The Nightbrothers comprised a small community of Dathomirian Zabrak male fighters who resided in a settlement situated on the remote side of the planet Dathomir, under the dominion of the Nightsister group of sorceresses. They began as a band of outlawed individuals who migrated to Dathomir, where they forged a connection with the witches, becoming subservient to their desires. Following the destruction of their settlement during the Clone Wars, they relocated to another settlement. Until the near-annihilation of the witches during the Clone Wars, they existed in servitude to the Nightsisters' leader, Mother Talzin. Notably, Maul, a former student of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, was born a Nightbrother, as was his sibling and subsequent student, Savage Opress.
The Nightbrothers' story began with a collection of criminal Zabrak outcasts who sought refuge on Dathomir. There, they established a relationship with the Nightsisters, a group of women who claimed to have been instructed in the ways of the Force by Allya, an ex-Jedi who was exiled from the Jedi High Council, although the Jedi Order possessed no such records. Despite this apparent connection, the Nightsisters exploited the exiled Zabraks' resentment towards the Republic and enslaved them, preventing males from joining their clans.
Sometime before the Battle of Naboo, the Nightsister [Talzin](/article/talzin] gave birth to Maul. Early in Maul's life, the Sith Lord [Darth Sidious](/article/darth_sidious] took Maul away from Talzin, his brothers, and his settlement to become his student. The former Nightbrother [Arzo Suun](/article/arzo_suun] attempted to pilfer goods from a Nightbrother storage facility, but the Nightsisters apprehended him.
During the Clone Wars, Count Dooku's former assassin and Nightsister, Asajj Ventress, arrived at the village to select a tribal leader to serve her. Ventress then devised three trials to assess their capabilities. During the last trial, Ventress engaged in combat with Savage Opress and his brother Feral. After Feral's defeat, Savage continued to fight Ventress but was defeated and became her servant. Following the Devaron massacre, the Nightbrothers clashed with Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, but surrendered when Skywalker subdued Brother Viscus. Viscus then revealed that Opress had been taken by one of Talzin's Nightsisters as a mate. As the Jedi departed, Viscus instructed the Nightbrothers to let them leave.
Unlike their female counterparts, the Nightbrothers were spared from the Separatists' vengeance during the Battle of Dathomir. Instead, Talzin dispatched them to assist Maul when he requested her aid. Viscus and his fellow Zabraks engaged Dooku in battle on Ord Mantell, but the Sith Lord quickly defeated them. The Shadow Collective then captured Dooku before he could eliminate Viscus. Later, after Dooku pretended to be loyal to Maul, Maul brought him to the Nightbrother village on Dathomir, where Viscus awaited. Viscus escorted them to the core of Mother Talzin's power, where the Great Mother possessed Dooku's body to drain his energy. Viscus and the Nightbrothers then departed to prepare Talzin's chambers. Soon after, the Confederacy attacked the village, and Talzin was killed after ensuring Maul's safety.
After the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Taron Malicos found himself stranded on Dathomir. Embracing the dark side, Malicos murdered Brother Viscus and several Nightbrothers, taking their horns as trophies and assuming leadership over them. The surviving Nightsister Merrin was then manipulated by Malicos against the Jedi, and together they gained control of Viscus' Nightbrothers by 14 BBY. By this time, the Nightbrothers were living in a village in the Dathomir wilderness. There, the Nightbrothers began taming bane back spiders.
Simultaneously, another Nightbrother clan, led by Freff, had survived the Separatist assault on the Nightbrothers. For years, Freff's clan of Nightbrothers served the remaining Nardithi Nightsisters, most notably the Nightsister Jerserra.
When [Cal Kestis](/article/cal_kestis] arrived on the planet during his secret mission to rebuild the Jedi Order, Merrin threatened him and unleashed her magically-enhanced brothers to confront him. Kestis defeated his attackers and survived. Kestis and Merrin later joined forces to defeat Malicos in a duel, and the pair left Dathomir, leaving the Nightbrothers behind.
Maul later returned to establish a power base on his native world, where he secretly controlled the Crimson Dawn criminal organization. Shortly before the Galactic Civil War, Maul declared himself the last survivor of the Nightsisters' civilization, unaware of other survivors elsewhere. Aside from a rumored Imperial garrison or visitors like Maul, Dathomir was uninhabited by sentient life at that time. He eventually met his end at the hands of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine.
Similar to many Dathomir cultures and societies, much of the Nightbrothers' history and way of life remains obscure to most of the galaxy. They are shrouded in legends created by both Nightbrothers and Nightsisters, and their secrecy made understanding them difficult. Consequently, the Nightbrothers became territorial and unwelcoming to outsiders.
The Nightbrothers of Dathomir, a simple warrior society, lived in separate warrior clans led by a Nightbrother Leader and their second-in-command, the Nightbrother Lieutenant. However, in some cases, such as Viscus' clan, leadership was shared between a surviving Nightsister and even an outsider who had earned their grudging loyalty through strength and force. Nightbrothers value power and strength above all else. Their respect for power and honor led them to compete in a combat arena to demonstrate their strength with the intention of winning. Although hostile to outsiders, a powerful individual could gain significant influence over the group, whether through respect or fear, even gaining leadership and worship.
Nightbrothers participated in rites of passage, including covering their faces with thin, dark tattoos. The most skilled and courageous Nightbrothers faced another rite of passage, battling beasts known as chirodactyls. Those who faced these massive creatures and survived were deemed worthy. They also painted glyphs on hard rock surfaces using acid from hydraatis, carefully preserving accuracy and avoiding self-harm. Master calligraphers, rare within the society, were highly valued for their talents.
The male warriors were subservient to the Nightsisters. The Nightsisters dominated the Nightbrothers physically and politically, often treating them cruelly and reducing them to servants, muscle, bodyguards, and breeding stock. Despite their obedience, the Nightbrothers often had strong bonds with each other and constantly sought to protect one another from the Nightsisters' whims and demands.
The Nightsisters considered brutal treatment necessary to maintain compliance and obedience due to the Zabrak Nightbrothers' higher pain tolerance. The Nightsisters also forbade the Nightbrothers from practicing magick and barred them from joining their clans.
As warriors, Nightbrothers possessed varying levels of strength and fighting abilities, ranging from comparable to other humanoids to impressively powerful fighters. They were best known for their agile and highly acrobatic fighting styles, which they used to gain an advantage over their enemies. Maul and [Savage Opress](/article/savage_opress] are examples of the finest fighters of this style. In addition to their combat skills, they were well-versed in survival skills and possessed a notable pain tolerance. Although Nightbrothers were not trained in magick, their proximity to the Nightsisters' magical ichor enhanced their reflexes and perception.
Only a few Nightbrothers were strongly Force-sensitive. Those identified as such were trained as "male adepts," warriors capable of using the Force to enhance their physical abilities. They could also be magically enhanced by a Nightsister and access other Force abilities, such as Force push. When enhanced, a green burst of magical ichor accompanied a Nightbrother's use of Force abilities. Merrin demonstrated this power when she enhanced her Nightbrother servants to deter Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis. A more intensive ritual transformed selected Nightbrother warriors into monstrous, hate-filled warriors strong in the dark side of the Force.