Mara was taken from her home planet as a child by Emperor Palpatine because of her rare abilities in the Force which presented themselves even at an early age. She doesn't remember much about her family or parents, just that they didn't want her to leave.

The Emperor trained her as his personal assistant, using her Force abilities as a type of communication device so that she could hear his voice from anywhere in the galaxy. Mara became his personal tool. The Emperor would send her in when jobs couldn't be handled by mere stormtroopers. She learned how to handle a lightsaber and how to fight with her bare hands if she had to, but her favorite weapon was a tiny blaster she kept hidden in her sleeve. With this deadly training, she became coded "The Emperor's Hand", a skilled assassin and in general a dangerous secret agent.

At some point in her career with the Empire, Mara was sent on a mission to stop a young rebel from rescuing his friend. She posed as a dancer in Jabba the Hutt's palace and plotted to keep that young rebel, who just happened to be Luke Skywalker, from escaping with Han Solo. But try as she might, she could not convince Jabba to allow her to accompany him on the ship to the Sarlaac pit and therefore he escaped.

Mara returned from her mission bitter, angry, and keenly aware of the Emperor's displeasure with her work. She knew that if she had been on that ship, Luke's plan would have been foiled and her position with the Emperor would be secure. She had no way of knowing that disaster in her world was on the verge of happening.

In disgrace, Palpatine had sent Mara off on another mission to redeem herself when the rebels were attacking the forest moon at Endor. The day that the Emperor died, he sent Mara a message through the Force. She saw a vision of his death, but somehow the signals got crossed and instead of the true scene, Mara saw that Luke and Vader were fighting and suddenly both turned on the Emperor at once and killed him with their lightsabers. With this vision, Mara also heard the Emperor's voice issuing one last order, "YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!"