In 1999, Darth Maul took the world by storm with his brief appearance in Star Wars: The
Phantom Menace.
Though the movie's not really well-loved by fans today, if there's one good thing that
came out of the first Star Wars prequel, it's Darth Maul.
Too bad he died at the end of the movie — or did he, don don don ? Turns out getting chopped
in half and thrown down an elevator shaft isn't quite the death sentence it used to
be.
Here's the untold truth of Darth Maul.
Planet of the Rancors
Remember the Rancor, the toothy, drooly monster that almost ate Luke Skywalker in Return of
the Jedi?
Turns out that thing was from the planet Dathomir — just like Darth Maul, along with a clan
of Force-wielding witches called the Nightsisters.
The animated Clone Wars TV show spells out the details of Maul's upbringing, like the
fact that he was born to a high priestess of the Nightsisters, grew up practicing Force
magic, and received a series of tattoos all over his body.
Some better than others.
A Forceful family
During his early life on Dathomir, Maul had two brothers: Feral and Savage Opress.
After Maul left his homeworld with Darth Sidious, both Feral and Savage Opress continued their
training, following in the traditions of their tribe.
Eventually, Opress was chosen as a Sith apprentice by the evil Asajj Ventress, one of the main
villains from the Clone Wars animated series.
And how did Ventress test Opress's loyalty?
By commanding him to kill his brother, Feral.
"I said kill him."
"No"
If you think that test's bad, don't even ask about the written exam.
Half-life
When it comes to lightsaber fights, there are cool, mysterious ways to die:
...and then there’s Darth Maul getting cut in half.
But it's hard to keep a good villain down.
Despite being sliced in two, Darth Maul survived his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Maul's tale of survival is detailed in The Clone Wars-based comic book, The Sith Hunters.
Using the same kind of hate-fueled Force power that kept Darth Vader alive after getting
carved up by Obi-Wan, Darth Maul's angry top-half made his way to a garbage planet called Lotho
Minor.
There, he went crazy, became obsessed with taking revenge on Obi-Wan — oh, and he figured
out how to make a new set of robot-spider-legs.
Like you do.
Eventually, Maul's little brother, Savage Opress, rescued him from Lotho Minor and brought
him back home.
There, Maul's mommy helped him find his lost marbles, and even get a new pair of legs.
"Magic legs"
Fun fact: Darth Maul's original legs figured out how to make a new robot torso, and has
been washing dishes in Dexter Jettster's diner ever since.
Revenge of the Sith
While raising hell around the galaxy, Darth Maul and Savage Opress decided to go after
not just Obi-Wan Kenobi, but also Maul's former master: Darth Sidious, better known as Senator
Palpatine.
It didn't go super well for Maul, though.
Sidious managed to defeat the brothers, killing Savage Opress, and imprisoning Maul for a
time.
Who would've guessed that confronting an all-powerful master of the Dark Side of the Force who single-handedly
engineered a galactic civil war and would become the future emperor of evil space magic
wouldn't be a great idea?
Jedi trainer
While The Clone Wars TV series may have ended, the story was picked up again by the show
Star Wars Rebels.
That show follows the adventures of a group of freedom fighters, including the Jedi and
Padawan pair of Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger.
And it was during season two that young Ezra encountered Darth Maul, who taught him the
ways of the Dark Side.
Fortunately for the fledgling Rebellion movement, Maul's training didn't quite stick, and Ezra
is still a good guy...for now.
Man of few words
So now you know all about Darth Maul before and after his debut in The Phantom Menace.
What you may not know, however, is that he's actually barely in that movie at all, with
roughly 15 minutes of total screen time.
And while his epic lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn accounts for a good chunk
of that, he still only uttered three actual lines of dialogue.
Now, for your viewing pleasure, here are all the lines spoken by one of the most legendary
movie villains to get cut in half:
"Tatooine is sparsely populated if the trace was correct I will find them quickly master."
"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi."
"At last we will have revenge."
"Yes my master"
Needless to say, the end result didn't really sit well with Peter Serafinowicz, the British
actor-comedian who was tapped to give Maul his voice.
Interestingly, he saw signs that maybe this role wasn't all it was cracked up to be when
he first went in to record Maul's voice — and shared the recording booth with George Lucas
himself:
"I said, how do you want me to do this.
What what direction can you give me.
He said just make him evil.
Just make him sound real evil.
Alright, ok."
Darth Molly
When it comes to females, let's just say the first six Star Wars movies didn't really,
well, have many of them.
A couple of Princesses, a shapeshifting bounty hunter with no backstory, and a handful of
aliens are just about the only women to show up in George Lucas' Star Wars movies — which
makes it all the more interesting to learn that there were briefly plans to make Darth
Maul a woman.
In the early days of pre-production for The Phantom Menace, George Lucas reportedly explained
that Darth Maul would be "a figure from your worst nightmare."
So, concept artist Iain McCaig drew just that: an evil-looking Sith witch, streaked with
bloody-looking ribbons.
The concept evolved into Darth Maul from there, but the makers of The Clone Wars television
show reportedly referred back to McCaig's original "Sith witch" design for the creation
of Maul's mother, Talzin.
Darth Maul's future
It's hard to imagine that more than a decade after he met his apparent demise in The Phantom
Menace that we'd have this much Darth Maul to enjoy.
But his resurrection in the pages of Star Wars comics and his continued relevance on
the small screen means that this might still be just the beginning for all things Maul.
With Star Wars Rebels continuing to feature the horny, hateful Sith Lord, there's no telling
where he might show up next.
Could Darth Maul put in an appearance in Star Wars: Episode VIII or IX?
And with spin-off movies starring Han Solo and Lando Calrissian on the horizon, could
we see a Darth Maul solo film sometime in the not-so-distant future?
It's hard to say now, but one thing is clear: this is hardly the last we've seen of one
of Star Wars' most intimidating, enduring, and enigmatic villains ever.
"Handsome, Awesome.
Awesome awesome and handsome.
Awesome.
I so awesome.
Was up weeze"
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