Name: Malachor
Region: Outer Rim Territories
Moons: At least 2
Atmosphere: Breathable
Primary terrain: Rocky
Points of interest: Malachor Sith Temple, Malachor superweapon
Population: At least 1: Maul (until 3 BBY)

Description: 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.

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 are located equidistant from each other on the surface of the planet. Along Malachor's central latitude was a large crater ringed by narrow spires.

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—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.

Malachor Sith Temple

Millennia before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Sith constructed a pyramidal temple on the bleak world of Malachor. The infernal machine at the heart of the Sith temple, a superweapon powered by a giant kyber crystal, was capable of destroying life. The Jedi soon caught wind of the Sith's plan and launched an assault on the temple. During the battle, the superweapon fired, killing and petrifying all combatants - Jedi and Sith. This event later became known as the Great Scourge of Malachor.

In the third year before the Battle of Yavin, the temple was visited by Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, his Padawan Ezra Bridger, and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano as they sought knowledge for how to defeat the Sith Lord Darth Vader and his Inquisitors. While there, they encountered the former Sith Lord Maul, who also sought to destroy the Sith. Maul and Ezra worked together to enter the temple and ultimately retrieved a Sith holocron, which was essential to reactivating the temple.

When Kanan and Ahsoka were attacked by the Inquisitors known as the Fifth Brother, the Seventh Sister, and the Eighth Brother, Maul and Ezra arrived and assisted them in driving the Inquisitors away. He then convinced the group to work together in order to venture into the Temple and find the knowledge necessary to destroying the Sith. The Inquisitors regrouped and attacked the four travelers. After having killed the Seventh Sister, Maul sent Ezra to place the holocron inside the temple's obelisk. After they had dealt with the rest of the Inquisitors, Maul turned on Kanan and Ahsoka. He was able to blind Kanan but was stopped from killing him by Ahsoka. Once Kanan had recovered, he proceeded to fight Maul and managed to throw him off the edge of the temple. During their confrontation, Ahsoka went off to confront Vader.

Meanwhile, Ezra had arrived at the top of the temple and placed the Sith holocron into the central obelisk. He encountered a female voice, who revealed that the temple was in fact an ancient Sith superweapon capable of destroying all life. When Ezra refused to use the weapon, the Presence announced the arrival of Darth Vader. Before Vader could finish Ezra off, Ahsoka arrived and fought with her former master. Kanan and Ezra managed to remove the holocron, which triggered a chain reaction that led to the temple's explosion. The two Jedi managed to escape with Chopper on the Phantom before the temple imploded. Both Vader and Ahsoka survived the explosion and parted company, with the latter venturing into the depths of the Sith temple.

This experience proved to be a turning point for Ezra. His grief over what had transpired on Malachor allowed him to access the Sith holocron that he had discovered on Malachor, and with its influence, he began to unlock the secrets contained within it. This temptation of power began to corrupt him, leading to a strained relationship with his master Kanan. It was not until the intervention of Bendu that their relationship finally managed to repair itself.