Darth Maul
Darth Maul is a fictional character in the science fiction saga Star Wars. Maul is a supporting antagonist of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, portrayed by martial artist Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz.
In the film, Maul serves as the tattooed apprentice of Darth Sidious, a mysterious Sith Lord who is manipulating galactic events from behind the scenes. Wielding a double bladed lightsaber and trained as a master of lightsaber combat, Maul's abilities lead him to become something of a personal assassin for Sidious, being sent to eliminate Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn, two of the film's protagonists.
Maul's silent nature and aura of mysteriousness, combined with spectacular action scenes, made him a popular character in an otherwise critically debated movie among critics. Maul's popularity is often compared to that of the character Boba Fett, another chracter who has a large fanbase despite a relatively small role. His climactic lightsaber duel with Kenobi and Jinn is widely considered to be one of the best duels in the entire Star Wars saga.
Appearances
Star Wars films
Darth Maul appears in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as the apprentice of Sith lord Darth Sidious, who sends him to capture Queen Padmé Amidala and eliminate the two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. During the film's climactic scene, he kills Qui-Gon during a lightsaber duel, and knocks Obi-Wan into a reactor chasm, nearly killing him; at the last minute, however, Obi-Wan uses the Force to propel himself out of the chasm, equipping himself with his master's lightsaber. Kenobi quickly bisects Maul, whose body splits into two pieces and falls into the darkness of the chasm.[1]
It is Maul's murder of Qui-Gon that places the responsibility of Anakin Skywalker's training into the hands of Kenobi, setting the stage for the rest of the film saga leading to Skywalker's downfall and transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Vader.[1]
Star Wars literature
Though little is known about Maul in The Phantom Menace, the lore of Star Wars literature has provided a backstory for the character. 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.
Several sources depict Maul returning from the dead in several different forms. The story "Resurrection" from Star Wars Tales 9 depicts a duplicate of Darth Maul created by a cult, which is killed in a duel with Darth Vader. 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, where he faces a "solid state holigram" 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. One story, "Old Wounds", considered to be non-canonical to the Star Wars lore, depicts Darth Maul surviving his bisection at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, replacing his missing bottom half with cybernetic replacements. After battling Kenobi on Tatooine attempting to avenge himself, he is killed by a blaster bolt to the head from Owen Lars, Luke Skywalker's adoptive uncle.
Characteristics
Concept and creation
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 was 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).[2]
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, modifying his features into those common in depictions of the biblical Devil.[3] Maul's clothing was also modified, 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.[2] Another concept had Maul a masked figure, something that could rival Darth Vader, while the senatorial characters would sport painted and tattooed faces. It was later decided to apply this to Maul rather than the senate.[4]
Portrayal
For Darth Maul's first appearance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, he was played by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz in the movie, as well as Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. For the video game adaption of the movie, he was played by Gregg Berger. He was played by Jess Harnell in Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and Star Wars: Demolition. He was played by Stephen Stanton in Star Wars: Battlefront II and by Clint Bajakian in Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing. He also made an appearance as a CGI character in two additional Star Wars video games: As a PROXY training hologram in Star Wars The Force Unleashed and also in Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, where his voice was provided by David W. Collins. He also appears in the fan film Contract of Evil, portrayed by Edwin Villa and voiced by Lou Klien.
Popular culture
Since the release of The Phantom Menace, Maul has proven to be a quite a popular character. Popular website IGN would name Darth Maul as the 16th greatest Star Wars character of all time. The editor of the piece noted, "Of the countless characters to walk in and out of the Star Wars saga, none look or act more badass than Darth Maul. Say what you will about Episode I, but the deadly ballet of Darth Maul makes the movie worth watching even now."[5]
Darth Maul related merchandise was popular among Hasbro Star Wars toy lines. Maul's double bladed lightsaber would influence several homages and parodies, including an appearance in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror X and the video game series Ratchet and Clank.
References
- ^ a b Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- ^ a b Designing a Sith Lord
- ^ Moyers, Bill (1999-04-26). "Of Myth And Men". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
- ^ Designing a Sith Lord
- ^ Darth Maul- #16
External links
- Darth Maul in the StarWars.com Databank
- Darth Maul on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
