Last week, Lucasfilm revealed our first proper look Star Wars: Maul-Shadow Lorda new animated series that follows the Sith best known for building his criminal empire behind the scenes Sithi’s revenge. This, as is common in the franchise that has perfected the format of “In a way, X is Restored”, raised several questions in certain areas of the Internet expressing some shock, sincere or otherwise, that this time it was Maul—a character famous for being cool and then quickly cut in half in his first appearance—doing the return.
Putting aside some of the weirdness that comes with this reaction (failing to remember that it’s not just Maul’s survival after that. The Phantom Menace (it’s been about 15 years now, but also that survival was approved by George Lucas himself, who was obviously still interested in Maul as a person after taking him out) star Wars media—that the franchise, as seen in the past, cannot help but turn death into a revolving door, sad characters and stories that seemed to have been given an end in life to point to familiar people over and over again.
On the other hand, it is funny, and part of it star Warsgoofier features, that a character can survive being cut in half and falling into a large hole just by being you are really crazy about it. On the other hand, Maul is perhaps rare star Wars a character whose return from the grave seems to have served to really enrich his character—infallibly The Phantom Menaceactually giving him one—and have something to say about what it means to resign yourself to it star Warsthe matter.
From the moment Maul’s survival was revealed to us and Obi-Wan Kenobi in between The Clone Wars until now we and Obi-Wan Kenobi and we say goodbye to him Star Wars Rebelshis personality was defined by that never-ending, unrelenting grudge. Maul’s rage—at Obi-Wan, against Palpatine, against the story that just cost him a good image—is what has fueled his survival and drives everything we see him do in his animated appearances. There is an amazing sense of purposelessness in the plans that Maul gets involved in during his appearance, each one raised as the Next Great Plan to get back at those who betrayed him, from his attempt to create a new duology of the Sith with his brother Savage, to his brief quest to take over the planet Mandalore, to finally succeed as his crime in the end. a faux-wizened crone who scorns to help him figure out what his old madness has been up to after all this time.
There’s a charm to Maul, who first made a name for himself as this big, hot-tempered, scheming brute. But that growling and biting his thumb at the truths of the universe that chewed him up and spat him out at the end of his usefulness is also very painful: if anger is what kept Maul alive in the first place, it could not fulfill his life or his dreams of revenge, leaving him a husk flying from one plan to another, stabbing him, stabbing him, taunting him. grief. All Maul had was no place in the galaxy, but this anger he couldn’t put anywhere or keep it in one place at any time to do anything meaningful with it.
That is, until Rebels well you pay everything. “Twin Suns” is arguably Maul’s finest hour, despite the fact that it’s the episode that gets him to the point of everything he wanted to cut him down again, as quickly as the first one. There is no last howl, no great clash of swords as he is finally dragged back to Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. One strike takes him down, and Darth Maul’s fate has come again. As he begins to slip into Obi-Wan’s arms, Maul gasps as he realizes that his place is star Wars‘ the matter must go to someone else—he seeks assurance from Obi-Wan that at least someone, if not, will get revenge on his former master. Decades of his anger at the galaxy have led him to this one moment his first “death”: that the only way he can find peace and a true sense of direction is to let it all go. And if Maul stopped that rage, then what was keeping him there?
It’s a lot of learning star Wars characters are asked to grapple with themselves as their long arcs are drawn into new seasons and iterations of the franchise—to see when it’s time to exit the story, by death or otherwise, and leave the struggle of the galaxy to other generations. But taking a character whose first death is pointless and having him experience this long journey is actually about coming to terms with each other and accepting that giving him a logical departure makes more sense than the joyous silliness of what he initially survived—and perhaps a rare example. star Wars he’s gone from allowing a character to cheat death.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
