Darth Maul

Darth Maul
Homeworld	Iridonia
Species	Zabrak
Gender	Male
Height	1.75 meters
Hair Color	None
Eye Color	Yellow and red
Affiliation	Sith

Darth Maul (54 BBY—32 BBY) was a Dark Lord of the Sith, and an apprentice to Darth Sidious. Maul was trained in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force from a young age, and he may have been Sidious' first apprentice.

Biography

Darth Maul was born a Zabrak from Iridonia. Indoctrinated in the ways of the dark side of the Force from youth, Maul grew to have no emotion aside from bloodlust and rage. During his training, any show of fear was severely punished by Sidious, 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 such), Maul had fatherly feelings toward his master, and never once contemplated killing him—until his final test.

The ultimate test came when Maul was abandoned by his master on an isolated Outer Rim world, forced to survive alone while being hunted by hordes of assassin droids. After a month's time, Sidious returned and challenged his apprentice to a duel, one which Maul lost. Sidious then told Maul that he had been secretly training another apprentice to replace him. Rage and hatred overwhelmed Maul, and in one final act of defiance he nearly killed his master. When Maul's emotions were finally spent, he prepared himself for death, yet Sidious laughed instead. By wanting to kill his own master, Maul had in fact passed the final test. Sidious proclaimed him Darth Maul and took him to a new home on Coruscant.

Maul was skilled with the lightsaber, trained by 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, and was also skilled 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.

Darth Maul was also skilled with combining Force talents with mechanics. Sidious gave Maul the funds and schematics he needed, and provided Maul with a secret facility on Coruscant in which to work. There Maul constructed his signature speeder bike Bloodfin and the Dark Eye seeker droids. Sidious also gave Maul a powerful transport - a Sith Infiltrator called Scimitar - which hosted a cloaking shield generator. This vehicle vas developed by Raith Sienar, the man whose company would later develop the TIE fighter for the 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. Yet despite his untold successes, Maul longed for victory over Jedi.

Prior to the Battle of Naboo, Maul was dispatched to eliminate the Jedi who had been sent by the Republic to settle the conflict. Maul had failed in this task on Tatooine a few days before, and was eager to exact revenge. In a vicious battle, Maul slew the exhausted Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He then used the Force to push Jinn's apprentice, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi into a melting pit. Kenobi hung onto a small device on the side of the pit as Maul grinned evilly at him from above. However, Maul's overconfidence was his downfall.

Kenobi used the Force to leap out of the melting pit, and at the same time summon his Master's lightsaber to his hand. The Padawan sliced Maul in half across his waist and his body fell into the melting pit. It was a setback for Darth Sidious, but for a calculating man with access to the future, it was not a disaster. Perhaps it was even deliberate. Maul would eventually be replaced with an apprentice far more powerful.

Behind the scenes

Darth Maul was played by martial arts specialist Ray Park and voiced by British actor Peter Serafinowicz. Darth Maul's striking visual design, in addition to his limited role in the film, have left many fans wanting to know more about him.

Maul's earlier escapades were later documented in the comic book miniseries Jedi Council: Acts of War, the e-book Darth Maul: Saboteur, the comic book miniseries Darth Maul, and the novels Episode I Adventures: The Fury of Darth Maul and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.

Darth Maul's name is likely a reference to his role as Palpatine's personal assassin. His pre-Sith name is unknown; Khameir Sarin is often cited as a possibility due to its appearance in some foreign translations of the Episode I novelization, but this has yet to be substantially proven.

Darth Maul is a favorite subject for non-canon, what-if stories. He was first "resurrected" in Star Wars Tales 9, where he fought Darth Vader in the short Infinities story Resurrection, though it was never clear in the story if it was Maul himself or just a clone. He also appeared in Phantom Menaces in Star Wars Tales 17, where a "solid-state hologram" controlled by Maul's preserved brain battled Luke Skywalker.

Recently, he has become the subject of another spinoff story in Star Wars: Visionaries. The story "Old Wounds" featured the return of Darth Maul, with a new robotic lower body and longer horns. Hell-bent on revenge, he tracks Obi-Wan down at Lars' Homestead on Tatooine. They fought, but the far more experienced Kenobi defeated Maul again. The defenseless Maul was gunned down by Owen Lars.

Resurrection Stories

The following is a continuation of Darth Maul's biography, based on the assumption that all of the non-canon appearances of a resurrected, reconstructed, or cloned Maul are, in fact, part of continuity.

Some Sith devotees thought that the death of Lord Sidious' loyal servant was a tragic, undeserved loss. Many still believed him to be the perfect weapon and apprentice the Sith have aspired for and evolved into. From that belief rose the desire to resurrect the fallen warrior. It is unknown whether Maul was reanimated through cloning the remains found on Naboo, or by using some form of Sith alchemy to resurrect Maul's corpse (whether it was recovered by Sidious or in the hands of the Jedi). It is possible that more than one group attempted to bring Maul back, or that the same group attempted multiple resurrections.

The first reappearance of Darth Maul was shortly after Maul's old master—now Emperor Palpatine—had successfully established the Galactic Empire. This Darth Maul still appeared to bear the wounds from his duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo—only the top half of his body was organic, with his lower half replaced with mechanical legs. This Sith cyborg desired only revenge against the Jedi who had defeated him. For years, he stalked Obi-Wan Kenobi, the one man who had defeated him. Finally, on Tatooine, the barren world where Maul had hunted Jedi before, the battle was met. Darth Maul arrived at the homestead of Owen Lars, where he intended to attack Luke Skywalker in order to lure Obi-Wan Kenobi from hiding. When the battle was almost won against his prey, Maul yet again fell to the lesser of two foes. Owen Lars, defending his step nephew and his property from the battling duo, shot Maul in the head. Darth Maul was dead for the second time.

Years later, in 0 BBY, a dark side splinter group attempted to resurrect Darth Maul. 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. On the shadowy volcanic moon Kalakar VI, Vader thought he would intercept a Rebel courier with the stolen plans to the first Death Star. Instead, he was met by Darth Maul—fully resurrected, and without cybernetic reconstruction—and the observing dark acolytes. The agile Darth Maul held the advantage over the bulky Vader. Yet in the final moments of the battle, Vader surprised Maul by stabbing his lightsaber through his own cyborg body. With Maul defeated, the observing acolytes were executed by Palpatine himself for their "treacherous" act towards his apprentice.

The last known appearance of a resurrected Darth Maul was after the death of Sidious' Empire. Somehow, a Zabrak scientist named Drell Kahmf managed to acquire and preserve Darth Maul's brain. This mad Iridonian scientist believed Maul to be a paragon of the Iridonian people. In his foolhardiness, he created an invincible vessel for Maul, a "solid-state holographic projection" which could be projected anywhere in Iridonia's capital. As a hologram, this version of Maul had the ability to strike and not be struck back. To govern the hologram's actions, Kahmf used Darth Maul's recovered brain. When Luke Skywalker arrived on Iridonia, he battled the holographic Maul. Not easily fooled by the dark warrior's ghostly appearance, Luke searched for the anomalous presence of Maul through the Force and stumbled upon the Kahmf's hideout. There, he learned of the scientist's activities, and proceeded to pull the plug on the holograms and Maul's brain. Maul was defeated for the last time.