversation. Kenobi instructed Ezra and Chopper to leave on a dewback, directing them to Maul's ship Nightbrother. As he prepared to engage Kenobi, Maul mocked his old adversary's meager living conditions, and wondered if leaving him as he was would be more cruel. Kenobi responded by pointing out that Maul had nothing at all, as he defined himself by his ability to kill, and his desires to dominate and possess. The evaluation touched a nerve in Maul, who ignited his lightsaber with an angry retort and struck the ground in front of Kenobi's campfire, showering it with sand and extinguishing it. Maul began to speculate as to why Kenobi might have come to Tatooine, deducing that the Jedi Master was there to protect someone. Realizing Maul had to die to protect Luke, Kenobi ignited his own lightsaber and assumed the Soresu ready stance. Maul then ignited the second blade of his weapon and the two opponents squared off. As they did so, Kenobi openly switched his stance from that of Soresu to Ataru, the style in which his master Qui-Gon Jinn had been proficient. Maul took note of this and after a few more moments of preparation, attacked. The two adversaries crossed blades twice before Maul attempted to hit Kenobi with the same sort of pommel strike that had allowed him to kill Jinn. However, Kenobi had evidently anticipated this, and struck downwards at Maul as the former Sith struck up. As a result, Kenobi's attack cleanly bisected the body of Maul's weapon, and carved a lethal wound into Maul's chest.

Maul, shocked at the turn of events, slowly dropped the two pieces of his still functional lightsaber and collapsed to one knee. However, before he could fall to the ground, Kenobi caught and held him. Dying, Maul asked Kenobi if the person he was protecting was the Chosen One. Kenobi, at that point of the opinion that Vader was beyond redemption, told Maul that he was. Maul appeared to take some solace in this knowledge, and stated his belief that both he and Kenobi would ultimately be avenged for all the wrongs the Sith had dealt them. Out of respect and pity for his enemy, Kenobi closed the fallen darksider's eyes and sat beside him beneath two of Tatooine's moons.

After commandeering Maul's vessel, Ezra and Chopper returned to Chopper Base on Atollon. There, he apologized to Kanan and Hera for leaving them on an errant mission. Ezra realized that his true place was with Phoenix Cell, which was planning to attack Lothal. Meanwhile, Kenobi visited the Lars moisture farm from afar, where he watched Luke answering his aunt's call. Afterward, Kenobi built a funeral pyre for Maul's body. Two years after Maul's death, Kenobi began recounting his past experiences in a set of journals, in which he also recounted his final duel with Maul.

Prior to the Battle of Yavin, Kenobi instructed Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi before sacrificing himself at the hands of Darth Vader, Anakin's Sith persona. The younger Skywalker played an important role in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and convincing his father to turn back to the light side and restore balance to the Force.

The mission to Tatooine was initially presented in the Star Wars Rebels third season episode "Twin Suns," which premiered on Disney XD on March 18, 2017. Within the Star Wars Legends continuity, a comic titled "Old Wounds" — Star Wars: Visionaries portrayed a similar encounter between Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi where Maul was killed by Owen Lars, Luke Skywalker's uncle. In the episode, Kenobi refers to Maul as an "old wound," potentially alluding to the comic. Before "Twin Suns," the "Old Wounds" storyline was referenced in Star Wars: Galactic Defense, a video game that depicted a gray-haired Kenobi and a resurrected Maul on Tatooine for a limited-time event.