“Draw your worst nightmare” expressed Lucas to McCaig, and thus, Maul was born. A man designed based on the idea of peeled flesh and muscle patterns, covered from head-to-toe in tattoos – Maul was the ultimate foe for the Jedi.

“When I was working on Darth Maul, Drew Struzan, who does the posters, said, ‘Do you realise you are making icons?’ I said if I knew that, I could never do this!”

And an icon Maul became, beginning as one of the most feared forces in the galaxy and evolving into a bitter, revenge-driven shell of his former self.

In the build up to 1999’s installment in the Star Wars saga, it was all about Maul. From the moment he was first revealed in the trailer with THAT lightsaber, he was a marketing team’s dream. I was 10 years old at the time of the film’s release and was probably THE target market for Lucasfilm. I had EVERYTHING; posters, books, stickers, cards, toys, Lego… even my dinner plate had Maul’s face on it. He was awesome… and then it all went wrong…

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Gone.

A total of 6 minutes screen time, one Jedi killed, chopped in half and not much else to show for what was hyped up to be THE villain of the prequel trilogy. Fans were devastated, I was devastated. All of that merchandise immediately felt out of date and it was widely regarded (aside from the introduction of a particular Gungan) as Lucas’ biggest error in the film… of which there were a few. And that was it.

Old Wounds:

Until April 2nd 2005. As part of the Visionaries book of stories, Aaron McBride reintroduced Maul in the only way he could… seeking Obi Wan on a revenge mission.

In the comic we see Maul as a twisted man, with robotic legs, on the hunt for Kenobi. After a brief confrontation with Owen, Beru and a young Luke Skywalker. We quickly find out that he has been tracking Obi-Wan for years, searching Kamino, Geonosis, Mustafar and Polis Massa, only to find medical logs leading him to Tatooine and an old junk dealer (a now decapitated Watto). A duel ensues as Maul claims:

“There is no Palpatine, no Empire, no Jedi, no Dark, no Light… Just you and I, here, now!”

Maul loses an arm and is bested by Kenobi once again. He holds his lightsaber to Maul’s head when Owen Lars shoots Maul and banishes Kenobi. – Maul is dead (again).

Although this is now a Legends story, it set the groundwork for the Maul we now know.

The Aftermath of The Phantom Menace:

Although clearly in half and left for dead… Maul used the Force to grab an air vent as he was tumbling down the reactor shaft after the infamous duel with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. He then managed to make it to a trash container. Maul’s shattered body was dumped on the junkyard world of Lotho Minor. He lived in the bowels of the planet and had his legs replaced by a six-legged apparatus that allowed him to walk again. During his exile, he made a bargain with a sentient sneaky Anacondan called Morley, who agreed to bring Maul food in return for his leftovers. Over the years, Maul was driven mad with rage and despair, but remained driven by thoughts of revenge against Kenobi…

The Clone Wars:

Mother Talzin, leader of the Nightsisters, knew that Maul had survived. During the Clone Wars, she told his brother, Savage Opress, that the former Sith Lord could be found in the Outer Rim. Talzin gave Opress a talisman that would help him find Maul, and Opress set out to locate his brother. Opress found Lotho Minor and discovered his crazed brother living there, but Maul did not know who Opress was, and barely had a hold on his own identity. All that remained of the one-time Sith Lord was his lust for revenge against the Jedi.

To restore Maul’s memories, he was taken to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin repaired Maul’s mind and gave him a pair of cybernetic legs. With his mind restored, Maul set out to seek revenge against Kenobi for defeating him on Naboo and led the now-Jedi High Council member to Raydonia by slaughtering civilians to draw Kenobi out. Maul and Opress captured Kenobi, but the Jedi was rescued by Asajj Ventress, a former acolyte of Darth Tyranus and the Dathomir Witch who once commanded Opress.

Kenobi and Maul engaged in a lightsaber duel for the first time in over a decade, and Maul attempted to goad Kenobi into anger by talking about how he killed Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi was briefly overwhelmed as a result, but he and Ventress managed to escape the ship. Although Kenobi had escaped, Maul knew that the Jedi would soon begin pursuing him, which would play into Maul’s hand in his quest for revenge.

The brothers traveled to Florrum, where they bribed a squad of pirates into joining them. Although some joined, others questioned Maul’s and Opress’ motives and were killed as a result. Hondo Ohnaka, the pirate leader, was forced to watch. Eventually, the brothers were faced off against Kenobi and Adi Gallia, a fellow member of the Jedi High Council, who tracked them there. After a duel that left Gallia dead, Kenobi lured the brothers into the pirate base, where they continued their duel in an isolated passage. When Opress had his arm cut off, Maul knew they were outnumbered and ordered a retreat.

Maul and Opress managed to escape Florrum, although they eventually passed out from lack of oxygen in their escape pod. They were discovered unconscious and half-alive by Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group led by former Governor Pre Vizsla. Vizsla and his men returned to their base on Zanbar, with Maul and Opress in tow. On Zanbar, medical droids healed Maul from his wounds and replaced his legs for a pair of human mechanical legs that returned him to his previous height. Vizsla and Bo-Katan entered and began to interrogate Maul, threatening to kill Opress if Maul refused to answer.

Maul revealed that they were Sith Lords, which immediately led Vizsla to question him in regards to his connection to Count Dooku. Maul angrily stated that he and Opress served no one and that they were brothers, the true Lords of the Sith. Satisfied, Vizsla asked him about his intentions, and Maul revealed his plans to seek power and influence to gain his revenge over the Jedi. He also informed the Mandalorians that the Jedi responsible for their troubles was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Having faced Kenobi before, and knowing that the Jedi Master was a close friend of Vizsla’s enemy, the Mandalorian Duchess Satine Kryze, Vizsla ordered the medical droids to finish helping the brothers.

Maul convinced Pre Vizsla they needed to recruit Black Sun so they could build an army. The alliance proceeded to go to Mustafar to recruit the Black Sun rulers into their ranks. Upon arrival, their request for Black Sun to join were shot down and mocked by the Black Sun leader, although one of their leaders ended up joining after witnessing Opress single-handedly wiping out all the other ruling council members. Upon returning to their camp on Zanbar, the Pykes also declared their allegiance to the Sith brothers.

Now with an army under his command, Maul and the Shadow Collective planned to overthrow the government of Duchess Satine on Mandalore. Their goal was to make the Duchess look weak by sending the Collective’s criminal elements to attack the capital city, Sundari, at which time Death Watch would arrive and drive them off.

Maul stormed into the Mandalorian throne room and challenged Pre Vizsla to an honorable death match, knowing that the winner would gain the allegiance of Death Watch and become their new leader. After a long and spectacular duel, Maul overpowered Pre Vizsla and beheaded him with his own weapon, the Darksaber that ancient Mandalorians had stolen from the Jedi, which Maul then claimed as his own.

Shortly after the coup, Maul learned that the Duchess had tried to escape from prison and transmitted a distress call to the Jedi. Having learned of Kenobi’s old friendship and relationship with Kryze, Maul realized she could serve as bait for his archenemy and the perfect tool for his revenge against the Jedi Master. As Mandalore was technically neutral in the Clone Wars, Maul knew that Kenobi could not receive an official sanction from the Jedi Council for a rescue mission. As such, he predicted that Kenobi would mount his rescue alone.

After Kenobi managed to infiltrate the palace and liberate his friend, Maul and the Mandalorian forces chased the two of them. The Mandalorians fired missiles at his ship and crippled it, forcing Kenobi and Kryze to abandon ship before it was destroyed. Although dazed from the crash, Kenobi recognised Maul and Opress and attacked them, but Maul disarmed him and ordered his forces to bring Kenobi and the Duchess to the palace.

“You think you know me? It was I who languished for years thinking of nothing but you! Nothing but this moment! And now, the perfect tool for my vengeance is in front of us. I never planned on killing you, but I will make you share my pain, Kenobi.”

In the throne room, Maul taunted Kenobi to give in to the dark side, all the while holding Kryze in a Force grip. He reminded Kenobi that it was the Jedi Master who truly made Maul suffer for over ten years, and that it was time for Kenobi to share in his agony. At that moment, Maul activated the darksaber and stabbed it through the Duchess’ chest. Kryze died in Kenobi’s arms, before Maul ordered that Kenobi be taken to the prison to contemplate his loss. Kenobi later escaped with the help of Bo-Katan, who revealed herself to be the Duchess’ sister.

Darth Sidious arrived at the royal palace, having sensed that Maul was growing stronger and had become a rival. When Sidious arrived, Maul sensed his old master’s presence and prepared to face him. Maul claimed that he had taken Mandalore and built an army in the hopes of becoming Sidious’ apprentice once more, but the Dark Lord saw through Maul’s deception and attacked the brothers, demonstrating his superior power through Force attacks.

After Sidious released the duo from his Force grip, all three drew their weapons and began to duel. Sidious easily gained the upper hand over the brothers, battling them both before stunning Maul and taking Opress on alone. Maul regained consciousness just in time to see Opress be fatally impaled by Sidious’ blades and rushed to his brother’s side. Sidious was amused and reminded Maul that there can only be two Sith and that he had been replaced.

Enraged, Maul lit both his own lightsaber and the darksaber, and attacked his former master, but he was overpowered and disarmed after a brief yet intense duel. Sidious telekinetically assaulted Maul multiple times, severely weakening him. Maul pleaded for mercy, but Sidious ignored him and sadistically tortured him with blasts of Force Lightning.

Son of Dathomir:

Son of Dathomir is an adaptation of unproduced scripts from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which would have been part of the television show’s sixth season had the series not been cancelled in 2013.

Darth Maul has been captured by Darth Sidious and imprisoned in the Spire, a Separatist prison on Stygeon Prime. Sidious is followed to the Spire by Gar Saxon and Rook Kast, two of Maul’s Death Watch followers. Sidious and Dooku confer with one another, as Sidious explains that he imprisoned Maul to draw out Mother Talzin, leader of the Nightsisters, so she can be destroyed as a potential threat to the eventual Sith rule of the galaxy.

Sidious also reveals that he has a history with Talzin, from whom he had taken Maul when he was a child. Sidious orders Dooku to find out more information about Maul’s Shadow Collective, to convince Maul that the Sith want to destroy his army, and seek out Mother Talzin for help. After Dooku briefly interrogates Maul, Kast and Saxon mount their rescue. The two Mandalorians reach their captive leader and free him from his restraints, before blasting out a wall of the interrogation cell.

Maul and the Mandalorians make their way down the mountain that the Spire sits upon and escape aboard a Gauntlet fighter. Once again in command of his army, Maul reclaims his Darksaber, the weapon that belonged to the previous Death Watch leader, Pre Vizsla, and tells the Mandalorians that war is at hand. The Separatists arrive on the moon and launch all of their forces against Maul. Death Watch is overwhelmed by the droid soldiers, while Maul faces Grievous in single-combat. Maul’s army is left badly damaged, but Maul orders his fighters to bomb the area, taking out many Separatist forces as well. Maul escapes in the chaos and orders his surviving forces to retreat.

In retreat from Zanbar, Maul contacts Mother Talzin for guidance, just as Sidious and Dooku intended. Talzin sends Maul to Ord Mantell without her, where he is to regroup with his Black Sun allies and prepare for another battle with the Separatists. Meanwhile, Dooku and Grievous prepare their own strategy en route to the planet. Maul and his allies plan to lure the Separatists into a specific point in Ord Mantell City, where the Mandalorians, Black Sun, and Pyke Syndicate will engage in an attack against the invading droid army.

A team of Nightbrothers, led by Brother Viscus, arrives on orders from Mother Talzin to reinforce Maul’s army. The Shadow Collective begins carrying out their defense, while the Separatists deploy their droid forces on the surface. Meanwhile, Count Dooku arrives with a number of droid guards, while Maul leaves the surface and makes his way to the Separatist fleet. He and his ships attack the Separatist command vessel, while Grievous realises the Separatists have been lured into a trap. On the surface, Dooku is confronted by the Nightbrothers, and a duel ensues between the Sith Lord and the Dathomirian warriors.

The droid army advances on the Shadow Collective and takes Maul’s forces into custody, while the renegade Sith Lord himself continues his space assault. He and the Mandalorian warriors board the Separatist command ship and take General Grievous into custody as they force the Kaleesh cyborg to disable all battle droids on the surface. The disabling of the droids allows the Shadow Collective forces to regroup and capture Count Dooku. Maul contacts Mother Talzin to tell her what has happened, and she promises that, with Dooku and Grievous in custody, Sidious will soon be captured and they will fulfill their quest for vengeance against the Dark Lord.

A team of Jedi arrives on Ord Mantell to investigate the aftermath of the battle, and recognizes the connection between Darth Maul and the Mandalorians once they recover a Death Watch helmet. Jedi Master Mace Windu contacts Palpatine to inform him that Maul was behind the battle. Windu then speaks to fellow Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Tiplee, and Aayla Secura, and together they surmise that Maul may have headed to a Mandalorian asteroid outpost. Fearing that Mandalore could fall to the Separatists, Kenobi volunteers himself, along with Tiplee, to investigate the outpost.

Meanwhile, on the Mandalorian outpost, Maul contacts Darth Sidious and informs the Dark Lord that Dooku and Grievous have been captured. Sidious tells Maul to kill them, for he has no use for what he sees as failures. Maul instead orders Grievous to be taken into custody. As he does so, the Jedi begin their approach towards the outpost, and Tiplee fears that Kenobi will be unable to keep his emotions under control; Kenobi assures his fellow Jedi that he will not fail. Mother Talzin appears in a cloud of magic smoke and reveals that she too was once betrayed by Darth Sidious and that Darth Maul is her son.

As Talzin explains, Sidious is even now working to find a new apprentice. The Republic assault on the outpost begins and Grievous uses the chaos to make it to an escape pod, while Dooku agrees to join Maul and fight against Kenobi’s boarding party. They engage in a lightsaber duel, which is joined by Windu and Secura. Dooku kills Tiplee, while the Mandalorians shoot a small missile towards the Jedi, incapacitating them. This gives Maul and Dooku time to escape.

Darth Maul races towards Dathomir with his Death Watch allies as well as Count Dooku. While en route to Dathomir, Maul then orders Gar Saxon, a Mandalorian, to keep the Pykes and Black Sun in line. Meanwhile, Maul tells Dooku that he knows the Sith Lord is not truly an ally, and that Dooku has been told by Sidious to play Maul’s game. Maul then has Dooku taken into custody by Rook Kast. The Nightbrothers take Dooku before Mother Talzin, who appears again in a cloud of smoke and begins to unleash a magic attack against the Sith Lord.

Meanwhile, a Sith Infiltrator arrives in orbit, carrying both General Grievous and Darth Sidious, after tracking Dooku’s location to Dathomir. Maul and the Nightbrothers do not see the ship coming and continue with their plan, as Talzin uses her magic to draw the life force from Dooku so she can use it to physically manifest herself again. As Maul explains, Talzin’s physical return requires a great sacrifice, and they had chosen Dooku to make that sacrifice. As the process continues, an explosion rips through the area, and Grievous and Sidious appear before Maul to confront him.

Mother Talzin takes control of Dooku’s body, and she and Maul engage in combat against Sidious and Grievous. Talzin fights the Dark Lord of the Sith while Maul attacks Grievous. Sidious quickly gains the upper-hand against Talzin, demanding that she release his apprentice. Sidious bombards Dooku’s body with Force lightning before Talzin releases Dooku and appears in physical form once again. Maul continues his fight against Grievous, pushing him out of and away from the battle. Sidious once again unleashes lightning against Talzin, while Talzin herself sends a torrent of magical energy towards the Dark Lord.

Maul pleads with Talzin to take his strength, but, as Dooku enters the fight with his own lightning attacks, Talzin tells her son to retreat without her, even if it means her own doom. Talzin uses her magic to telekinetically throw Maul from the fray, and he is pulled away by Kast and another Mandalorian warrior but watches as Grievous returns and uses two lightsabers to fatally stab Talzin through the chest. With his Shadow Collective in tatters, Maul and Death Watch flee from Dathomir. Sidious, Dooku, and Grievous overlook Talzin’s body, while Dooku regretfully says that Maul has once again escaped. Sidious is not concerned, however, as everything transpired as he had intended. Maul’s future as a Sith rival has been destroyed, while the Sith have taken another step in securing their own future.

Rebels:

Maul’s Glorious return to the screen came in the form of the Season 2 finale of Rebels. After the loss of Mandalore, Maul was a shell of the man he once was, bitter, twisted and searching for something. He headed to Malachor and constructed a new lightsaber. This is where he first meets Ezra and Kanan and is reunited with Ahsoka, or Lady Tano. Maul sees an opportunity to enlist some help and encourages Ezra to help him obtain a Sith holocron. For a moment, Maul helps the crew defeat a pair of inquisitors before turning on Ahsoka and Kanan.

The Power will be mine! Ezra will be mine! And there is nothing you can do to stop me!”

Ahsoka leaves to duel Vader as Kanan is left to face Maul. Underestimating his abilities, Maul is defeated but survives once again, leaving the planet in an abandoned TIE.

Months later, Maul resurfaces. Managing to board a Hammerhead corvette, Maul interrogated one of the rebels on board, forcing him to reveal the location of the rebel freighter, and Ezra Bridger’s home, the Ghost. Shortly after, Bridger and Kanan Jarrus arrive at the transport and learn of the attack. Believing it to be the work of an Inquisitor, the pair contact Hera Syndulla, the Ghost‘s pilot, and find out that Maul had taken her and the rest of the crew hostage. In exchange for their friends’ lives, Maul demands the Jedi give him both the Sith holocron and the Jedi holocron, to which they agree.

After trying to take out the Ghost crew and Kanan once again, Maul takes Ezra to help him open the holocrons, seeking to combine them and have their questions answered. After combining the holocrons, the Ghost crew, who had been freed by Jarrus, are dazzled by the light coming from the holocrons. Ezra exclaims that he saw “twin suns”. Kanan implores his apprentice to look away, while Maul incites the Jedi to focus. Heeding his master’s warning, he closes his eyes, causing the energy from the holocrons to explode and giving Maul a chance to escape. As Maul proceeds back to his ship, he realises what he had seen in the holocrons, repeating the phrase “He lives”.

Ezra’s abrupt severance of their connection to the holocrons causes them to see fragments of each other’s visions and knowledge -including Ezra and the rebel’s location. Maul tracks him down and encourages Ezra to come with him in order to retrieve the remaining fragments of the vision from his mind. When Kanan refuses to negotiate with Maul, he threatens to activate a homing beacon that would alert the Empire to their presence in the event of his death.

Maul then offers to show Ezra the knowledge on how to destroy the Sith. With Kanan’s reluctant approval, Ezra complies with Maul’s ultimatum and departs with Maul on the Nightbrother. Maul then takes his unwilling apprentice to his homeworld of Dathomir. Unknown to them, Kanan and Sabine had placed a tracker on Ezra’s wrist comm and followed them there. Maul then takes Ezra to the ruins of the Nightsister lair and explains that he was the last survivor of the that ancient order.

As Maul leads Ezra into his cave dwelling, he explains that the only way to retrieve the information is to merge their minds again in a ritual. Maul has the cave filled with relics from his past including the Darksaber, a Mandalorian symbol of power. For the ritual, Maul and Ezra drink glasses of magic water. As a result, Maul and Ezra discover that his nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi is hiding on a planet with twin suns and that Kenobi held the key to destroying the Sith. After completing the ritual, the two are confronted by Nightsister spirits that demand that Maul and Ezra sacrifice their flesh and blood in return for the answers.

At that point, Kanan and Sabine enter the cave and open fire on the spirits. However, the spirits overwhelm and possess them. The possessed Kanan and Sabine then attack Maul and Ezra. Maul is forced to parry with the possessed Kanan while Ezra dodges the possessed Sabine’s blasts. Following a struggle, Maul and Ezra manage to reach the entrance of the cave. The Nightsister spirits are unable to leave because the altar is the source of their power. Having accomplished his objective, Maul then offers Ezra a place as his apprentice and claims that their destiny is linked with the planet with the twin suns. However, Ezra refuses to abandon his friends. Exasperated by the sympathy and compassion of the young man towards his friends, Maul tells Ezra that he has disappointed him before leaving to find his old enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Twin Suns Episode:

And here we are, Episode 20 of the Third Season of Rebels, surely Maul’s last stand in a final face off with Kenobi.

After investing so much time in a character I have loved from the age of 9… I cannot wait to see how this story finally wraps up.

But, if we have learned anything from Maul, expect the unexpected. What do you think? Will tomorrow’s episode finally be the end of the road for Maul? Share your thoughts in the comments below.