Fun Fact: Before the look of Darth Maul was set, it went through a number of designs. Initially, George Lucas asked concept designer Iain McCaig to draw his worst nightmare. McCaig recalled one where a dead yet alive figure was pressing its face against a window during a thunderstorm, staring at him. He used that as a basis, and the result was a portrait of a black dressed demonic character with light blue skin, dark eyes and with long red strands falling from its head. Lucas found the picture too disturbing and said to McCaig "Okay. Now draw me your second worst nightmare..."

One thing I love about Maul's arc is that he was humanised. Most Sith don't have any empathy, and feel nothing but hate, fear, anger, etc. Yet in Maul's case they decided to make his character more three dimensional, by giving Maul people he did care about: his mother, his brother, his fellow Nightbrothers, etc.

Maul is one of those villains that you can feel sorry for, and I love him for that. He deserved better.

Maul had an awful life He was giving to the Sith when he was a kid, trained as an assassin, tossed aside after his first big assignment, lost his mind in a garage dump, lost his brother, tortured by sidious, and lived for decades alone in a Sith temple. That being said, I like how he was finally happy in his finals seconds of life, when Obi-Wan told him that the chosen was was coming. Some nice closure for a man who led a miserable life.

I know Maul did terrible things but I couldn’t help shedding a tear for him in the episode in which he died. I think it’s because his death was the one moment in which he accepted his hurt and sought compassion. Something he had hardly if ever experienced.

Maul in episode: minor character Maul voiced by Sam Witwer: most complex anti-hero in the entire franchise

I love Darth maul so much he definitely deserves his own star wars series

As a die hard Maul fan, this video did him justice. Good job

I absolutely started to love Maul at season 7 of clone wars - he was very cool before as well, but truely emotionally his character evolved later

One of my favorite books of pre-Disney era was one that was from the perspective of a young padawan, a smuggler? and Darth Maul. Basically, if I remember correctly, the smuggler? figures out about the Sith plan right before the attack on Naboo and goes on a long quest to let the Senator of Naboo know, along the way he tells this young padawan, it ends with him personally telling Palpatine only to find Maul in his rest chamber and his last thought being that at least he succeeded. Maul is presented very well within the novel and you get quite a lot of inner dialogue.

"Several fries short of a happy meal" is a phrase that I will be using from now on.

I love Darth Maul so much. I have had a lot of trauma and death in my life, and have found much solace in Maul and Anakin/Vader’s storylines.

Maul is my favorite. ❤ "Revenge. I must have revenge."

One the best things that clone wars did with maul is show that aside from other sith users or masters he truly cared about the people around him. He wanted to be apart of something with someone. That's why he was so hurt about being alone after obi wan cut him in half. He cared about his brother, Palpatine, definitely Ezra, and he was trying to get with ahsoka too. He just didn't want to be alone. All other sith masters wanted their apprentice and would move on whenever they felt the next best thing was around.

What a touching synopsis of the tragic and lonely life of Darth Maul.

I think Maul's constant seeking of attachments that he's incapable of forming or maintaining is probably the biggest tragedy in his life. Savage could have been his brother, but his focus on building and maintaining a power based hierarchy between them robbed him of that, and while I haven't seen Rebels, I am sure it's much the same between him and Ezra. As someone who has suffered abuse, the worst part of it is the feeling of isolation. When you're really having one of the bad days where your trauma is there you feel alone, even if you're surrounded by friends and family, you feel alone. Desperately alone in the worst possible ways, and the teachings of the Sith would undermine any attempts to try to process and overcome trauma because your power literally feeds off of those emotions, and incentivizes you to languish in your trauma. So he's constantly reaching out, with Savage, and Ezra, and even with Obi Wan (a negative connection is still a connection) to try to fill in that feeling of isolation, but his teachings as a Sith constantly block him from connecting any further than a teacher/student relationship with the people he DOES have surrounding him, the constant need to prove that he has no equals completely precludes his having any friends, because a friendship is built on equality between two people who enjoy each others company. Its just such a sad piece of his tragic story, with the only bright side being that in the end, when he finally makes the last choice he feels he can, and self destructs, his rival understands him. He finishes the fight quickly and comforts him on his way out, and assures him that his abuser will meet justice, and that he will be avenged so he can rest easy.

The Clone Wars and Rebels really did justice for Maul

starts with explanation of Maul, middle part suddenly a Life lesson for if you are having bad times, back to Maul lol

In recognizing Obi-Wan as a rival, it was also the only truly non-hierarchical relationship he ever had. His most hated enemy, his only friend, was the only person he ever saw as an equal. i’m not crying, you’re crying

I wouldn't call Maul an Anti-hero considering he still wanted to kill Kenobi, I find him to be more Anti-Villain.

I'm not really sure I'd call Maul an anti-hero. Maybe an anti-villain, but he's never really had any heroic motives. He got more character development but I'm not sure he really got any less evil.

Maul is easily one of my fav characters. I found myself, rooting for him and redemption for his entire arc. Wow, what a powerful alley to Luke Skywalker, Maul would have been. I see a Maul overcome with guilt and a feeling of seeking forgiveness from obiwan, and himself to find a way to forgive obiwan. I could see them becoming brothers. I can see maul mourning savage, I see a Maul whose new purpose is to eternally protect and makeup to the world around him for the wrongs he inflicted upon these people. I could see maul giving his life to protect his new friends, or his new family, if you will. It would have been joyous to witness all this infold.

While Maul's survival was an asspull, everything that *resulted* from that plot twist has been the best stories to come out of the Disney canon. It turned what had been a throw-away villain with little more going for him than a badass appearance and fighting style into one of the most compelling characters in Star Wars.

"The Sith... The Sith took everything from me. Ripped me from my mother's arms, murdered my brother, used me as a weapon... and then cast me aside. Abandoned me! Once, I had power... now I have nothing. Nothing.”

I always knew that Maul was complex but I never analyzed him this way. I very much enjoyed this.

This video was a great look into an exceedingly complex character.

It seems he & Kira got close during his Crimson Dawn days, she even saw herself as some what of an apprentice who really cared about him.

You actually made me weep for Darth Maul. Well done, Sir. That is some effective storytelling right there.

“Once Darth, now just Maul.”

Him telling the straight up truth to Ahsoka hurt as a Star Wars fan knowing she wouldn't believe it especially when Anakin was mentioned. What makes Sidious an all time entertaining villain is how many times he should've lost/his plans fail but they never do when it seems extremely close to doing so. Maul literally word for word saying what is truly going on/why the clone wars even happened. A few clones becoming aware of order 66 at what was going to happen but nobody believed them. Anakin doing what he did and turning when Mace pretty much had him.

I've been waiting for a character breakdown of Maul from this channel since I first saw the Anakin one. Outside of vader and palpatine he has one of the longest spanning arc of the main cannon media and seeing clone wars and rebels slowly build him up was awesome

I obsoletely love the fight on Tattooine. The whole encounter was great.

I would like to think that Maul joined with the force instead of going to Chaos.

I always saw a lot of similarities between Maul and Anakin, and always wondered how things would have happened if Maul was found and raised Jedi and Anakin was found by Sidious or Plaguise and raised Sith. 🤔

I can't truly "hate" Maul, like I can't truly "hate" Kellogg from Fallout 4. Both are incredibly tragic figures. Does that justify all the carnage and evil and chaos they sowed? Not in a million years. But the revelations of their backstories definitely humanize the heck out of them. Thank you for this video. Very interesting, and thoroughly-researched.

Another reason I love Obi-wan, "do good to them who hate you", part of Luke 6:27. Giving a long time foe undeserving peace is very much in Obi-wans character in my opinion.

Felt like having him back on screen doing whatever was a villain(only because we don't know his plan), but looking into his background on what made him this way and to realize that he plays a small role in a grand scheme of a lot that's going on. Makes him to be a very conflicted character, could of choose to be good, but didn't. choose to establish power(that I guess in away, is they only thing that made him choose to keep living) and he would consider himself lucky if he had to never deal with the empire or even jedi as long as he lived. It just very interesting to see what keeps driving himself forward on whatever he does its like 50/50 is he being good?, or what is he trying to do?

In the end, Maul, like pretty much everyone else both during and right before the Clone Wars, was a victim of Palpatine. Be they Jedi, Clone, Droid, lesser Sith like Maul, Savage, and Ventress, Separatist, Republic, neutral parties, all of them suffered in some way, shape, or form because of Palpatine. Because unlike Maul, who does have some capacity for caring as seen with how he did genuinely care for Savage and Mother Talzin, Palpatine cares for nothing but himself, and thus everyone else is just a tool to be used and thrown away with. Even Dooku and Vader aren't exempt from this, just like Maul, Palpatine only sees them as useful tools, and when a tool breaks he'll just replace it, sometimes even preparing the replacement or replacements even before the old tool breaks. But at least Maul died in peace, knowing that Luke would avenge him, Savage, Mother Talzin, his people, Obi-Wan, and pretty much everyone else Palpatine had wronged. It's kind of funny or great character growth, as Maul told Ahsoka justice didn't really exist, yet he dies believing he and everyone else will get the justice they deserve because Palpatine will get what's coming to him. All this context makes Luke turning Anakin back to the Light so he can kill Palpatine even more powerful, because in that moment the pair of Skywalkers avenged and helped so many people, whether they were still living or dead, everyone could now finally rest in peace and be happy knowing justice was finally served to Palpatine. Maul, Savage, Talzin, Ventress, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Ahsoka, Windu, Kanen, Ezra, Cal all the Jedi, Rex, Fives, Cody, Echo, Hunter, all the Clones, Dooku, Grevious, Trench, all the CIS, Bo-Katan, Sabine, Padme, Bail, Mon Mothma, Leia, Han, Lando, Chewbacca, Tarrful, Ackbar, Hera, Zeb, Chopper, R2, C-3PO, all the other Droids, pretty much everyone in the galaxy was avenged and given justice in that moment. Then the Sequels happen and spit in the face of all that, but let's just pretend that doesn't happen for a minute and enjoy the moment.

Trauma can only bring you down if you let it. Playing the victim does nothing but make you a useless person! Don't blame anyone else for your decisions, they're yours alone. Nothing can hold you back but yourself! Period.

I really hate that they did a fake death but I love they brought him back

31:38 Until Sidious decided to create a doppelganger of him to test on Vader.

Ngl, I hadn't ever given Maul much thought aside from the fight on Naboo and what little I knew of his ascent on Mandalore. I have a new appreciation for his character, now.

Ironic enough Maul seemed his most savage when he wasn’t focused on Obi Wan

This is Canon for me! Please do videos like this for Dooku and Grievous!

He was supposed to be the main vilain of the sequels trilogy would it have been produced by Georges Lucas. Imagine that instead of what ee got.

When we saw Maul again in Rebels, you can just hear how desperate he is for someone to understand and trust him. He abused that trust in Ezra selfishly, but Ezra could sense the pain in Maul and genuinely wanted to help and to trust him. What Maul could have done if he could take his own advice and bury his old hatred… after all, in the end he was looking for a New Hope.

Your microphone has a broken capsule or a bad cable, the distortion is called slew distortion which happens when a capsule on a microphone can't withstand the actual voltage being feed to it. If is a condenser microphone its the capsule if its a dynamic its the cable. Dynamic mics can have the same distortion but it would most likely be from a cable that is shorting out. 9:33 when you say "most" and "troupe" 9:39 both sound to my ears like a condenser mic with a bad capsule, but I would change my cable first just to be sure. Cheers!!

Apparently during Season 2 of Rebels, there's a deleted scene where Ahsoka asks Maul who Vader is, and he responds with "Who I should have been."

Brilliant job

This video was awesome and such good timing. I just finished reading darth plagueis and plan on reading maul lockdown next. I love how they expanded on his character past the first movie. It’s so badass when he teams up with savage opress

He went from the first apprentice of darth sidious to shadow ruler of mandalore to serect leader of crimson dawn maul will always be my favorite sith assassin however my favorite sith lord will always be darth vader

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having Darth Maul as my Sith master

Great video of Darth Maul!

As much as I love Maul (and this video), I'd hesitate to call him an "Anti-Hero". Shadow the Hedgehog is an Anti-Hero. Vegeta is an Anti-Hero. Spawn is an Anti-Hero. The Punisher is an Anti-Hero. Even Batman could qualify as an Anti-Hero. But Darth Maul? Complex, Tragic, Sympathetic...but I wouldn't go as far as to say "Anti-Hero":/

I never expected to relate so heavily to Maul. Throughout his childhood, he was told he had a great destiny and was pushed beyond his limits. Only to go into the real world and get eviscerated. Yet despite the trauma of that paradigm shift, he keeps going. He crawls in the gutters when he was always told he’d have the stars. Darth Maul is basically the manifestation of gifted kid burnout

Me: ( hearing about Mauls emotional and psychological trauma) Emotional damage!!!

For me one of the things that made me like the clone wars and star wars was Darth Maul and for some reason I'm really liked how he was portrayed in the clone wars series and rebels as well. Also there are people who are just evil without explanation or motivation in real world and in fiction even with reason for their evil acts a person is or considered to be evil at least depending on their acts and how long and how much pain and suffering they create to those around that person without remorse. Yes there's shades of grey in fiction and real life but not everything is entirely grey where both sides are the same but just different point of views or perspectives.that all said I love this interpretation of Maul in this video it does made me realize stuff I didn't know or fully know. He is a villain yet a tragic one in the end.

I love these character breakdown videos!!! Looking forward to more in the future!!!

True he is an amazing character

2:48/2:49 Especially for someone like me who wants to reconcile his two vastly different childhood origins (one from Legends, one from Canon) and find some way to retroactively merge them so it makes sense (how would that work?).

15:48 Maul v Aliens?! Omg, two of my fave franchises, smooshed together. I love it! 😊

I think there is one point that should have been touched on about the rivalry with Obiwan. I think Maul took him as a rival on the thinking that if he could beat Obiwan, it would teach himt hat he could become strong enough to beat Sidious one day. Think of it like a measuring stick for his own power.

I still think his more silent, foreboding Legends lore is more unique to him (heck, would even say that making him a Dathomirian by birth is one of the Darth Plagueis novel's unnecessary failings), but I should admit, his final death in Rebels should have been his true death in Legends (though some elements of "Old Wounds" should still have happened, like Uncle Owen Lars being involved).

This video really does maul justice, but it also to me shows me just how twisted and evil Darth Sidious really was. He let maul believe for decades he was the prized apprentice of the dark lord of the Sith, yet that whole time he was a tool of Sidious and Plagueis. Though it’s good to see maul finally got some peace in his death on Tatooine

Maul had a crazy uncle dynamic going on with his interactions with Ahsoka and Ezra.

Maul really had it rough.

According to Tales of the Jedi, Count Dooku already was Sidious's apprentice even before the events of The Phantom Menace

Victim and pawn, sad ending for one of the most interesting people in the Star Wars universe 😢

How he went from just a character to a Lord Vader lifter

Maul is a great character somewhat misguided by papls the ultimate villain . Got to say obi-wan is the most pure goodie in movies, up there with superman and William Wallace

I can't help but feel sorry for him (which he would probably hate). He's truly a tragic character.

Youve heard of Darth Plagueis the Wise, but have you heard of Darth Maul the Tragic?

I always wondered how a fight between Darth Maul and Jango Fett would go, both fought Obi Wan, but Jango Fett managed to not lose to him, and both villains "died" in their first film appearances.

Fun fact: Apparently after Kenobi killed Maul, he gave him a Jedi funeral

Amazing video. One of your best. Thank you.

I think the creation of maul; starting with the plagueis novel, then lockdown, back to the plagueis novel, and ending with shadow hunter, is equally important and also fits into his screen time story nicely.

Great work.

I remember people talking about how cool Maul was, his dialogue and backstory and the stuff he did, and I thought, "That guy from the first prequel with the double-bladed lightsaber? When did he say anything, the heck are they talking about? Him surviving getting sliced in half and falling into a bottomless hole, that's crazy enough, but then he develops into an actual character?!"

Indeed! Perfectly articulated and superbly surmised. Tragedy as well as success cuts and shapes the paths taken throughout our lives in some of the strangest ways.

I wouldn't call Maul an anti-hero

Great video 💪👊

I like how you link this as a story we can apply as a lesson to real life. You are an erudite person!

Second video where I’ve heard a microphone issue. Sounds like either a bad cable or over compression (think the first is more likely). Recommend you check that. Great content! Best wishes!

Now all is left is Count Dooku.

Therapists: Neimoidians without headwear don't exist, they can't hurt you. 11:14

such an amazing character

😅this is one of your best ! Thank you 😢

very great and emotional video. Do one about Arcann as well and his villainy, victimhood and redemption right up until "old wounds" from legacy of the sith. Arcann is also a tragic character that has been manipulated by an emperor. I ´d love to hear an analysis about him.

I remember pretending to be maul before I was old enough to know his name. 1999, the SECOND we walk out of the theatre I’m doing my damndest to do the flips “Red Guy” did. I Love Maul

Of course Palpatine always planned on switching his apprentice to a more powerful one, but before he knew the existence of Anakin, Palpatine truly believed that Maul might be the one for longer use. But that all changed thanks to both Obi Wan and Anakin.

Everyone deals with trauma. What separates a hero, a victim, and a villan is how you act when faced with such. The darkside notes that pain can bring power. The jedi failed to understand that power can be used for good.

1:02 Maul was in more than one movie.

This video deserves more views.

Darth Maul was a Darth. Like many of the Bane Line Sith, Sidious went against the Rule of 2 when it suited him. Plagueis’s Bith Master did as well. In Legends, Sidious trained Maul as his apprentice. He told his own master that Maul was an assassin, but when Plagueis has 41D spy on a pre-mission conversation between Sidious and Maul, he hears Sidious call Maul Darth and speak of the Sith and their plans. He was not supposed to do either when Plagueis agreed to allow Maul’s training. Around the time of Maul’s Death Sidious found out about Anakin as well, and his plans changed. This is in the Plagueis Novel. In Canon it is hinted that Sidious created Anakin, however Sidious himself states in the 2015 Darth Vader comics that Darth Maul was a great loss as an apprentice, where as Darth Tyrannus was a place holder. When Maul returned, Sidious had altered his plans. Maul was then thrown away. I believe that had Maul lived, Anakin would at the very least been developed still, and when the time was right… Anakin would have been put against Maul, the stronger being the Apprentice. This was done by Darth Tenebrous with Darth Venamis.

Once again gonna complain like an asshole but it seems it’s always the super interesting/long videos that are covered by this second voice actor with all the microphone issues.

Favorite character

My. Favorite character

Fun Fact: Ray park, while playing maul, was told to imagine he had been sliced in half in the scene obi wan beats him in. But he was like '....I have no idea how that looks...' So he just imagined taking a really REALLY big dump. And thats what we see in the scene. Mauls face if he were to take a huge dump.

Hurt people hurt people

Just imagine the banter in a Ventress - Maul team-up... she'd have no patience for his palm-up wriggly-fingered ranting. "Can it, Hamlet!" (or the equivalent). Maul is by far the best villain in SW. He brings more breadth and depth to the canon that a few of the properties themselves do. It's a ripoff that we won't get a sequel to "Solo".