- 19 hours ago
Some misconceptions about the master of the twin-bladed lightsaber.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A member of the Zabrak race, the much-loved Maul first appeared as the devoted follower of the
00:05evil Darth Sidious in The Phantom Menace. After a brief skirmish with Qui-Gon Jinn on Tatooine,
00:10Maul then engages in an epic fight with him and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo. After turning his master
00:14into a she's kebab, Maul is defeated by Obi-Wan when he gets sliced clean in half.
00:19And that's the whole story, or is it? The Star Wars universe is so expansive these days that
00:24it's impossible for a character to be this underdeveloped. How there are some gonk droids
00:29with pages upon pages written about them. So you better believe that there's more to our pal
00:33Maul than you could ever possibly imagine. So with that in mind, I'm Darth Gareth from
00:37What Culture Star Wars and here are 10 things everyone always gets wrong about Darth Maul.
00:42Number 10. Ray Park was the first choice. Although voiced by British actor Peter Serafinowicz,
00:48Maul's physical form in The Phantom Menace was portrayed by Scottish actor and stuntman Ray
00:52Park. Park has also appeared in the Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow movie The G.I. Joe series and has
00:57Toad in 2000's X-Men. But he's best known for his time as the horny Sith, steady now.
01:02He was a natural fit for the part, which might lead you to assume he was the first choice for it.
01:07But alas, this is not true. Benicio Del Toro of the usual suspect's fame was originally signed on
01:12to play the role. This was a huge get for the prequel trilogy as Del Toro's style was very much
01:17on the rise at the time. Unfortunately, the Puerto Rican was less than thrilled to find out that his
01:22part had been considerably cut in the final version of the script. He ditched the project,
01:26leaving the door open for Park to stride on in. Clearly, Del Toro regretted his decision to some
01:31degree as he returned to Star Wars in The Last Jedi. Although he may have regretted that decision
01:36even more. Number 9. He only appears once. Let's get a super obvious one out of the way nice and
01:42early, eh? If you've only seen the mainline Star Wars movies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that
01:46Maul's character was totally wasted. In The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul only gets a paltry six minutes of
01:51screen time. Just to put that in perspective, Anakin's mum Shmi gets over seven minutes and
01:56did she have a double-ended lightsaber? No, she did not. So why did Star Wars not make better use of
02:00such a uniquely designed, interesting presence? Well, it did, just not in the movies. After meeting
02:05his supposed end at the hands of Obi-Wan, Maul actually survived being cut in half through pure
02:10hatred and dark magic. In the animated Clone Wars series, Maul's brother Savage Opress finds him and
02:16helps him return to full power. Since that episode, Maul has turned up in other animated series, video
02:21games, comic books and novels. He also made his return to the movies when it was revealed he was
02:25playing a part in the plot of Solo, A Star Wars Story. And that was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?
02:30Number 8. He's always hated the Jedi. The future Emperor Palpatine was not the best father figure to
02:35our young subject. After snatching him away from his mother, Darth Sidious began moulding his new
02:40follower into a walking weapon. He trained the boy in physical combat, taught him the ways of the
02:44dark side, and helped foster the hatred that would come to define his character. As detailed in Marvel
02:50Comics' Darth Maul issue number 2, Sidious takes Maul on a field trip to the planet Malachor, the site
02:55of an ancient battle between Jedi and Sith. In order to really drive home how bad this fight went for
03:00the Sith, Sidious forced his apprentice to inhale their ashes, giving him visions of the slaughter from
03:05long ago. This moment helped grow Maul's resentment towards the Jedi and kick-started his ambition to
03:10wipe them all out. However, had it not been for Sidious' tampering with the young boy's mind,
03:14then maybe this hostility would have never come about. Perhaps we could be looking at Darth Maul,
03:18the baker, the accountant, or the used car salesman. We'll just never know.
03:23Number 7. He was Sidious' first choice.
03:25Time now for a section I'm calling Maul's terrible childhood. He was born on the planet
03:29Dathomir, which is ruled over by a group of Force-sensitive witches called the Nightsisters.
03:34This all-female clan used the Force to rule over their male counterparts, the Night Brothers,
03:38and became so powerful that the evil Darth Sidious took notice of them. Game recognises game.
03:44Sidious travelled to Dathomir to have a nice cup of tea with the Nightsisters' leader,
03:47Mother Talzin. An extremely powerful being, Talzin was offered the opportunity to become
03:51Sidious' apprentice. But that all changed when the Sith Lord discovered Talzin's gifted son.
03:56You can see where this is going. Yes, Talzin was Maul's mother,
03:59and Sidious sensed great potential in him. He kidnapped the young boy, breaking his promise,
04:03and setting in motion the Zabrak's rise to power. So Maul was not hand-picked by Sidious,
04:08his involvement with the Sith came about through sheer good luck, or bad luck from a certain point
04:13of view. Number 6, he's only got one backstory. We've already covered Maul's childhood as the son
04:18of Mother Talzin, how he was taken by Sidious, raised to be a killer, blah blah blah. While this
04:22is the character's most commonly accepted backstory, there is another one out there.
04:26In 2012, a Star Wars novel called Darth Plagueis was released, detailing a different version of how
04:31Sidious came into possession of the young Maul. In this story, Maul's mother is not the all-powerful
04:36Talzin, but rather a human named Kaisina. Kaisina was a night sister who lived in fear of Talzin,
04:41terrified that she would force her sons into slavery. Upon learning of Sidious' visit to
04:45Dathomir, Kaisina persuaded him to take her child and raise him far away. Oh yeah, because that just
04:50turned out really great, didn't it? Maul's conflicting parentage is usually ignored in
04:53mainstream conversations about Star Wars, as the Talzin version is most widely accepted. However,
04:58learning that our favorite Zabrak might actually be a little bit human certainly makes for some
05:02interesting reading. 5. He Was Always Planned For The Prequels
05:06The first six Star Wars movies weren't particularly heavy on female characters,
05:10it must be said. There's Leia, Padme, uh, Mon Mothma, that Jedi librarian from Attack of the
05:16Clones, the weird CGI singer from Jabba's Palace. Is that really it? This was nearly very different,
05:21as the name Maul almost went to a very different character altogether. George Lucas originally planned
05:26for an evil witch to be the antagonist of the Phantom Menace, but this idea was eventually scrapped.
05:31The closest we got to this version being released was Darth Talon, a female Sith who appeared in
05:36several Star Wars comics and the mobile game Galaxy of Heroes. Although she was a Twi'lek,
05:41Talon had red and black skin similar to that of Maul's. She was also going to be teamed up with the
05:45twin Blade wielder as the main baddies in one of Lucas' original drafts of the sequel trilogy.
05:50These plans fell through when Lucasfilm got sold, which is a bit of a shame, because we might have ended
05:54up seeing Darth Maul as a Disney princess. 4. He's A Weak Force User
05:58We can all agree that the double-ended lightsaber is freaking cool, right? Hell,
06:02I spent many a day swinging my own toy version of it about, and regularly smacking myself on the
06:07back of the head in the process. Good times. Sure, it would be an absolute nightmare to wield,
06:11again, I'd know. Probably isn't that much more effective than a single-ended one,
06:14and was almost certainly designed with the sole intention of selling toys, which again,
06:18it did. But it's neat, and I like it, so there. Maul's most famous contribution to Star Wars has led
06:23many to believe that he is not that strong with the Force, though. Some feel like he uses his
06:27signature weapon to make up for this, but Maul ain't compensating for nothing.
06:31Ever since his apparent demise at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Maul began using the Force a lot
06:35more. In the Clone Wars, he busted out all the time on a variety of opponents, including his
06:40attempted killer. In fact, it was his Force sensitivity that attracted him to Sidious in
06:44the first place, so it has always been strong with him. It's impressive just how competent Maul is
06:49at deploying the Great Energy. Maybe if he'd been a bit more willing to use it in The Phantom Menace,
06:53he might still have his original legs. 3. He hated Sidious
06:57If someone kidnapped you at a young age, turned you into an assassin, and then abandoned you in
07:02your hour of need, you probably wouldn't be their biggest fan, would you? After falling out with his
07:06master, Maul swore revenge on Sidious and the Sith in general. He became a sort of rogue element in the
07:11Clone Wars, definitely not pro-Jedi, but also acting as a thorn in the bad guy's side. Parental figures are
07:16complicated, though, and it's always much harder to leave them than it seems. Maul finds this out
07:21first-hand in the Son of Dathomir series of comics. Our subject teams up with some Mandalorians,
07:25although without a baby Yoda in sight, to track down and capture the two men he views as his
07:30replacements, Count Dooku and General Grievous. After he has them both, he presents them to Sidious
07:35and decries their failures. He is also desperate to show his former master that he is more powerful
07:40than his two successors. This moment adds a fantastic layer to Sidious and Maul's relationship,
07:44and only serves to highlight the tragic circumstances under which the latter lives.
07:482. He didn't interact with original trilogy characters
07:51Although getting sliced up like a burger bun doesn't finish him off, Maul does eventually
07:55die for good. But he doesn't let this teensy inconvenience get him down for long. In the
08:00comic book series Shattered Empire, the former princess Leia takes a trip to her mother's home
08:04world of Naboo. Leia, who recently helped secure the downfall of the Empire, wanders around the old
08:09palace until she comes across a familiar-feeling hangar. This is the site of Maul's duel with Qui-Gon
08:14and Obi-Wan. Although Leia wasn't even born yet, she is still somehow connected to the events of
08:19that day. She senses something, a presence, one that makes her feel a little bit cold. She soon
08:24finds out what's going on when a vision of the ex-Sith appears right in front of her. Well,
08:27that's a bit terrifying, isn't it? Like in the case of most powerful force users,
08:31death is far from the end for Maul. He's able to use his great power to tangentially connect to the
08:36land of the living, through the process of haunting someone in an old room. Yep, great use of those
08:40phenomenal powers, Maul. Number one, Obi-Wan does kill him, and he doesn't. It was mentioned just
08:45now that Maul did eventually die for realsies, but how did that happen? Well, that depends on who you
08:50ask, really. In Star Wars Rebels, Maul confronts an older Obi-Wan in the desert on Tatooine. After it
08:55becomes clear that his adversary knows of the existence of Luke Skywalker, Kenobi cuts him down
08:59after a short duel. However, if you go by the Star Wars visionary story Old Wounds, Maul meets his
09:05maker under slightly different circumstances. He still goes to Tatooine to confront Obi-Wan, only this time
09:10he does it at the Lars family farm. After a much longer fight, Maul gets shot in the head by Luke's
09:15Uncle Owen. In both cases, the Jedi shows some respect to his fallen foe. In Rebels, he reassures
09:20Maul that Luke is the chosen one, while in the comics, he gives him a proper funeral. How nice.
09:25As lovely as this sounds, he will likely bring little comfort to Maul, as Obi-Wan was involved
09:30in his death on three separate occasions. Come on, Kenobi! What did he ever do to you? Oh yeah,
09:36quite a lot, actually. And that's our list. Know of any other things that everyone always gets wrong
09:40about Darth Maul? Then please do let us know all about them in the comments section right
09:44down below, and do not forget to like, share, and click on that subscribe button while you're
09:47at it. Also, if this kind of thing is your bag, then please head on over to WhatCulture.com
09:51and find some more incredible articles, just like the one this video you're watching right
09:54now is based on. I have been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars. May the Force be with you
09:59as always. I hope to see you very, very soon, but in the meantime, be good to yourself. Bye-bye!
Recommended
16:25
|
Up next
11:15
10:56
14:18
6:58
1:27
1:34
1:37
2:48
1:25
22:35
10:36
11:24
14:11
12:03
10:09
12:16
11:10
12:00
Be the first to comment