Maul. canon and legends. the end, and his life

[DarthRevansRevenge]

so, since the episode twin suns is out, 1 of the few Sith lords in canon is gone, but i wanted to recap his life. Lord Xizer, it would be a huge favor if you could follow this post with another post or email for to tack on her for legends, since my legends knowledge, sadly, is less than my Canon knowledge. but, without further adieu, let's begin this.

  Maul, a Hairless(or Dathomirian) Zabrak from planet Dathomir, was taken on as an apprentice/assassin for Sidious during the final stages of the execution of the main plan. his training in the force was not as developed as his fighting skills by the time he fought Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Battle of Naboo. while he killed Qui-Gon in one of the most epic duels in star wars, he was defeated by Obi-Wan in one of the few moments the Jedi came closest to the dark side. after he fell down the reactor shaft, following being cut in half, he was transported to a junk world, where he game himself a massive metal spider body. there, he went insane. after 12 years, his brother, Savage Opress, found him and took him back to Dathomir to be restored. that day, Maul's rein of terror began, as he began his quest for revenge on Kenobi, and Sidious.
  he, with his brother, went and started this rein by attacking a village and razing it to the ground, attempting to bring Kenobi out. it succeeded, but before they could kill him, Ventress arrived and managed to help kenobi fight free. after this, they attacked various ports and stations, eventually driving a wedge into Hondo Kanaka's pirate band, taking over half of it. again, however, Kenobi foiled the brothers' plan and, both injured, forced them to flee.
  Eventually discovered by Mandalorian death watch, Maul start forming his new legion, the Shadow Syndicate, and began an attack on Mandalore, overthrowing Duchess Satine, but being betrayed by Pre Vizsla,  the Death Watch Leader, in the process. with his brother, he broke out of prison and, after challenging Vizsla to a duel, killed him and took over 50-66% of Death Watch, with the remainder now in rebellion, following Bo Katan, Satine's sister. after another encounter with kenobi, ending in him killing Satine, he was the confronted y his old master, Sidious. in a Schism of the Sith, spliting Maul and Savage 1 way, Dooku and Sidious the other, sidious attacked the brothers and killed Savage and took Maul Prisoner, saying he had other uses for him. these apparently were leaving Maul in charge of Mandalore, but he was soon over thrown by Bo Katan, the Nite Owls, Mandalore resistance, half of the 501st, including Rex, and Ahsoka Tano, ending his rein of terror and sending him into hiding
  17 years later, he resurfaced and began ANOTHER path of Revenge, trying to destroy the empire, Jedi, rebels, Kenobi, and to turn Ezra to the dark side. this culminated in the final duel of his life, when in three strikes he was killed by Kenobi, his lifelong enemy. as he died, he said that Luke, in the future as the Chosen one, would avenge them both.

while i probably should have put more work into this, here is the broad breakdown. but, as always, i would love to her your thoughts on one of the most interesting characters in all of star wars

[Lord Xizer]

Maul was insignificant in every way. A mere hit man for Sidious. He died as he lived in both mediums- an over hyped insect with no greater effect on the galaxy around him.

[Revanchist]

Maul was insignificant in every way. A mere hit man for Sidious. He died as he lived in both mediums- an over hyped insect with no greater effect on the galaxy around him.

Very accurate. Maul was what Sidious needed at the time, a lethal assassin capable of efficiently eliminating targets. He was never intended to be a permanent facet of the Rule of Two. This was something that set Sidious apart from the other Sith Lords who adhered to the Rule: his apprentices were chosen to be disposable. Maul and Dooku were never intended to be next in line for the mantle. Maul in particular lacked the drive for power that is necessary to truly be Sith.

[DarthRevansRevenge]

while this may be so, he is still an interesting character, and ORIGINALLY intended by Sidious to be his right hand man until his first demise at the hands of Obi-wan. he also had the potential, had his plans original plans for Mandalore and Death Watch gone according to plan, to have been the major third faction in the clone wars. unfortunately, the plot bunnies that plagued the empire wreaked havoc on Maul&Co as well, and he was eventually tossed into the wastebasket of the Force known  as Chaos

[Lord Xizer]

while this may be so, he is still an interesting character, and ORIGINALLY intended by Sidious to be his right hand man until his first demise at the hands of Obi-wan. he also had the potential, had his plans original plans for Mandalore and Death Watch gone according to plan, to have been the major third faction in the clone wars. unfortunately, the plot bunnies that plagued the empire wreaked havoc on Maul&Co as well, and he was eventually tossed into the wastebasket of the Force known  as Chaos

I disagree, I never found him interesting or capable of more than being an errand boy.Dooku had more depth, potential, character and import than Maul ever did and he was just a placeholder for Anakin.

[DarthRevansRevenge]

Maul, in legends, was from before Palpatine knew Anakin EXISTED, and, in his final conversation with Darth Plaguise, said that he had Maul to do what he could not, and pretty much said Maul was intended to be a TRUE Sith apprentice, following Plaguise's demise. but, with Maul's presumed death, Palpatine shifted to after Anakin, with Dooku as the placeholder

[Lord Xizer]

Maul, in legends, was from before Palpatine knew Anakin EXISTED, and, in his final conversation with Darth Plaguise, said that he had Maul to do what he could not, and pretty much said Maul was intended to be a TRUE Sith apprentice, following Plaguise's demise. but, with Maul's presumed death, Palpatine shifted to after Anakin, with Dooku as the placeholder

Sidious never intended for maul to be anything but an errand boy, THAT is what he meant by that statement after murdering Plageus, he was the shadowy tool for Sidious murderous intent, Sidious never meant for Maul to supplant him as he saw himself as the pinnacle of the Sith, ALL his apprentices were just intended to be tools for HIS aggrandizement. In that regard NONE of Palpatine's Sith apprentices were 'true' as none were ever intended to surpass and replace him like previous Sith in the Rule of Two. Of all three though Maul was easily the easiest to replace and the least missed due to his very limited usefulness to the Dark Lord.

[Mr.Puerto]

This breakdown of Maul is good however, out of all the whole Cannon Star Wars Epic, Maul is easily the worse character next to Jar Jar. Hell at least the Ewoks did something and were fluffy. Even Kylo Ren, and ginger Hitler (General Hux) are better characters than Maul. As stated he was a simple errand boy who outlived his usefulness. If Lucasarts had kept him dead I would've had no problem with him. But they give him all of this awful screentime because they were too lazy to write and create a truly unique or original force-sensitive villain.

[Pali]

I will say that I liked how Maul died - nice and quick, with Obi-wan tricking Maul into trying to use the move he used to kill Qui-gon and Obi-wan effortlessly countering it.  It showed without words that Kenobi had grown immeasurably since their last encounters and learned from the past, while Maul was stuck trying to undo or fix the past and hadn't progressed at all.

[Revanchist]

Sidious never intended for maul to be anything but an errand boy, THAT is what he meant by that statement after murdering Plageus, he was the shadowy tool for Sidious murderous intent, Sidious never meant for Maul to supplant him as he saw himself as the pinnacle of the Sith, ALL his apprentices were just intended to be tools for HIS aggrandizement. In that regard NONE of Palpatine's Sith apprentices were 'true' as none were ever intended to surpass and replace him like previous Sith in the Rule of Two. Of all three though Maul was easily the easiest to replace and the least missed due to his very limited usefulness to the Dark Lord.

I think that he did believe that Anakin would succeed him pre-Mustafar. During his battle with Yoda he almost goes to say as much: "Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us." However, as soon as Anakin became extra crispy he changed back to his standard plan.

[DarthRevansRevenge]

in canon. while i have to jump back and forth with this, it is because Darth Plaguise(the book) is not accepted canon. also, had Anakin not been devastated on Mustafar, he would, within like 1-5 years, been SO powerful, he could have flattened Sidious with 1 move. fortunately for the galaxy, Obi-Wan beat Anakin, and he was confined to the suit, a shell of his former self, and Luke eventually bested him, bringing Anakin back to destroy Palpatine the first time.

[Lord Xizer]

I will say that I liked how Maul died - nice and quick, with Obi-wan tricking Maul into trying to use the move he used to kill Qui-gon and Obi-wan effortlessly countering it.  It showed without words that Kenobi had grown immeasurably since their last encounters and learned from the past, while Maul was stuck trying to undo or fix the past and hadn't progressed at all.

This I agree with wholeheartedly. It is the fundamental difference in their characters and ultimately the difference between a villain and hero in context of the heroes journey.

A similar context is Isard and Iella in Isard's Revenge.

[the_trots]

Darth Maul is undoubtedly interesting to me simply for the fact that he was able to take out a Jedi Master.  Not much was done with him but the different weapon and an alien sith showed there was more to the story.  He was one of the better parts of the movie and would have much rather seen him instead of Nute Gunray.

The three way rumble between him and Jinn/Kenobi is the most underrated star wars fight IMO and is worth watching epo. 1

[CaptainPogo]

Legends-wise, he was Sidious's glorified hitman, cool but at the end, nothing to truly write home about (though his dismantling of the leadership of Black Sun and killing Qui-Gon Jinn were decent highlights).

The new stuff was an interesting spin on this. He is the same glorified hitman...Who is pissed when he realizes this and try to rectify that only to be utterly insignificant compared to the bigger picture at hand. Like he believes himself to be this great threat upon his return but at the near end of his life...He was nothing and one guy, his own personal nemesis who long stopped caring about their rivalry for years now  cared when he died.