After Queen Amidala escaped the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious tasked his apprentice, Darth Maul, with finding and recovering the Queen.

Eager to put his years of training to use, Darth Maul met with his master, Darth Sidious, to plan his assault on the Jedi who were escorting the escaped Queen.

Darth Maul tracked the Queen's starship to Tatooine and launched probe droids to pinpoint the exact location of the fugitive.

As soon as his probe droids reported back with the location of the Queen's ship, Darth Maul mounted his speeder bike and rode off to confront his prey.

The Republic first came to know of Maul only as a mysterious attacker. While Qui-Gon Jinn was escorting his new charge, young Anakin Skywalker, across the sands of Tatooine, Darth Maul caught up to the pair and attacked. After a short but intense duel, Qui-Gon narrowly escaped onto the royal starship.

When Queen Amidala, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi led the insurrection on Naboo, Darth Maul was ominously awaiting the Jedi inside the Theed Palace hangar.

As an undeniable example of his skill and devotion, Maul plunged headlong into battle against the two Jedi warriors. Using his double-bladed lightsaber, Maul held off both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in the heart of the Theed Royal Palace.

With Obi-Wan temporarily trapped behind a laser wall, Qui-Gon was left to fight Darth Maul alone. This proved too much for the Jedi Master, as Darth Maul delivered a well-placed lightsaber blow to his chest and ended his life.

Seeing his Master murdered caused Obi-Wan to press his attack aggressively, catching Darth Maul off guard. When Maul regained his composure he was able to Force-push Obi-Wan into a melting pit, where he held on for dear life. Calming himself, Obi-Wan leaped over Maul and used Qui-Gon's lightsaber to sever Maul in two.

On Dathomir, the Nightsister leader Mother Talzin believed that Darth Maul was alive and in exile somewhere in the Outer Rim. She gave Maul's brother, Savage Opress, the task of traveling to the Outer Rim to search for Maul.

Savage tracked Maul to the depths of Lotho Minor, a junk planet. There, Maul lived as a feral creature with a broken mind. Unaware of his true identity, Maul had rebuilt himself as a strange, spider-like creature that fed on vermin and carrion in the bowels of Lotho Minor's scrapyards. Seeing Savage gave Maul a new focus to his existence. He remembered he wanted vengeance.

Savage returned with the raving Maul to Dathomir. Mother Talzin put Maul into a deep sleep, and then subjected him to her dark magicks. Talzin's powers restored Maul's mind, and rebuilt his legs with a pair of mechanical limbs constructed from battlefield debris. Maul began to recall his past. He remembered that his Master had bigger plans for him, before he was robbed of his destiny by Obi-Wan.

To draw out Obi-Wan Kenobi into a confrontation, Maul and his brother voyaged to nearby Raydonia, home to a simple settlement of colonists. Maul brutally murdered the settlers, broadcasting horrific images of the carnage to the Jedi Temple.

Though it was clear it was a trap, Obi-Wan voyaged to Raydonia, where he was stunned to learn that Darth Maul was indeed alive. Together, Savage and Maul overpowered Kenobi, knocking him unconscious. Maul wanted to savor his vengeance against Obi-Wan, a vengeance he had to stall for over a decade.

Asajj Ventress, a former master of Savage Opress and now a bounty hunter, tracked the dark warrior to Raydonia, and stowed aboard his vessel as it left the world. A longtime enemy of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Asajj now saw that they had a common foe. She teamed up with Obi-Wan to rescue the Jedi Knight from the evil brothers.

As Kenobi and Maul dueled, Maul kept trying to draw out the darkness in Obi-Wan. He goaded Kenobi with words about the murder of Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan unleashed his fury against Maul, but he could not defeat the dark warrior. Obi-Wan and Asajj escaped, leaving Savage and Maul to plot their next move.

After a scourge through the sparsely defended outposts of the Outer Rim, Maul began to orchestrate his plan of conquest. With Savage as his new Sith apprentice, Maul began building an army by coercing underworld types to follow his command. He began with the shiftless Weequay pirates of Florrum.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia were able to follow Maul's path of destruction to Florrum. Maul lamented that he was discovered too soon -- his plot was only just getting started. Still, Maul engaged Kenobi in a lightsaber duel while Savage killed Gallia in combat. Savage and Maul double-teamed Obi-Wan, who succeeded in cutting off Savage's arm.

Fortune turned against the brothers Sith. With Savage wounded, Maul retreated only to discover that his pirate forces were no longer under his command. Hondo Ohnaka had reunified his pirate group, and ordered them to attack the Sith. Maul and Savage hastily retreated from a barrage of pirate blaster-fire.

A blaster bolt hit Maul in his mechanical legs, shearing off one of his claw-feet. A puff of Nightsister magic emerged from the ruined limb, and Maul was reminded just how vulnerable he still was without an army.

The crippled Maul and maimed Savage fled in an escape pod into interstellar space to recover from their injuries and plan their next move.

The near frozen bodies of Maul and Savage were discovered aboard their drifting escape pod by Death Watch. A curious Pre Vizsla brought the incapacitated Sith brothers back to his camp on Zanbar.

There, medical droids rebuilt Maul's ruined legs, replacing them with a pair of humanoid limbs. When Maul made his hatred of the Jedi Order -- and Obi-Wan Kenobi, specifically -- clear, Vizsla realized had a powerful ally in the making.

Vizsla's dream was to conquer Mandalore and reinstate his beloved warrior heritage. Though Maul agreed to help, he had a larger plan in mind. To secure a base of power, Maul sought to gather powerful crime lords together to create a Shadow Collective.

Maul began with usurping the leadership of Black Sun. Backed by Death Watch, Maul had his brother kill the leadership council of Black Sun in one blow. This move soon attracted other criminal elements, like the Pykes.

Maul next targeted the Hutt clans. He launched an assault of the Hutt Grand Council on Nal Hutta, but met stiff resistance from a team of elite bounty hunters.

Most of the Hutt Council escaped, though Maul tracked them down to Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine. There, he had Jabba the Hutt swear fealty to the Shadow Collective.

After a staged attack on Mandalore positioning Death Watch as saviors, Pre Vizsla betrayed Maul and assumed total control of the planet.

Maul then challenged Vizsla to duel to the death; according to Mandalorian warrior tradition, Death Watch would align behind the victor.

After a fierce battle, Maul dispatched Vizsla with a violent beheading, and became leader of Death Watch and Mandalore.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had come to Mandalore to rescue Duchess Satine, but both were captured. The Sith Lord taunted his enemy and murdered Satine before Kenobi’s eyes, reveling in his revenge.

Maul’s hateful act garnered unwanted attention, however: across the galaxy, Darth Sidious detected a tremor in the Force and soon left for Mandalore.

Upon arrival, Sidious declared the Sith brothers to be his rivals. In an intense duel, he killed Savage and toyed with Maul, ultimately deciding not to kill his former apprentice.