Star Wars: Why Maul Is Red When His Brother, Savage Opress, Is Yellow

During development of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, George Lucas wanted the character of Darth Maul to be the embodiment of your worst nightmare. After cycling through multiple designs (including some that incorporated a mask a la Darth Vader), concept artist Ian McCaig eventual settled on the design that made it to the big screen. Unsurprisingly, Maul became a centerpiece of the Phantom Menace marketing campaign, as his distinct appearance — punctuated by his trademark red skin, black tattoos, and horns — made him look like the personification of evil. He intentionally resembled a Satan-like figure, giving Star Wars another memorable character design.

Thanks to Maul’s revival in The Clone Wars, audiences learned more about him, including the revelation that he had two brothers: Savage and Feral. When viewers finally got a chance to see them for the first time on the animated show, they were surprised to see that Maul’s siblings had yellow skin as opposed to red. For years, this has been a question that has puzzled many Star Wars fans.

Maul’s Red Skin Color Explained

Officially, there does not appear to be a clear canonical, in-universe reason for why Maul has red skin. Some fans have theorized that he was born with yellow skin, and the pigment changed as a result of Dathomirian rituals performed on Nightbrother youngsters. Maul’s skin turning red could be interpreted as a sign of his strong connection to the dark side. However, this is just speculation. In Star Wars canon materials, Maul has always appeared with red skin, and there’s been no indication he was once yellow.

In lieu of Dathomirian magical rituals, a plausible explanation is that Maul’s skin color can be chalked up to genetics. Maul is a Dathomirian Zabrak, and males of this species can have orange, yellow, or red skin. Females can be blue, gray, or white. Since Zabraks can be a variety of colors, it’s reasonable to assume Maul was just born with his red skin. Just because Savage and Feral were yellow doesn’t mean Maul had to be yellow at some point as well. After all, in our world, siblings born to the same parents can have different heights and traits. Perhaps Maul inherited a recessive gene that gave him his red skin.

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As far as real-world explanations go, Maul’s skin color was a creative choice to help make the character stand out on screen. Symbolically, red is often used to represent concepts like passion, power, and danger, making it perfect for Maul. Because the character doesn’t have much screen time or dialogue in The Phantom Menace, his physical appearance does a lot of the heavy lifting in regard to conveying key information about him. Just by looking at him, audiences can tell he is an individual fueled by rage and hatred, tapping into those emotions to become stronger with the dark side. It’s an instantly iconic visual.

Of course, when The Phantom Menace was being developed, The Clone Wars (and Maul’s eventual return) were still years away. When it came time to expand upon Zabraks and Dathomirian culture, the Clone Wars team likely opted to make Savage and Feral yellow as a way to ensure Maul continued to stand out — even among others from his species. Giving Zabraks distinct skin colors was a necessary development for the show. It became easier for viewers to keep track of the action in sequences involving both Maul and Savage. It was clear which one was which, meaning there wouldn’t be any confusion.

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