We all remember the duel at the end of Episode I, when Maul took down Qui-Gon Jinn on Naboo. And if you’ve always assumed Qui-Gon was the first Jedi Maul ever killed, you’re not alone. But in canon, that isn’t actually true. Maul’s first Jedi kill is a Twi’lek Padawan named Eldra Kaitis.
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Maul Was Forced to Wait Before Hunting His First Jedi
So here’s what happens in Marvel’s canon miniseries Star Wars: Darth Maul (2017). Before Darth Maul ever killed a Jedi, he had already spent years being trained for that exact purpose by Darth Sidious. Sidious raised Maul to hate the Jedi, to see them as the sworn enemies of the Sith, and to prepare himself for the day he would finally be unleashed against them. But there was one problem: the Sith were still hiding in the shadows at that point, which meant Sidious would not allow Maul to openly reveal himself yet. No matter how skilled or bloodthirsty Maul had become, he was still being forced to wait.
That made Maul’s frustration even worse. He had been trained as a weapon, but he was not yet allowed to use himself the way he wanted. The comic makes it clear that Maul was desperate for the chance to finally test himself against a Jedi for real, not just through training or hatred built up in his mind. Sidious kept warning him that the time had not yet come, because exposing the Sith too early would risk everything they had been building in secret. So Maul was left in a cruel position. He had all the skill, anger, and purpose of a Sith assassin, yet he was still being ordered to remain in the dark and wait for his master’s command.
That is what makes the start of this story so important. By the time Maul learns that a Jedi Padawan named Eldra Kaitis has fallen into the hands of criminals, he sees it as the opportunity he has been denied for years. This was his chance to finally go after a Jedi with his own hands, and Maul was not willing to let that moment pass him by.
Eldra Kaitis Fell Into the Hands of the Xrexus Cartel
Maul’s opportunity came when a Jedi Padawan named Eldra Kaitis was captured by the Xrexus Cartel. Rather than killing her immediately, the cartel chose to profit from her capture by putting her up for sale.
For Maul, that changed the situation completely. Sidious had spent years forcing him to stay hidden, but now a Jedi had fallen into the hands of criminals and was about to be traded like property. Maul saw the situation as something he could exploit. He would not have to expose the Sith by attacking the Jedi Order directly. Instead, he could move through the chaos of the underworld and take Eldra for himself.
So when Maul learned what had happened to Eldra Kaitis, he did not hesitate. He went after her because this was the closest he had ever come to finally getting what Sidious had denied him for so long: a real Jedi to hunt.
Maul Turned the Auction Into a Bloodbath
By Star Wars: Darth Maul #3, Maul has already made his way into the auction under the false identity of Seris Madreth of the Haddrex Consortium. Before the bidding even begins, he secretly goes down to see Eldra Kaitis in her cell and comes face to face with the Jedi Padawan for the first time. He even ignites his lightsaber and strikes at the energy shield holding her, but the moment is interrupted when Xev Xrexus and her droideka guards catch him in the restricted area. Maul is forced to pull back and keep playing his part, even though he is already standing just steps away from the Jedi he has waited years to hunt.
Once the auction begins, Maul’s frustration only gets worse. He and the bounty hunters working with him do not actually have enough money to win Eldra through bidding, which means Maul is already looking for another way to take her. The room is filled with major underworld figures, all gathered for the chance to buy a captured Jedi Padawan, and Maul has to stand there watching while Eldra is treated like property. The whole scene becomes a test of restraint, because the one thing he wants most is right in front of him, yet he still cannot simply cut his way through everyone and take her.
Maul and Eldra Were Hunted Together on Drazkel
After the chaos at the auction, Maul does manage to take Eldra Kaitis, but things do not go smoothly for him. In Star Wars: Darth Maul #4, Maul and the crew with him crash onto the moon of Drazkel after forces loyal to Xev Xrexus bring down their stolen ship. Instead of escaping with the Padawan, Maul suddenly finds himself stranded on a hostile world with Eldra still alive and underworld hunters closing in from every direction.
Xev Xrexus turns the pursuit into a game, sending hunters after both of them, and Drazkel becomes a deadly survival zone where the Jedi Padawan and the Sith apprentice are both being hunted. For a time, Maul is forced to accept that killing Eldra immediately would solve nothing. He still has enemies all around him, and Eldra is strong enough with the Force and skilled enough with her lightsaber to be useful as they fight their way through the people chasing them.
Maul finally has a Jedi in his hands, but instead of killing her right away, he ends up trapped in an uneasy survival situation beside her. Eldra proves she is far from helpless, and she pushes back hard enough that Maul cannot simply treat her like a powerless captive. For a brief stretch, they are forced to survive the same fight together, even though both of them know it can only end one way once the hunters are gone.
Eldra Kaitis Became Darth Maul’s First Jedi Kill
By the final issue, the temporary survival situation between Maul and Eldra Kaitis is over. Whatever brief alliance existed on Drazkel was never going to last, because Maul had not come that far to let a Jedi live. As the hunters and the chaos around them fall away, the conflict narrows into what it was always going to become: a direct fight between the Sith apprentice who had spent years waiting to hunt a Jedi and the Padawan who had proven far more dangerous than he expected.
Eldra does not simply collapse in front of Maul. By that point, she has already shown that she is resourceful, strong with the Force, and skilled enough in combat to keep Maul from overwhelming her without a fight. Maul is finally facing the Jedi kill he had wanted for years, but he still has to take it by force.
Maul defeats Eldra Kaitis and kills her, making her the first Jedi to die by his hand in canon. That changes the way The Phantom Menace is viewed in hindsight, because Qui-Gon Jinn was only the first Jedi Maul killed on screen, not the first Jedi he ever killed in the timeline.