
As we get ready for Maul: Shadow Lord coming to Disney+ from April 6th, Paige Lyman, writing at StarWars.com, takes a look at the many mechanical limbs of Maul.
Maybe He’s Born with It
In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, we first met Maul during his apprentice days. Known as Darth Maul at this time, he served under Darth Sidious (the secret alter ego of Sheev Palpatine) as a deadly, highly trained Sith warrior. Sent to assassinate Queen Amidala, Maul’s assignment led him to Naboo where he came to blows with the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Maul succeeded in striking Qui-Gon down thanks to his impressive agility. But while he put up a worthy fight against an enraged Obi-Wan, Maul was ultimately bested by the apprentice when he was cut in two and left to tumble down a trash chute.
Salvaged Spider Legs
Long believed to be dead following his bisection on Naboo, Maul managed to survive his life-threatening injury by harnessing the dark side and focusing on his hatred towards Obi-Wan. In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Brothers,” Darth Maul’s brother, Savage Opress, discovered Maul on Lotho Minor some 10 years after that fatal confrontation.
Since finding refuge on the trash planet, Maul had gone mad, bouncing between nonsensical raving and demented laughter. Maul’s first set of prosthetics were eerily reminiscent of giant spider legs and very roughly constructed. Mainly composed from scavenged materials pulled from the refuse around him, these many mechanical limbs reflected how frenzied Maul’s life and mind had become. However, they were functional, and so iconic even Darth Jar Jar paid homage to the spider legs in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy – Pieces of the Past.
Dark Magick Claw Legs
Thanks to Savage, the brothers returned to their homeworld of Dathomir in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Revenge.” A ranting and raving Maul was rescued by the Nightsisters, the mysterious coven of witches who wield dark magicks. The Nightsister matriarch, Mother Talzin, lured Maul onto a stone altar, taking him apart piece by piece to rebuild the son of Dathomir mentally, physically, and spiritually.
His spider legs were replaced with two new, reforged legs made of magick and nearby recycled droid components — a truly wild combination. Originating in the 2005 graphic novel anthology, Star Wars: Visionaries, by concept artist Aaron McBride, they notably featured claw-like grips at the bottom.
Mandalorian-Issue Humanoid Legs
Maul rounds out his sizable cybernetic prosthetic list at three pairs. He received his last set of legs in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Eminence.” Following a disastrous encounter involving pirates and Jedi on Florrum, Darth Maul and Savage Opress got away in an escape pod, but Maul’s legs were damaged in the melee. They wound up floating through deep space, unconscious and near death. Luckily for Maul and not-so-luckily for the future of Mandalore, he was rescued by Death Watch, the Mandalorian splinter cell led by Pre Vizsla.
Pre Vizsla brought Maul and his brother back to a Death Watch camp where they were given medical attention and, you guessed it, Maul acquired a brand-new pair of legs. Maul awakened with Mandalorian-grade humanoid prosthetics. And as far as we can tell, this pair has carried him well past the end of the Clone Wars, into the early years of the Empire where Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord begins.
Find out what happens next when Maul: Shadow Lord arrives on Disney+ on April 6th.
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