Darth Maul: Would You Have Liked to See Him Survive to AOTC or Beyond?

[dafoo]

Ok one last post lol

they could easily have 3-5 Maul clones.  They don't ahve to be copies exactly, I seem to recall his red face was a tatoo anyway.  But like since Tyrannus was arranging the clone army, Sidious could have secreted away some of the cloners to develop force sensative clones.

Say it is difficult cuz you can't assure force sensativity.  Then have Sidious having trained them for 10-12 years, and unleash them to help start the slaughter of the jedi.  Of course get them wiped out for the finale too.  And nothing changes!

Like Add a good 6 more Jedi into Mace's arrest party and when they go for Sidious, a door opens and he's a MAUL party! huge saber battle ensues leaving just Mace and Sidious when Anakin shows up.

OOH that'd be great!

[Ben]

I'd have just made Maul have a few facets of Dooku's personality, and have him wear a mask or facepaint when he's dealing with the Seperatists, ala Tim Burton's Joker or GI Joe's Destro. Then when he's ready to spank Jedi ass, he takes the mask off revealing his frightening tatooed face.

I think a steel mask being pulled off would have made for a more effective reveal than light pollution hitting his face in TPM.


As for Maul's face being everywhere for the merchandise-- I can't think of another character that had that much presence in TPM, so he was likely the best candidate in subpar competition.

[dafoo]

Maul CLONES!!!!

[Darth Slothus]

Hmm I thought about this same possibility once except my vision came up with 3 "Maulers" hiding in a transport that the jedi are using and they get ambushed by these Mauls. The Mauls are defeated with only Tinn, Koon, Fisto surviving while losing 4 other jedis.

[Jabba the Slug]

I really want to post in this even though probably everyone's forgotten about it...

Maul was 100% loyal to Darth Sidious. He never thought about betraying him (even Sidious knows this), which isn't exactly ideal in a Sith - when the apprentice is strong enough, he/she can overcome the master and become the next Sith Master.

Also, Maul was a pawn for Sidious. Which means that he was useful to a certain extent. And it would have taken an even longer time for Sidious' plans to unfold. Why? Because Dooku had all the connections - he was a political leader, and was very wealthy. Maul had none of that. Sidious needed Dooku to launch the Clone Wars and build armies. Maul was simply a warrior.

Therefore, as cool as Darth Maul is, I think his death in TPM was necessary as far as story goes. He's a cool evil dude, but he doesn't do much more than that. Heck, he only speaks once in the entire movie!

[Scockery]

Does the recent reveal in the Clone Wars cartoon increase the odds that Maul's death with be re-edited in the 3D release of Episode 1?

Obi-Wan just slashes him a little, Maul falls...intact...we see him crawling out of the sewer or something at the end.

Then Boba Fett walks by and winks at the camera. 

[501ST]

Whilst Maul is a visually appealing character he does lack elements of circumstance that Dooku possessed for the CIS leadership job.

That being said I also see Maul as perhaps more of an assassin per Asaaj Ventress now in the CW series.

Yes,he was Sidious' apprentice with Sidious investing a lot of time and effort in bringing Maul to the point we see him in TPM against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan yet he is able to be defeated by Obi-Wan (which is essential to showing the promise of Obi-Wan force wise).

Anakin being the ultimate apprentice in Sidious' eyes shows that Maul and Dooku were only pawns being used for the time frame they were useful for.

Dooku is dispatched by Anakin at Sidious' behest (as Palpatine) so that the next apprentice can be procured. 

Maul being unable to defeat the Jedi would be a failure that Sidious would view as proof he was not fit to be the Sith Apprentice (if my take on the Sith is right).

All in all - he could've been given a little more screen time in TPM sure,but the storyline in the overall PT does not allow for him to be there.

[JediJman]

I really want to post in this even though probably everyone's forgotten about it...

Maul was 100% loyal to Darth Sidious. He never thought about betraying him (even Sidious knows this), which isn't exactly ideal in a Sith - when the apprentice is strong enough, he/she can overcome the master and become the next Sith Master.

Also, Maul was a pawn for Sidious. Which means that he was useful to a certain extent. And it would have taken an even longer time for Sidious' plans to unfold. Why? Because Dooku had all the connections - he was a political leader, and was very wealthy. Maul had none of that. Sidious needed Dooku to launch the Clone Wars and build armies. Maul was simply a warrior.

Therefore, as cool as Darth Maul is, I think his death in TPM was necessary as far as story goes. He's a cool evil dude, but he doesn't do much more than that. Heck, he only speaks once in the entire movie!

I'd agree with others that Maul would have made a crummy head Sith.  However, having Maul around a lot longer probably would have suited Sidious just fine.  The Sith Rule of Two is intended to keep them from in-fighting, and yes, when an apprentice becomes more powerful than the master, he knocks him off and becomes the new master.  But having an apprentice who craves the top spot is only important if the master will eventually grow old and weak.  Palpy seemed to find a way to prolong his life, possibly indefinitely.  Given the circumstances, an extremely powerful, but loyal apprentice who wouldn't betray him was probably the best possible Sith apprentice, and maybe even more preferable than Vader.  His death forced Palpy to recruit others, but I think its totally plausable that Sidious initially intended to wipe out the Jedi with Maul by his side. 

I saw the battle with Obi and Maul very differently as well.  Obi-Wan didn't win that fight because he was a better fighter or stronger in the force.  Maul was overconfident and wasted time taunting Obi when he should have just finished him off.  Obi's perseverence allows him to take advantage of all this when the time is right.

Dooku definitely seemed like more of a stop-gap than an intended long term apprentice.  I'm again drawn to Sidious's intentions though...why would he want Dooku to stick around once the Jedi were gone when Dooku was easily ambitious enough to try to off his master?  Much better to use him as the face of the Sith, then off him at the end of the war.

I'm probably in the minority, but I liked the Visionaries story with Maul getting artificial legs and tracking Obi-Wan to Tatooine to get revenge.  I would have liked to see him get more screen time and wish they had done much more with him (let's be honest here - he's really the only thing good about E1).

[Darby]

Just bumping this because I've been thinking about it with the re-release coming up:

Sidious' plot only really makes sense if Dooku is involved from the start.  Dooku is integral to the Clone Wars as both a figurehead for the maligned interests of the Separatists to rally around, and a provocation to the Jedi.  Maul ultimately is only muscle.  I do wish Maul had continued, however.  I think it would worked if Dooku at the outset had appeared to be the Sith Master, and Maul was his enforcer.  The same dynamic exists in CW with Dooku and Ventress; Sidious by and large is anonymous, and actually his direct participation in the Battle of Naboo was extraordinarily risky given the stakes.  It was convenient that the captured Neimoidians didn't give him up. 

[JediJman]

Why couldn't Maul have played the same role as Dooku?  We don't really see enough of him to tell what kind of leader he might be.

[Nicklab]

Dooku had the credibility/backstory of being a respected Jedi Master as well as a rich noble.  From a story standpoint it's more feasible for the Seperatists to follow Dooku as opposed to Darth Maul. 

Also, Darth Maul was outwardly Sith.  Dooku was publically regarded as a Jedi who had left the Jedi Order.  That adds to his respectability, despite him secretly being in league with the Sith.  That deception and the ensuing manipulation served the Sith cause far more than Darth Maul's martial skills.  Plus, Dooku's departure from the Jedi Order casts doubt on the status of the Jedi in the Republic.

The political machinations of the Prequel Trilogy are there, but they lie a little bit beneath the surface.

[Jabba the Slug]

I've read snippets of the 'Wrath of Darth Maul' biography novel that pretty much is a tie-into for the future TCW episodes and these are the conclusions I can gather...

- Maul is a FALLEN Sith Lord. Dooku's the new Sith, so I guess this means Maul's been demoted (you gotta feel bad for the poor guy. Lost his lower half AND Sith title).

- It seems Maul has contracted a bad case of amnesia over the years. Should be interesting to see what his intentions are once he remembers who he was and what he wants to do with the galaxy.

- He has to die (and stay dead!) within this show. I could see him waging a second war, against the Jedi, within the Clone Wars, but this would mess with way too much canon. And besides, being that there's naturally no mention of him in ROTS and after, it's likely he won't make any long-term damage. I can't even see him lasting past Season 4 of the show, but who knows, why bring back Maul from the dead if you're going to feature him in the season finale only?