Maul

**Maul** (formerly known as **Darth Maul**) is one of the major antagonists of the *Star Wars* franchise.

Maul first appeared as the central antagonist of The Phantom Menace, the first film of the prequel trilogy. He later returned as a major antagonist in the 2008-2020 television series *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*, serving as the final antagonist of Season 4, as one of the main antagonists of Season 5, and Season 7. He also appeared once again as a major antagonist in the 2014-2018 television series Star Wars Rebels, appearing as one of the two main antagonists (alongside Darth Vader) of the two-part Season 2 finale, and as the secondary antagonist of Season 3. He next appeared as the overarching antagonist of Solo: A Star Wars Story. He is also the titular protagonist of both Darth Maul: Son Of Dathomir, Darth Maul: Saboteur and Maul: Lockdown, as well as the tritagonist of Darth Plagueis.

## Personality

Maul was a deadly, evil, dark, and mysterious figure in the *Star Wars* franchise. In his first appearance, he was a formidable foe, having managed to kill Qui-Gon Jinn and temporarily have a stand over Obi-Wan Kenobi. Brainwashed as a child, he was extremely loyal to his master, following his every order due to Maul's attachment with Sidious.

He had great hatred towards people who have wronged him or those Maul cared for, such as Obi-Wan and Sidious. More specifically, he was driven by his hatred for Kenobi, which is what allowed him to survive after the Jedi had cut him in half. For the next twenty years, Maul would have done anything to exact vengeance on Obi-Wan, a quest that would lead Maul to his own demise. He developed a hatred towards Sidious, who he was once loyal to, after his former master killed his brother and took him away from Mother Talzin when he was younger, revealing to Jedi Ezra Bridger, that Maul still held anger and hatred towards Sidious. In order to survive anything Maul became a manipulative figure, such as convincing Vizsla to conquer Mandalore, attempts at forming alliances, especially with Ahsoka Tano, and with Ezra, Ahsoka and Kanan when they reluctantly teamed up together on Malachor in search of a way to defeat the Sith with a Sith Holocron. Maul was one of the only ones who was able to figure out that Darth Vader was really Anakin Skywalker, who he had visions of becoming Sidious' new apprentice. He was noted for being terrified by Prime Minister Almec, haunted by the visions, meaning Maul may have had some level of fear of Skywalker, as he wished to kill him to deprive Sidious of an apprentice, which he attempted to do by orchestrating the Mandalore Civil War

Maul had animal traits, such as growling like a wild animal towards his enemies. Maul could be quite arrogant himself, especially considering he could kill Obi-Wan when he met him again seventeen years after their last encounter on Mandalore and thought Kanan (who he had blinded) and Ahsoka could not fight him, boasting he was going to claim both Ezra and the power Malachor had.

Maul was not completely heartless, as he loved his mother and brother and the feeling was mutual on both sides. He also seemed to genuinely care for Ezra, coming to view him as a potential Apprentice and seeing a little bit of himself in the boy. However, at the times they had met, he was merely using Ezra seceral times, for example, to get Obi-Wan Kenobi out of hiding and tricking him into activating the superweapon for the Sith Temple. He could not understand Ezra's dedication to his friends, and demands Ezra forget about his attachments with the Ghost crew and the past, quite ironic for Maul, as he was obssessed with never letting go of the past until he finally seeing their relationship was only one-sided.

Even towards the end of his life, Maul remained bitter and vengeful. However, he made it clear that he was no longer affiliated with the Sith despite following the dark path, having dropped "Darth" from his name. Maul became obsessed with Obi-Wan's downfall but it ultimately caused his own. However, he died with believe and hope that Luke Skywalker would destroy Sidious, causing Maul to know that he and his family would be avenged.

## Enemies

### Ahsoka Tano

Maul and Ahsoka did not meet until the Siege of Mandalore. For reasons unknown, Maul learned her name was Ahsoka Tano but he did not know anything else about her. Ahsoka, meanwhile, was aware of Anakin and Obi-Wan's past encounters, and did not hesitate to show her hatred towards Maul. In ways, after learning of the trial that Ahsoka went through, Maul saw that he and Ahsoka were very similar: they fought a higher power they spend their whole life with only to be cast out by their own orders and even gave her the choice to join him. Ahsoka considered an alliance, but after he made it clear he was going to harm Anakin, she turned on him and the two opponents dueled. After capturing Maul, she hoped to turn him over to the Jedi Council but when Order 66 was issued, she freed him, just so he could "cause chaos" as a distraction. Later, Ahsoka had the chance to take Maul but let him go in order to save Rex.

They unwillingly reunited on Malachor, where Maul had mocked her for her departure, and the two begrudingly forged an alliance. However, when Maul made it his intentions to kill Ahsoka and Kanan and then take Ezra with him as an apprentice, Ahsoka fought him yet again. However, she left the rest of the duel to Kanan as she went to save Ezra from Darth Vader.

Maul is the secret head of the Crimson Dawn syndicate, but he lets Vos act as the face and handle the day-to-day operations. After Vos is killed by Qi'ra, Maul cows the latter into answering to him.

### Ezra Bridger

Ezra Bridger was tricked by Maul during their mission to Malachor into trusting him, paving the way for a potential master-apprentice relationship between the two. Maul also had an effect on Ezra with his words, causing him to begin to believe that to fight his enemies, he needed to think like them. Though Ezra saw Maul as an enemy and blames him in part for the supposed death of Ahsoka Tano, Maul still believed that Ezra may yet join him. The two joined the Holocrons that caused them to form a Force Bond. However, when Maul once again tried convincing Ezra to join him in Dathomir, the boy rEzra refused, Maul saw that their relationship was just one sided and left him on the planet. He later used Ezra in his plans to lure Obi-Wan Kenobi out of hiding by luring him to Tatooine through the Force Bond.

In the end, after Obi-Wan managed to kill Maul in combat, Ezra was saved from his temptations to lure him over to the dark side and make him his next apprentice.