Maul

[close] A Force-sensitive Dathomirian Zabrak male who lived during the final years of the Galactic Republic and the subsequent reign of the Galactic Empire. The son of Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters, he was taken at a young age by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who anointed his first Sith apprentice Darth Maul. Through his training, Maul grew strong in the dark side of the Force, becoming a skilled lightsaber duelist and assassin who yearned to reveal the Sith's continued survival to the Jedi Order. During the crisis on Naboo in 32 BBY, Maul confronted Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although he succeeded in killing the former, Maul was defeated and maimed by Jinn's apprentice, who left the Sith Lord for dead. As a result of Maul's defeat and apparent death, Sidious replaced him with Count Dooku, Jinn's Jedi mentor who adopted the Sith persona of Darth Tyranus.

Fueled by his hatred for Kenobi, Maul survived and reconstructed himself as a cyborg, although the experience of his defeat also drove him insane. He was presumed dead for over a decade until his brother, Savage Opress, found Maul and restabilized his mind with the help of Mother Talzin. By that time the Clone Wars raged across the galaxy, with the Jedi-led clone forces of the Republic battling against the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as intended by Maul's former Sith Master. Believing he had been cheated out of his place in galactic history, Maul embarked on a personal quest for revenge against Kenobi, whom he blamed for his fate. He also used the galactic conflict as an opportunity to form his own criminal empire, the Shadow Collective through various alliances which included the Pyke Syndicate, the Black Sun, and the Death Watch. Their combined resources enabled Maul to overthrow the New Mandalorians and install a puppet government on Mandalore. However, as his power and influence increased, Maul became a threat to Sidious' own plans for the future. The Dark Lord confronted Maul in person; after killing Opress, Sidious denounced his former apprentice as a Sith no longer due to the Rule of Two. Despite Maul's efforts to avenge his brother, he was defeated and overpowered by Sidious' command of the Force.

In the waning days of the Clone Wars, Maul escaped from Sidious and ultimately returned to Mandalore where he was overthrown by former Padawan Ahsoka Tano and an army of clone troopers. However, Maul survived the war and continued to build his own empire as a crime lord and the secret leader of Crimson Dawn. He was later stranded on the planet Malachor, where he hoped to destroy the Sith by unlocking the superweapon at the heart of the Sith temple. Maul's plan was thwarted by two Jedi, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, the latter of whom Maul hoped to corrupt as his own apprentice. After escaping Malachor, Maul continued to try to tempt Bridger to the dark side before ultimately learning that Kenobi was still alive in spite of Order 66 and the Jedi Purge. Seeking hope and purpose, Maul sought Kenobi on Tatooine, the planet where he first revealed himself to the Jedi. Kenobi defeated him in a brief lightsaber duel, cutting Maul's lightsaber in half. This finally ended Maul's decade-spanning quest for vengeance as he realized he could not win. Maul died in 2 BBY—a few years before the start of the Galactic Civil War—with the knowledge that Kenobi was protecting Luke Skywalker, finding some peace in the idea that the end of the Sith was at hand and, therefore, he would be avenged.