#ryder windham

I've compiled a list of Star Wars novels that explore the life of Darth Maul from his early apprenticeship with Sidious to his downfall on Naboo and eventually a short story during his crimelord era where he goes looking for weapons to use against the Empire but find a ghost from the past instead.

Apprenticeship Era:

Star Wars: Myths & Fables: 'An Unwilling Apprentice' by George Mann [Galaxy Edge Edition]

ISBN 9781368059305

October 2020

Plot: This short story explores Maul's childhood on Dathomir and how he became the Apprentice of Darth Sidious.

Notes: I believe the book is no longer in publication, but PDF copies can be found online.

This story fits into Disney's narrative and has replaced Maul's original story of being taken in by Sidious as a baby that was first written in the novel Darth Plagueis.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks

Bonus feature: 'End Game' by James Luceno

ISBN: 978-0-345-43411-1

February 2012 edition

Plot: The written adaption of the film Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Including missing scenes from Mauls perspective of his first duel against Gui-Jon Jinn on tattoine and how he moves past his failure into the next step of Sidious's plan for the trade federations occupation of Naboo.

Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves

Bonus feature: 'Restraint' by James Luceno, 'Saboteur' by James Luceno

ISBN: 978-0-345-43541-5

January 2012 edition

Plot: Darth Sidious begins the first step into his master plan when one of the most important pawns to his mission goes missing, forseeing betrayal he sends his assasin Darth Maul to hunt down the missing Neimoidian.

Leading to a cat and mouse chase through the city streets of Coruscant, where the secrets become even more difficult to contain once they pass into the hands of an information broker and a rookie Jedi Padawan.

Star wars: Maul: Lockdown by Joe Scheiber

Excerpt: Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey

ISBN 9780099542964

2014 edition

Plot: Darth Sidious sends his assasin into a covert mission on board a prison ship to find a way to access a powerful weapon to aid in his efforts against the republic. Darth Maul faces off in a gladiator touranment against the most violent and deadly criminals in the galaxy in order to complete his mission.

Notes: The excerpt is not relevant to the story but merely an introduction to another novel about a prison break organised by Luke, Han and Leia.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

ISBN 978-1-804-94360-1

Excerpt: Darth Bane Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn

2022 edition

Plot: This story explores the life and death of Darth Plagueis; previously known as Hego Damask II, how he rose from his apprenticeship, into being the feared sithlord and master to sheev Palpatine aka Darth Sidious.

This story includes how Darth Sidious first came to find Darth Maul on Dathomir and the early days of his training.

Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul by Ryder Windham

ISBN 978-0-545-38327-1

2012 edition

Plot: This story explores the early training of Darth Maul from childhood to teenage years and how he was sent to a training school called Orsis Academy for assassins, trackers, spies, and soldiers.

It explores his first friendship, his first betrayals, and his earliest interactions with the Death watch Mandalorians.

Star Wars: Episode 1: Journal: Darth Maul by Jude Watson

ISBN 0-439-13941-4

March 2000 edition

Plot: This is a journal style retelling of the events during The Phantom Menace told from Darth Mauls perspective.

Star Wars episode 1: Adventures 3: The fury of Darth Maul by Ryder Windham

ISBN 9780439101400

November 1999 edition

Plot: Sidious send Maul out to retrieve something that has been stolen from him.

_______________________________________

Crimelord era:

Star wars: Stories of Jedi & Sith: 'The Ghosts of Maul' by Michael Moreci

ISBN 978-1-368-08054-5

June 2022 edition

Plot: Desperate for answers Maul goes raiding through ancient sith tombs and artefacts for weapons to use in his fight against Sidious, only to stumble across ghosts from his past.

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This is not an extensive list. Feel free to add or recommend any of your favourite short stories or novels with Maul.

Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace -May 1999- Wizard 1/2 & Dark Horse Comics

written by Tim Truman, Henry Gilroy, Ryder Windham & Mark Schultz

pencils by Steve Crespo, Martin Egeland, Robert Teranishi & Galen Showman

inks by George Freeman, Howard M. Shum, Christopher Chuckry & P. Craig Russell

lettered by Vickie Williams

color rendering by Dave Nestelle, Lisa Stamp, Harold MacKinnon & Christopher Chuckry

“Do you know where [Shmi] is?” “Why, I should expect she’s at Watto’s junkshop. I’m afraid he’s had her doing quite a lot of work there, ever since you ran away.”

Anakin winced. “But I didn’t run away,” he said. “I left. To become a Jedi.”

“Oh, of course you did, sir,” said C-3PO, his voice filled with good cheer. “I never meant to suggest that you abandoned any responsibilities you might have had here, when you were just a child. After all, we’re so very proud of you and your achievements. Not that we actually know about what you’ve accomplished in the past nine years, since we’ve never received any messages from you, but I do get the distinct impression that your mother still cares very much about you. And she does have a vivid imagination, so she very easily assumed that you must be…”

The droid was still talking as Anakin ran out of the hovel and into the broiling radiance of Tatooine’s twin suns. Although it appeared to be afternoon, when the city of Mos Espa should have been teeming with street vendors and pedestrians, there was no sign of life.

Anakin felt a sense of panic. He ran as fast as he could through the empty streets until he arrived outside the tall, bell-shaped structure that was Watto’s junkshop.

Like his own hovel, the junkshop appeared to be exactly as Anakin remembered it. Yet when he ducked through the shop’s entrance portal and entered the cluttered interior, he found that Watto had added something new: In front of a workbench, there was a low cage with thick metal bars.

A filthy figure, clothed in dirty rags, was huddled within the cage.

It was Shmi Skywalker. Anakin’s mother.

She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice sounded old and tired.

“It’s me, Mom,” Anakin said, dropping to his knees before the cage. “Anakin. Annie. I’m grown up now. I’ve come to rescue you.”

“Anakin?” Shmi said in disbelief. She slowly shook her head. “But you can’t be. You can’t be here. You’re gone.”

“I’ll get you out, Mom,” Anakin said as he gripped the bars. He looked around. There was no sign of Watto.

“It is you,” Shmi said. “It really is you.”

Anakin tugged at the bars with all his might, but they would not yield. Then he remembered he was a Jedi. He could do anything!

He reached to his belt, expecting to find his lightsaber, but his fingers slapped against his side. His lightsaber was gone. He tried to recall if he had clipped it to his belt before leaving his hovel, or if he had even brought it with him to Tatooine.

He tried to remember when and where he had seen it last. He felt confused. How had he arrived back on Tatooine? He could not remember.

Desperate, he glanced at Watto’s tool shelf and saw a fusion-cutter and power pry-bar. He grabbed for them, but he could not pick them up. He tried again, tearing at them, but the tools would not budge. It seemed they had been welded to the shelf.

Anakin collapsed beside the cage, his head smacking against the bars. “I swear, I’ll get you out!” he sobbed.

Shmi reached between the bars and pushed her oil-stained fingers through her son’s blond hair. “Oh, Annie,” she said. “Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”

“Mom, look at you! Watto left you in a cage!” Anakin said, outraged.

“No, he didn’t, Annie,” Shmi said sadly. “Watto didn’t leave me. You did.”

Suddenly, Shmi, the junkshop, and all of Tatooine were swept away from Anakin’s vision, and he was engulfed in darkness. It wrapped around him like a cold, black shroud that cut him off from the entire galaxy.

Unable to see, his only awareness was of the steady rise and fall of his own breathing.

Something was wrong.

The breathing sounded mechanical and labored, as if it were being done through some kind of respirator. Anakin wondered if the breathing were his own, or if he had been mistaken about the sound’s origin. Perhaps, he thought, I’m not alone in this dark place. He held his breath and listened to the void. The sound of mechanized breathing stopped. And then Anakin felt his throat constricting.

The darkness coiled even tighter around him, working its way through his skin, seizing his lungs and veins and muscles and bones until he knew it was about to consume him.

Okay, this actually sent me into a panic because I'd only read that story in a tumblr post, and so I suddenly wondered if I had been making canons out of headcanons this whole time. But some rooting through wookieepedia set me on the trail, which led back to my To Read bookshelf. And the answer is The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham.

And to save you hunting down a copy:

Reality:

The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader - Ryder Windham, 2007

Chap one is their arrival on Tatooine. Shmi attempts to shield Anakin from the violence of Tatooine, three-year-old Anakin just watches it all for future reference... Chap two Watto spies Anakin improving a vaporator design, then goes on to win him and Shmi in a bet with Gardulla. 3/4 Anakin finds and fixes up C-3PO ‘choosing the number three because he considered the droid the third member of his family after his mother and himself.’ Then TPM and Anakin’s arrival the Temple.

AotC / RotS, then the OT.

This week’s theme: Masters and Apprentices!

Though Anakin was trained primarily by Obi-Wan, “The Phantom Menace” revealed that this was not supposed to be the case. A whole new white man Jedi got the biggest name actor and top billing, and this random guy was the one who believed in Anakin, while Obi-Wan most certainly did not.

Qui-Gon’s decisions and tragic fate both brought Anakin and Obi-Wan together and tore them apart, as both of them were more focused on the wishes of a dead man than the needs of each other. Volume 1 of the 2D Clone Wars shows that Anakin was still comparing his real master to his idealized one, even until the very end of his apprenticeship.

While there is a lot of similar discussion among writers and fans about whether Qui-Gon would have been a better teacher, I think the fact that we don’t know that is the most interesting thing about him. Even when Qui-Gon was alive, his actions were confusing: what did he think of the Council? He seemed willing to break the Jedi’s rules, which is cool, but also willing to use his Jedi powers for dark purposes like mind-tricks and cheating, which is uncool. And above all: couldn’t he have tried harder to rescue Shmi, especially considering the sexy tension between them?

After Qui-Gon’s death, his ghost lingered not just with his Jedi lineage, but his former master as well. Dooku believed Qui-Gon would have joined him among the Sith-aligned Separatists. Obi-Wan believed the opposite. As his teacher and student, wouldn’t they have a roughly equal amount of close experience with him? All we have as an audience is TPM, in which Qui-Gon is radical enough to speak up to the Council, but conservative enough to oppose Padme’s violent defense of Naboo. I don’t know which side Qui-Gon would have supported or opposed in the morally dubious Clone Wars, but I know both sides wanted to claim him, and both used his memory to justify their actions.

It seems Qui-Gon operated on another level, man, which made him admirable but opaque, coveted but unreachable. He cared for Anakin, at least, and did what he thought was right, but without caution, consistency, and least of all explanation. Once he is gone, his powerful impression drives a wedge between the grieving, frustrated, ideologically-opposed members of his Jedi family that ultimately cracks the foundations of the entire galaxy’s political structure.