This will anger the Star Wars fandom..

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]If The Clone Wars had us thinking, then I think Maul: Shadow Lord just cemented it that the removal of Darth Maul, one of the main prequel characters, is one of the saddest things and biggest mistakes in Star Wars history. If you only watch the movies, for example, let's say you just watched episode 1, 2, and 3, Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan might seem like the prime examples of protagonist and also antagonist that are the most interesting characters in that group. However, if you think about what Maul has gone through, and if you think about the characters that he has evolved into now, you realize that he is way up there with the best of the best. Ever since his comeback in The Clone Wars, then we saw him in Rebels to his current spotlight in Maul: Shadow Lord, Darth Maul has evolved from a silent assassin into one of the more layered and compelling figures in this franchise.

[00:00:54]This evolution is a testament to the creative vision, of course, of George Lucas, who, by the way, originally pushed for Maul's return. So, this says everything. The creator himself of Star Wars realized that he had made a mistake by killing off and erasing Darth Maul from Star Wars. He and Dave Filoni together came up with what Maul is today. Now, I think equally vital is Sam Witwer's performance, of course. His voice acting has given Maul a profound sense of humanity. Beyond his iconic double-bladed lightsaber, dedicated fans recognize that Maul's tragedy lies in the fact that he was never granted the agency to be anything other than a weapon of the Sith, despite his internal yearning for more, as you can see in Maul: Shadow Lord. It is the biggest mistake that Maul didn't participate in the prequels entirely. You see, nobody has thought of the intricate details, especially from the prequels. Now, let's go back just a little bit. Let me tell you something. Do you know that Maul never actually chose the dark side in comparison with Count Dooku, in comparison with Darth Vader, they all chose to follow and be under the teachings of Darth Sidious, but Maul did not. Maul was basically kidnapped by Sidious, by Palpatine as a kid on Dathomir. He never actually chose willingly to go with Sidious and become a Sith assassin, a Sith lord. Even characters like Asajj Ventress and and also the Stranger, as we see, made conscious decisions to embrace the dark side, but Maul is the exception. He was never actually given the opportunity to decide his own fate. He was born on Dathomir as a son of Mother Talzin. He was raised as a Nightbrother until his Force-sensitivity caught the eye of Darth Sidious, and he was essentially handed over to be molded into a Sith tool. So, unlike Jedi Padawans, who are also recruited young, Maul wasn't just taught. He was broken, he was tortured.

[00:03:04]He doesn't even remember his birth name, for crying out loud. And you can see his uh disheartening in Maul's Shadow Lord.

[00:03:12]He once believed wholeheartedly in Sidious's vision, but when he became discarded like trash, it forced him to realize that he was never a partner, he was never a real equal with Sidious or anybody else. He was just a disposable pawn. So, Maul's survival following the events of The Phantom Menace was just a prologue to a much darker chapter. After returning with a fractured mind and with mechanical spider legs, he was rescued by Savage Opress. The reunion was also short-lived. Mother Talzin sacrificed her physical form to restore Maul's sanity. His subsequent actions across Rebels and Maul's Shadow Lord now with the Shadow Collective as you can see. I think I have kind of decoded that Maul is desperately searching for a family.

[00:04:02]He has a brother, he has a mother that is killed. He also has a group now Shadow Collective in Rebels. He seeks out Ezra. There's like something that he needs [snorts] to fill. Whether it is his failed attempt to recruit Ahsoka Tano, like you see that the characters are stacking up. He is always searching for somebody or something. And now in Maul Shadow Lord, it is Devin and Ezra.

[00:04:26]It is a Jedi apprentice that he thinks he can convert. You see this in his dialogue in Maul Shadow Lord especially with Devin. So, while trying to manipulate Devin, there's a line. He says, "Maul draws a parallel between their own losses between each other."

[00:04:41]So, he says that his mother, his brother, and his destiny were all stolen by the same enemy that wiped out the Jedi. So, unlike those who chose the dark path, Maul's life was defined by paying for the crimes of others for Sidious, his mother, and even Anakin.

[00:04:59]The real tragedy is that Maul never really had the chance to discover who he could have been if he had been allowed to choose his own path. And this is where at the end we come to this conclusion that if we truly look at it, if we take a step back and see things from afar, yes, the prequels are great.

[00:05:20]If you look at them through rose-colored glasses and if you just ignore the flaws and you know, the plot holes, they are three great movies. But what they lack in characters, this is the real tragedy that Darth Maul did not participate in the prequels. To me personally, not just Darth Maul, I would have loved to have seen Qui-Gon Jinn be also a part of the prequels, too. A bit more than just a the Phantom Menace. So, think about this. Think about how much we can ignore Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith when it comes to characters because they already moved on with Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme. They were the main characters and they weren't budging.

[00:06:04]But, The Phantom Menace produced so many great characters. Just Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn alone could have carried three other movies for sure. And that has been proven time and time again throughout the years. Qui-Gon is still talked about. We still reminisce about that character, about how much of a pioneer Jedi Qui-Gon was during his time. Can you imagine the Jedi Council trying to corrupt him or during the Clone Wars, how would have Qui-Gon comported himself? How would have he have behaved?

[00:06:41]All these things go into your mind and of course then you turn to Darth Maul.

[00:06:47]What if Darth Maul participated in the prequels? What if he wasn't discarded by Sidious? Or what if he was discarded, but they still brought him back and interwoven into the main story of Anakin, of Obi-Wan? He might have disrupted the plans of Count Dooku and Sidious within the movies. So, it's all just a really missed opportunity. And I know it was early and I know the decision by George Lucas to write off Darth Maul. He just needed to prove that Obi-Wan was ready to be a Jedi Master and I suppose that was the ideal. I think that was why Qui-Gon needed to die. Obi-Wan needed to kill Maul so that he could prove himself to be better than Qui-Gon in a way so that then he could train Anakin. Anakin turns to the dark side ultimately. This all connects to each other and I understand that, but it is just a missed opportunity and it is proven his comeback, Maul's comeback is proven that George Lucas and in the end realized the mistake he he made. He should have somehow continued with Maul and had his story more fleshed out and more developed. As we see, he had these ideas for Maul even back then because his ideas were implemented during the Clone Wars animated show and it's in the Clone Wars animated show that Darth Maul takes a whole new turn. He turns into one of the best Star Wars characters ever and we still have that character.

[00:08:19]Think about it. All these characters have moved on. We no longer see much of Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon or Padme. All of these characters have kind of finished their thing, but Maul is still um the onion that we peel the layers of and he still is rich in story. It's not even over. Like we still have the Crimson Dawn era and there's a lot of things we still need to see for Maul. So, it is one of the biggest tragedies that Maul did not participate in the entirety of the prequels. So, yeah. Let me know what do you guys think also down below in the comments.