Malachor

"Well, if you ask me, this whole planet is a riddle.''" "''So, if it's a riddle, what's the question?"

- Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus

Malachor was a rocky, hellish wasteland planet shrouded in mystery. It was the location of an event known as the Great Scourge of Malachor, which took place thousands of years before the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Jedi Master Yoda told Ezra Bridger, a Padawan, to find Malachor to help him defeat Darth Vader and the Inquisitors.

Description
Malachor was a barren planet located in the Outer Rim Territories, and had a Sith temple located underneath its surface. Its surface resembled an ocean of liquid carbonite that had flash-frozen. Small, pyramidal, solid stone foothills were located equidistant from each other on the surface of the planet. Along Malachor's central latitude was a large crater ringed by narrow spires.

Early history
At some point, the Sith were able to establish a presence on the planet Malachor, constructing a massive temple beneath its surface. This temple held a colossal kyber crystal that was used to power the temple. Thousands of years before the brewing war between the First Order and the Resistance, the planet was the location of a massive battle, in which the Jedi Order launched an all-out assault against the Sith when the temple's weapon misfired and petrified everyone on the planet. After these events, Malachor was made forbidden to the Jedi, though stories of what had happened were passed down, forming the basis of many legends. Millennia later, the debris of war still littered the battlefield. Any traces of the planet's existence were erased in the Jedi Archives, in the hopes the Sith secrets could be completely lost.

However, many spacers claimed to have found the planet and would bring back Sith relics, some obvious frauds but others had genuine connections to the dark side. Smugglers also claimed to make Ashes of Malachor, made from the pulverized bones of those who fought there. These ashes empowered those who consumed it&mdash;increasing their might, but at the cost of morality.

After Sith Lord Darth Sidious took the Nightbrother Maul as his apprentice, the two of them traveled to Malachor. There, Sidious showed Maul a vision of the battle between the Sith and the Jedi.

Due to its infamy, Malachor was often invoked as a curse word. While contemplating his strategy for getting himself and his team of astromech droids off the desert world of Abafar, Colonel Meebur Gascon exclaimed that there was "no way in Malachor" that he would lead his team on an assault on a Separatist landing field. Years later, during the reign of the Galactic Empire, the crime lord Cikatro Vizago of the Broken Horn Syndicate used Malachor as an epithet while working with the smuggler Lando Calrissian.

Age of the Empire
During their rebellion against the Empire, three rebels&mdash;the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, along with Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi&mdash;traveled to the Jedi Temple on Lothal to seek the spectral guidance of Jedi Master Yoda in the hopes of defeating the Sith Lord Darth Vader and his Inquisitors. Yoda told Bridger that, if he and the others wanted to fight, they had to find Malachor. After helping the Phoenix Cell establish a base on Atollon, Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka traveled to Malachor together.

On Malachor, the two Jedi and Ahsoka discovered a deep chasm which led to an ancient Sith temple. There, the three friends were attacked by an Inquisitor known as the Eighth Brother. Ezra was separated and fell into a tunnel. There, he encountered the former Sith Lord Maul, who also wanted to defeat the Sith. Maul befriended Bridger and the two joined forces to venture into the temple in order to find the "secret" that could destroy the Sith. Working together, the two retrieved a Sith holocron from the temple.

Ezra and Maul then reunited with Kanan and Ahsoka, who were being attacked by the Eighth Brother, the Fifth Brother, and the Seventh Sister. After Maul drove the Inquisitors away, Maul convinced Ezra and the others that they had to enter the Temple in order to activate the Holocron. He claimed that doing so would give them the knowledge they needed to destroy the Sith. The Inquisitors soon caught up with them. While Kanan and Ahsoka fought with the Inquisitors, Maul sent Ezra to bring the holocron to the top of the temple. Meanwhile, Maul killed the Inquisitors before turning on Kanan and Ahsoka. He blinded Kanan but was stopped by Ahsoka. While Kanan pushed Maul off the cliff, Ahsoka went to deal with Ezra.

Meanwhile, Ezra planted the holocron into the temple's obelisk. He encountered a female voice who revealed that the temple was an ancient Sith superweapon capable of destroying all life. Ezra refused to use the Temple's knowledge and was attacked by Darth Vader, who had arrived in his TIE Advanced starfighter. Ahsoka arrived and dueled with Vader, while Kanan and Ezra joined forces to remove the holocron. Since the Temple was building up a power charge, the removal of the holocron caused it to implode. Kanan and Ezra managed to escape before the Temple closed in on them. Vader survived, leaving the temple wounded and Tano was pulled away from the collapsing temple into world between worlds by Bridger, surviving the event. Later, Tano departed the world between worlds and walked into the Sith temple.

Behind the scenes
"There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walks on its surface&mdash;drowns them in the power of the dark side. It corrupts all life, and it feeds on death."

- Darth Traya speaks of Malachor V in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

In Star Wars Legends, Malachor V, as it was known in that era, was a planet that was first referenced in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game revealed that it was the location of the Battle of Malachor V, the final battle between the Galactic Republic, led by Revan, and the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders during the Mandalorian Wars. The world went on to appear as the final location in the sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, revealing that it was a shattered and ruined world consumed by the energies of the Mass Shadow Generator. This event led to a pyrrhic victory for the Republic, destroying many Mandalorian and even Republic forces in the process. In The Sith Lords, Malachor V housed the Trayus Academy, an ancient Sith academy used by the Sith Triumvirate of Darth Traya, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Sion in the aftermath of the Jedi Civil War. The Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik, traveled to the Trayus Academy, where she defeated Sion and Traya during the game's final levels.

The name Malachor was later mentioned as an expletive by Meebur Gascon in "Missing in Action," an episode of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which, after the 2014 canon reboot, remained in official Star Wars canon.

Appearances

 * Darth Maul, Part II
 * Age of Republic - Darth Maul 1
 * Maul: A Star Wars Rebels Cinestory Comic
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Maul: A Star Wars Rebels Cinestory Comic
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Maul: A Star Wars Rebels Cinestory Comic
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Star Wars: Commander