Ever since Darth Maul was introduced in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, people have dreamed of seeing him go toe to toe with Darth Vader. It took nearly three decades, but Lucasfilm finally delivered that highly anticipated showdown. In the Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Season 1 finale, “The Dark Lord,” the titular crime boss finds himself in a duel against Vader while attempting to escape the planet Janix. Considering how excited viewers were to see the two iconic villains come to blows, there was potential here for a letdown, but Shadow Lord staged a memorable confrontation to end its first season on a high note.
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The sequence contained several great moments, including some that set up key developments for the upcoming Shadow Lord Season 2. But even if there wasn’t any table setting for what’s to come, the fateful meeting between Maul and Vader was exciting enough in a vacuum to make “The Dark Lord” stand out as one of the most iconic releases in Star Wars’ Disney era. However, as entertaining as the fight was, there was one part that fans might have been curious about: Maul not recognizing Vader.
Maul Not Knowing Vader Has Roots In Star Wars Lore
As Vader pursues Maul and the others early on in “The Dark Lord,” Maul realizes there’s something different about this particular opponent. “You are no Inquisitor,” he says. “What are you?” In addition to being another way Shadow Lord illustrates the power gap between Vader and his Inquisitor forces, there’s a major canon implication here. Up until this moment, Maul has never seen Vader and doesn’t know who he is. This is fascinating, because Maul is among the select Star Wars characters to know Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker.
In The Clone Wars Season 7, Maul figures out Palpatine’s grand plan for Anakin. But while he knew Skywalker was destined to turn to the dark side, he seemingly was unaware of what had become of Anakin following the Clone War. Shadow Lord was his first time seeing a being in the life support suit, and this is very much in line with what has been established in Star Wars lore. Darth Vader is one of the most instantly recognizable characters in all of pop culture in the real world, but in-universe, he’s more of a mythical figure. Even though Vader is obviously close with the Emperor, there were some Imperial officers who weren’t sure he truly existed.
If there were Imperials who wondered if Vader was real, then he wasn’t all that well-known to members of the Rebel Alliance either. At most, any Rebel soldiers who had heard of someone named Darth Vader probably thought it was just something the Empire made up to scare people around the galaxy. There’s canon evidence that supports this; the novel Battlefront: Twilight Company allows readers to see things from the perspective of Rebels stationed on Hoth when the Empire attacks. Seeing Vader in person is a terrifying experience because it means those wild stories you heard about a cloaked man with powers and a lightsaber were actually true. Vader’s boogeyman status also explains the Rebels’ reactions in the Rogue One hallway scene.
In situations such as this, it’s important to keep in mind that the Star Wars universe is vast, and what’s common knowledge in our culture is not necessarily common knowledge in a galaxy far, far away. Remember, in A New Hope, Han Solo says he’s never seen anything that makes him believe the Force is real — even though it wasn’t that long ago Jedi were fighting in a galactic war. Maul may not have even heard rumors about Vader, considering how surprised he was when he saw Vader in person. If he was familiar with the myths, he would have easily been able to put two and two together and deduce he was fighting Vader. It’ll be interesting to see if Vader returns in Shadow Lord Season 2 and whether or not Maul learns more about his new adversary.
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