Darth Maul
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| Darth Maul | |
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| Position | Dark Lord of the Sith |
| Homeworld | Iridonia |
| Species | Iridonian Zabrak |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Sith |
| Portrayed by | Ray Park Peter Serafinowicz (voice) |
Darth Maul is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe and a main antagonist in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He was portrayed by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. He was the first (known) apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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[edit] Concept and creation
Darth Maul was designed by concept artist Iain McCaig.
George Lucas had described Darth Maul as "a figure from your worst nightmare". Designer Iain McCaig thus offered Lucas a design based on a nightmare of his, which was rejected, but later inspired the Nightsister Sith witch in later Star Wars tales. One day McCaig was trying to make "Sith lord versions" of the art department crew, and drew David Dozoretz, head of the animations group, with a circuit board on his face. Lucas got intrigued by the circuit board idea, and McCaig started producing similar caricatures. After getting frustrated with a drawing of production designer Gavin Bocquet, McCaig started covering it in tape. He liked the result, described as "a kind of Rorschach pattern", and so did Lucas. The final drawing had McCaig's own face, with a pattern based on three things: a concept of a "flayed flesh face", face-painting of African tribes and further Rorschach experimentation (dropping ink onto paper, folding it in half and opening).[1]
Darth Maul's head originally had feathers, based on prayer totems, but the Creature Effects crew led by Nick Dudman interpreted those feathers as horns. Other changed design was his clothing, from a tight body suit with a muscle pattern to the Sith robe based on Samurai pleats, because the lightsaber battles involved much jumping and spinning.[1] Another concept had Maul a masked figure, something that could rival the popular character Darth Vader, while the senatorial characters would sport painted and tattooed faces. He later decided to apply this to Maul rather than the senate.
[edit] Fictional character biography
As portrayed in the novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Maul is kidnapped from his Jedi training by Sidious at an early age, and is trained as a Sith, having Sith tattoos put all over his body. Maul initially goes on countless missions of terror for his master, killing politicians, crime bosses, merchants, and warlords. His victims include Trade Federation lackey Hath Monchar, the Black Sun leader Alexi Garyn, the Nightsister Mighella, and all of the Black Sun vigos and their bodyguards.
During the events of Episode I: the Phantom Menace, Maul's Sith master, Darth Sidious, sends him to capture Queen Padmé Amidala and eliminate the two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maul fails in this task on Tatooine.
In a vicious duel during the film's climactic battle scene, Maul fends off both of his Jedi opponents using his double-bladed lightsaber. After separating the Jedi Master from his Padawan, Maul mortally wounds Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon is cut in half. He is then subsequently killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
His death proves to be only a minor setback for Sidious, who soon replaces him with an even more powerful apprentice, Darth Tyranus[citation needed].
Aspects of Maul's character biography are revealed in the Star Wars Expanded Universe of novels, comic books, and video games.
As depicted in the story "Resurrection" from 2001's Star Wars Tales #9, a dark side splinter group called the Prophets of the Dark Side clone Maul at about the same time that Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope takes place. Darth Vader is chosen as the cloned Maul's first target; the cultists believe that Vader retains too much of his former self, Anakin Skywalker, to effectively serve the Empire. Vader ultimately wins the resulting duel, however, by stabbing his lightsaber through himself into Maul, who is standing behind him. The story "Phantom Menaces" in Star Wars Tales #17 depicts a post-Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker visiting Maul's home planet of Iridonia in an ambassadorial capacity. He faces a solid state hologram of Darth Maul, which he destroys.
In 2005, Dark Horse Comics published Star Wars: Visionaries, a compilation of comic art short stories written and illustrated by members of the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith art department and ILM artists.
The opening story, "Old Wounds" by Aaron McBride, is set three years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, and begins with Owen Lars trying to teach new words to a toddler-age Luke Skywalker. A resurrected Darth Maul, with cybernetic replacements to his entire lower body, attacks the Lars homestead in hopes of drawing Kenobi out. Kenobi, for fear of any injury to the young Luke, dusts off his old lightsaber, and meets Maul's challenge. At a pause in the ensuing struggle, Maul is killed by a shot to the head from Lars' rifle.
[edit] In popular culture
Darth Maul is one half of the inspiration behind Maul Stanley, a parody hybrid combining elements of Kiss vocalist Paul Stanley with elements of Darth Maul. Maul Stanley wears a hooded black cloak reminiscent of Darth Maul, spandex pants and platform boots reminiscent of Paul Stanley and black and red face make-up evocative of them both. He is mostly known for conducting irreverent interviews with rock stars and sci-fi personalities and was also featured on the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog DVD.[2]
[edit] References
- Darth Maul (Star Wars: Episode I Journal), 2000. Jude Watson, ISBN 0-613-24763-9
- Star Wars: Darth Maul, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2001. Ron Marz, Jan Duursema, Rick Magyar, ISBN 1-56971-542-4
- Star Wars Jedi Council: Acts of War, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2001. Randy Stradley, Davide Fabbri, Christian Dalla Vecchia, ISBN 1-56971-539-4
- Star Wars Tales: Volume 6, paperback (Graphic No edition), 2006. Robert Williams, Thomas Andrews, Ian Edginton, Lucas Maragnon, ISBN 1-59307-447-6
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0
- Darth Maul: Saboteur, e-book, 2001. James Luceno
- Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul), paperback, 2001. Michael Reaves, ISBN 0-345-43541-9
- The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-4701-0
- Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, 1st edition, 2000. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, ISBN 0-7869-1793-8
- The Dark Side sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast, 1st printing, 2001. Bill Slavicsek, J. D. Wiker, ISBN 0-7869-1849-7
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Designing a Sith Lord, StarWars.com
- ^ "KISS Thanks Star Wars Rocks". StarWars.com official blog. http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2008/08/06/kiss-thinks-star-wars-rocks/. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
[edit] External links
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