With Maul’s shock appearance as leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate in Clone
Wars Season 7 Episode 8, TOGETHER AGAIN, many fans are wondering, how can Maul be back on
Mandalore after he was captured by Darth Sidious at the end of Season 5 of the Clone Wars?
I’m going to break down exactly how Maul escaped his capture by Chancellor Palpatine
and regained control of the criminal underworld.
I’ll also be releasing a FULL BREAKDOWN of the Son of Dathomir Comic TOMORROW, which
shows Maul’s complete story between Season 5 and the Siege of Mandalore, so remember
to subscribe to the channel to be notified as soon as I release that video.
I have to say, Son of Dathomir is one of best storylines from the Clone Wars that never
made it to animation.
So the last time we saw Maul was after his conquest of Mandalore, where he defeated holder
of the Darksaber and current ruler of the planet, Pre Vizsla, to take his position and
lead Mandalore.
Maul, along with his brother, Savage Opress, who I have to say was such an awesome character,
gathered the Galaxy’s most notorious criminal syndicates together, under a new title, the
Shadow Collective.
After the formation of the new shadow collective, Maul stormed the capital city of Mandalore,
Sundari, and overthrew the pacifist government led by Duchess satine.
His plan was to invade the planet with his band of criminals, and have Death Watch arrive
just in time to drive them away.
His fake invasion succeeded, with Duchess Satine being arrested and imprisoned and Death
Watch becoming the new rulers of Mandalore.
After Death Watch’s takeover of Mandalore, with the help of Maul, they quickly turned
on him and his brother, betraying and imprisoning them.
Maul of course, expected this and had prepared for it as if it was always part of the plan.
The two brothers quickly broke out of their own prison cells, before freeing corrupt Prime
Minister Almec and rushing back to the Mandalorian Royal Palace.
Maul stormed into the throne room and challenged Pre Vizsla to a vicious fight to the death,
with the winner taking control of the respected Dark Saber and more importantly, the rulership
of Mandalore.
After a long fought duel, Maul came out on top, brutally beheading Pre Vizsla and claiming
the Darksaber for himself.
Following his defeat of Pre Vizsla, he recaptured Duchess Satine after she had already alerted
Obi-Wan Kenobi to Maul's infiltration.
As Kenobi arrived on the planet to confront Maul, he brutally punctured Duchess Satine
with the Darksaber, in front of Kenobi, hoping to pull him to the dark side.
At this point, Bo Katan began her retaliation against Maul, with the help of Obi-Wan, plunging
Mandalore into civil war.
As the fighting raged on between the Darth Maul loyalists and the Bo-Katan led, Nite
Owls, a mysterious Dark Side figure emerged onto the surface of Mandalore.
This of course was Sith Lord, Darth Sidious.
Sidious duelled Maul and his brother Savage fiercely, taking on the two nightbrothers
at once.
He separated the brothers by force pushing Maul against the wall, leaving him alone with
Savage.
Sidious quickly disposed of Maul’s brother, piercing him with his red bladed lightsaber.
After that, Maul was defeated, but Sidious spared his life.
He was taken to the prison known as “the Spire” on the remote outer rim planet of
Stygeon Prime, which you may know about if you've seen Star Wars Rebels.
After his imprisonment, Prime Minister Almec, who he had installed as his puppet to watch
over Mandalore while he was away, sent Maul’s Death watch forces to stage a rescue operation
at The Spire prison.
Before they could arrive however, Sidious and Count Dooku entered Maul’s cell to inform
him that there is a greater plan behind his capture.
Sidious intends to use Maul to locate Mother Talzin and attempt to kill her once and for
all.
The two had previously worked together, with Sidious attempting to learn the mystical powers
of the force witches of Dathomir.
Sidious then leaves Maul and Count Dooku alone in the cell.
Dooku attempts to force Maul to expose the names and locations of his new Shadow Collective
bases and connections, but to no avail.
Maul of course refuses to give up the information, prompting Dooku to repeatdly torture him with
Force Lightning.
Only moments after Count Dooku leaves the prison cell, Maul’s loyalist mandalorians
burst through the walls of the prison in a daring escape.
They free Maul from his restraints and carry him to his rescue.
The group fly away from the mountain-high prison, with Maul using the a zipline to aid
in his escape…
This is absolutely great from Maul and really demonstrates the resourcefulness that he has
gained during his time in the shadows.
As the Mandalorians are leading Maul to their escape ships, more Mandalorian fights fill
the air and shoot down the Separatist droids that are guarding the facility.
They eventually board the ship, and make their escape to the Deathwatch Hideout on Zanbar,
which we’ve seen multiple times throughout the Clone Wars.
Unfortunately for them, General Grievous and his fleet managed to place a tracker on their
ship, before they departed.
Grievous is then ordered by Dooku to pursue the Mandalorians to Zanbar, but to ensure
that Maul survives, because his master, Darth Sidious, has other plans for him.
Palpatine’s plan for Darth Maul is to capture his mother, Talzin, which I’ll be covering
in tomorrow’s video, where I fully breakdown and explain the Son of Dathomir storyline,
so make sure you guys subscribe to the channel to see that as soon as it drops.
Upon Maul’s return to Zanbar, he is greeted by his loyal Mandalorian followers and handed
back the Darksaber, which was left behind after his capture on Mandalore.
Maul rallies his troops and prepares them for the incoming attack by General Grievous'
droid fleet.
Hordes of droids swarm the base on Zanbar, but they are no match for Maul and his incredible
ability with the Darksaber.
For those of you who don’t know, the Darksaber actually becomes lighter as it’s user gains
more experience with it.
That combined with Maul’s strong connection to the force and previous lightsaber combat
training make him an almost undefeatable foe.
Maul then rips through Grievous’ Magna Guards, while his Mandalorian troops decimate the
other incoming droid forces.
At this point, Maul becomes enraged with Grievous and challenges him to a face to face fight.
Grievous obliges and charges through the Mandalorian troops, shredding them to pieces as he moves
towards Maul.
Maul then attempts to ambush Grievous from behind, but his Dark black blade is quickly
blocked by Grievous’ mechanical arms.
Despite the Mandalorian troopers being significantly more skillful than the mindless droid army,
they only have a very small number of men available to fight.
The droid army on the other hand is unending.
This leads to the droids overwhelming Maul’s forces and gunning a large amount of them
down.
Following that, Maul calls in Mandalorian reinforcement gunners.
They rapidly arrive at his location, carpet bombing the whole area.
Maul is then quickly evacuated to another ship, leaving Grievous alone on Zanbar.
It could no longer be the home to Deathwatch operations, as it had now been discovered.
As Maul is escaping the scene of the battle, Grievous admits that his forces were just
about depleted, and on the verge of being defeated had Maul not chosen to retreat.
Either way, that’s where the first issue of the Son of Dathomir Comic ends.
Maul escapes back to Mandalore with his loyal Deathwatch followers and is free to begin
plotting his next moves, which of course are covered in the Rest of the Son of Dathomir.
And This is right where the window for Maul to make his transmission to the Pykes in Clone
Wars Season 7 Episode is open.
I’m willing to bet that directly after his escape from Grievous, he returns to Mandalore
to make sure his shadow collective is still in order and begin the formation of the Crimson
Dawn syndicate, which we heard in the last episode.
Him being back on Mandalore between Issue #1 and issue #2 of Son of Dathomir, also allows
Fife time to take the leadership of the Pyke syndicate as seen in the second issue of the
Son of Dathomir comic.
So before you leave the video, remember to subscribe to the channel to be notified as
soon as I cover the FULL Son of Dathomir comic series tomorrow, which will break down Maul’s
escape from prison, and Sidious’ hunt for Mother Talzin.
Thanks so much for watching, cheers guys!