Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It's a sprawling tale that establishes several important origin stories for characters fans know well. Readers learn how Plagueis seduced Palpatine to the dark side and how their alliance led to the Sith apprentice’s ultimate betrayal of his master. This is how darkness truly began to rise.

Prior to the Phantom Menace, Darth Maul grows restless of waiting in the wings for his Master’s plan to come to fruition. He fills his time by establishing himself against the forces of Coruscant’s criminal underworld, but it isn’t enough. One thing and one thing only can satisfy his need to prove himself—eliminating Jedi. But for a student of the Dark Side, will Maul ever truly be satisfied?

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Plans for the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo is at risk of being compromised, so Darth Sidious sends his skilled apprentice to Coruscant to take care of the problem. Completely loyal to his master, Darth Maul vows to crush any threat that is prone to delivering their secret agenda to the Jedi.

Shadow Hunter is a spectacular display of a Sith apprentice’s devotion to their master. Darth Maul had been trained by Darth Sidious since he was a child, and it shows in the way he hunts his prey and fuels on his anger to finish the job.

Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious discover a way to annihilate the Jedi before they can even comprehend that the Sith still exist. But this plan involves a certain nuclear device, so the Sith Lords send their deadly apprentice to a prison colony to find the merchant who owns it. While Maul dukes it out with the prisoners in a fight-to-the-death contest in search for the target, Plagueis and Sidious plot against each other in how they'll use the weapon for their own personal gains.

Darth Maul is a favorite among many when it comes to Sith characters, and the merciless brutality he displays like that in Maul: Lockdown is probably why. Author Joe Schrieber has effortlessly integrated the genre of horror into the Star Wars universe, and using the most menacing-looking character to do it calls for a bloody good time.

This is the only canon comic series from Dark Horse. It was published very close to the Legends/Canon cutoff in 2014 and is an adaptation from unreleased episodes of the Clone Wars. Maul is caught in a power play between Sidious, Mother Talzin, Count Dooku, and the Death Watch of the Mandalorians. Maul forms the Shadow Collective, an army of Mandalorians, criminals from gangs such as Black Sun, and the Nightbrothers, to take down the Sith Lords.

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The Sith have been extinct for a millennium. At least…none have been seen. But the finest Sith are as patient as they are ruthless, and Darth Maul is no exception. Sent on a covert mission to fuel a vendetta between rival mining companies, Maul hopes to strengthen the Trade Federation, please his master, and get one step closer to revealing himself to the Jedi…and having revenge.

This short story by James Luceno gives a bit more backstory to the mysterious black-clad figure fans meet in The Phantom Menace and, in the process, proves that Maul’s mind was every bit as sharp as his saber.

Darth Maul bides his time as he waits for his Master’s plan to conquer the galaxy by taking out the competition in the criminal underworld. Plus, Sidious continues Maul’s training by taking him to Malachor, featured in the season 2 finale of Rebels, where Maul has a vision of being a Jedi instead of a Sith.

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This Clone Wars tie-in tells a story of the revived Maul’s team-up with his brother, Savage Opress.

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In this Legends prequel to the Phantom Menace, we find Maul’s rampage against Black Sun (referenced in Darth Plagueis and the Revenge of the Sith novelization), as well as Maul’s first time using his probe droids and speeder bike!

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