Darth Maul (Canon)

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

**Darth Maul**, otherwise known by Ezra Bridger as **Old Master** was a male Zabrak nightbrother who hailed from the desolate world of Dathomir 54 years before the Battle of Yavin. As a child, he was taken from his home by the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious to train as a Sith assassin. In one of his earliest known training sessions, Sidious took Maul to the planet Malachor, where he showed him a vision of a battle that had taken place between the Sith and their enemies, the Jedi Order.

During the vision, Maul felt the pain of every one of his fallen Sith brethren, and it induced him with rage beyond comprehension. From then on, he was driven by a blood lust, a desire to slaughter every last Jedi in the face of the galaxy. This blood lust, however, would become animalistic as he became older and more powerful, and Sidious knew that he could not make his apprentice wait any longer.

Sidious sent Maul to the Kellux system to deal with a band of pirates that were interfering with dealings of the Trade Federation, though, unbeknownst to Maul, Sidious was intentionally leading him to a Jedi that he could kill. When one of the pirates told Maul about a Jedi that was being held prisoner by Xev Xrexus, to be auctioned off into slavery, Maul immediately seized the opportunity, even though he was under the belief that Sidious would not be happy were he to learn that he nearly exposed the existence of the Sith to the Jedi.

He traveled to Nar Shaddaa, aided by a group of bounty hunters comprised of Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, Vordheilo and Troo-tril-tek, who helped him learn the location of the auction sanctioned by the Xrexus Cartel, having interrogated and slaughtered the Haddrex Gang and tortured their droid, FE-B3 in order to extract such information. They traveled to the auction on a space station over Drakzel. He posed as a member of the Haddrex consortium, a cover he used when caught observing the Jedi Padawan, Eldra Kaitis in her cell. He then bid for the girl in the auction, but lost to Jee Kra, who purchased the Padawan and set to leave the planet at once. Maul and the bounty hunters killed Kra and his gang and then stole their ship with the Jedi prisoner, but the ship was shot down by the other present gangs who wanted her as well, and they crash-landed on Drakzel's moon.

Seeing that Xrexus was sending her men after them, they split up, and Maul was forced to work with Kaitis in order to defeat the gangs. After the blood bath ensued and the two came out victorious, they turned on each other and engaged in a vicious duel, during which Maul was surprised that a mere Padawan was so skilled to hold her own against him as long as she had, even though he ultimately killed her and took her lightsaber as a trophy. After reuniting with the bounty hunters, he dropped them off at Xev's hideout. There, he killed Xrexus in order to prevent her from telling anybody that the Sith were still around. He then returned to Coruscant, where Sidious revealed that he knew of the Padawan hunt, and asked if Maul's blood lust was satisfied. He was most pleased to hear that it was now stronger than ever.

### **Mission on Naboo**

Maul continued to work with Nute Gunray, leader of the Trade Federation under orders from Sidious, and in 32 BBY, the Federation placed a blockade around the world of Naboo, which gained the attention of the Galactic Republic.