27 years after his introduction in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the events of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Season 1, Episode 8, “The Creeping Fear,” change how you see Maul for the better. Darth Maul was always a cool-looking villain who was a little wasted by the movies. His death in the prequels was a case of wasted potential, so much so that he returned to Star Wars years later thanks to The Clone Wars, and there’s been no looking back since then: he’s featured in multiple shows, and (briefly) a movie, but none quite like Shadow Lord. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS.
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Shadow Lord Episodes 7 and 8 see Maul facing extreme tests as he takes on two of Darth Vader’s Inquisitors, Marrok and the Crow, but the even greater challenge is an internal one. Partway through the eighth episode, the former Sith Lord experiences a series of visions that flash back to some of the most momentous moments of his life, including:
- Being taken by Darth Sidious (voiced by Sam Witwer) when he was young, and saying goodbye to his brother.
- Being trained in lightsaber combat and the ways of the Force by Sidious.
- His “death” at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- His return with his “spider” legs.
- Reuniting with his brother, Savage Opress, who is then killed by Palpatine.
- Being healed by green Nightsister magick, with a line about “revenge.”
Shadow Lord Makes Maul More Tragic Than He’s Ever Been Before
There’s long been an element of tragedy to Maul, which was evidenced by how quickly he was defeated by Obi-Wan in Star Wars Rebels and how accepting he seemed of that fate, but he’s also always been, clearly, a villain. That’s still true, but I also don’t think he’s ever been as sympathetic a character as he is in Shadow Lord Episode 8, because it does reframe his history and his drive for revenge more than the franchise has before.
The flashbacks really hammer home just how young he was when he was taken as Darth Sidious’ Sith Apprentice, and it’s genuinely poignant watching his brother plead with him to stay. Similarly, you feel for him watching Sidious basically torture him with Force Lightning under the guise of “training,” and much more so when his former master kills his brother. It hammers home how, at every turn, he was used, manipulated, harmed, and then discarded by Sidious, and it happened from such an impressionable age that he had no chance to resist, with everything taken from him.
Again, it doesn’t change all the bad things that Maul has done (and will do, given Shadow Lord‘s timeline is just a year after Revenge of the Sith), but it does give us much more context and understanding. Most shocking of all is when he sees the reflection of himself in water as a young boy, a reminder of who he used to be, the person that he has long since lost to fear, anger, and hate. And with that, he swears that he will not let Sidious do this to anybody else.
It makes his goal almost noble: he doesn’t just want to kill the Emperor out of personal revenge, but to stop him from hurting others like him. As if that weren’t enough, he even sheds a tear at this point, in what is the most human moment we have ever seen from the Dathomirian Zabrak. It’s incredibly done, moving and tender in a way you’d never associate with a (former) Sith Lord, and cements just how sad his story really is. After 27 years, Star Wars is still finding new layers to Maul, making him a better character than ever.
New episodes of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord release on Mondays on Disney+.
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