Darth Maladi

"Be careful Maladi, that you do not scheme for scheming's sake. Do not become so enamored of your plotting that you lose sight of your goal."

- Darth Krayt

Darth Maladi was a Devaronian female who served as a Sith Lady in Darth Krayt's Sith Order during Krayt's reign as Emperor. She was the head of Sith Intelligence and Assassination, adept in the ways of inquisition and torture, and a specialist in the art of mental manipulation. A skilled scientist, she tirelessly experimented with ways to pervert science to serve the Sith cause, and also manufactured and dealt the narcotic ixetal cilona. She was responsible for the sabotage of the government-sponsored project to terraform Ossus. Maladi, along with High Moff Morlish Veed, the leader of the Moff Council, and his partner, Nyna Calixte, the Director of Imperial Intelligence, started the Sith-Imperial War, which saw the near-destruction of the Galactic Alliance, the leading government at the time, and the New Jedi Order&mdash;the major opponents of the Sith. In 137 ABY, Maladi was ordered by Krayt to find and dispose of the former Emperor, Roan Fel, and to capture Cade Skywalker, the last remaining member of the Skywalker family. Though she failed with the former task, the Sith were able to capture Skywalker, whom Maladi tortured to find his limits. However, Skywalker escaped, and Maladi was forced to work with Rav, a Feeorin pirate for whom Skywalker had once worked, to find the fugitive.

Early life
Maladi was born and raised a part of the New Sith Order, prior to the Sith-Imperial War. She specialized as an Intelligence agent, and after her ascension to Sith Lady, became the Director of Sith Intelligence and Assassination.

Sith Imperial War
"You control the throne of the Empire, Dread Lord. By himself, Roan Fel is no danger to you."

- Darth Maladi to Darth Krayt

Prior to 127 ABY, the New Jedi Order and Yuuzhan Vong had formed the Ossus Project to Vongform the planet Ossus, the location of the Jedi's training center and a planet that had been devastated by a supernova in the Cron Cluster over four thousand years prior. This project had been championed by the Yuuzhan Vong Master Shaper Nei Rin and Kol Skywalker, a descendant of Grand Master Luke Skywalker and a senior member of the Jedi Council. Initially successful, the project spread to other worlds that were devastated by the Yuuzhan Vong War or had been previously laid to waste. Seeing an opportunity to break the Galactic Alliance, the foremost interplanetary government at the time that the Jedi were aligned with, Darth Krayt, Dark Lord of the Sith and head of the new Sith Order, commissioned Maladi to sabotage the project. The Sith's goals were to break the galaxy's trust of the Yuuzhan Vong, who were already distrusted because of the lives that had been lost because of the Yuuzhan Vong War, which the Yuuzhan Vong had started, and to break the galaxy's trust of the Jedi by extension, who entrusted the Yuuzhan Vong with the terraforming of the wasted worlds. Maladi was able to mutate the Yorik-Kul coral seeds that the Yuuzhan Vong used to grow vegetation on the wasted worlds, and sentients on these planets soon found themselves with bony growths growing on their skin that could potentially kill them. While all this was happening, Maladi contacted High Moff Morlish Veed, the leader of the Moff Council, and convinced him and his partner, Moff Nyna Calixte, to ally the the Empire, led by Emperor Roan Fel, with the Sith when they decided to reveal themselves.

Though the Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong suspected sabotage, the Empire was enraged by the failure of the Ossus Project, and the Moffs convinced the Emperor, Roan Fel, to go to war in 127 ABY. A year into the war, Krayt's Sith Order, which had been in hiding since its creation around 30 ABY, decided to finally reveal itself. The alliance that Maladi had created with Veed and the impatient Moff Council, which was desperate to win the war, gave Fel no choice but to ally with the Sith. During the war, Fel's support for the war was tepid at best, and he only went along with it as a political necessity.

After the Empire had captured Coruscant, Maladi, Veed, and Moff Nyna Calixte staged an attack against the New Jedi Temple on Ossus, even though Emperor Fel had forbid any attacks on the Jedi. The assault on Ossus was a success, seeing the death of most of the Jedi present, though a group of Padawans, including Cade Skywalker and Shado Vao, and the Zabrak Jedi Master Wolf Sazen, escaped. This attack effectively tore apart the New Jedi Order, though Imperial statistics showed that half of the Jedi had survived the Sith's wrath, much to the chagrin of Veed, who believed that they should have waited for the entire Order to gather on Ossus so that the attack would effectively kill all the Jedi at once. Maladi firmly believed that if they staged an attack later, it would have been a failure, and that bounty hunters and the Sith could kill the rest of the Jedi.

Krayt and Maladi then turned their attentions to replacing Roan Fel, the leader of the Empire. From the time the Sith had first allied with the Empire, Fel had been untrustworthy of their Order, and never fully embraced them as allies. He had not ever been a true supporter of the war, which caused the Sith to plan to supplant Fel with Krayt on the throne. Maladi, in order to gain Veed's support for the coup, made him believe that the Sith were going to replace Fel with him. However, Calixte, Veed's partner, knew that Maladi was going to trick Veed into service with Krayt. Calixte, fearing that because off this, she may become expendable, revealed to Fel that the Sith were going to kill him. Fel, as a result, escaped Coruscant. The Emperor left a double in his place and ordered four Imperial Knights to protect the double. When Krayt, along with his Hand Darth Nihl, his most trusted servant Darth Wyyrlok, and Darth Maladi, arrived to kill Fel, the Dark Lord killed Fel's double. Maladi watched the execution of the decoy and the Imperial Knights guarding him, as well as Krayt's announcement that he was Emperor. Krayt also forced the Moffs, including Veed and Calixte, to swear loyalty to him.

However, Krayt was able to discern that he had only killed Fel's double, not the actual Emperor. Krayt called Maladi to him, then Force pushed her to the ground as punishment for not discovering that Fel had replaced himself, since Maladi was the head of Sith Intelligence. Krayt revealed to Maladi that Fel could have resisted the coup against him if he was there, and that because Fel was still alive, he could still pull together a military resistance against Krayt. As a result, Krayt tasked Maladi and Nihl with finding which Imperial commanders and Moffs were still loyal to Fel, and also to hunt the rest of the Jedi as well, whom Krayt believed could ally themselves with Fel to bring down the Sith. Maladi then decided to find and speak to Nyna Claixte, and found her in her living quarters. Maladi revealed to her that they had killed Fel's double and that she had sensed that Calixte had helped the real Fel escape. Calixte was quick to deny this, and explained to Maladi that she needed her help to find Fel by having Veed unite the Moffs, which only Calixte could do. Maladi pondered whether she should learn the truth about Calixte by dissecting her mind using the Force, but decided to work with her instead. Maladi then charged Calixte with leading Imperial Intelligence, but also ordered her to report all security and espionage matters to Maladi and the Sith.

Seeking Skywalker
"Why do you put yourself through this? You owe this Cade nothing. He turned you in for the bounty on Jedi."

- Darth Maladi while torturing Hosk Trey'lis

For seven years after Darth Krayt killed Fel's double and took control of the Empire, Maladi and her agents had no luck in finding the real Roan Fel, nor any success in eradicating the remaining Jedi. Fel and his allies would lead guerrilla attacks on Krayt's Empire, though they did no significant damage, while the Jedi avoided exposure. Although he was now the ruler of the Empire, Krayt believed that while Fel lived, Krayt's power would be threatened by Fel. Tired of searching endlessly for the former Emperor, Krayt tried to threaten Roan Fel's daughter Marasiah with the hope that a frightened princess would run to her father's hiding place. The plan was a failure, as Marasiah managed to escape the Sith's grip with the help of a former Jedi named Cade Skywalker.

When the news of the existence of a Skywalker reached Darth Krayt's ears, he instructed Maladi with the task of finding him. Members of the Skywalker family were known to be usually strong in the Force, and, judging from the decisions of Anakin Skywalker, who had fallen to the dark side over 150 years earlier, Krayt assumed that Cade could be tempted to use the dark side as well. Krayt knew if he could turn Skywalker, he would be a strong acquisition to his Empire. Additionally, Skywalker's powerful healing abilities had been brought to Krayt's attention, which made him even more precious to Krayt, since his body was failing due to Yuuzhan Vong implants. Skywalker could potentially heal Krayt of his ailment, which would allow Krayt to live long enough to stabilize the galaxy.

In the search for Skywalker, Maladi interrogated and tortured the Bothan Jedi Master Hosk Trey'lis, who had been delivered to the Sith for the bounty cast upon living Jedi. What made Trey'lis important, more than the fact that he was a Jedi, was the person who had hunted him down: Cade Skywalker. Trey'lis could not resist the ruthless interrogation and torture methods of Maladi, and eventually told her everything he knew about young Skywalker. With the information she gleaned from the captured Jedi, Maladi ordered Nyna Calixte to personally take command of the search, and to bring Skywalker alive. When Calixte tried to find out more about Skywalker, including why the Sith wanted him alive, Maladi would only reveal to her that Cade was the last remaining Skywalker. After Calixte left Maladi's laboratory, Maladi wondered to herself why it was that Skywalker was needed alive.

Calixte would reveal to her partner, High Moff Veed, her mission to capture Skywalker, and he proposed that he and Calixte should capture Skywalker and use him as a pawn against the Sith. However, Maladi had replaced Calixte's operatives with her own, so Calixte had used her other persona, Morrigan Corde, to further her own motives. Calixte had already found out that Skywalker was on The Wheel, a neutral space station in the Mid Rim. However, one of Maladi's dispatched agents, Jor Torlin, found that Skywalker was on The Wheel through his associate, Haako. Torlin suggested to Calixte, now disguised as Corde, that Skywalker may have gone to Ossus, where he had trained as a Jedi. However, upon arriving on Ossus, the disguised Calixte killed Torlin. Calixte did not want to capture Skywalker, who was secretly her own son, and betrayed Maladi covertly to do so.

Seeking Fel
"Roan Fel has bested my assassin and that will make him complacent. The next attack, he thinks, will also come from without. The true killing stroke, when it comes, will come from within. Unlooked for and unsuspected."

- Maladi

Meanwhile, Maladi finally discovered Fel's location&mdash;the deposed Emperor had taken control of the Empire's former capital planet of Bastion without a fight, as the Imperial troops there turned against the Sith Empire, and became part of what was considered the "True Empire", loyal only to Fel. Maladi knew, however, that the Sith could not attack Bastion head-on due to its strong military defenses. She devised a different plan to execute Fel; she contacted the Imperial governor of Munto Codru, Vikar Dorn, and sent him in the Star Destroyer Dauntless to Bastion to pretend to join the rebels as deserters. The plan was to allow Sith Lord Darth Kruhl, who was also secretly onboard the Dauntless, to infiltrate Bastion and personally assassinate the deposed Emperor. That plan would turn out to be just one of Maladi's ploys to lower Roan Fel's personal defenses for a future assassination attempt on Fel. Kruhl was subsequently killed by Fel, and the crew of the Dauntless was executed, with the exception of Dorn. The governor's life was spared by Fel, so he could deliver Kruhl's lightsaber to the Sith as a message. Dorn would do so, but was killed by Maladi afterwards because of his supposed failure.

Capture of Cade Skywalker
"Interesting. Despite a full day of injections, your body keeps purging itself of ixetal cilona."

- Darth Maladi during Cade Skywalker's torture

The search for Cade Skywalker would prove to be easier than expected, as he decided to rescue Hosk Trey'lis from the Sith Temple when his ancestor, Luke Skywalker, had ordered him to do so. Cade's basis for this mission, was that he would not accept someone dying for him, due to his father's sacrifice to let Cade live. When he entered Coruscant during his rescue mission, Skywalker was chased by Skull Squadron, led by Gunner Yage, the daughter of Calixte and the Moff Rulf Yage, though he escaped. After leaving the starship Mynock ' s entry codes for his partners Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue at Rik's Cantina, Skywalker left for the Sith Temple. There, Skywalker rescued Trey'lis, but both were captured afterwards by Krayt's hands, Darth Nihl and Darth Talon. After Skywalker's capture, Maladi reported to the Moff Council that the search for Skywalker was over. She did not report that they had captured Skywalker, explaining to Calixte that she did not need to know the results, and that the Moff Council was to return to their original tasks. Within the Sith Temple, Maladi personally tortured Skywalker in order to bring him closer to the dark side. During his torture, Maladi discovered that Skywalker could purge himself of a lethal dose of the narcotic ixetal cilona&mdash;which Skywalker was addicted to&mdash;and Maladi noted to Krayt that Skywalker bent the drug to his will, much like a Sith. On Krayt's orders, Maladi implanted mutated Yorik-Kul coral seeds within Deliah Blue and Jariah Syn, so Skywalker could demonstrate to Krayt his healing powers in order to save them. Maladi used Force lightning on Syn and Blue to activate the mutation in the seeds, and Skywalker responded by healing his friends. In doing so, Skywalker became even closer to the dark side, and began listening to what Krayt had to offer should he choose to become a Sith.



In his quest to further Skywalker's path down the dark side, Krayt invited Skywalker, Darth Wyyrlok, and Darth Talon into his chambers. Wyyrlok, however, refused Nihl and Maladi entry into the chambers, though Nihl insisted that he should be allowed entry, if only to guard Skywalker from escaping. Wyyrlok explained to Nihl that it was Krayt's will that Nihl be kept out of Krayt's quarters, and Nihl listened, though he still questioned Krayt's decision. Noticing his anger at Krayt's decision, Maladi counseled Nihl on the matter. Nihl expalined his resentment about the treatment that Talon, who had just become Krayt's hand, received from Darth Krayt, when Nihl felt that he was more deserving of special attention from him because he was Krayt's more experienced hand. Maladi reminded Nihl that, unlike Talon, he had not been born a Sith, and that Nihl was intended to be Krayt's fist. Nihl had only been promoted to a hand because Krayt's hand at the time died before Talon was ready for promotion. In defense, Nihl mentioned that Maladi was born a Sith and still was not invited into the chamber, though Maladi said she did not question Krayt's decisions, except why he was keeping Skywalker alive. Later, when Skywalker pretended to join the Sith, both Maladi and Nihl discussed Krayt's obssession with him. Nihl told Maladi that if Krayt died with no heir, then there would be a power struggle. Maladi, realizing that Nihl had previously accessed holocrons that were forbidden in Krayt's Sith Order, explained to him that what he was doing was dangerous in the Order. Nihl, however, told Maladi that it did not matter, because he believed that Krayt wanted to make Skywalker his heir.

However, Krayt intentions to have Skywalker willingly join the Sith did not happen. Skywalker tried to escape the Sith Temple, but he was apprehended by Darth Talon, who brought him to Krayt. In Krayt's chambers, Skywalker was commanded to kill Trey'lis to finalize his induction to the New Sith Order. At that moment, Skywalker had a vision of his father that encouraged him to fight and escape the Sith. Skywalker stabbed Talon in her stomach, and, after a duel with Nihl, chopped off Nihl's arm. Instead of killing Nihl, Skywalker turned his blade onto Krayt, dueling him. Calixte, who was still disguised as Morrigan Corde, rescued Skywalker from the Sith Temple by having Syn, who was working with Calixte, create a diversion by detonating thud bugs, which allowed Calixte to reach Krayt's chambers and shoot Krayt in the back during his duel with Skywalker. Calixte, who did not want to see Skywalker become a Sith, took Skywalker to the Mynock, and with Syn and Blue, escaped Coruscant. Maladi, who had been betrayed by Calixte twice, never found out Calixte's involvement with Torlin's death and Skywalker's rescue.

Aftermath of Skywalker's escape
After Skywalker escaped the Sith, Maladi tended to Nihl and Talon's wounds, who were both maimed by Skywalker. Krayt, who was furious at the failures of his two hands, replaced them with Darth Stryfe, who had been serving as Krayt's fist. Finding Nihl's removed arm in salvageable condition, Maladi asked Krayt if she should reattach the limb to Nihl. Krayt ordered Maladi to instead replace Nihl's arm with a Yuuzhan Vong organic arm, and to place Darth Talon in a healing trance, before she could die.

Krayt commanded the Sith to find Skywalker once again, as he still needed Skywalker to heal him. After his escape, Skywalker, Syn, and Blue took the Grinning Liar back from the pirate Rav, whom they had once worked for, after a brief fight in which Rav lost. Defeated, Rav contacted Maladi, swearing the Bloody Bones oath of loyalty to her, and promised to give any information regarding his former apprentice in exchange for credits.

Personality and traits
"As you will, my Lord." "Yes, Maladi. Always as I will."

- Darth Maladi, acknowledging her loyalty to Darth Krayt

Darth Maladi, like most Sith in Darth Krayt's New Sith Order, knew complete obedience to Darth Krayt. She always completed Krayt's orders as asked, though she sometimes wondered about some of Krayt's decisions, such as why Krayt wanted Cade Skywalker alive. Maladi would often torture individuals, and took pride when she was able to successfully extract information out of an individual, evidenced when she was able to get information about Skywalker from Hosk Trey'lis. Maladi was often in control of sentients, and had barked commands at Nyna Calixte and Trey'lis, much like Darth Krayt did himself. As the head of Sith Intelligence and Assassination, Maladi was adept at manipulating individuals without using the Force; along with Darth Krayt, she was able to instigate the Sith-Imperial War by manipulating Morlish Veed into an alliance with the Sith. She manipulated Veed into thinking that the Sith were going to seat him as Emperor, though Maladi instead put him in a position of servitude to Darth Krayt.

Maladi loved to scheme people's demises; she was able to mold the perfect assassin in Darth Kruhl, who was ready to die in order to kill Roan Fel. When that failed, Maladi made it revealed that Kruhl had been part of a larger scheme to kill Roan Fel, and that she was planning to mold another to finally place the final killing stroke. However, Maladi's scheming sometimes blinded her, and she was so enamored with her plans that she almost lost sight of her Krayt-given goal&mdash;to eliminate Roan Fel. On one occasion,Krayt had to remind her to keep sight of her goal to kill Fel before she became too comsumed with the plotting end. Maladi was also very confident in the New Sith Order, believing that they were more successful than the older Sith, though Nyna Calixte believed that the present day Sith were like the Sith of old, and that that reminiscent quality was going to be the demise of Maladi and the rest of the Sith.

Powers and abilities
Darth Maladi was a Sith trained from birth in the New Sith Order, and could use a lightsaber properly. Maladi, though adept at lightsaber skills, specialized in the ways of torture and assassination. She was able to successfully torture the information about Skywalker out of Hosk Trey'lis, a Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order. Maladi was also able to use Force lightning at a successful level, using it on Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue while torturing Cade Skywalker. Maladi also had adept abilities in Sith alchemy, using it to mutate Yuuzhan Vong coral seeds into fatal, painful sores on sentients. This ability arguably started the Sith-Imperial War, making Maladi impeccable to the New Sith order.

Behind the scenes


Darth Maladi was first mentioned in the preview for Star Wars: Legacy, Star Wars Legacy 0, and later appeared in the first issue of Legacy. Maladi served as a supporting character in the issue, and did not appear for the rest of the story arc the issue was a part of, Broken. Maladi's character was greatly expanded on in the next two story arcs of Legacy, Allies and Trust Issues. A few issues later, Maladi appeared in Ready to Die trying to orchestrate Fel's death, though she failed in the issue. Maladi is featured in the next story arc, Claws of the Dragon, at first torturing Cade Skywalker, and later doubting Krayt's obsession of Skywalker with Darth Nihl.

Jan Duursema redesigned Darth Maladi after deciding that her initial design (pictured to the left) was too "sexy," and thus too much like Darth Talon. The redesigned Darth Maladi was meant to look more tightly wound. In a chat at TheForce.net, Duursema jokingly agreed that Maladi was supposed to be a bit "emo."

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 9: Trust Issues, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 13: Ready to Die
 * Star Wars Legacy 15: Claws of the Dragon, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 17: Claws of the Dragon, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 19: Claws of the Dragon, Part 6
 * Star Wars Legacy 23: Loyalties, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 27: Into the Core

Notes and references
Darth Maladi Darth Maladi