10. MAUL
Group Affiliation(s): Nightbrothers, The Sith, The Shadow Collective, Death Watch, Crimson Dawn
Age: 52 (Time of death, 2 BBY)
Height: 5’ 9” or 1.75 m.
Weight: 216 lbs or 98 kg.
Eye Color: Yellow-Red
Distinguishing Features: Maul has crimson red skin covered almost entirely with black tattoos, a crown of horns on his hairless skull, and he sports a pair of cybernetic legs that replaced his original ones that were lost after Obi-Wan Kenobi cut him in half.
Species: Zabrak
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Dathomir
Occupation: Former Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious, Leader of the Shadow Collective, and de facto Mand’alor of Mandalore and all of its sub-planets.
Adversaries: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Sidious (former master), Count Dooku, General Grievious, Duchess Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze, Pre Vizsla…(The list goes on)
Relatives: Mother Talzin (his mother), Savage Opress (his brother) and Feral (brother, deceased)
Lightsaber Form: Form VII/Juyo – The most aggressive style.
First Appearance: Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace
Character History:
Maul was the first Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious, aka, Emperor Palpatine during the years prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars. Unfortunately, his service to his master ended after he was unceremoniously cut in half, by then Jedi padawan — Obi-Wan Kenobi — before tumbling down into the abyss of a nearby shaft.
Maul was thought to have perished on Naboo. That was, until over a decade later his brother — Savage Opress — came searching for him after being told by Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters that he had survived. She then gave him a talisman to help guide the Zabrak to his Nightbrothers location. Opress found his brother on the junkyard planet of Lotho Minor — a former shell of himself — driven nearly completely insane through his isolation and turbulent state of emotions.
Opress brought Maul back to Dathomir where Mother Talzin used her considerable talents with dark side magics to heal the broken mind of her fallen son and fashion him new cybernetic legs from his makeshift ones.
Having recovered his mental faculties, Maul became more dangerous than ever before, with his first order of business being to exact vengeance upon the man who stole from him his destiny with the Sith, and so much more. Together with his brother, Opress, Maul forced Obi-Wan Kenobi — now a Jedi Master and Jedi High Council member — to meet him on the planet Raydonia.
Even though Kenobi knew Maul was luring him into a trap, he went to the planet alone anyway. When he arrived though, he found a community ravaged by death and destruction the likes of which he hadn’t expected. Kenobi confronted his nemesis in the town square but was suddenly attacked and overpowered by Opress. The Force was looking out for him in mysterious ways though when it sent along an unexpected ally to save him — Asajj Ventress, the former Sith Acolyte of Count Dooku.
Although, Kenobi and Ventress hardly shared any love for one another, the two did share a common foe with the Nightbrothers. So, working together they managed to escape and leave the brothers floating helplessly in the disabled transport ship they were onboard.
Maul and Opress found salvation from the Death Watch who had been recently exiled from Mandalore and the surrounding system. Joining forces with their leader, Pre Vizsla, Maul set about creating a network of underworld factions called the Shadow Collective, with him as their leader. The ultimate goal of Maul’s Shadow Collective was to become a rival Empire to the one that Darth Sidious had been machinating for decades.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, Maul also achieved something else; he became the ruler of a planet. This came about after Vizsla retracted on their earlier agreement with one another and tried using Maul as his leverage in becoming the new Mand’alor of his people.
Maul escaped his confinement with his brother and then openly challenged Vizsla in a trial of combat. This brief, but intense battle, ended after Maul gained the upper-hand and ordered Vizsla to submit. Vizsla defiantly refused — so Maul lopped off his head with the Darksaber.
This led to an immediate schism within the Death Watch, with Vizsla’s lieutenant, Bo-Katan Kryze, and a few other loyalists rebelling against Maul’s right to rule. The Maul loyalists and Bo-Katan’s Nite Owls became rivals, clashing several times over the course of the next several months leading up to the Siege of Mandalore.
Before the siege though, Maul would go on to achieve his greatest victory against his sworn foe, Kenobi. This time, Maul attacked Kenobi on the most personal level he could by forcing him to watch helplessly as he brutally killed his beloved, Duchess Satine Kryze — former ruler of Mandalore.
Maul’s cruel act of callousness was meant to break Kenobi and turn him to the Dark Side, but it failed. Furthermore, Maul himself would receive his comeuppance after Darth Sidious arrived on Mandalore to put his former apprentice back into his proper place. This battle ended with Opress dead and Maul taken captive.
Maul would later be freed thanks to help from Gar Saxon and Rook Kast, his former Death Watch loyalists. He then went to war with Count Dooku and General Grievous, along with Darth Sidious once again. This ended with him losing not only his allies in the Shadow Collective but also his recently restored parent, Mother Talzin. Maul barely escaped the same fate and returned to Mandalore to resume his control. His reign of power was short-lived though after Republic forces were brought in to liberate the people of Mandalore. During the Siege of Mandalore, Maul was confronted by former Jedi padawan, Ahsoka Tano.
Maul had been having visions during this time in which he could foresee his former Sith masters plans coming to fruition, as well as the rise of a new Sith apprentice. Maul tried to convince Ahsoka to join him and help destroy her former master, Skywalker, believing he was the one he had foreseen.
Ahsoka refused to believe this and the two engaged in an evenly matched duel across Mandalore. Finally, though, Maul was subdued and taken into custody thanks to help from Ahsoka’s allies. Imprisoned inside of a special vault created by the Mandalore to contain those with Force abilities, Maul was carried off to face judgment for his innumerable crimes against the galaxy. Ahsoka joined the Republic forces on their journey back to Coruscant only to get caught up in the events of Order 66.
With her former comrades trying to kill her — including Captain Rex — Ahsoka was forced to do the unthinkable and free Maul from his confinement in order to help create a diversion. Ahsoka managed to save Captain Rex from Sidious’ BMB (Behavioral Modification Biochip) implant but ultimately lost the majority of the crew after the ship was disabled by Maul and crashed into an unknown moon below.
Maul escaped and would go on to create another criminal organization called Crimson Dawn. He would also try to take on another apprentice, the unwilling Jedi padawan and Rebel, Ezra Bridger. Ultimately though, all paths for Maul led back to his old nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Finding the exiled Jedi on the desert planet of Tatooine, Maul confronted him in a brief duel that ended with the former Sith’s swift defeat. Dying in the arms of Kenobi, Maul at last found something that eluded him his entire existence: peace.
Powers/Skills: Maul was a Force-user with the abilities most commonly associated with those with these gifts, specifically with those who were dark side users like the Sith. Interestingly he never seemed to use Force-lightning, a common Sith tactic, though this may have been due to his personal preferences/fighting style. As such, these abilities included: force-choke, deflecting bolts of energy, and telepathic assault. One of his greatest force abilities was his telekinesis, which proved powerful enough once to drag an Eta-class shuttle from a plateau, even while injured. He could also use it to unleash a massive Force-push to scatter entire battalions when surrounded.
Not one to rely on only his Force talents alone, Maul was also a superior martial artist, specifically in Teräs Käsi. He was able to stand toe-to-toe with nearly anyone, including General Grievous — the Jedi-hunting cyborg. In fact, his only true competitors seemed to be Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his former Sith Master, Darth Sidious, whom he was never able to overpower. His weapon of choice was a double-bladed lightsaber, which was a weapon that took considerable practice to wield effectively.
In addition to these considerable skills, Maul also possessed a high threshold for pain from the grueling training he endured. He was also an exceptional military and political strategist, as shown in his success creating the underworld conglomerate called the Shadow Collective, as well as its successor, Crimson Dawn. Finally, he proved to be a capable manipulator as gathered from his years of tutelage from Dark Sidious.
Weapon(s): Maul’s weapon of choice was his dual-bladed lightsaber that he used extensively in the years leading up to his defeat on Naboo. He would later acquire the Darksaber — the black-bladed ceremonial weapon of the Mand’alor — that he won in a trial of combat with Pre Vizsla. His greatest weapon, though, might have been his mind.
The Reason Behind the Resentment: The reason for Maul’s deep-seated hatred for the Jedi seems to have come from feeling that he was rejected by them, especially for being overlooked as a child and not brought to the Jedi temple for training.
Instead, he was found by Darth Sidious who fueled these doubts, along with his brutal and insensitive training. The result: Maul became infuriated towards the Jedi and seen them as an enemy worth extinguishing entirely from the galaxy.
That concludes this list of Mandalorians from the Old Republic through the Clone Wars era. Join us again as we concluded with those from Rebels era through the New Republic.