Star Wars' New Planet Is the Most Terrifying in the Galaxy - For 1 Unbelievable Reason

Summary The Final Occultation leaders possess dark magic from another dimension, making them more powerful than even Palpatine.

Darth Maul battles the cultists to prevent them from opening a rift between worlds, using all his strength to stop their evil plans.

The mysterious ice planet where the Final Occultation was left poses a potential threat to the entire Star Wars universe, setting up a perfect villain for future stories.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1! There are a great number of known planets in the Star Wars galaxy that could easily take the top-spot as the most terrifying - from Moraband and Exegol to Abafar and Maldo Kries. However, even without heavy influences of the Sith or knobby white ice spiders, one planet that has just been introduced in Star Wars lore is more terrifying than all of them - for one unbelievable reason.

In Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1 by Benjamin Percy and Stefano Raffaele, Darth Maul is sent to intercept a prisoner-transport ship by Darth Sidious, as Palpatine becomes aware of three inmates that broke loose on the vessel who were of great interest to him. These prisoners were the three leaders of a Star Wars cult called the Final Occultation, and they have access to power beyond the reach of the galaxy.

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The Final Occultation leaders channel their power from another dimension called the Netherworld, which grants them the ability to wield dark magic that even Palpatine himself cannot fathom. When Darth Maul boards the ship, he is hit with hellish visions that seemingly transport his spirit to a nightmare realm filled with nothing but pain and horror. After learning that the cultists are opening a rift between this world and the Netherworld right there on the ship, which would flood the galaxy with this hellish energy, Darth Maul does everything he can to stop them.

In the end, Maul takes control of the ship and crash-lands it on an ice planet with no name, seemingly destroying the Final Occultation and their horrific link to the Netherworld once and for all.

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Darth Maul Thinks He Destroyed the Final Occultation, But He May Be Wrong

The Final Occultation leaders can worm their way into Darth Maul’s mind, making him experience hyperreal visions that he can’t escape. They can grant themselves superhuman strength and durability, enough to wipe out an entire ship full of trained prison guards like it’s nothing. And they can also create an interdimensional portal to a nightmarish hellscape dimension just from the spare parts of a ship. In other words, the Final Occultation is resilient, and its members are deadly.

Crashing a ship full of the cultists might have killed a fair number of them, and Darth Maul himself took out two of the three leaders, but the high priest of the Final Occultation, and the rift they were opening to the Netherworld, may very well have survived the crash.

These are otherworldly powers fueled by pure cosmic chaos, after all, meaning there’s no telling what those who channel it can do, and how powerful and/or indestructible they are. Not only that, but a hole torn through the fabric of reality doesn’t seem like it can be patched up with a crashed ship, meaning there could be a gateway to a hell-dimension residing on this icy planet - with a potentially all-powerful gatekeeper - just waiting to be found.

Star Wars Sets Up the Perfect Villain for the Next Chapter in the Franchise

Darth Maul left a pandora’s box on a mysterious ice planet without making sure every last trace of the Final Occultation was destroyed in the crash, which is the perfect setup for a future Star Wars story. If the chaos the Final Occultation planned to release from the Netherworld actually made it through the breach they created, it would mean the end of the entire Star Wars universe. The cosmos would be reduced to a swirling hellscape of pain and horror, the most paralyzing nightmares made manifest. So, what happens if someone stumbles upon the wreckage, and unleashes these horrors?

While officially the Final Occultation in Star Wars canon has been neutralized, it seems more likely than not that at least some fraction of the cult and the interdimensional rift they opened survived the crash. And if that’s the case, it could mean the end of the entire universe should someone happen upon it (which is very likely in a universe where interplanetary travel is the norm). So, for that reason, this unnamed ice planet has just become the most terrifying world in the Star Wars galaxy.

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.