Darth Malgus Respect Thread

[Master AzrongerModerator]

“Peace is for bureaucrats! It is not for warriors. There can be no peace with the Jedi. There can be no peace at all. Not ever!”

Darth Malgus is an incredibly badass and powerful Sith Lord from the Old Republic era, and one of my favorite characters from that time period. All respect threads for him that I saw were incomplete, so I decided to create one myself. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find YouTube clips of every quote from the game, but if you do, send them my way and I’ll add them.

This respect thread is divided into four categories:

• Overall Force Power
  
• Demonstrated Force Abilities
  
• Physical Abilities / Force Augmentation
  
• Combat Prowess
  

Bibliography:

• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught (BioWare; 2019)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Dantooine Incursion (BioWare; 2019)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege (BioWare; 2018)
  
• swtor.com: Return of Darth Malgus in 'Jedi Under Siege' (BioWare; 2018)
  
• Sixth Scale Figures: Darth Malgus (Sideshow Collectibles; 2014)
  
• Mini Bust: Darth Malgus (Gentle Giant; 2013)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia (Ian Ryan, Charles Boyd, Hall Hood, Joanna Berry, Zach Bush, James Jones; 2012)
  
• Star Wars: Galactic Files - Darth Malgus (Topps; 2012)
  
• Star Wars: Book of Sith - Secrets from the Dark Side (Daniel Wallace; 2012)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare; 2011)
  
• Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural (Rob Chestney; 2011)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer (BioWare; 2011)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived (Paul S. Kemp; 2011)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson (Paul S. Kemp; 2011)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer (BioWare; 2010)
  
• swtor.com: Deceived Cinematic Trailer (BioWare; 2009)
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer (BioWare; 2009)
  

Before you begin, here is some music to listen to:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eu2sF_kQ00

Enjoy!

[hideedit]

[Master AzrongerModerator]

In youth, Veradun was identified with exceptional potential in the Force.

“I think you’ll be a great warrior, Veradun,” his father said. “A tremendous asset to the Empire.”

Veradun heard the sadness in the words but did not understand them.

“Your instructors tell me they’ve seen few with your potential in the Force.”

“I’m honored by their praise.”

His father smiled distantly. “A shuttle arrives for you tomorrow, to take you to the academy on Dromund Kaas. I want you to know that I’m proud of you. Always remember that.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

Malgus’ power grew during his training in the Sith Academy on Dromund Kaas.



The methods and traditions of the warriors are my own. From my father’s meditations on death to the lessons of my tutors in the Dromund Kaas academy, I was nurtured by the dark side and grew strong. Others dull their senses with spice and drink, but warriors know that combat is the only experience to be savored.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

After killing Eleena Daru, his lover, Malgus feels like he was no longer merely using the Force, but that he was the Force, had become it, and his understanding of it grew every day.

Thinking of Eleena blew oxygen on the embers of his anger. In life, Eleena had been his weakness, a tool to be exploited by rivals. In death, she had become his strength, her memory the lens of his rage.

He resided in the calm eye of a storm of hate. Power churned around him, within him. He did not feel as if he were drawing on the Force, using it. He felt as if he were the Force, as if he had merged with it.

He had evolved. Nothing split his loyalties any longer. He served the Force and only the Force, and his understanding of it increased daily.

The growing power whirling around him, leaking through the lid of his control, made the suppression of his Force signature impossible. All at once he lowered all of the mental barriers, let the full force of his power roil around him.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

As a member of the Dark Council, Malgus was one of the most powerful Sith Lords of his time.



After landing on Ilum, you struck the first blow against the Republic by slaughtering the Duros shocktroopers and their commander, Jedi Master Kaedan. You returned to Grand Moff Regus to find him in a heated discussion with Darth Malgus, a member of the Dark Council. Both men agreed that the next threat to be tackled are the Republic’s Kaleesh mercenaries and their leader, General Gelrex. The best way to draw General Gelrex out would be to challenge him in combat through an ancient Kaleesh ritual.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Born under the name of Veradun, Darth Malgus grows into a ruthless Sith Lord and one of the key members of their Dark Council. In 3,653 BBY, he is instrumental in the devastating sneak attack on the Jedi Temple and overall plundering of the planet Coruscant, which he fully expects to be pulverized into space dust by an aerial bombardment that never materializes. Disillusioned with both the Empire and human feeling in general, Malgus ultimately kills his longtime lover Daru to purge himself of all emotion.

Star Wars: Galactic Files - Darth Malgus

https://streamable.com/hb083

Moff Valion Pyron: “The Dark Council are the galaxy’s most powerful Sith. Thanaton will have access to all resources in his pyramid of the Sith hierarchy.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

While the undying Emperor serves as the unquestioned leader of the Empire, the twelve members of the Dark Council oversee the daily workings of their vast civilization and speak in the Emperor’s name. Each is among the most powerful Sith in the galaxy; to hold a seat on the council is the highest honor and the greatest position of influence a Sith can attain.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Codex - The Dark Council

To serve on the Dark Council is to achieve the greatest position of honor, power, and influence in the Empire. Many Sith spend their lives plotting their ascension to the council, but with millions vying for only 12 seats, the competition is cutthroat. The powerful few who join the council often serve for only a few months, their lives cut short by internal power struggles or external enemies who target them for assassination. Once every few centuries, a bold few make the foolish mistake of defying the Emperor’s will - a path that inevitably leads to ruin.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

In the Emperor’s absence, the galaxy’s most domineering, powerful, brilliant, and cunning Sith lead the Empire’s path to glory.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

Within the academy halls, Sith Lords conspire and orchestrate excavations of the tombs outside. Overseers instruct each generation of fresh, vicious acolytes. And on the top floor, the hallowed chambers of the Dark Council seat the most powerful Sith in the galaxy as they rule the Empire in the stead of the Sith Emperor.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

7 years ago, one of #SWTOR's most powerful Sith Lords emerged. Long thought dead, Darth Malgus returns more ruthless than ever in 'Jedi Under Siege.'

Instagram - swtorofficial

Darth Malgus remained as powerful as ever after his second cybernetic reconstruction and overhaul.

https://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20181220-5



[i][size=12][b]Recovered from the wreckage of his coup attempt and revived with a dizzying array of exotic and cutting-edge technologies, Darth Malgus is as powerful and ruthless as ever. His face bears even more scars, his body even more cybernetics; his armor has been reconstructed and enhanced to increase his strength and endurance further still. But through all of this change, Malgus the man has retained the same unyielding determination in pursuit of his sole, brutal goal: the total annihilation of the Jedi, the destruction of the corrupt Republic they serve, and the evolution of the Empire into a society worthy of the power of the Sith.

swtor.com: Return of Darth Malgus in ‘Jedi Under Siege’ (2018)

Malgus was implied by Darth Bane to be one of the most powerful individuals in history, as he listed him as one of the most prominent users of the Darth title, which he considered to be a symbol of power. It's very possible Bane considers the holders of the Darth title to be above any of the Sith from the Brotherhood of Darkness, such as Lords Kaan and Kas'im.



It is no accident that I took the Darth title when I gained mastery of the dark side, nor is it an accident that Kaan and his followers rejected it. It is a title of power. It carries authority and is crowned by the judgement of history. It symbolizes transformation. When I took Darth as my title, I put away my childhood name. What does it matter that I was once a miner or a soldier? The only thing that matters is what I will achieve.

ANDEDDU, REVAN, MALAK, MALGUS, RUIN - THEIR LINE CULMINATES WITH ME.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - The Rule of Two

[hideedit]

[Master AzrongerModerator]

FORCE SENSE / PRECOGNITION / FARSIGHT

I. Malgus senses the presence of Satele Shan and Kao Cen Darach.



There in the hangar I first encountered the most dangerous embodiment of the dark side I have ever experienced - the man who would later be known as Darth Malgus. Malgus and his master must’ve sensed our presence. They landed in their interceptor in the hangar entrance, blocking our escape, and the two Sith rushed to confront us. I had engaged in hundreds of practice duels with my fellow Padawans, but nothing prepared me for the sheer ferocity of the Sith. Darth Malgus would have killed me then and there were it not for Master Kao.

Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

II. Malgus has a vision about destroying the Jedi Temple.



Master Zallow, and those like him, may yet realize their errors and join the Sith cause. Until then, I will do everything in my power to rid the galaxy of them. Ever since my vision at Korriban those many years ago, I have known that my destiny is to exterminate the Jedi and topple their obscene Temple.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

Speeders, swoops, and aircars roared above him in unending streams, the motorized circulatory system of the Republic’s heart. Skyrises, bridges, lifts, and plazas covered the entire surface of Coruscant to a height of kilometers, all of it the trappings of a wealthy, decadent civilization, a sheath that sought to hide the rot in a cocoon of duracrete and transparisteel.

But Malgus smelled the decay under the veneer, and he would show them the price of weakness, of complacency.

Soon it would all burn.

He would lay waste to Coruscant. He knew this. He had known it for decades.

Memories floated up from the depths of his mind. He recalled his first pilgrimage to Korriban, remembered the profound sense of holiness he had felt as he walked in isolation through its rocky deserts, through the dusty canyons lined with the tombs of his ancient Sith forebears. He had felt the Force everywhere, had exulted in it, and in his isolation it had showed him a vision. He had seen systems in flames, the fall of a galaxy-spanning government.

He had believed then, had known then and ever since, that the destruction of the Jedi and their Republic would fall to him.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

A prolonged, irregular hum sounded as the fifty Sith warriors within the drop ship’s compartment activated their lightsabers. The sound heralded the fall of the Temple, the fall of Coruscant, the fall of the Republic.

Malgus flashed on the vision he’d seen on Korriban, of a galaxy in flames. He threw back his hood, smiled, and activated his lightsaber.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

There would be more battles with the Jedi and the Republic, of course, but with the capture and razing of Coruscant, the fall of the Republic was a certainty, only a matter of time. Soon his Force vision would be realized, then … what?

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Nothing was as it should be. Malgus had intended, had expected, to turn Coruscant into a cinder. He knew the Force intended him to topple the Republic and the corrupt Jedi who led it. His vision had shown him as much.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

His vision on Korriban had shown him a galaxy in flames. But it was not just the Republic that required cleansing by fire.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

At an early age, it was evident that there was a dark will behind young Veradun’s sensitivity to the Force. Acknowledging his impressive potential, his adoptive father arranged for Veradun to attend the Sith Academy on Dromund Kass where he would train under Sith Master Vindican. Now, having risen to the status of Sith Lord, dubbed Darth Malgus, he has become a formidable commander in the Imperial Army. Following his vision that he will be responsible for the fall of the Republic and its Jedi Order, Malgus takes his place as a defining force in the Great Galactic War.

Sixth Scale Figures: Darth Malgus

In the days of The Old Republic, there was a Sith Lord whose name struck terror in the hearts of any that heard it: Darth Malgus. Raised in the dark side since childroom, Malgus swiftly ascended through the ranks of the Sith, destroying all who stood in his way, eventually declaring himself Emperor. His strength in the dark side was matched only by his confidence. After all, the Force gave him a vision of galactic domination and the destruction of the Jedi by his hand. It was to be his destiny.

Mini Bust: Darth Malgus

III. Malgus detects a light side presence.

A sense of frustration that made him want to shout. His personal shuttle roared low over the scorched landscape. Below him, buildings and bodies smoldered in the ruins of an Alderaani town. Around him, Imperial ships prowled the sky, flying escort. He tried to unknot his fists, failed. He wanted-

The presence of a light-side Force user bumped up against his Force sensitivity, a sudden flare in his perception. He looked down and out the viewport. He saw nothing but charred ruins, rubbled buildings, burnt out vehicles. He pinched the comlink he wore.

“Turn us around.”

“My lord?” asked his pilot.

“Come about, cut speed to one quarter, and reduce altitude by one hundred meters.”

“Yes, my lord.”

As the shuttle wheeled around and slowed, Malgus overrode the safeties and lowered the landing ramp. Wind whipped into the cabin, carrying the smell of a charred planet, a planet Malgus had intended to kill, but instead had only wounded.

Someone had to pay for that.

He took the hilt of his lightsaber in hand and sank into the Force. The burned-out buildings below stuck out of the scorched earth like rotted teeth, crooked and black.

“Slower,” he said to the pilot.

He reached out through the Force, probing for the light-side presence he had felt.

At first there was nothing, and he wondered if he had been mistaken, or if the light-side user had perceived Malgus and suppressed his power. But then...
There.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

IV. Malgus senses another Jedi.

Malgus relented in his attack, backed off a few steps, and reached out through the Force. Immediately he felt the faint, intentionally suppressed signature of another light-side user to his right. The Jedi’s ally was hidden in the rubble, moving closer.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

V. Malgus senses mines.



Leading the remaining troops up the mountain trail, a tremor in the Force echoed through me. The defenders of Ord Radama had placed mines on the path. Enraged by such cowardice, I hurled a boulder from the mountainside onto the path in front of us. I then slowly rolled it twenty paces ahead of our own progress, using focused mental energy channeled through the dark side. The stone detonated each of the mines and scattered a nest of ambushers. My fire troopers took care of them with the spray of their flamethrower.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

VI. Malgus senses the deaths of Darth Venemal and a hundred thousand other life forms.



At that instant, I felt Venemal and a hundred thousand other life-forms roar with pain and then fall silent.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

VII. Malgus senses two Republic soldiers to his left.

Most of the Jedi Order’s current Masters were away, either participating in the sham negotiations on Alderaan or protecting Republic interests offplanet, but the Temple was not entirely unguarded. Three uniformed Republic soldiers, blaster rifles in hand, stood watchful near the doors. He sensed two more on a high ledge to his left.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VIII. Malgus senses fear in the Republic soldiers.

MALGUS LET HIS ANGER BUILD with each step he took toward the Temple’s entrance. The Force responded to his emotional state, caught him up in its power until he was awash in it. He sensed the seed of fear growing in the soldiers’ guts.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Malgus felt the sudden surge of terror in the two soldiers up on the ledge to his left, felt them take aim in sweaty hands, start to squeeze triggers. He flung his lightsaber at them, guided it with the Force in a flickering red arc that cut both of them down, then recalled the blade to his hand. He deactivated it and hung it from his belt.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IX. Malgus feels the presences of soldiers and Force signatures of Jedi.

Malgus felt the presence of more guards and Jedi to his right, his left, and before him.

Motion above and to his right, then to the left, drew his eyes. Curious Padawans looked down from the ledges above.

Ahead, half a dozen robed and hooded Jedi dropped from the balconies and took station in the hall. Another Jedi descended the grand staircase at the end of the hall. His Force signature radiated power, confidence—a Master.

As one, the seven Jedi moved toward Malgus and Eleena, and Malgus and Eleena moved toward them.

More and more Padawans gathered on the balconies and walkways above, sparks of light-side blasphemy flickering in Malgus’s perception.

The more powerful Force signatures of the approaching Jedi pressed against Malgus, and his against theirs, the power of each distorting the other by its presence.

In his mind, the countdown continued.

The space between him and the Jedi diminished.

The power within him grew.

They stopped at two meters. The Jedi Master threw back his hood to reveal blond hair graying at the temples, a handsome, ruddy face. Malgus knew his name from his intelligence briefings—Master Ven Zallow.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

X. Malgus senses Aryn Leneer’s presence.

MALGUS FELT A FLASH of discomfort, the irritating needle stab of a light-side user, the feeling oddly similar to that which he had felt when he’d fought Master Zallow in the Temple. The feeling lasted barely an instant and disappeared, leaving only a sensory ghost in its wake.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

MALGUS WATCHED the freighter disintegrate into flaming debris over Coruscant. He expected the faint touch of the Jedi’s Force signature to disintegrate with it, but he felt it still.

“Magnify,” he said, leaning forward in the command chair. The image on the viewscreen grew larger.

Chunks of jagged steel and a large portion of the forward section of the ship burned their way toward the surface.

“Did an escape pod launch before the ship exploded?”

“No, my lord,” Jard said. “There were no survivors.”

But there had been. The Jedi, at least, had survived. He could still feel her presence, though it was fading with distance, a splinter in the skin of his perception.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

MALGUS FELT THE SIGNATURE of another Force-user, the uncomfortable pressure of the light side, and it pulled him to his feet. The pressure reminded him of how he’d felt in the presence of Master Zallow, and he knew that Aryn Leneer had come at last.

“Take the shuttle down to fifty meters,” he said, adrenaline already coursing through his body. “And when I exit, you may leave.”

“When you exit, my lord?”

Malgus did not respond. Instead, he overrode the in-flight safeties and pushed the button to open the side hatch. As the door slid open, as the night air poured in, redolent with the stink of a ruined Temple and a burned planet, he let anger fill him.

The ship descended to fifty meters. Below, the ruined Temple was dark, covered in the velvet of night. But he perceived the presence of Aryn Leneer as clearly as he would have under a noon sun.

He stepped to the doorway, drew on the Force, activated his lightsaber, and leapt out into the dark.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XI. Malgus senses hate in Lord Adraas.

Malgus felt the hate pouring off Adraas, the power, but it paled in comparison to the rage and hate roiling in Malgus. In his mind’s eye, he saw Eleena’s face as she died. It poured fuel on the flames of his rage.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XII. Malgus senses the opportunity to seize the Imperial throne.



When the Dark Council suffers multiple losses in the war and the Emperor vanishes after battling a lone Jedi Knight on Dromund Kaas, Darth Malgus senses the opportunity to seize supreme authority. Malgus summons his allies to the Emperor’s abandoned space fortress and broadcasts a galaxy-wide message declaring himself leader of a new Empire. To save his people, Malgus enacts a plan to burn the rotten Empire to the ground and forge a new one from the ashes. Malgus’s rule would be predicated on unity and strength through diversity, forming an unbreakable chain to encircle the galaxy.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

TELEKINESIS

I. Malgus pulls Lord Vindican’s lightsaber to his hand.

https://streamable.com/u4y9g

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

II. Malgus pulls a Republic soldier to his blade.

https://streamable.com/w1vfc

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

III. Malgus pushes back Jace Malcom.

https://streamable.com/u194x

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

IV. Malgus pushes Satele Shan to a tree.

https://streamable.com/a6xqt

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

V. Malgus blasts several tons of rubble away.

Malgus stood in a pocket under a mountain of rubble, legs bent, the power from his upraised hands preventing several tons of duracrete and steel from crushing him. Dust made his already troubled breathing more difficult. He coughed as the words of his father echoed in his mind.

He’d been sloppy, so lost in his need for revenge that he’d failed to properly evaluate the Jedi’s power. He’d surrendered his reason to bloodlust. But no more. With an effort of will, he contained his anger, controlled it, made it a whetstone against which he sharpened his power. Using the Force, he blew the rubble up and away from him. It fell with a crash into the adjacent buildings. A Force-augmented leap carried him out and over the heap. The Jedi’s eyes widened as Malgus hit the street. Malgus sneered and charged.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

VI. Malgus crushes the Force resistance of a Jedi, ragdolls him and chokes him out.

Malgus loosed a furious series of overhand strikes that forced the Zabrak to retreat rapidly. Sidestepping a stab from the Jedi, Malgus rode his motion into a Force-augmented spinning side kick that hit the Jedi in the ribs and sent him cartwheeling into the wall of a nearby building. At the same time, he reached out with the Force for the hidden light-side user, brushed aside the resistance he felt, and pulled the Jedi out of hiding.

A human male in his twenties rose up out of ruins, dangling like a fish on the hook of Malgus’s power. His legs kicked futilely; the green blade of his lightsaber cut at empty air; he gagged as Malgus’s power squeezed shut his throat.

“Vorin!” shouted the Zabrak.

“So much for your ambush,” Malgus said, and closed his fist, crushing Vorin’s windpipe. He let the body fall to the charred earth. A flash of anger, quickly suppressed, shot from the Zabrak as he bounded over the rubble at Malgus. Malgus watched him come, his red blade held slack at his side.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

VII. Malgus throws and rolls a boulder.



Leading the remaining troops up the mountain trail, a tremor in the Force echoed through me. The defenders of Ord Radama had placed mines on the path. Enraged by such cowardice, I hurled a boulder from the mountainside onto the path in front of us. I then slowly rolled it twenty paces ahead of our own progress, using focused mental energy channeled through the dark side. The stone detonated each of the mines and scattered a nest of ambushers. My fire troopers took care of them with the spray of their flamethrower.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

VIII. Malgus pushes a soldier to a wall hard enough to crush his bones and then throws his lightsaber at two others.

https://streamable.com/g1xdf

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

The last word hung in the air, frozen in time, as Malgus drew on the Force and augmented his speed. The hilt of his lightsaber filled his hand and its red line split the air. He crosscut the guard before him, putting a black canyon in his chest, continued the swing through the guard on his left, and with his left hand used a blast of power to drive the third guard into the Temple wall hard enough to crush bones and kill him.

Malgus felt the sudden surge of terror in the two soldiers up on the ledge to his left, felt them take aim in sweaty hands, start to squeeze triggers. He flung his lightsaber at them, guided it with the Force in a flickering red arc that cut both of them down, then recalled the blade to his hand. He deactivated it and hung it from his belt.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IX. Malgus pushes Jedi to walls hard enough to kill them.

Malgus drew on the Force and with a blast of power drove the Padawan across the hall and into one of the towering columns of stone, where she collapsed, blood leaking from her nose. Eleena continued firing, her eyes darting here and there over the battlefield as she sought targets.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Leaping high over the male’s cross-slash, Malgus landed behind the Togruta, who parried his lightsaber strike but could not defend herself against a Force blast that sent her skidding across the hall and into a pile of rubble.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

X. Malgus ragdolls a Jedi.

https://streamable.com/4vyd9

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

He returned his gaze to Zallow and stalked toward him, his rage and power surging before him in a palpable wave. Another Jedi stepped in front of him, blue blade held high. Malgus barely saw him. He simply extended a hand, pushed through the Jedi’s insufficient defenses, seized his throat with the Force, and choked him to death. Tossing the body aside, he moved toward Zallow.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XI. Malgus throws his lightsaber and then chains a Force push into the sequence, sending Ven Zallow flying through a wall of duracrete; then he pulls his lightsaber back to his hand.

https://streamable.com/5p9st

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Malgus, burning with hate, flung his lightsaber at Zallow. He guided its trajectory with the Force, and it spun a sizzling path through the air at Zallow’s neck. But Zallow, riding the momentum of his attack on the second Sith, leapt into the air and over the blade.

While Zallow was still in the air, Malgus unleashed a blast of energy that caught the Jedi unprepared and sent him crashing downward into a pile of rubble. He lay there, prone.

Malgus did not hesitate. He mounted the column of his anger, shouting with hate, and leapt twenty meters into the air toward Zallow. Mid-jump, he used the Force to recall his blade to his hand, took a reverse two-handed grip, and prepared to pin Zallow to the Temple floor.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

She rose from her chair as the duel began to unfold, stepping closer to the monitor. She watched them trade flurries, each test the other’s skill. She watched Malgus throw his lightsaber, saw Master Zallow leap over it, saw Malgus knock him from the air in the midst of his leap and follow up with a leaping charge that Master Zallow avoided at the last minute.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XII. Malgus stops a rock mid-air and crushes it.

From somewhere ahead, a fist-sized piece of duracrete arced over the crowd toward him. Without moving, he stopped it in mid-flight with the Force. He let it hang suspended in the air for a moment, so the crowd could see it, before he used the Force to crush it to pieces.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XIII. Malgus shoves back bodies, shakes a transport ship and blows doors in with a Force wave.

When the crowd did not respond to his demand, he slammed a fist into his palm and let anger-fueled power explode outward from his body. Screams sounded as the blast shoved everything away from him in all directions.

Bodies flew backward, slammed into one another, into the walls, against and through windows. The transport he’d rode on lurched from the blast. The doors of the medical facility flew from their mounts and crashed to the ground.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XIV. Malgus opens Vrath Xizor’s binders.

He dismissed the guards who flanked Vrath and, with a gesture, used the Force to pry open the binders on Vrath’s wrists. They fell to the floor of the bridge with a dull clang.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XV. Malgus blasts Vrath Xizor to a wall.

Malgus used a blast of power to throw Vrath against the far wall.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XVI. Malgus shakes a column and smashes to pieces of statuary into each other.

Malgus gestured with his left hand, and the column she stood on began to shake. She leapt off it to another nearby, then another, then another, leapfrogging her way across the ruins, back toward Malgus.

When she landed atop a large chunk of stone ten meters from the Sith, he made a cutting gesture with his free hand and two pieces of statuary rose from the rubble and rushed toward her from either side. She leapt into the air and they smashed into each other beneath her, spraying shards of rock. She landed atop the remains, lightsaber ready.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XVII. Malgus shoves Aryn Leneer into a mound of rubble.

“Your Master was not,” Malgus said, grunting, and shoved her with a telekinetic blast of such force that she flew backward and slammed into the rock and rubble. She used the Force to cushion the impact, but she still landed on her back and the impact blew the breath from her lungs.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Malgus bounced up from the somersault and loosed a telekinetic blast that lifted Aryn from her feet and blew her across the hangar. She slammed into one of the shuttle’s bulkheads, but used the Force to cushion the blow so that it did no harm. Bouncing off the cool metal, she charged Malgus.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XVIII. Malgus overpowers Aryn Leneer’s telekinetic hold over Ven Zallow’s lightsaber and snatches it from mid-air:

Using the Force to guide it, she hurled Master Zallow’s lightsaber at Malgus. The blade cut a glittering green arc through the air as it spun end over end toward Malgus’s head.

Despite his wound, the Sith slapped aside Aryn’s Force-hold on the blade and snatched it out of the air, as quick as a sand viper. He deactivated the blade, held the hilt in his hand, studied it. He looked up and over at Aryn, his eyes burning. She imagined him smiling under his respirator.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XIX. Malgus grips a shuttle while it is accelerating, trying to hold it in place, combatting the power of its thrusters with his strength in the Force.

He reached out with the Force as Razor continued its rise, tried to take it in his mental grasp. Its ascent slowed. He held forth both of his arms, made claws of his hands, and shouted with frustration as he sought to hold back the power of the ship’s thrusters.

He felt a tightness in his mind, the string of his power being drawn taut, stretching, stretching. He would not release the ship. Its thrusters began to whine. He held it, teeth gritted, sweat soaking his body, his breath a dry rattle through his respirator.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XX. Malgus closes hangar doors and turns emergency locks into place.

He ignited his lightsaber and his eyes and the plates of his armor reflected its red glow. He reached a hand behind him, made a sharp, cutting gesture, and the doors to the hangar slammed closed. Another gesture and the emergency locks turned into place.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XXI. Malgus shoves two Imperial guards to a wall hard enough to crack bone and kill them.

He drew on the Force, gestured as if he were shooing away insects, and sent both of the troopers flying against the wall of the manse hard enough to crack bone. Both sagged to the ground, unmoving. The black eyes of their helmets stared at Malgus.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XXII. Malgus ragdolls Lord Adraas.

Adraas growled as he climbed to his feet. Power gathered around him, a black storm of energy, and he leapt at Malgus, his blade held high.

Malgus sneered, gestured, seized Adraas in his power, and pulled him from the air at the apex of his leap.

Adraas hit the ground in a heap, his breath coming in wheezes. He climbed to all fours, then to his feet, favoring his side, his blade held limply before him.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

He deactivated his lightsaber, held up his left hand, and made a pincer of his fingers.

Adraas tried to use his own power to defend himself but Malgus pushed through it and took telekinetic hold of Adraas’s throat.

Adraas gagged, the capillaries in his wide eyes beginning to pop. Malgus’s power lifted Adraas from the floor, his legs kicking, gasping.

Malgus stood directly before Adraas, his hate the vise closing on Adraas’s trachea.

“You and Angral caused this, Adraas. And the Emperor. There can be no peace with the Jedi, no truce.” He clenched his fist. “There can be no peace, at all. Not ever.”

Adraas’s only answer was continued gagging.

Seeing him there, hanging, near death, Malgus thought of Eleena, of Adraas’s description of her. He released Adraas from the clutch of his Force choke.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

XXIII.  Malgus activates the self-destruct sequence of the Emperor’s space station.

https://streamable.com/da5l3

Star Wars: The Old Republic

XXIV. Malgus pushes Darth Nox/the Barsen’thor and the Grand Champion/Voidhound away without gestures, after which he pushes the Emperor’s Wrath/Hero of Tython and Cipher Nine/Meteor away with gestures.

https://streamable.com/oy0gu

Star Wars: The Old Republic

XXV. Malgus hurls Darth Malora back.

https://streamable.com/st0um

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

XXVII. Malgus throws back the Alliance Commander, then Tau Idair and Arn Peralun, and finally dislodges a massive power generator from the ceiling.

https://streamable.com/qfajc

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

FORCE LIGHTNING

I. Malgus knocks out Jace Malcom with lightning.

https://streamable.com/u194x

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

II. Malgus chars a Jedi’s skin, cracks his horns and burns holes in his body.

At 10 meters, Malgus extended his free hand and loosed veins of blue Force lightning. They struck the charging Jedi: swept through his defenses, swirled around him, and began to burn flesh.

Shouting with pain, the Jedi leaned forward into the lightning - teeth bare, blue blades held before him - and staggered toward Malgus. Despite his burns, he came onward. One step, another, another, but he was failing, wilting in the heat of the lightning. Malgus channeled more power and the Jedi fell to his knees, screaming. The lightning spiraled around the Zabrak, blasting dark holes in his body. The lightsabers fell from his hands and he writhed in agony, screaming his pain into the sky.

Malgus ended his attack. The Jedi, ruined, fell to the ground and rolled over onto his back. His breathing sounded worse than Malgus’s.

***

The Jedi, his face twisted with pain, stared up at Malgus. One of the horns on his head had cracked from the heat of the Force lightning. The Jedi’s eyes went to the deactivated lightsaber in Malgus’s fist and he cocked his head.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

The Jedi in question was powerful enough to casually collapse two Alderaani buildings with telekinesis.

The Jedi held his ground. At twenty meters, the Jedi raised his lightsabers aloft to either side and drew them both down with a flourish.

Too late the rumble of the falling buildings penetrated the haze of Malgus’s anger. An avalanche of duracrete and transparisteel crashed down on him from either side of the street…

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

III. Malgus kills three Jedi with a single burst of lightning.

Malgus, not to be outdone, picked a Jedi Knight at random, a human female ten meters away, held forth his left hand, and discharged veins of blue lightning from his fingertips. The jagged lines of energy cut a swath through the battle, harvesting two Padawans as they went, until they caught up to the Jedi Knight and lifted her off her feet.

She screamed as the lightning ripped into her, her flesh made temporarily translucent from the dark power coursing through her. Malgus savored her pain as she died.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IV. Malgus overpowers Aryn Leneer with lightning. Note how in their first encounter she powered through his barrage, but the second time, during a rage amp, he overpowered her utterly, indicating that Malgus’ boost was great enough to enable him to one-shot those equal to his former self, and by proxy, one-shot his former self as well.

She took the hilt of Master Zallow’s lightsaber in her off hand, crouched, and bounded into a leap toward him. He watched her come and at the apex of the leap’s arc, he thrust his left hand at her, roaring, and veins of Force lightning squirmed toward her.

Ready for it, she activated Master Zallow’s lightsaber, used it to form an X with her own, and intercepted the lightning on the two blades.

His power met her will. The lightning twisted around the glowing blades. The force of it stopped her downward descent and held her aloft in the air for a moment, suspended on a column built of the dark side.

And then she overcame it. The lightning dissipated to nothingness and she, unharmed by it, fell straight down, landing on her feet atop a shifting pile of rubble and deactivating Master Zallow’s blade.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

As Aryn prepared to leap at Malgus, he held forth a hand, almost casually, and lightning sizzled through the space between them. Aryn interposed her lightsabers, but the power in the lightning exceeded anything she had felt from Malgus before. It blasted through her defenses and both lightsabers flew from her hands. The lightning seized her, lifted her up, and threw her from the top of the shuttle.

As she flew toward the deck, she smelled burning flesh, heard screaming, realized that it was her flesh, her screams. She hit the ground hard and her head bounced off the ground. Sparks erupted in her brain, pain, and everything went dark.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

V. Malgus roasts Lord Adraas with lightning.

Adraas snarled, started to charge toward Malgus, a last-ditch attempt to salvage his dignity if not his life.

Malgus held forth his hand and the rage within him manifested in blue veins of lightning that discharged from his fingertips and slammed into Adraas. The power stopped Adraas’s charge cold, blew his lightsaber from his hand, caught him up in a cage of burning lightning. He screamed, squirming in frustration and pain.

“End it, Malgus! End it!”

Malgus unclenched his fingers and released the lightning. Adraas fell to the ground, his flesh smoking, the skin of his once handsome face blistered and peeling. Again he rose to all fours and looked up at Malgus.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VI. Malgus brings a strike team consisting of the Emperor’s Wrath, Darth Nox, the Grand Champion of the Great Hunt and Cipher Nine; or the Hero of Tython, the Barsen’thor, the Meteor and the Voidhound  to their knees with lightning. The Emperor’s Wrath/Hero of Tython had his lightsaber drawn yet failed to react to the lightning bolts despite Malgus being a great distance away.

https://streamable.com/r66al

Star Wars: The Old Republic

VII. Malgus knew Force maelstrom, a combination of Force lightning and Force barrier, and could use it to annihilate his enemies.



MALGUS HARNESSED THE FORCE MAELSTROM TO ANNIHILATE THE UNREADY.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Absolute Power

FORCE DEFENCE

I. Malgus tanks Lord Vindican’s reflected lightning, only being knocked back briefly.

https://streamable.com/86vct

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

Vindican is powerful enough to knock back Satele a much further distance, melt parts of a starship's exterior, and tank a rocket missile from Jace Malcom.

https://streamable.com/uoa51

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

https://streamable.com/hy6x4

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

II. Malgus tanks the explosion of a fuel tank with no injuries whatsoever.

https://streamable.com/7ffad

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

III. Malgus easily deflects a rocket from Jace Malcom and tanks another one to the face.

https://streamable.com/d1vnn

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

IV. Malgus tanks a grenade to the face and gets up a few seconds later.

https://streamable.com/qdwg2

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

V. Malgus and a group of other Sith encase themselves in a barrier that deflects flying rubble and explosions.

Presently, the charges were set and Malgus held a remote detonator in his hand. He eyed the Temple one last time, its towers, the stacked tiers of the central structure, the toppled statues, the great entryway made into a rough and jagged sneerby the passage of the drop ship. The rest of his Sith forces stood gathered around him.

“Should we remove to a safe distance?” Adraas asked.

Malgus regarded him with contempt. “This is a safe distance.”

“We are twenty meters away from the entrance,” Adraas said.

Staring into Adraas’s face, Malgus activated the detonator. A series of low booms sounded, starting deep within the Temple and drawing closer as the charges exploded in sequence and undermined the Temple’s foundation.

A strong gust of dust and loose debris blew out of the entrance. The explosions on the upper levels began, grew louder, fiercer. Stone cracked. Large chunks fell from the Temple’s façade and crashed to the ground. Flames were visible through the entrance. A whole series of explosions followed in rapid succession, the sound of the snapping spine of the Jedi Order.

The huge edifice, a symbol of the Jedi for centuries, began to fall in on itself. The towers collapsed in its wake, the huge spires crumbling as if in slowed motion. A jet of fire and bits of rock moving faster than the speed of sound exploded out of the now-collapsing entrance.

Instead of taking cover, Malgus fell into the Force, raised both of his hands, palms outward, and formed a transparent wall of power before himself and his warriors. His fellow Sith joined him, mirroring his gesture, mirroring his power. Rocks and debris pelted into the shared barrier, the speeding shrapnel of ruin. The jet of flame struck it and parted around it, water to a stone.

The Temple continued its slow demise, falling inward, shrinking into a shapeless mound of rubble and ruin. And then it was over.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VI. Malgus knew Force maelstrom, a combination of Force lightning and Force barrier.



MALGUS HARNESSED THE FORCE MAELSTROM TO ANNIHILATE THE UNREADY.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Absolute Power

FORCE SCREAM

I. Malgus screams so loud it shakes the transparisteel viewport, caused bleeding in the crew’s ears, and exploded fuel slugs of enemy starfighters.



The strength of my scream buckled the bridge’s transparisteel viewport and left the crew’s ears bleeding. More gratifyingly, my rage overloaded the fuel slugs of an incoming wave of Aureks. The bright burst of their deaths raised a smile.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Journal of Darth Malgus

II. Malgus’ shout shatters a stone pillar.

Anger refilled him, overcame him. A shout of hate, raw and jagged, burst from his throat. Power went with it, shattering a nearby column and sending a rain of stone shards through the room.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

III. Malgus’ shout causes the ceiling and walls of Lord Adraas’ stronghold to vibrate.

“Adraas!” he shouted, putting enough power into his voice to cause the ceiling and walls to vibrate. “Adraas!”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

FORCE CONCEALMENT

I. Malgus conceals his Force signature.

He focused on keeping his Force signature suppressed. He did not want anyone to learn of his presence prematurely.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

TELEPATHY

I. Malgus appears to telepathically order his guards to stand down.

https://streamable.com/hrdn7

Star Wars: The Old Republic

II. Malgus seemingly powers through Gnost-Dural’s mind-tricks and illusions (see the “COMBAT PROWESS - FEATS” section for details).

https://streamable.com/hdc2w

Darth Malgus: “Gnost-Dural is a master of mind-tricks. Do not let yourself be deceived.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

https://streamable.com/uugf0

Darth Malgus: “These are illusions. Nothing more.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

[hideedit]

[Master AzrongerModerator]

STRENGTH

I. Malgus’ essentially bench-presses several tons of duracrete and steel with his brachial strength.

Malgus stood in a pocket under a mountain of rubble, legs bent, the power from his upraised hands preventing several tons of duracrete and steel from crushing him. Dust made his already troubled breathing more difficult. He coughed as the words of his father echoed in his mind.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

II. Malgus’ kick sends a Jedi cartwheeling into a nearby building.

Malgus loosed a furious series of overhand strikes that forced the Zabrak to retreat rapidly. Sidestepping a stab from the Jedi, Malgus rode his motion into a Force-augmented spinning side kick that hit the Jedi in the ribs and sent him cartwheeling into the wall of a nearby building. At the same time, he reached out with the Force for the hidden light-side user, brushed aside the resistance he felt, and pulled the Jedi out of hiding.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

III. Malgus’ kick folds a Jedi in half and sends him flying five paces.

Malgus augmented his strength with the Force, took a two-handed grip on his blade, and unleashed an overhand slash designed to split the Jedi in half. The Jedi sidestepped the blow and crosscut with his blue blade at Malgus’s throat. Malgus got his blade up in time, parried, and slammed a kick into the Jedi’s mid-section. The blow folded the Jedi in half, sent him reeling backward five paces. Malgus leapt into the air, flipped, landed behind him, and drove his blade through the Jedi. Roaring with battle lust, Malgus sought another opponent.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IV. Malgus tosses a Jedi over his head, one-handed.

https://streamable.com/0s2bn

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

V. Malgus grabs Jedi by the throat and body-slams them to the ground, one-handed.

https://streamable.com/xukp3

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Before he could locate the Jedi Master, three more Jedi swarmed him. He parried the chop of a human male, leapt over the low slash of an orange-skinned Togruta female, severed the hand of the third, a female human, disarming her, then grabbed her by the throat with his free hand and slammed her into the floor with his Force-enhanced strength.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VI. Malgus lifts a Jedi off the ground and crushes his throat with one hand.

He ducked under a slash from the male, lunged forward, and took the Jedi by the throat. He lifted him from his feet and held him suspended in the air, gagging. The Jedi’s brown eyes showed no fear, but did show pain. Malgus roared, squeezed hard, then dropped the body and stood over it, blade at his side, breath coming hard. The battle still swirled around him and he stood in its center, the eye of the Sith storm.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VII. Malgus’ kick sends Ven Zallow flying ten meters backwards.

https://streamable.com/6bil9

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Malgus spun into a high, Force-augmented kick that hit Zallow in the chest and sent him flying backward ten meters. Zallow flipped and landed upright in a crouch near two of Malgus’s Sith warriors.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VIII. Malgus’ punch sends Aryn Leneer cartwheeling into a mound of rubble.

He must have sensed his danger at the last moment for he slid partially aside. Still, the green line of Master Zallow’s blade pierced his armor and side and elicited a snarl of pain and rage. Before Aryn could follow up, Malgus drove an open hand into the side of her face.

She was unready for the blow. The Force-augmented impact exploded a spark shower in her brain and sent her cartwheeling away from Malgus; she slammed into a rock and landed on her side ten meters away. Adrenaline pulled her to her feet, though she swayed unsteadily. She spat a mouthful of blood and held both lightsabers at the ready.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IX. Malgus’ kick shatters Lord Adraas’ ribs and sends him flying into a column so hard it breaks.

Malgus picked up his pace, turned the walk into a charge. His boots thumped off the wood floor of the hall. He did not bother with finesse. He vented his rage in a continuous roar as he unleashed a furious series of blows: an overhand slash that Adraas parried; a low stab that Adraas barely sidestepped; a side kick that connected to Adraas’s side, broke ribs, and flung Adraas fully across the narrow axis of the hall. He crashed into a column and the impact split it as would lightning a tree.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

X. Malgus’ strength was enhanced even further by his cybernetic overhaul.

https://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20181220-5



Recovered from the wreckage of his coup attempt and revived with a dizzying array of exotic and cutting-edge technologies, Darth Malgus is as powerful and ruthless as ever. His face bears even more scars, his body even more cybernetics; his armor has been reconstructed and enhanced to increase his strength and endurance further still. But through all of this change, Malgus the man has retained the same unyielding determination in pursuit of his sole, brutal goal: the total annihilation of the Jedi, the destruction of the corrupt Republic they serve, and the evolution of the Empire into a society worthy of the power of the Sith.

swtor.com: Return of Darth Malgus in ‘Jedi Under Siege’ (2018)

SPEED

I. Malgus contends with the speed of Satele Shan, who was capable of speedblitzing Sith Lords.

https://streamable.com/4enmk

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

II. Malgus speedblitzes three Jedi in less than two seconds.

https://streamable.com/0s2bn

Star Wars: The Old Republic Trailer - Deceived

Before he could locate the Jedi Master, three more Jedi swarmed him. He parried the chop of a human male, leapt over the low slash of an orange-skinned Togruta female, severed the hand of the third, a female human, disarming her, then grabbed her by the throat with his free hand and slammed her into the floor with his Force-enhanced strength.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

A human male Jedi Knight separated from the swirl of battle and stabbed at Malgus. Malgus sidestepped the blue line of the blade, punched the man in the stomach, doubling him over, and raised his own blade for a killing blow.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

III. Malgus contends with the speed of Ven Zallow, who was capable of speedblitzing some of the greatest Sith Warriors in the Sith Empire.

https://streamable.com/cx7ur

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

https://www.swtor.com/info/media/trailers/deceived-cinematic-trailer



Republic leaders have traveled to Alderaan to engage in promised peace talks with the Sith Empire. The most powerful Jedi have accompanied them to safeguard against an Imperial deception. The Empire’s real motive, however, was simply to lure the Republic’s strongest defenders away from Coruscant and set the stage for an audacious attack. Under the command of Lord Angral, the Sith fleet approaches the Republic’s capital planet for the first time in centuries. In advance of the fleet, the strongest Sith Warriors have flown a stolen Republic ship into Coruscant’s orbit. Their mission is critical - to destroy the planet’s defense grid mainframe hidden in the heart of the Jedi Temple.

swtor.com: Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Malgus finally spotted Master Zallow ten paces away, whirling, spinning, his green blade a blur of precision and speed. One Sith warrior fell to him, another. Lord Adraas landed before him, trying to take Malgus’s kill for himself. Adraas ducked low and slashed at Zallow’s knees. Zallow leapt over the blow and unleashed a blast of energy that sent Adraas skidding on his backside across the hall.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Zallow, for his part, moved toward Malgus. A Sith warrior bounded at Zallow from his left, but Zallow leapt over the Sith’s blade, spun, slashed, and cut down the Sith.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Malgus spun into a high, Force-augmented kick that hit Zallow in the chest and sent him flying backward ten meters. Zallow flipped and landed upright in a crouch near two of Malgus’s Sith warriors.

They lunged for him and Zallow parried one blow, leapt over the second, and spun a rapid circle, cutting down both Sith.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

IV. Malgus keeps up with the speed of Aryn Leneer, who could move fast enough to perceive a millisecond as normal time, appear as existing in multiple places at once to a non-Force user, react faster than any machine, and perceive ships entering and exiting hyperspace in slow motion. Their duel was also so fast a non-Force user could barely follow their movements.

The moment she landed, Malgus was upon her, his blade slashing, stabbing, spinning. He tried to use his superior strength to force her off the stone, off balance, but she answered his strength with speed, sidestepping his blows, leaping over them, parrying, unleashing her own flurries. The hum of their weapons through the air, the sizzle of crossed blades, merged into a single song of speed and power.

***

ZEERID FLEW THE SPEEDER full-throttle at over a hundred meters in altitude. He watched an Imperial shuttle accelerate into the sky from the vicinity of the Jedi Temple. Thinking of Aryn, he felt his stomach flutter. He flew still higher, hoping to catch a glimpse of her near the Temple.

And he did.

She and Darth Malgus bounded across the ruins of the Temple, their blades flashing, locking, the speed of their duel so fast Zeerid could barely follow their movement. Despite himself, he found the combat beautiful.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Aryn did not bother to respond. She dwelled in the Force, floated in and on the warm network of lines that connected all things, one to another. Her consciousness expanded to see and feel everything near her. She focused on her perception of the passage of time, first on how it felt as she moved through it, then on spreading it, stretching it, until she could linger in a millisecond as if it were a moment, then a minute. To Zeerid it would appear that she were a blur of motion, existing simultaneously in multiple places. To her, it felt as if the universe around her had stilled. She smiled, seeing the moments that hung before her, each millisecond a long moment in which she could think, in which she could act. The effort taxed her, and she knew she could not maintain it for long.

“Watch the scanner,” Zeerid said, his words a lifetime in the utterance.

She did not watch the scanner. Her body could respond faster than any machine. Instead she watched the viewscreen. The Imperial ships had finished their hydrogen skim and now maneuvered into a formation suitable for a hyperspace jump, the supply ships within the ring of the frigate escort.

She tensed.

“They’re forming up,” Zeerid said. The waves of his tension crashed against her but she dammed them off, did not allow them to disrupt her focus.

She watched, waited, waited …

As one, the Imperial ships began to stretch in her perception. For a nanosecond, all of them seemed to stretch to infinity, their rear engines a hundred thousand kilometers off Fatman’s bow, their forms reaching across and through an incomprehensible distance. She knew it was illusion, that is was a trick of her perception caused by the moment they entered hyperspace seeming to freeze before her eyes.

She engaged Fatman’s hyperdrive and the black night of space turned blue.

“Now, Aryn! Now!” Zeerid said, but he was far too late.

They were already gone.

She remained immersed in the Force as Fatman surged through hyperspace. The ordinary maddening churn slowed to a crawl of spirals and whorls, the script of the universe writ large in characters of blue, turquoise, midnight, and lavender. She fancied there might be meaning inthe lines, an important revelation that hung before her, just beyond the reach of her consciousness.

She lost track of the slow passage of time. Zeerid spoke to her from time to time but his words bounced off her perception, ricocheted without her comprehension. In time, something he said penetrated her understanding.

“Coming out, Aryn. Be ready.”

She watched Zeerid, moving in slow motion, pull back on the lever that engaged the hyperdrive.

She readied herself, and the moment the blue of hyperspace started to fade into black, she pushed a series of buttons and switches that turned Fatman cold except for life support, thrusters, and the small amount of power they’d need to create an electromagnetic bond.

The blue disappeared in favor of the midnight of space, and she returned to normal perception.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

DURABILITY / ENDURANCE / STAMINA

I. Malgus takes a grenade to the face, gets smashed to the side of a cliff and hit with a Force blast that explodes the cliffside. Despite the attack literally blowing up rocks, Malgus’ body stayed intact, and although his injuries required immediate medical treatment and warranted cybernetic reconstruction, he gets up a few minutes later, feels no pain whatsoever and is still in fighting condition.

https://streamable.com/x2wbl

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

I entered the battlefield and was immediately disheartened to realize that the Sith Lord Darth Malgus was leading the enemy forces. After our last confrontation over Korriban, I had dreaded the possibility of another confrontation with Malgus, and my life was nearly forfeit again on this occasion. It was only the determination and strength of Captain Malcom that prevented it from happening. Together though, we managed to defeat Darth Malgus and left him for dead, buried beneath a mountain of rubble.

Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

Malgus’s brutal campaign nearly ended forever when he suffered a crushing defeat battling Jace Malcom, commander of the elite Havoc Squad, and Satele Shan on Alderaan. The Empire’s greatest surgeons and cyberneticists repaired Malgus’s broken body and installed a special breathing apparatus to conceal his ruined face. Malgus emerged from this ordeal lusting for revenge, and he volunteered to lead the devastating surprise attack on the Jedi Temple at Coruscant. Though he had hoped to find Satele Shan among the temple’s defenders, Malgus was content to see the Jedi Temple blasted into rubble along with everyone else inside.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

He clenched his fists so hard it made his fingers ache. His breathing sounded like a rasp over wood. His skin stung from burns. A Republic commando had exploded a grenade in his face, and combat with a Jedi witch had damaged his lungs. Lacerations and contusions made a grim mosaic on his flesh.

But he felt no pain. He felt only anger.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

He felt it as an irritation behind his eyes, an itch only violence could scratch. He shed his cloak and stepped to the edge of the landing ramp. The wind pulled at him. Anger swelled in him, buoyed him up. The Force anchored him in place. He pinched his comlink again.

“Hover above the ruins until I return.”

“Return, my lord? Where are you going? You’re seriously wounded.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

II. Malgus jumps from an aircraft to the ground, cushioning the impact the Force.

Malgus deactivated the comlink and leapt off the ramp into the open air. He ignited his blade as the ground rushed up to meet him. Using the Force to cushion the impact, he hit the ground in a crouch.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

III. Malgus tanks an Alderaani building falling on top of him while already sporting the aforementioned injuries. Afterwards he still gets up and is able to fight and kill two Jedi (see the “COMBAT PROWESS - FEATS” section for details).

The Jedi held his ground. At twenty meters, the Jedi raised his lightsabers aloft to either side and drew them both down with a flourish.

Too late the rumble of the falling buildings penetrated the haze of Malgus’s anger. An avalanche of duracrete and transparisteel crashed down on him from either side of the street…

***

Malgus stood in a pocket under a mountain of rubble, legs bent, the power from his upraised hands preventing several tons of duracrete and steel from crushing him. Dust made his already troubled breathing more difficult. He coughed as the words of his father echoed in his mind.

He’d been sloppy, so lost in his need for revenge that he’d failed to properly evaluate the Jedi’s power. He’d surrendered his reason to bloodlust. But no more. With an effort of will, he contained his anger, controlled it, made it a whetstone against which he sharpened his power. Using the Force, he blew the rubble up and away from him. It fell with a crash into the adjacent buildings. A Force-augmented leap carried him out and over the heap. The Jedi’s eyes widened as Malgus hit the street. Malgus sneered and charged.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

IV. After his cybernetic reconstruction, Malgus was equipped with a respirator mask that maximized his oxygen intake in battle, likely enhancing his stamina.



Respirator masks maximize oxygen intake during battle.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

V. Malgus takes a punch to the face from Ven Zallow, which knocks aside his respirator and dislodges a tooth, without feeling any pain, only pretending to be hurt.

https://streamable.com/o22t5

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Lunging forward, Zallow slashed crosswise, Malgus parried, and Zallow slammed the hilt of his saber into the side of Malgus’s jaw.

A tooth dislodged and his respirator was knocked askew. Malgus tasted blood, but he was too deep in the Force for the blow to do real damage. He staggered backward a step, as if the blow had stunned him.

Seeing an opening, Zallow stepped forward and crosscut for Malgus’s throat.

As Malgus knew he would do.

Malgus turned his blade vertical to parry the blow and spun out of the blade lock. Reversing his lightsaber during the spin, he rode it into a stab that pierced Zallow’s abdomen and came out the other side.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

They engaged on the far side of the hall, Master Zallow loosing a torrent of blows. Malgus fell back under the onslaught, but Aryn saw that he was drawing Master Zallow in.

And then it happened.

Master Zallow slammed the hilt of his lightsaber into the side of Malgus’s face, driving him back a step. He moved to follow up but Malgus anticipated it, spun, and drove his lightsaber through Master Zallow’s abdomen.

“That’s enough, Tee-seven,” Zeerid said. “We’ve seen enough.”

“We haven’t,” Aryn said. “Play it again, Tee-seven.”

The droid did.

“Again.”

“Again. He says something at the end. Close up on his mouth.”

T7 did as she asked. Master Zallow’s blow to Malgus’s face had knocked his respirator aside and Aryn could see the Sith’s scarred, deformed lips. He mouthed words to Master Zallow as Master Zallow died. Aryn read his lips, whispered the words.

“It’s all going to burn.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VI. Malgus endures the pain of having his hand burned by Lord Adraas’ lightning.

Adraas snarled and held forth his left hand. Force lightning crackled from his fingertips, filled the space between them.

Malgus interposed his lightsaber, drew the lightning to it, and started walking toward Adraas. The power swirled around the red blade, sizzling, crackling, pushed against Malgus, but he strode through it. The skin of his hands blistered but Malgus endured the pain, paid it as the price of his cause.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

VII. Malgus’ endurance was enhanced even further by his cybernetic overhaul.

https://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20181220-5



Recovered from the wreckage of his coup attempt and revived with a dizzying array of exotic and cutting-edge technologies, Darth Malgus is as powerful and ruthless as ever. His face bears even more scars, his body even more cybernetics; his armor has been reconstructed and enhanced to increase his strength and endurance further still. But through all of this change, Malgus the man has retained the same unyielding determination in pursuit of his sole, brutal goal: the total annihilation of the Jedi, the destruction of the corrupt Republic they serve, and the evolution of the Empire into a society worthy of the power of the Sith.

swtor.com: Return of Darth Malgus in ‘Jedi Under Siege’

VIII. Darth Sidious, the most powerful and knowledgeable Sith Lord of all time, listed Malgus as a prime example of how rage can sustain a wounded warrior. His journal was then given to Darth Vader to regain his motivation after Mustafar.



The excerpts from the journal of Darth Malgus kept during the Great Galactic War some thirty-six centuries ago are a prime example of how a wounded warrior can be sustained by rage. The war was an unbounded success for the era’s Sith Emperor, and Malgus was one of his best soldiers. I obtained this text many decades ago from a dealer in antiquities, and have recently passed it to Darth Vader so he might gain inspiration.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Secrets from the Dark Side

IMMOVABILITY

I. Malgus roots himself in place with the Force.

He felt it as an irritation behind his eyes, an itch only violence could scratch. He shed his cloak and stepped to the edge of the landing ramp. The wind pulled at him. Anger swelled in him, buoyed him up. The Force anchored him in place. He pinched his comlink again.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

As the transport lifted him away from the ruins of the Jedi Temple, wind whipped around the bay and pawed at his cloak. He stood at the edge of the ramp and used the Force to anchor himself in place. From there, he surveyed Coruscant, the planet that should have been destroyed.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

[hideedit]

[Master AzrongerModerator]

ACCOLADES

Malgus was already one of the greatest warriors in the Sith Empire even before the start of the Great Galactic War.



Even before the Great War, Malgus was widely regarded as one of the greatest warriors in the Sith Empire. His patriotism, commitment, and will were unsurpassed by his peers and prized by his pureblooded Sith Master, Lord Vindican. Malgus led multiple expeditions into the Unknown Regions when the Empire’s resources grew scarce or its borders required expansion. He was revered by the Imperial soldiers under his command, who found in Malgus a Sith who respected their service and drove them to excellence.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

In the aftermath of the Great Galactic War, Grand Master Satele Shan writes that Darth Malgus was the most dangerous darksider she had ever encountered, which would include Darth Baras and Darth Angral.



There in the hangar I first encountered the most dangerous embodiment of the dark side I have ever experienced - the man who would later be known as Darth Malgus. Malgus and his master must’ve sensed our presence. They landed in their interceptor in the hangar entrance, blocking our escape, and the two Sith rushed to confront us. I had engaged in hundreds of practice duels with my fellow Padawans, but nothing prepared me for the sheer ferocity of the Sith. Darth Malgus would have killed me then and there were it not for Master Kao.

Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

Darth Malgus is a notable Sith Warrior.



NOTABLE SITH WARRIORS: Darth Malgus, Darth Marr, Darth Decimus

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

Darth Malgus implies he could defeat Revan on the Foundry, and states afterwards only Darth Nox and the Emperor’s Wrath could have done the same, meaning he likely believes himself to be superior to all other Sith in the Empire sans the protagonists and obviously the Emperor himself.

https://streamable.com/b6hjw

Darth Malgus: “The Foundry will be ours, and you will eliminate the Jedi Master.”

The Grand Champion of the Great Hunt: “Not every day you fight a three-hundred-year-old Jedi.”

Darth Malgus: “It is a privilege I envy you.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Darth Malgus: “The Foundry will be ours, and you will eliminate the Jedi Master.”

Darth Nox: “Why don’t you do it yourself?”

Darth Malgus: “Much as I would like to handle this personally, other matters require my attention.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

https://streamable.com/qa6mn

Darth Malgus: “This is how the Empire will prevail--not only through superior armament, but through superior individuals. No other Sith could have struck such a blow or defeated the heretic Revan.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Hero of Tython, the most powerful and skilled Jedi of the time, claims Darth Malgus’ lightsaber form is flawless.

https://streamable.com/3w5r7

The Hero of Tython: “Malgus’s lightsaber form was flawless, but he let anger and desperation cloud his fighting. He faltered, and I followed through.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Alec Ranin states that Malgus is possibly the Empire's most feared battle commander, and the Alliance Commander agrees that Malgus is dangerous and that they can't afford to hold anything back with someone like him opposing them.

https://streamable.com/kj633

Alec Ranin: "At the request of Republic personnel, you defended the Jedi colony on Ossus when it came under Imperial attack. It was during that attack that we learned of the survival of Darth Malgus, possibly the Empire's most feared battle commander. How did his reappearance make you feel?"

The Alliance Commander: "Malgus is dangerous, but we've beaten him before. We can do it again."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Dantooine Incursion

https://streamable.com/8r33v

Alec Ranin: "At the request of Republic personnel, you defended the Jedi colony on Ossus when it came under Imperial attack. It was during that attack that we learned of the survival of Darth Malgus, possibly the Empire's most feared battle commander. How did his reappearance make you feel?"

The Alliance Commander: "The Empire is clearly taking this war seriously--so we have to do the same. We can't hold back anything when we're facing an enemy like that."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Dantooine Incursion

Malgus is said by The Old Republic's then-lead writer, Charles Boyd, to be only a "bit" below Arcann in Force power as of Onslaught, but having far more fighting experience and tenacity, so in "a fair fight devoid of narrative," Boyd could see a battle between the two going either way. For context, Arcann was far more powerful than the protagonists, the Hero of Tython, the Barsen'thor, Darth Nox, and the Emperor's Wrath II, to the point where defeating him seemed a hopeless prospect without artificial empowerment from Valkorion.



Charles Boyd: "Thanks! The winner would be whichever made for a more interesting story/fit the flow of the narrative I was telling

"In general, I feel Arcann has at least a bit more raw 'power,' so to speak, but Malgus has far more experience and is ridiculously tenacious. So even in a 'fair fight' devoid of narrative, I could see it going either way."

Discord

Malgus is the Sith Empire's deadliest warrior as of Onslaught and easily second only to the Sith Emperor himself in infamy and renown in the galaxy.



Aside from the Sith Emperor himself, Darth Malgus is easily the most renowned and feared Sith lord in the galaxy. His destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant has become legendary, just one of the many stunning victories won by the Empire's deadliest warrior.

steamcommunity.com: Community Market - Darth Malgus

Darth Sidious, the most powerful and knowledgeable Sith Lord of all time, credited Malgus to be one of the Sith Emperor’s best soldiers.



The excerpts from the journal of Darth Malgus kept during the Great Galactic War some thirty-six centuries ago are a prime example of how a wounded warrior can be sustained by rage. The war was an unbounded success for the era’s Sith Emperor, and Malgus was one of his best soldiers. I obtained this text many decades ago from a dealer in antiquities, and have recently passed it to Darth Vader so he might gain inspiration.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Secrets of the Dark Side

Darth Sidious, the most powerful and knowledgeable Sith Lord of all time, claims Malgus’ battlefield feats had never been duplicated by the time of Revenge of the Sith.



Through the principles of anger, I will structure and maintain my Empire. The writings of Darth Malgus confirm that anger, combined with will, is the key to power. When anger intensifies to rage, it is unstoppable. Malgus submitted utterly to the dark side, and doing so made him an exemplary warrior. His battlefield feats have never been duplicated.

Star Wars: Book of Sith - Absolute Power

FEATS

I. Malgus and Lord Vindican vs. Kao Cen Darach and Satele Shan. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/bgw3u

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Return Cinematic Trailer

Breakdown: Malgus engages Satele at 0:22, then at 0:25 briefly blocks an oncoming strike from Kao while Vindican distracts Satele, after which Malgus and Satele re-engage at 0:28, fighting until 0:35 when Malgus disarms Satele and is about to land the killing blow. Essentially, Malgus had Satele dead-to-rights in seven seconds, and could have killed her right then and there, a notion corroborated by Satele’s own testimony:



There in the hangar I first encountered the most dangerous embodiment of the dark side I have ever experienced - the man who would later be known as Darth Malgus. Malgus and his master must’ve sensed our presence. They landed in their interceptor in the hangar entrance, blocking our escape, and the two Sith rushed to confront us. I had engaged in hundreds of practice duels with my fellow Padawans, but nothing prepared me for the sheer ferocity of the Sith. Darth Malgus would have killed me then and there were it not for Master Kao.

Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

Only Kao’s lightsaber throw saves Satele; she recovers and takes advantage of the opening created by Kao, kicking Malgus away. After Kao pushes Vindican back, there is a brief lull in combat, during which Satele escapes and Kao is left to fend off the Sith duo by himself. They engage at 1:10, after which the camera cuts away to focus on Satele’s escape, but we cut back to them 1:28 when they’re still fighting. We see that Kao is outclassing both opponents, getting hits in while the Sith aren’t making much progress. Kao manages to separate his opponents and incapacitates Vindican at 1:55 by impaling him. The battle is now just between Malgus and Kao, but the latter is visibly tired while Malgus is still fresh and angry. Kao tries to pummel Malgus by hurling objects at him, but Malgus bulldozes through and clashes blades with him at 2:24. The fight is one-sided and swift, with Kao getting handily overpowered and gutted at 2:33.

In summary, Malgus is able to stomp Satele Shan in seven seconds and defeat an enervated Kao Cen Darach in ten.

II. Darth Malgus vs. Satele Shan. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/a11mf

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope Cinematic Trailer

Breakdown: Satele charges at Malgus, clashing blades at 0:02. After a few exchanges, Malgus starts pushing Satele back at 0:06, forcing her into a bladelock at 0:11 that she only breaks out of by exploiting the environment. They disengage and re-engage at 0:22. Satele tries to dance around Malgus but the Sith Lord pushes her with telekinesis, and bisects her lightsaber at 0:31. The fight would have been over had Satele not stopped Malgus’ blade with tutaminis and had Jace Malcom not intervened, something which Satele herself once again confesses:



I entered the battlefield and was immediately disheartened to realize that the Sith Lord Darth Malgus was leading the enemy forces. After our last confrontation over Korriban, I had dreaded the possibility of another confrontation with Malgus, and my life was nearly forfeit again on this occasion. It was only the determination and strength of Captain Malcom that prevented it from happening. Together though, we managed to defeat Darth Malgus and left him for dead, buried beneath a mountain of rubble.

Star Wars: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural

In summary, it’s futile for Satele Shan to engage Darth Malgus head-on as she gets overpowered in ten seconds, and attempting evasive maneuvers around him won’t work either as the Sith is precise and sophisticated enough with his technique to counter it effectively in only a few seconds. All in all, Satele would likely die to Malgus in about 10 to 20 seconds no matter which strategy she decides to employ, assuming no one interrupts the fight.

To put this into context, Satele herself is fast and skilled enough to speedblitz several Sith Lords like she does seconds before engaging Malgus here (see the “PHYSICAL AUGMENTATION - SPEED” section for details). The latter then scoring such a sound victory over her should be taken as an indicator that he himself could stomp the aforementioned Sith even more effortlessly.

III. Darth Malgus vs. two Jedi. Full fight:

He closed the distance between them rapidly. The red line of Malgus’s lightsaber moved so quickly it blurred into a red smear. The Jedi parried again and again, the sizzle of blade on blade resounding through the ruins. Malgus’s onslaught - a blizzard of slashes, cuts, and stabs - allowed the Jedi no room for a counterattack. The Jedi retreated before the offensive, desperately intercepting Malgus’s blows.

Malgus could have ended the Jedi in any of several ways, but he needed the satisfaction of a lightsaber kill.

***

Malgus’s lightsaber traced glittering red arcs through the air. He spun, slashed, stabbed, pushing the Jedi backwards. But always the Jedi parried. He seemed to be biding his time.

He was baiting him, Malgus realized. Feigning weakness.

Malgus relented in his attack, backed off a few steps, and reached out through the Force. Immediately he felt the faint, intentionally suppressed signature of another light-side user to his right. The Jedi’s ally was hidden in the rubble, moving closer.

Malgus loosed a furious series of overhand strikes that forced the Zabrak to retreat rapidly. Sidestepping a stab from the Jedi, Malgus rode his motion into a Force-augmented spinning side kick that hit the Jedi in the ribs and sent him cartwheeling into the wall of a nearby building. At the same time, he reached out with the Force for the hidden light-side user, brushed aside the resistance he felt, and pulled the Jedi out of hiding.

A human male in his twenties rose up out of ruins, dangling like a fish on the hook of Malgus’s power. His legs kicked futilely; the green blade of his lightsaber cut at empty air; he gagged as Malgus’s power squeezed shut his throat.

“Vorin!” shouted the Zabrak.

“So much for your ambush,” Malgus said, and closed his fist, crushing Vorin’s windpipe. He let the body fall to the charred earth. A flash of anger, quickly suppressed, shot from the Zabrak as he bounded over the rubble at Malgus. Malgus watched him come, his red blade held slack at his side.

At 10 meters, Malgus extended his free hand and loosed veins of blue Force lightning. They struck the charging Jedi: swept through his defenses, swirled around him, and began to burn flesh.

Shouting with pain, the Jedi leaned forward into the lightning - teeth bare, blue blades held before him - and staggered toward Malgus. Despite his burns, he came onward. One step, another, another, but he was failing, wilting in the heat of the lightning. Malgus channeled more power and the Jedi fell to his knees, screaming. The lightning spiraled around the Zabrak, blasting dark holes in his body. The lightsabers fell from his hands and he writhed in agony, screaming his pain into the sky.

Malgus ended his attack. The Jedi, ruined, fell to the ground and rolled over onto his back. His breathing sounded worse than Malgus’s.

Malgus strode to his side and stood over him.

He found that he admired the Jedi’s mettle.

He deactivated his lightsaber.

***

The Jedi, his face twisted with pain, stared up at Malgus. One of the horns on his head had cracked from the heat of the Force lightning. The Jedi’s eyes went to the deactivated lightsaber in Malgus’s fist and he cocked his head.

Malgus read the question in his eyes.

Mercy from a Sith?

Malgus smiled. He stepped forward, activated his blade, and stabbed the Jedi through the chest.

“Sleep,” he said.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Third Lesson

Breakdown: For context, this fight happened right after Malgus had suffered tremendous injuries and was clearly not in optimal condition (see the “PHYSICAL AUGMENTATION - DURABILITY” section for details). The fight itself begins by Malgus unloading on the Jedi, not giving him any breathing room. However, Malgus realizes the Jedi is merely feigning weakness and baiting him so that a second Jedi could ambush him. He senses the second Jedi hiding nearby, kicks his current opponent away, and kills the interloper with the Force before he can strike. The first Jedi then charges at Malgus, but gets a faceful of lightning instead, turning him into pretty much a charred corpse. Malgus ends the deed with a stab through the heart.

In summary, while the Jedi wasn’t giving it his all initially, the fact that he his first instinct was to go for a sneak attack indicates he could not truly have stood up to Darth Malgus in a duel anyway. This is corroborated by how easily he goes down once Malgus brings in the Force, denoting a great power gap, which is most often the deciding factor in lightsaber duels. The same likely applies to the second Jedi, whom Malgus effortlessly crushed with telekinesis.

IV. Darth Malgus during the Sacking of Coruscant. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/yhi87

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Malgus augmented his strength with the Force, took a two-handed grip on his blade, and unleashed an overhand slash designed to split the Jedi in half. The Jedi sidestepped the blow and crosscut with his blue blade at Malgus’s throat. Malgus got his blade up in time, parried, and slammed a kick into the Jedi’s mid-section. The blow folded the Jedi in half, sent him reeling backward five paces. Malgus leapt into the air, flipped, landed behind him, and drove his blade through the Jedi. Roaring with battle lust, Malgus sought another opponent.

A flash of lavender skin drew his gaze—Eleena. She ducked under a saber slash and dived to her side, firing half a dozen blaster shots as she did so. The Padawan who’d tried to kill her, a female Zabrak, the horns of her head gilt with colored pigments, deflected the shots as she closed in for another blow. Eleena flipped to her feet, still firing, but the Padawan deflected every shot and drew nearer.

Malgus drew on the Force and with a blast of power drove the Padawan across the hall and into one of the towering columns of stone, where she collapsed, blood leaking from her nose. Eleena continued firing, her eyes darting here and there over the battlefield as she sought targets.

The battle turned ever more chaotic. Jedi and Sith leapt, bounded, rolled, and flipped as red lines intersected with those of blue and green. Blasts of power sent bodies flying through the air, against walls, pulled loose rocks from the ceiling and sent them crashing into flesh. The hall was a cacophony of sound: shouts, screams, the hum of lightsabers, the intermittent sound of weapons-fire. Malgus walked in its midst, reveled in it.

He watched Lord Adraas leap into the middle of a squad of Republic soldiers and punctuate his landing with an explosion of Force energy that cast the soldiers away like dry leaves.

Malgus, not to be outdone, picked a Jedi Knight at random, a human female ten meters away, held forth his left hand, and discharged veins of blue lightning from his fingertips. The jagged lines of energy cut a swath through the battle, harvesting two Padawans as they went, until they caught up to the Jedi Knight and lifted her off her feet.

She screamed as the lightning ripped into her, her flesh made temporarily translucent from thedark power coursing through her. Malgus savored her pain as she died.

He caught Adraas eyeing him and gave him a mocking salute with his lightsaber.

The high-pitched sound of Eleena’s blasters drew his attention. She bounded past him and over the slain female Jedi Knight’s corpse, a lavender blur firing rapidly. Putting her back to a column, she crouched and sought targets for her blasters. She met his eyes, winked, and signaled behind him. He whirled to see a score or more Republic soldiers rushing into the hall from a side room, blaster rifles tracing hot lines through the battlefield. Eleena answered with shots of her own.

Before Malgus could dispatch the soldiers, the Mandalorian rose from somewhere behind them, her jetpack spitting fire, her head-to-toe silver-and-orange armor gleaming in the fire of the hall. Hovering in the air like an avenging spirit, she discharged two small missiles from wrist mounts. They struck the floor near the Republic soldiers and blossomed into flame. Bodies, shouts, and loose rock flew in all directions. Still hovering, she spun a circle in the air while flamethrowers mounted on her forearm engulfed another group of soldiers.

Malgus knew the battle had turned, that it soon would be over. He glanced around, still seeking Zallow, the only opponent in the field worthy of his attention.

Before he could locate the Jedi Master, three more Jedi swarmed him. He parried the chop of a human male, leapt over the low slash of an orange-skinned Togruta female, severed the hand of the third, a female human, disarming her, then grabbed her by the throat with his free hand and slammed her into the floor with his Force-enhanced strength.

“Alara!” said the human male.

Leaping high over the male’s cross-slash, Malgus landed behind the Togruta, who parried his lightsaber strike but could not defend herself against a Force blast that sent her skidding across the hall and into a pile of rubble.

Malgus roared, the lust for battle so pronounced that he would have killed his own warriors were there no Jedi left to slay. He wanted, needed, to kill another and to do so with his hands.

He ducked under a slash from the male, lunged forward, and took the Jedi by the throat. He lifted him from his feet and held him suspended in the air, gagging. The Jedi’s brown eyes showed no fear, but did show pain. Malgus roared, squeezed hard, then dropped the body and stood over it, blade at his side, breath coming hard. The battle still swirled around him and he stood in its center, the eye of the Sith storm.

Malgus finally spotted Master Zallow ten paces away, whirling, spinning, his green blade a blur of precision and speed. One Sith warrior fell to him, another. Lord Adraas landed before him, trying to take Malgus’s kill for himself. Adraas ducked low and slashed at Zallow’s knees. Zallow leapt over the blow and unleashed a blast of energy that sent Adraas skidding on his backside across the hall.

“He is mine!” Malgus shouted, charging through the battlefield. He repeated himself as he passed Adraas. “Zallow is mine!”

Zallow must have heard Malgus, for he turned, met his eyes. Eleena, too, must have heard Malgus’s shouting. She emerged from behind the column, deduced Malgus’s intent, and fired several shots at Zallow.

Zallow, his eyes on Malgus throughout, deflected the bolts with his blade and sent them back at Eleena. Two struck her, and as she collapsed Zallow used a Force blast to drive her body against a column.

Malgus halted in mid-stride, his rage temporarily abated. He turned and stared at Eleena’s fallen form for a long moment, her lavender body crumpled on the floor, her eyes closed, two black circles marring the smooth purple field of her flesh. She looked like a wilted flower.

Anger refilled him, overcame him. A shout of hate, raw and jagged, burst from his throat. Power went with it, shattering a nearby column and sending a rain of stone shards through the room.

He returned his gaze to Zallow and stalked toward him, his rage and power surging before him in a palpable wave. Another Jedi stepped in front of him, blue blade held high. Malgus barely saw him. He simply extended a hand, pushed through the Jedi’s insufficient defenses, seized his throat with the Force, and choked him to death. Tossing the body aside, he moved toward Zallow.

Zallow, for his part, moved toward Malgus. A Sith warrior bounded at Zallow from his left, but Zallow leapt over the Sith’s blade, spun, slashed, and cut down the Sith.

Zallow and Malgus closed. They halted at one meter, studied each other for a moment.

A human male Jedi Knight separated from the swirl of battle and stabbed at Malgus. Malgus sidestepped the blue line of the blade, punched the man in the stomach, doubling him over, and raised his own blade for a killing blow.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Breakdown: In the cinematic, Malgus appears at 0:05, tossing a Jedi over his head with one hand and immediately slashing the throat of another one with his lightsaber a split second later, then pivoting to strike another Jedi in the head an instant later. At 0:17, he’s seen ragdolling a Jedi and smashing him against a pillar. At 0:30, Malgus grabs a Jedi by the throat before the latter can hit him with a lightsaber, and then body-slams him to the ground.

The novelization of the skirmish is a bit different, with Malgus’ first kill being a Jedi with whom he clashes blades once, kicks away, pursues with a Force leap and kills. He then kills a Jedi with a Force push and three more with Force lightning. Afterwards he is assaulted by three Jedi. Malgus dances around them, blitzing one and slamming her to the ground, sending another crashing into a wall with telekinesis, and strangling the third to death with his sheer strength. Another incoming Jedi Malgus simply chokes out with telekinesis without a second glance, and the last one he punches in the stomach and is about to strike down until Ven Zallow intercepts his blade, initiating their duel.

In summary, Darth Malgus defeated three Jedi in less than two seconds in melee combat and at other points in the fight was stomping them with similar expeditiousness either through martial or Force prowess. The novel features him displaying similar feats, with additional strength ones and a Force lightning feat as well. No one besides Ven Zallow could last more than a few seconds against him and even whole groups were felled in short order.

V. Darth Malgus vs. Ven Zallow. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/epsx7

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived Cinematic Trailer

Zallow bounded forward and intercepted the downstroke. Zallow and Malgus stared into each other’s faces and the rest of the battle fell away.

There was only Malgus and his rage, and Zallow and his calm.

Their blades sizzling in opposition, each used the Force to press against the strength of the other, but neither had an obvious advantage. Malgus shouted rage into Zallow’s face. Only a furrowed brow and the tight line of his mouth betrayed the tension behind Zallow’s otherwise tranquil expression.

Feeding off the anger from Eleena, Malgus shoved Zallow away and unleashed an onslaught of overhand slashes and crosscuts. Zallow backed off, parrying, unable to respond with blows of his own. Malgus tried to split Zallow’s head but Zallow blocked again and again.

Malgus spun into a high, Force-augmented kick that hit Zallow in the chest and sent him flying backward ten meters. Zallow flipped and landed upright in a crouch near two of Malgus’s Sith warriors.

They lunged for him and Zallow parried one blow, leapt over the second, and spun a rapid circle, cutting down both Sith.

Malgus, burning with hate, flung his lightsaber at Zallow. He guided its trajectory with the Force, and it spun a sizzling path through the air at Zallow’s neck. But Zallow, riding the momentum of his attack on the second Sith, leapt into the air and over the blade.

While Zallow was still in the air, Malgus unleashed a blast of energy that caught the Jedi unprepared and sent him crashing downward into a pile of rubble. He lay there, prone.

Malgus did not hesitate. He mounted the column of his anger, shouting with hate, and leapt twenty meters into the air toward Zallow. Mid-jump, he used the Force to recall his blade to his hand, took a reverse two-handed grip, and prepared to pin Zallow to the Temple floor.

But Zallow rolled out of the way at the last moment and Malgus’s blade sank to the hilt in the stone of the Temple’s floor. Zallow leapt up and over Malgus, landed in a crouch, reactivated his lightsaber, and pelted across the floor back at Malgus.

Eschewing speed and grace for power, Zallow loosed a flurry of rapid strikes, slashes, and lunges. Malgus parried one blow after another but could not find an opening to mount his own counterattack. Lunging forward, Zallow slashed crosswise, Malgus parried, and Zallow slammed the hilt of his saber into the side of Malgus’s jaw.

A tooth dislodged and his respirator was knocked askew. Malgus tasted blood, but he was too deep in the Force for the blow to do real damage. He staggered backward a step, as if the blow had stunned him.

Seeing an opening, Zallow stepped forward and crosscut for Malgus’s throat.

As Malgus knew he would do.

Malgus turned his blade vertical to parry the blow and spun out of the blade lock. Reversing his lightsaber during the spin, he rode it into a stab that pierced Zallow’s abdomen and came out the other side.

Zallow’s expression fell. He hung there, impaled by the red line. He held Malgus’s eyes, and Malgus saw the flames of the burning Temple reflected in Zallow’s green irises.

“It is all going to burn,” Malgus said.

Zallow’s brow furrowed, perhaps with pain, perhaps with despair. Either way, Malgus enjoyed it. He waited for the light to disappear from Zallow’s eyes before jerking his blade free and allowing the body to fall to the floor.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Breakdown: The fight begins very abruptly as Malgus and Zallow happen to cross blades during the Sacking of Coruscant. They lock blades at 0:01 for roughly a second until Malgus’ strength pushes Zallow back. The Sith Lord then unleashes a flurry of vicious strikes which Zallow either parries or evades, but Malgus’ kick catches him in the chest at 0:06 and sends him flying ten meters back. Two lesser Sith attempt to intervene but Zallow swiftly cuts them down only to face Malgus’ lightsaber hurling towards him. The Jedi Master manages to jump out of the way but leaves himself vulnerable for Malgus to push him mid-air through a wall of duracrete. The Sith Lord pursues the Jedi with a massive Force leap but Zallow dodges and charges at Malgus, ducks to evade the sparks the Sith sends at him by dislodging his lightsaber from the floor, and re-engages him blade-to-blade at 0:23. The combatants exchange strikes until at 0:28 Zallow punches Malgus’ respirator mask. Malgus feigns to have been hurt, which prompts Zallow to take advantage of the seeming opening at the risk of leaving himself vulnerable as well. The mistake costs Zallow his life as Malgus impales him through the abdomen.

All in all, the two combatants appeared fairly evenly matched. Ven Zallow displayed greater agility and speed, while Darth Malgus displayed superior strength. Zallow had the durability to take vast amounts of punishment, however, so Malgus ultimately decides to trick his opponent with a feint, rather than attempting to power through.

To put this feat into context, Zallow was capable of speedblitzing two of the Sith Empire’s greatest Sith Warriors (see the “PHYSICAL AUGMENTATION - SPEED” section for details). While Malgus himself had trouble keeping up with Zallow’s speed, the fact that he could contend as a relative equal overall does speak to the idea that he could decimate the Sith Warriors in question with similar efficiency. Zallow was also noted to be Malgus’ most famous kill, arguably placing him above Kao Cen Darach. By proxy then, Malgus would also be greater than Kao, indicating vast growth as a duelist between Return and Deceived:



MOST FAMOUS KILL: Jedi Ven Zallow

Star Wars: The Old Republic Holonet - Darth Malgus

[hideedit]

[Master AzrongerModerator]

VI. Darth Malgus vs. Aryn Leneer, round 1. Full fight:

A ROAR, heavy with hate and rage, pulled Aryn’s eyes skyward. Malgus descended like a meteor. His cape flew out behind and over him, a comma of darkness, and he held his lightsaber in a two-handed grip. Power went before him in a wave of visible distortion. The shuttle out of which he had leapt flew off into the night sky.

Aryn fell fully into the Force, raised her defenses, took a fighting stance, and parried Malgus’s two-handed overhand slash. Still, he landed in a cocoon of power, hitting the ground in an explosion of might that shattered the stones around them and turned them into a hail of shrapnel. Unflinching, Aryn deflected them with the Force as she parried another slash from Malgus. The force of the Sith’s blow made her arms quiver, but she gave no ground.

Blades locked, sparking, their eyes met.

Malgus’s dark eyes burned with a rage that knifed through her. The anger he radiated was tangible to Aryn, made the air feel greasy, polluted. But she felt something else in it, something unexpected, an odd ambivalence.

“I know why you’ve come,” he said, his voice a hiss from behind his respirator.

She forced words between gritted teeth. “You killed Master Zallow.”

“And now I will kill you, too,” he said. “In the same place I killed him.” He leaned into his blade, pushed her back a step, and unleashed a Force-augmented kick at her ribs.

But she was the quicker, and a flip sent her over his head and fifty meters away, deeper into the mountain of ruins where her Master had died. She landed in a crouch atop one of the broken columns sticking out of the rubble.

“You will find that difficult,” she called, and answered his anger with a wave of her own. “I assure you of that.”

Malgus gestured with his left hand, and the column she stood on began to shake. She leapt off it to another nearby, then another, then another, leapfrogging her way across the ruins, back toward Malgus.

When she landed atop a large chunk of stone ten meters from the Sith, he made a cutting gesture with his free hand and two pieces of statuary rose from the rubble and rushed toward her from either side. She leapt into the air and they smashed into each other beneath her, spraying shards of rock. She landed atop the remains, lightsaber ready.

Malgus growled, leapt through the air from his perch toward hers. She slid to the side of his downward slash and his blade split the stone at their feet. She unleashed a crosscut that would have decapitated him had he not ducked under it.

She flipped up and over him onto another piece of rubble, fifteen meters away. Taking telekinetic hold of a large stone near Malgus, she flung it at him. He never moved, simply held his ground and split the incoming rock in two with his lightsaber. Red sparks and bits of stone rained down

Aryn could not find her calm. She was fighting angry, but did not care. Snarling, thinking of her Master, she bounded across the hill of rubble, leaping from one chunk of rock to another, closing the distance with Malgus. He answered her charge with one of his own, the two of them jumping across the gravestones of the Jedi Order until they closed to within striking distance.

Aryn stabbed low and Malgus slapped her blade out wide, reversed his motion, and unleashed a backhand swing at her abdomen. She leapt over it, pulling her legs in tight, and loosed a two-handed overhead strike as she came back down. Malgus parried crosswise with his blade and stepped into a Force-augmented side kick aimed at her ribs. She caught the kick with her free hand, closed her arm over his leg, spun, and flung Malgus twenty meters from her. He flipped in midair and landed atop the cracked face of the Odan-Urr statue that had once lined the processional approach into the Temple.

She took the hilt of Master Zallow’s lightsaber in her off hand, crouched, and bounded into a leap toward him. He watched her come and at the apex of the leap’s arc, he thrust his left hand at her, roaring, and veins of Force lightning squirmed toward her.

Ready for it, she activated Master Zallow’s lightsaber, used it to form an X with her own, and intercepted the lightning on the two blades.

His power met her will. The lightning twisted around the glowing blades. The force of it stopped her downward descent and held her aloft in the air for a moment, suspended on a column built of the dark side.

And then she overcame it. The lightning dissipated to nothingness and she, unharmed by it, fell straight down, landing on her feet atop a shifting pile of rubble and deactivating Master Zallow’s blade.

The moment she landed, Malgus was upon her, his blade slashing, stabbing, spinning. He tried to use his superior strength to force her off the stone, off balance, but she answered his strength with speed, sidestepping his blows, leaping over them, parrying, unleashing her own flurries. The hum of their weapons through the air, the sizzle of crossed blades, merged into a single song of speed and power.

***

ZEERID FLEW THE SPEEDER full-throttle at over a hundred meters in altitude. He watched an Imperial shuttle accelerate into the sky from the vicinity of the Jedi Temple. Thinking of Aryn, he felt his stomach flutter. He flew still higher, hoping to catch a glimpse of her near the Temple.

And he did.

She and Darth Malgus bounded across the ruins of the Temple, their blades flashing, locking, the speed of their duel so fast Zeerid could barely follow their movement. Despite himself, he found the combat beautiful.

He slowed the speeder and T7 beeped a question.

Aryn had done what she had come to Coruscant to do—she was facing Malgus.

And Zeerid had seen what Malgus had done in the Temple. The Sith deserved death.

But he worried over Aryn’s reasons. The line between seeking justice and seeking revenge was thin indeed, but Zeerid could see that Aryn had stepped over it. She wanted Malgus dead because she wanted revenge. And there would be no undoing it once it was done.

He knew that better than most.

He made up his mind and accelerated the speeder to full.

***

ARYN AND MALGUS LOCKED BLADES.

“I am more than your match, Sith,” she said over the sparks of their joined lightsabers.

“Your Master was not,” Malgus said, grunting, and shoved her with a telekinetic blast of such force that she flew backward and slammed into the rock and rubble. She used the Force to cushion the impact, but she still landed on her back and the impact blew the breath from her lungs.

Malgus leapt high into the air, shouting with rage, his blade held high for a killing stroke. She rolled aside as he came down and his blade sank to its hilt in the rubble of the Temple. She leapt to her feet and unleashed a backhand crosscut at his throat. He got his blade free and vertical to parry it, but at the same time she pointed the blade end of Master Zallow’s lightsaber at Malgus and activated it.

He must have sensed his danger at the last moment for he slid partially aside. Still, the green line of Master Zallow’s blade pierced his armor and side and elicited a snarl of pain and rage. Before Aryn could follow up, Malgus drove an open hand into the side of her face.

She was unready for the blow. The Force-augmented impact exploded a spark shower in her brain and sent her cartwheeling away from Malgus; she slammed into a rock and landed on her side ten meters away. Adrenaline pulled her to her feet, though she swayed unsteadily. She spat a mouthful of blood and held both lightsabers at the ready.

Malgus stood astride the ruins, his blade sizzling, eyeing the smoking hole in his armor, the furrow in his flesh.

Seeing an opportunity, she did not hesitate.

Using the Force to guide it, she hurled Master Zallow’s lightsaber at Malgus. The blade cut a glittering green arc through the air as it spun end over end toward Malgus’s head.

Despite his wound, the Sith slapped aside Aryn’s Force-hold on the blade and snatched it out of the air, as quick as a sand viper. He deactivated the blade, held the hilt in his hand, studied it. He looked up and over at Aryn, his eyes burning. She imagined him smiling under his respirator.

“This weapon did not avail him and it will not avail you.”

The sound of an engine pulled Aryn’s head around. She whirled, her blade ready, and saw the Armin speeder roaring out of the sky like a comet, Zeerid in the driver’s seat. T7 sat in the rear. He came in too hard and the thrusters could not completely stop the speeder from slamming into the ruins. Metal creaked. Dust flew up.

“Aryn!” Zeerid called. “Get in!”

Zeerid looked past her to Malgus, seemed to consider unloading a blaster shot, but thought better of it.

“Come on, Aryn!” Zeerid shouted, and T7 backed him up with an urgent whistle. “Please. You said you would help me.”

She hesitated.

Malgus looked at her, brandished Master Zallow’s hilt, a taunt to keep her there.

She made her decision.

She wanted to efface the smugness she’d heard in his tone, to see in his eyes what she had seen in Master Zallow’s. Killing him was not enough. She wanted to see him in pain. She just had to figure out how to do it.

She leapt high into the air and landed beside Zeerid in the speeder.

“Death is too easy, Sith,” she called to Malgus, the venom in her tone surprising even to her. “I am going to hurt you first.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Breakdown: The duel begins by Malgus jumping down from a shuttle on top of Aryn but she holds her ground under the impact. They exchange strikes and dialogue, utilizing both straightforward as well as environmental ways to undermine the opposition, neither successful. Malgus then unleashes a torrent of lightning at her as she is about to jump down on him but she powers through and martial combat resumes, blade slashes intermixed with unarmed strikes and Force attacks. The duel comes to an abrupt halt as Zeerid swoops in on a speeder and convinces Aryn to abandon the fight.

In summary, both combatants were virtually perfect equals, with Darth Malgus being somewhat stronger but Aryn Leneer being slightly faster and more agile. No real edge can be afforded to either, although it should be noted that as one of the Jedi participating in the peace talks on Alderaan, Aryn was one of the most powerful Jedi in the Order at the time, and Malgus was able to equal her:

https://www.swtor.com/info/media/trailers/deceived-cinematic-trailer



Republic leaders have traveled to Alderaan to engage in promised peace talks with the Sith Empire. The most powerful Jedi have accompanied them to safeguard against an Imperial deception. The Empire’s real motive, however, was simply to lure the Republic’s strongest defenders away from Coruscant and set the stage for an audacious attack. Under the command of Lord Angral, the Sith fleet approaches the Republic’s capital planet for the first time in centuries. In advance of the fleet, the strongest Sith Warriors have flown a stolen Republic ship into Coruscant’s orbit. Their mission is critical - to destroy the planet’s defense grid mainframe hidden in the heart of the Jedi Temple.

swtor.com: Deceived Cinematic Trailer

VII. Darth Malgus vs. Aryn Leneer, round 2. Full fight:

She did not wait for Malgus. She bounded across the hangar, her speed augmented by the Force, the lines of her blades leaving a blur of light in their wake. Malgus held his ground, blade ready.

She stabbed low with her primary blade, high with her secondary. Malgus leapt over both, flipped, landed behind her, and crosscut for her neck.

She ducked under it while spinning into a reverse leg sweep that caught his feet and tripped him. When he hit the ground, she rose, turned, raised both blades, and drove them down in a parallel overhand slash. Malgus somersaulted backward, and Aryn’s blades cut gashes in the floor of the hangar. Sparks flew.

Malgus bounced up from the somersault and loosed a telekinetic blast that lifted Aryn from her feet and blew her across the hangar. She slammed into one of the shuttle’s bulkheads, but used the Force to cushion the blow so that it did no harm. Bouncing off the cool metal, she charged Malgus.

As she ran, she cast first her own lightsaber at Malgus, then Master Zallow’s, using the Force to guide both.

The attack caught Malgus unprepared, and Aryn’s blade bit into his armor. Sparks flew and Malgus winced, snarled with pain. He ducked under Master Zallow’s blade, and Aryn recalled both to her hands as she ran. The moment she had them, she cast them both at Malgus again.

But this time he was ready. Augmenting his speed with the Force, he flipped high into the air and out of the way of both. She anticipated his movement, however, bounded forward to cut him off and landed a flying kick in his chest. He used the Force to diminish the blow’s impact but it drove him back a step and she heard his breath hitch through the sound of his respirator.

He recovered, roared, raised his blade high to cut her in two, and brought it down. But she had already summoned her own blade back to her hand and interposed it in a parry.

Malgus’s strength drove her to her knees. She held out her other hand and pulled Master Zallow’s blade to her hand, stabbed for his stomach with it.

Malgus sidestepped the stab, though it skinned his armor and showered sparks. He pushed her blade to the side with his own and kicked her in the face. The strength behind the blow blew through her defenses, caused her to see stars, loosed teeth, and sent her head over heels backward. She landed on her knees, stunned, seeing double.

She rose, swayed on her feet, seeing four blades in her hands rather than two. Something was in her mouth and she spat it out—a tooth, the root forked and bloody.

“You are a child to hate,” Malgus said, his tone incongruously soft as he stalked toward her. “Your anger barely smolders. You are a fraction of what you could be.”

She needed time to recover her senses, some distance from Malgus. She backflipped high into the air and landed atop the Imperial shuttle. Her mind was beginning to clear.

“Your Master was also misguided. He thought to defeat me with calm, but failed. You thought to defeat me with anger, but carry too little, despite your loss.”

Aryn’s vision began to clear. She felt more herself.

“Be grateful for that, Jedi. Anger exacts its own price.”

Again she felt the odd sense of sympathy or pity adulterating the otherwise pure hate flowing from Malgus. His eyes went to Eleena, her body crumpled on the landing pad’s floor.

As Aryn prepared to leap at Malgus, he held forth a hand, almost casually, and lightning sizzled through the space between them. Aryn interposed her lightsabers, but the power in the lightning exceeded anything she had felt from Malgus before. It blasted through her defenses and both lightsabers flew from her hands. The lightning seized her, lifted her up, and threw her from the top of the shuttle.

As she flew toward the deck, she smelled burning flesh, heard screaming, realized that it was her flesh, her screams. She hit the ground hard and her head bounced off the ground. Sparks erupted in her brain, pain, and everything went dark.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Breakdown: The clash is essentially a typical blade-to-blade skirmish intermixed with some Force powers, lightsaber throws, and unarmed attacks. Malgus, however, manages to turn the tables on Aryn by drawing on his unprecedented rage to overpower her, first physically, and then with the Force, ending the duel with a lightning storm.

In summary, Darth Malgus and Aryn Leneer were still equals under normal circumstances, but due to Aryn coming close to ending the life of Eleena Daru, Malgus’ lover, the Sith Lord was able to draw on reserves of fury that bolstered him to vastly greater heights, emphatically defeating Aryn.

VIII. Darth Malgus vs. Lord Adraas. Full fight:

Adraas scoffed. “I have hidden my true power from you, Malgus. It is you who will not leave here.”

“Then show me your power,” Malgus said, sneering.

Adraas snarled and held forth his left hand. Force lightning crackled from his fingertips, filled the space between them.

Malgus interposed his lightsaber, drew the lightning to it, and started walking toward Adraas. The power swirled around the red blade, sizzling, crackling, pushed against Malgus, but he strode through it. The skin of his hands blistered but Malgus endured the pain, paid it as the price of his cause.

As he walked, he spun his blade in an arc above his head, gathering the lightning, then flung it back at Adraas. It slammed into his chest, lifted him bodily from the ground, and threw him hard against the far well.

“Is that your power?” Malgus asked, still advancing, cloaked in rage. “That is what you wished to show me?”

Adraas climbed to his feet, his armor charred and smoking. A snarl split his face.

Malgus picked up his pace, turned the walk into a charge. His boots thumped off the wood floor of the hall. He did not bother with finesse. He vented his rage in a continuous roar as he unleashed a furious series of blows: an overhand slash that Adraas parried; a low stab that Adraas barely sidestepped; a side kick that connected to Adraas’s side, broke ribs, and flung Adraas fully across the narrow axis of the hall. He crashed into a column and the impact split it as would lightning a tree.

Adraas growled as he climbed to his feet. Power gathered around him, a black storm of energy, and he leapt at Malgus, his blade held high.

Malgus sneered, gestured, seized Adraas in his power, and pulled him from the air at the apex of his leap.

Adraas hit the ground in a heap, his breath coming in wheezes. He climbed to all fours, then to his feet, favoring his side, his blade held limply before him.

“You hid nothing from me,” Malgus said, and the power in his voice caused Adraas to wince. “You are a fool, Adraas. Your skill is in politics, in currying favor with your betters. Your understanding of the Force is nothing compared to mine.”

Adraas snarled, started to charge toward Malgus, a last-ditch attempt to salvage his dignity if not his life.

Malgus held forth his hand and the rage within him manifested in blue veins of lightning that discharged from his fingertips and slammed into Adraas. The power stopped Adraas’s charge cold, blew his lightsaber from his hand, caught him up in a cage of burning lightning. He screamed, squirming in frustration and pain.

“End it, Malgus! End it!”

Malgus unclenched his fingers and released the lightning. Adraas fell to the ground, his flesh smoking, the skin of his once handsome face blistered and peeling. Again he rose to all fours and looked up at Malgus.

“Angral will avenge me.”

“Angral will suspect what has happened here,” Malgus said, and strode toward him. “But he will never know, not for certain, not until it is too late.”

“Too late for what?” Adraas asked.

Malgus did not answer.

“You are mad,” Adraas said, and leapt to his feet and charged. He pulled his lightsaber to his fist and activated it. The attack took Malgus momentarily by surprise.

Adraas loosed a flurry of strikes, his blade a humming, red blur as he spun, stabbed, slashed, and cut. Malgus backed off a single step, another, then held his ground, his own blade an answer to all of Adraas’s attacks. Adraas shouted as he attacked, the sound that of desperation, filled with the knowledge that he was no match for Malgus.

Finally Malgus answered with an attack of his own, forcing Adraas back with the power and speed of his blows. When he had Adraas backed up against the wall, he crosscut for his head. Adraas ducked under and Malgus cut a column in two. As the huge upper piece of the column crashed to the floor and the balcony lurched above them, Adraas fell to one knee and stabbed at Malgus’s chest. Malgus spun out of the way and rode the spin into a chop that severed Adraas’s arm at the elbow. Adraas screamed and clutched his arm at the bicep while his forearm fell to the floor along with the column.

Malgus had taught the lesson he’d come to teach.

He deactivated his lightsaber, held up his left hand, and made a pincer of his fingers.

Adraas tried to use his own power to defend himself but Malgus pushed through it and took telekinetic hold of Adraas’s throat.

Adraas gagged, the capillaries in his wide eyes beginning to pop. Malgus’s power lifted Adraas from the floor, his legs kicking, gasping.

Malgus stood directly before Adraas, his hate the vise closing on Adraas’s trachea.

“You and Angral caused this, Adraas. And the Emperor. There can be no peace with the Jedi, no truce.” He clenched his fist. “There can be no peace, at all. Not ever.”

Adraas’s only answer was continued gagging.

Seeing him there, hanging, near death, Malgus thought of Eleena, of Adraas’s description of her. He released Adraas from the clutch of his Force choke.

Adraas hit the ground on his back, gasping. Malgus had a knee on his chest and both his hands on his throat before Adraas could recover. He would kill Adraas with his bare hands.

“Look me in the eyes,” he said, and made Adraas look at him. “In the eyes!”

Adraas’s eyes showed petechial hemorrhaging but Malgus knew he was coherent.

“You called her a mongrel,” Malgus said. He removed his gauntlets, took Adraas by the throat, and began to squeeze. “To my face you called her that. Her.”

Adraas blinked, his eyes watering. His mouth opened and closed but no sound emerged.

“You are the mongrel, Adraas.” Malgus bent low, nose-to-nose. “Angral’s mongrel and you and those like you have mongrelized the purity of the Empire with your pollution, trading strength for a wretched peace.”

Adraas’s trachea collapsed in Malgus’s grip. There was no final cough or gag. Adraas died in silence.

Malgus rose and stood over Adraas’s body. He pulled on his gloves, adjusted his armor, his cloak, and walked out of the manse.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived

Breakdown: The fight begins by Adraas demonstrating his newfound power with a burst of lightning, but Malgus casually walks through it and sends it back. The opponents then engage with lightsabers, but Malgus has him on the back foot on the first strike; the second he barely parries; and the third crushes his ribs and sends him crashing into a column. Adraas tries to retaliate but Malgus grips him with telekinesis and slams him onto the ground. Adraas tries to charge again, but Malgus discharges veins of lightning and roasts him completely. Adraas unleashes a final saber assault, but it is effortlessly met and exceeded by Malgus, who quickly severs Adraas’ arm. Malgus then finishes the job by choking Adraas out.

In summary, Lord Adraas lasted two strikes from Darth Malgus before having his bones broken. With telekinesis, he got ragdolled, and with lightning, burned to a crisp. Any offensive of his own was ineffectual and useless, and the text even states he was no match for Malgus. Basically, Malgus stomped him.

IX. Emperor Malgus vs. the Emperor’s Wrath, Darth Nox, the Grand Champion of the Great Hunt, and Cipher Nine; or the Hero of Tython, the Barsen’thor, the Voidhound, and the Meteor. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/7ge5u

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Breakdown: Malgus briefly blasts the team with Force lightning at 1:05, bringing them to their knees. The actual fight starts at around 2:15 when Emperor Malgus jumps in front of the strike team and throws Darth Nox/the Barsen’thor and the Grand Champion/Voidhound back without hand gestures, after which immediately pushing the Emperor’s Wrath/Hero of Tython and Cipher Nine/Meteor as well. The rest of the fight is gameplay, which makes it impossible to know precisely how it went down, but Malgus’ lines reveal it was a hard-fought fight, as he taunts the team mid-fight and states he is enjoying himself:

“I hear the Grand Moff is calling me Malgus the Betrayer. Tell me, did my deception sting?”

“Enough games!”

“I haven’t enjoyed myself this much since the Sacking of Coruscant.”

“Impressive, but it won’t be enough.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

From the testimonies of the strike team members we can also glean that Malgus was fighting the Hero with his lightsaber, and was blasting the Voidhound with Force attacks, which the latter sidestepped. The Barsen'thor claimed he was stronger than Malgus in the Force, which means the Hero was be too; however, the Hero stated Malgus' lightsaber form was flawless, and since they all confessed they would have lost to him alone, it is likely Malgus was the Hero's superior as a duelist. Near the end, Malgus got desperate and too heated, which indicates he was already losing, and this allowed one of the members to finish the job, although it is unclear who exactly scored the final blow.

The Hero of Tython: “Malgus’s lightsaber form was flawless, but he let anger and desperation cloud his fighting. He faltered, and I followed through.”

The Barsen’thor: “Malgus spent more time plotting his deceptions than he did studying the Force. Thankfully, my studies weren’t as weak.”

Meteor: “I was pinned down. Blasters overheating. Then Malgus charged. I aimed, nice and steady, then bam! Goodbye, Malgus.”

The Voidhound: “There I was, blaster in hand, sidestepping Force attacks, when Malgus lost his cool. But not me. I took the shot, and that’s all she wrote.”

All: “We never would have defeated Malgus by working alone.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Years later, when Malgus has a rematch with one of the protagonists who has now become the Alliance Commander, he believes that he will be able to kill them easily. He doesn't know of the power growth the Commander went through during the previous expansions and believes the death of the Sith Emperor to be nothing but a rumor, as indicated by his amazement following the duel, so he thinks he is fighting them at the same power level as they were during the False Emperor flashpoint. Malgus's confidence should therefore be taken as an indicator of his great superiority towards the Act III protagonists individually as of the False Emperor.

https://streamable.com/fbumz

Control System: "Alert! Shield power decreasing. Shield system failure: imminent."

Darth Malgus: "Shall we die together?"

Tau Idair: "You think we'd give up so easily?"

Darth Malgus: "I think I will kill you easily."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

https://streamable.com/19sbq

Darth Malgus: "I should've known it wasn't just a story. If anyone could destroy him... it was you."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

https://streamable.com/o5mtd

Darth Malgus: "So it wasn't just a story, then. You actually destroyed him. You are strong enough."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

Although the team prevailed with zero casualties and had just faced a massive army of droids, meaning they likely weren’t at peak condition when facing Malgus, it is still an impressive feat for him, as he did survive and escape the space station before it self-destructed.

X. Darth Malgus (and the Alliance Commander) vs. Gnost-Dural. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/y3192

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

Breakdown: If the Commander chooses to side with the Empire, he will help Darth Malgus against Gnost-Dural. However, if he sides with the Republic, Malgus will still defeat the Jedi Master on his own, although this occurs off-screen:

https://streamable.com/rxpxe

Tau Idair: “He’s alive… barely, but… he’s alive!”

Darth Malora: “Truly? Hah… Lord Malgus has lost his edge.”

The Alliance Commander: “Malgus?”

Darth Malora: “Oh, yes. This is all his handiwork… I would never make such a mess of a library, even one belonging to Jedi.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

Since the whole fight is gameplay, there aren’t many details, except that Gnost-Dural apparently used telepathy and Force illusions against Malgus, which he powered through, based on the latter’s dialogue:

“Gnost-Dural is a master of mind-tricks. Do not let yourself be deceived.”

“These are illusions. Nothing more.”

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Jedi Under Siege

When faced with a possible rematch, though, Gnost-Dural stated that he would only make matters worse if he joined the strike team to take down Malgus by fueling the Sith Lord's rage with his survival. This implies that he would be utterly useless against Malgus even with the Commander, Tau Idair, and Arn Peralun already occupying his attention, and so it is likely he was defeated with impunity in Jedi Under Siege.

https://streamable.com/a3uup

Gnost-Dural: "We can hold this level with our troops. You three--go on. Malgus must be stopped."

Tau Idair: "Come with us! We can fight him together!"

Gnost-Dural: "No. Seeing me alive will only fuel his rage even further. This is your fight--all three of you. Fight as one, and you can defeat him. May the Force be with you."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

XI. Darth Malgus vs. The Alliance Commander, Tau Idair, and Arn Peralun. Full fight:

https://streamable.com/qlek5

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

Breakdown: The whole battle is gameplay, so not many details are known, save for the ending, where Malgus drops his lightsaber and falls to his knees, evidently injured. He gets up and pushes all his assailants away, after which he pulls down the power generator from the ceiling. The massive weight of the generator proves too much for the fighting arena, so It collapses, concluding the altercation. Malgus's dialogue still indicates it was a hard fought battle.

"You thought I was destroyed all those years ago... I will show you the true nature of destruction!"

"None of you have the resolve--the strength to beat me!"

"Your resistance is commendable... but futile."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

Tau Idair also conceded that if the Commander hadn't been present, Malgus would have killed both her and Arn, and that their survival, even with the Commander's help, was still lucky.

https://streamable.com/44an8

Arn Peralun: "When he smashed the platform, I thought it was all over. I can't believe you managed to get back up there and fix the shields. You're everything they say you are."

Tau Idair: "And so was Malgus. We were lucky to survive at all. That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been there. Thanks."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

Yet, seeing as they survived only with minor injuries despite having taken a long fall and being buried under the wreckage, it can be deduced the Commander occupied Malgus's attention for the most part, and he didn't really have the opportunity to stick it to Idair and Peralun. This is corroborated by the positions of the combatants at the start of the ending cutscene: the Commander is closest to Malgus and facing him directly, and Malgus is clutching an abdominal wound, while Idair and Peralun and far behind him. Nonetheless, Malgus pressured the Commander significantly.

To put this into context, Idair is powerful enough to perform the same feat of dislodging the power generator from the ceiling while injured.

The Alliance Commander has fought and defeated both Arcann and Vaylin. Malgus also deemed him "strong enough" to have defeated the Sith Emperor. While Malgus is probably not privy to the full depths of the Emperor's strength, he should, especially as a former member of the Dark Council, have a general idea of his status as the supreme dark side master and far beyond any other Sith, including the likes of Darth Marr and Darth Jadus.

https://streamable.com/o5mtd

Darth Malgus: "So it wasn't just a story, then. You actually destroyed him. You are strong enough."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Onslaught

Darth Malgus's power level should therefore be comparable to Arcann and Chained Vaylin, and far above that of any Sith he knows of.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

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[trayvon]

Nice, good work.

[The LostLevel Five]

Glorious.

[The Fallen WarriorLevel Four]

Though I am not convinced malgus is nearly as powerful as people are billing him. This is still masterful.

[Master AzrongerModerator]

Though I am not convinced malgus is nearly as powerful as people are billing him. This is still masterful.

Me neither. I did this because I like the character, and also because I want to give TOR characters an objective ranking. Safe to say Malgus isn't that powerful compared to what's he's being usually touted to be.

[MasterCilghalLevel Three]

Well done, very detailed.

[AncientPowerSuspect Hero | Level Four]

Many of his most important accolades are missing. As is the mindset he entered which Sidious used to find the path to 'true power'. Said mindset afforded him daily power growth for thirteen years before we get to SWTOR, where he's obviously dwarfing himself as of the novel. Then there's years of growth after his stint and near-death.

[Haggis]

Nice work.

[DarthAnt66Moderator]

Darth Malgus states afterwards only Darth Nox and the Emperor’s Wrath could have done the same, meaning he likely believes himself to be superior to all other Sith in the Empire sans the protagonists and obviously the Emperor himself:

Malgus only says that in the solo options. In the group option, which is the canonical storyline for the Foundry fight, Malgus says:



The "no other Sith could have defeated Revan" quote is still made within the context of a dream team effort. Malgus saying that they could have never defeated Revan without the dream team indicates that the Wrath, Nox, or even himself likely couldn't have done it alone. 

Great work though.  I'll later look to post some other accolade I found along the way as well.

[The Adventurous JediLevel Seven]

Pretty good RT.

[Trayus Marauder]

Excellent work as always.

[Sasukedc]

Another one?

Well, regardless, nice work.

[NevesYtneves (DC77)Level Seven]

Az, you are my hero.

[Master AzrongerModerator]

Darth Malgus states afterwards only Darth Nox and the Emperor’s Wrath could have done the same, meaning he likely believes himself to be superior to all other Sith in the Empire sans the protagonists and obviously the Emperor himself:

Malgus only says that in the solo options. In the group option, which is the canonical storyline for the Foundry fight, Malgus says:



The "no other Sith could have defeated Revan" quote is still made within the context of a dream team effort. Malgus saying that they could have never defeated Revan without the dream team indicates that the Wrath, Nox, or even himself likely couldn't have done it alone. 

Great work though.  I'll later look to post some other accolade I found along the way as well.

Fair. At face value it seems like a contradiction but since we know it was canonically a group effort, I guess this one overrules the solo options. The same thing happens with the False Emperor fight where the team members say they couldn't have beaten Malgus alone despite that being a possible gameplay option.

Although I recall @ILS making a case for the solo fights having just as much canonical value as the group fights. Care to chime in?

[Master AzrongerModerator]

Many of his most important accolades are missing. As is the mindset he entered which Sidious used to find the path to 'true power'. Said mindset afforded him daily power growth for thirteen years before we get to SWTOR, where he's obviously dwarfing himself as of the novel. Then there's years of growth after his stint and near-death.

And which accolades are those?

[Blade_of_DorinLevel One]

good shiz

[AncientPowerSuspect Hero | Level Four]

Many of his most important accolades are missing. As is the mindset he entered which Sidious used to find the path to 'true power'. Said mindset afforded him daily power growth for thirteen years before we get to SWTOR, where he's obviously dwarfing himself as of the novel. Then there's years of growth after his stint and near-death.

And which accolades are those?

In Deceived, you’ll learn the story of Darth Malgus and his rise to power. Delve into the dark secrets and history that shaped one of the most powerful Sith Lords the Old Republic would ever know…

The second novel set in the Old Republic era and based on the massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic, ramps up the action and brings readers face-to-face for the first time with a Sith warrior to rival the most sinister of the Order's Dark Lords—Darth Malgus, the mysterious, masked Sith of the wildly popular Deceived and Hope game trailers.

[IGLevel Four]

Don’t forget Malgus beating Lightspeed Leneer! Extremely imoresssive feat.

[Master AzrongerModerator]

I need to update this.

[PraxisModerator | Champion of the Light]

Darth Malgus states afterwards only Darth Nox and the Emperor’s Wrath could have done the same, meaning he likely believes himself to be superior to all other Sith in the Empire sans the protagonists and obviously the Emperor himself:

Malgus only says that in the solo options. In the group option, which is the canonical storyline for the Foundry fight, Malgus says:



The "no other Sith could have defeated Revan" quote is still made within the context of a dream team effort. Malgus saying that they could have never defeated Revan without the dream team indicates that the Wrath, Nox, or even himself likely couldn't have done it alone. 

Great work though.  I'll later look to post some other accolade I found along the way as well.

Fair. At face value it seems like a contradiction but since we know it was canonically a group effort, I guess this one overrules the solo options. The same thing happens with the False Emperor fight where the team members say they couldn't have beaten Malgus alone despite that being a possible gameplay option.

Although I recall @ILS making a case for the solo fights having just as much canonical value as the group fights. Care to chime in?

This is something I've been thinking about for some time now and was wondering what the general consensus is. Why would Bioware omit certain flashpoints from having the solo option while granting it to others? The flashpoints with the solo option even have specific dialogue tailored to the classes.

Spoiler:

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