Darth Maul
Darth Maul was a fictional character (of Sith affiliation) in the Star Wars universe. He was portrayed in Episode I: The Phantom Menace by martial arts specialist Ray Park, and voiced by British actor Peter Serafinowicz.
Biography
Darth Maul (54 – 32 BBY) was the first known apprentice of Darth Sidious. A Zabrak originally from Iridonia, Maul had no memories of his homeworld or family, having been kidnapped as an infant by Sidious.
Indoctrinated in the ways of the dark side from youth, Maul had no emotion aside from bloodlust and rage. During his training, any show of fear was severely punished by Sidious and any hint of mercy rewarded with cruelty. By the time Maul was an adolescent, his master had already forged him into a weapon of pure hatred. Marked by Sith tattoos that covered his entire muscular body, the young Zabrak was now the ultimate tool of the dark side. Despite this rather traumatic childhood (if it could be called that), Maul adored his Master, and never once contemplated killing him — until his final test.
Sidious abandoned Maul on an isolated Outer Rim world, forcing him to survive alone while being hunted by hordes of assassin droids. After a month's time, his master returned and challenged his apprentice to a duel, one which Maul quickly lost. Sidious then told Maul that he had failed and he had been secretly training a replacement for him. Rage and hatred overwhelmed Maul and in one final act of defiance, he nearly defeated his master. When Maul's emotions were finally spent, he prepared himself for death, yet his master laughed instead. By wanting to kill his own master, Maul had in fact passed the final test. His master proclaimed him Darth Maul, Dark Lord of the Sith and took him to a new home on Coruscant. Unlike Sidious' later apprentices, Tyranus and Vader, Maul had no ambition to strike down his master. Also, unlike Tyranus and Vader, Sidious used him more as a tool than as an apprentice. For most of the time, he appears to be little more than an assassin. However, he did realize that Sith tradition required the death of his master before he could acquire an apprentice of his own.
Maul was skilled with the lightsaber. According to Star Wars Insider #62, Darth Maul was trained by Darth Sidious to be a master of Form VII, which draws on emotions and the dark side. Unlike the traditional dueling techniques of most Jedi, Maul combined his swordsmanship with incredible acrobatic and martial arts and hand-to-hand combat skills, making him a nearly unstoppable dervish of destruction. Maul was a master of the fighting style teräs käsi as well as an adept in the Jar'Kai style of wielding a lightsaber in each hand. When fighting multiple opponents, Maul extended the second blade of his double-bladed lightsaber to form a saberstaff, doubling his lethality. Maul often used this to catch opponents by surprise as few were prepared for the extra blade. Maul had constructed this weapon himself, using ancient plans stored within one of the Sith Holocrons the Sith still possessed. He had based his lightsaber design upon Exar Kun's.
Maul was skilled with combining Force talents with mechanics. His master gave Maul the funds and schematics he needed and provided him with a secret facility on Coruscant in which to work. There, Maul constructed his signature speeder bike Bloodfin and his Dark Eye probe droids. Maul had a powerful transport—a Sith Infiltrator called Scimitar, which hosted a cloaking shield generator. This vehicle was developed by Raith Sienar, the man whose company would later develop the TIE fighter for the Galactic Empire.
Maul originally went on countless missions of terror for his master, killing politicians, crime bosses, merchants and warlords. Maul's very appearance had been carefully conceived to put fear into the heart of the Sith's enemies and unwitting allies. His victims included Neimoidian Hath Monchar, the Black Sun leader Alexi Garyn, the Nightsister Mighella and all of the Black Sun vigos and their bodyguards. Yet despite his untold successes, Maul loved victory over the Jedi. Which he succeeded at on several occasions, against Barco Trellius, Roro Fergus and Ji-Dis Flar.
During the events of Episode I: the Phantom Menace, Maul was sent to capture Queen Amidala and eliminate the two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had been dispatched by the Galactic Republic to settle the conflict and protect the queen. Maul just barely failed in this task on Tatooine and he thirsted for revenge. Fighting Tusken Raiders and Togorian pirates put a drain on him by the time he left Tatooine.
Upon arriving on Naboo, the hatred-fueled Sith warrior went straight at the two Jedi, ignoring the queen and allowing her to escape. In a vicious duel during the Battle of Naboo, Maul was remarkably able to fend off both of his Jedi opponents with the help of his double-bladed lightsaber. After separating the Jedi Master from his Padawan, Maul finally succeeded in slaying Jinn. However, overconfidence, a common personality trait among the Zabrak species, led to Maul's own immediate downfall when he challenged Obi-Wan. The young Padawan, enraged at his master's death, struck out at Maul with a furious assault of lightsaber swipes but by doing this, he put himself at great risk. Maul eventually Force-pushed the vengeful Obi-Wan into a pit. He taunted the Padawan, who dangled helplessly by a ledge, watching his lightsaber fall down into the abyss. But by calming his anger over Jinn's death and connecting with the Force, Kenobi was able to make a spectacular leap out of the shaft and Force-guide Jinn's lightsaber into his own hands. Wasting no time in striking as he landed from his jump, Obi-Wan quickly cleaved the astounded Maul in two before he could react. Maul barely had time to grimace as his body tumbled down the shaft in two pieces.
Echo in the Force
Several years after his death, Maul would later appear as an apparition to Anakin Skywalker in a cave on Ilum. Anakin was to enter a cave similar to the one Luke Skywalker (his son) would one day enter on Dagobah. Anakin was in a trance-like state, and when Maul appeared and gave him the same lightsaber Anakin was about to make but only red, Anakin immediately attacked him. After a furious battle, Anakin won and found the same lightsaber Maul had given him, but was shocked that it was blue instead of red. However, as real as he might have looked, this vision of Maul was merely a creation of the dark side.
Real name and Sith title
Darth Maul’s non-canonical pre-Sith name is Khameir Sarin. The name is apparently derived from foreign translations of the Episode I novelization as well as some foreign translations of the Virtual Encyclopedia. It was cut from the original English version of the Episode I novelization. SuperShadow has latched onto "Khameir Sarin" and included it in his own Star Wars history, but this website is not canonical, being almost entirely his own fabrication.
The origin of his Sith name is not clear, but it could be a portmanteau of the Portuguese words "mau" (wicked) and "mal" (evil). It could also come from the English word "maul". As a noun, it means a type of heavy hammer; as a verb, it means to injure a person by beating.
Non-canon resurrections
It should be emphasized that none of these stories are at all likely to be canonical, as they are not only completely irreconcilable with each other (or subsequent EU media), but the first two were published under the explicitly out-of-continuity "Infinities" imprimatur. The second story was part of an anthology of stories with no clearly-stated canonical status.
As depicted in Resurrection from 2001's Star Wars Tales #9, a dark side splinter group called the Prophets of the Dark Side managed to resurrect Darth Maul in 0 BBY. It is unknown whether this Maul was created through cloning techniques, by using some form of Sith alchemy to reanimate Maul's actual corpse, or through other means. As an example to the lesser vassals of Palpatine's Empire and an end to his tainted Sith Apprentice, Darth Vader was chosen as the first target for the dark warrior. These dark side worshippers believed Vader to be too much of a Jedi to be a worthy Sith Lord.
In 2003, Star Wars Tales #17 featured the story "Phantom Menaces", by Joe Casey and Francisco Paronzini, which depicts a post-Return of the Jedi Jedi Master Luke Skywalker visiting Maul's home planet of Iridonia in an ambassadorial capacity.
In his guest quarters, Luke is attacked by a ghostly but evidently solid aparition of Darth Maul, which fades away after a short fight. He is informed by his hosts that it is supposedly the ghost of their infamous former countryman-turned-Sith. Doubting this explanation due to the specter's solidity and "tremor in the Force", Luke hunts for the source of the phenomenon. Luke is confronted by the spirit one more time before finding a hidden laboratory where a mad Iridonian scientist by the name of Drell Kahmf is tending to a cyber-wired brain suspended in a vat of liquid. Kahmf reveals that he regarded Maul as "Iridonia's greatest champion" and upon his death at Theed somehow salvaged the Sith's brain, resuscitated it, and installed it in his lab with a device granting it the ability to generate a "solid-state hologram" projection of its former body. Luke declares that "artificially keeping him alive is causing an unnatural disturbance in the Force" and scares Kahmf away before switching off the life-support system sustaining Maul's disembodied brain.
Subsequently, in 2005, Dark Horse published Star Wars: Visionaries, a compilation of comic art short stories written and illustrated by members of the Revenge of the Sith art department and ILM artists.
The opening story, "Old Wounds" by Aaron McBride, is set in "the third year Imperial Occupation" and begins with Owen Lars trying to teach new words to a toddler-age Luke Skywalker. They see a strange figure on the horizon running towards the Lars homestead, and Owen instructs Beru to bring him his rifle and take the boy inside. The figure dodges warning shots with ease and uses the Force to disarm Owen before smashing the weapon over his head. Standing on strange, triple-jointed droid legs (similar to General Grievous) and concealed by a dark hood, the figure calls out through the Force to an unseen enemy he can nevertheless sense. The evil, psychic voice claims to have been tracking this adversary for years, just missing him by 2 days on Kamino, Geonosis and Mustafar, where he had seen a corpse (Darth Vader) that he thought was his enemy. He then killed witnesses on Polis Massa before finally gaining crucial information on Mos Espa from an aged Watto, whom he beheaded for his greed. The dark creature declares that he knew threatening Luke would bring his adversary out into the open, to which the hidden voice finally asks through the Force, "Does Palpatine know?" The cyborg-legged monster replies, "No. There is no Palpatine. No Empire. No Jedi. There is no Light. No Dark. . . . Just you and I here now." At this point, (a grey-haired) Obi-Wan bursts out from the sand and the dark figure casts off his hood and reveals himself to be Darth Maul, his severed lower body replaced by a pair of large cybernetic legs and abdomen, and his cranial horns having grown, crown-like, to over three times their original length. Consumed with greater hatred than ever before and clearly having never resumed contact with his former master, Maul had dedicated his new life to avenging himself on the man who had bested and killed him. Kenobi and Maul engage in furious combat, in which Maul loses a further arm and some horns before being held at Kenobi's mercy. With his lightsaber hilt to Maul's forehead and his finger on the blade-ignition button, Kenobi hesitates to execute his helpless opponent, but has the decision taken out of his hands when the revived Owen blows the former Sith's head apart with his damaged rifle. Obi-Wan says he will take the body and burn it in the Dune Sea, and asks if Luke is all right. Owen replies, "I told you I'd keep him safe, and I will. Even if that means from YOU. You don't come back here. Understand?". Obi-Wan departs with Maul's corpse, speaking to Luke through the Force, assuring him "Don't worry. I'll be right here... even if you can't see me."
Appearances
Darth Maul first appeared in The Phantom Menace, but, to the disappointment of many fans, his character was killed by the end of the film. Maul's striking visual design, in addition to his limited role, have left many fans wanting to know more about his character.
According to IMDb, "...Though curious Star Wars fanatics clamored to rumors that Ray Park would return as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), their many speculations were shot down by George Lucas himself with the announcement that although that specific character would not return for the sequel, Park would indeed play a role in Episode II..." What this role was remains a mystery.
Maul's earlier escapades are documented in the following works:
- Jedi Council: Acts of War
- "Darth Maul: Saboteur"
- Darth Maul
- Episode I Adventures: The Fury of Darth Maul
- "Marked"
- Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
- The Phantom Menace
- Episode I Journal: Darth Maul
Darth Maul is a playable character in the "Assault" mode of Star Wars: Battlefront II, a secret character in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, a secret character in the playstation game Star Wars: Demolition and a playable character in Lego Star Wars The Video Game.
Trivia
- Darth Maul only blinks once, just after he is sliced in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, he may only have blinked through shock, and this could evidence that Zabraks are a species of alien whose usage of eyelids is optional.
- The lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul took nearly a month to film.
- Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber's handle was originally going to be as long as a normal lightsaber. It was Ray Park who suggested making it longer.
...the handle was going to be about the size of a standard lightsaber, so I asked George if I could have it bigger. It would be very hard to move something that small around my body and keep it balanced, because I'd have to hold it like that [holds his wrists close together] and it would have been virtually impossible to use. That was my contribution to the lightsaber, basically. It allowed me to spin it around my head and do flourish movements.
- Darth Maul is said to be the descendant of Bao-Dur, a playable character in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.[citation needed]
- The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War by Abel G. Peña has a sentence which implies "Old Wounds" and its cyborg Darth Maul may just be canon: "The Soulless One was eventually tracked down by a cyborg acquaintance of Obi-Wan's, an old enemy who anonymously reported the ship to the local Imperial authorities." Despite the implication, Old Wounds is not officially announced as a canon story yet.
References
- Darth Maul (Star Wars: Episode I Journal), 2000. Jude Watson, ISBN 0-613-24763-9
- Star Wars: Darth Maul, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2001. Ron Marz, Jan Duursema, Rick Magyar, ISBN 1-569-71542-4
- Star Wars Jedi Council: Acts of War, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2001. Randy Stradley, Davide Fabbri, Christian Dalla Vecchia, ISBN 1-569-71539-4
- Star Wars Tales: Volume 6, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2006. Robert Williams, Thomas Andrews, Ian Edginton, Lucas Maragnon, ISBN 1-59307-447-6
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0
- Darth Maul: Saboteur, e-book, 2001. James Luceno, ISBN B-000-05AAM-X
- Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul), paperback, 2001. Michael Reaves, ISBN 0-345-43541-9
- The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-789-44701-0
- Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, 1st edition, 2000. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, ISBN 0-786-91793-8
- The Dark Side sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast, 1st printing, 2001. Bill Slavicsek, J. D. Wiker, ISBN 0-786-91849-7
See also
External links
- Star Wars Databank Maul, Darth
- Darth Maul on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki