Every once in a while on Official Star Wars Costumes, we like to take two characters we never got the chance to see fight and drop them in an arena. We’ve done it previously with Darth Vader and Qui-Gon Jinn, and we now see fit to do it once more with two dangerous enemies: Mace Windu vs. Darth Maul! We’ll take a look at each character’s strengths and weaknesses, and see how they match up.

Mace Windu:

Mace Windu, High Jedi General and one time Grand Master of the Jedi Order, was a formidable opponent. He created his own unique style of lightsaber combat, called Vaapad, and was the only person to master it. It was said that only Count Dooku and Master Yoda could outduel him. Windu revealed that the secret to Vaapad was its path through the “penumbra” of the dark side, utilizing aggression and a desire to win. Known f or its power and dangerous technique, the user would accept the fury of the opponent, and required a constant stream of Force from the use.

Windu had many other powers as well: Extensive force mastery, including knowledge of the dark side and a strong resistance to it. He could utilize the force to enhance his body’s abilities, as well as the force wave, and even some darker powers, including the force grip and force crush. Finally, he had the strange ability he called shatterpoint, which helped him find the weaknesses in opponents, objects, and even events.

Mace Windu fully accepted that his greatest weakness was his enjoyment of fighting. This was a dangerous trait for a Jedi due to the nature of the dark side.

Darth Maul:

Mace Windu had ferocity, but Darth Maul was unmatched in that category. He was highly trained in Juyo, the sister style to Vaapad, similarly vicious and aggressive. He was a skilled practitioner in Niman, the sixth style of combat, which possesses no outright strengths but also no glaring weaknesses, as well as Jar’Kai, dual lightsaber combat. Finally, he was a masterful user of the double-bladed lightsaber, something that not many Jedi had fought. He had incredible hand-to-hand combat skills, and was a tactical master during fights.

Additional powers and abilities include telekinesis, resistance to force attacks, mechanics, able to withstand immense physical pain, and weaponry.

Maul was only truly in his element while fight hand-to-hand or with melee weapons such as the lightsaber, and he disliked using his force techniques while in combat. Maul was prone to furious actions that would leave him open to a counterattack.

The Battle:

A battle between a Vaapad master and a skilled Juyo practitioner would be a sight to behold. Both Windu and Maul would be going up against a talented opponent. However, Mace Windu has several advantages. First, while Darth Maul was extremely gifted in combat, WIndu’s use of the Vaapad style made a difficult fight more interesting for Windu, prompting his desire to win and a surge of strength. Windu also had much stronger force abilities, as well as the shatterpoint technique. Darth Maul’s tactical strength would have made the fight more difficult than simply overpowering him with abilities, and he had his own version of shatterpoint: an ability to discern weaknesses in an opponent’s fighting style, which he made use of fighting against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Resolution:

Darth could, potentially, have the advantage physically, but Mace Windu’s other abilities make up for it. In the battle of Mace Windu vs. Darth Maul, Mace Windu would win perhaps 65-70 percent of the time, though Darth Maul does have a chance. We would love to hear your thoughts, what two Star Wars Characters should battle next?