After Disney decided to decanonize the Star Wars Expanded Universe following their acquisition of the franchise, thousands of stories were suddenly removed from the lore. One of them was former Sith Lord Maul dueling Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker).
Wait…WHAT?!
Yeah! These two actually fought each other once in the old Legends continuity.
In Star Wars Tales #9, Darth Vader arrives on the volcanic moon Kalakar Six to intercept Rebels passing on the stolen plans of the Death Star. He soon finds it’s a trap as he’s confronted by the Prophets of the Dark Side. They believe that Vader is unfit to serve Emperor Palpatine, as he is “not the blood of Bane.”
To kill Vader, the Prophets resurrected Palpatine’s former apprentice Darth Maul to act as Vader’s replacement. Maul actually gets the better of the powerful Sith Lord, and even manages to knock Vader to the floor. But before he can deliver the final blow, Vader uses the Force to stab himself in the stomach with his own lightsaber, killing Maul who was right behind him. Before Maul dies, he asks Vader what he could possibly hate so much to have the power to defeat him. Vader’s response: “Myself.”
In official Star Wars canon, Maul and Vader have never crossed paths, though they came close once. In the season 2 finale of Star Wars Rebels, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” both were present at the Sith Temple on Malachor. But Maul left before Vader arrived because he knew he wasn’t strong enough to face Vader alone. And also, so that all the attention would be on the epic lightsaber duel between Vader and his former Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
Dave Filoni, the creator of Rebels, later revealed he had originally planned for Vader to kill Maul on Malachor. He decided to abandon those plans because he felt it was “just going to be wrong.” Instead, Maul’s story was wrapped up in season 3 with a final duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Could we be getting a Vader vs. Maul duel in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord?
The Empire is in Janix
Episodes 5 and 6, “Inquisition” and “Night of the Hunted,” have the Empire take over the city planet of Janix due to Maul’s presence. An Imperial Star Destroyer hangs over the city. Stormtroopers fill the streets. Inquisitor Marrok, a mysterious Jedi hunter, begins his hunt for Maul. Even Maul’s own allies, the Mandalorian mercenaries of the Shadow Collective, are starting to question if staying with him is worth the risk.
Then comes the ending of episode 6. Marrok, having just survived a brutal three-way lightsaber fight with Maul and Devon on a moving train, contacts someone on a hologram. He calls this person “my lord.” He reports that Maul is alive and asks how to proceed.
The identity of that holographic figure is hidden, but reviewers have pointed out one crucial detail. Inquisitors normally report to the Grand Inquisitor, and no one addresses him with that title. Vader, however, is usually addressed as “my lord” or “Lord Vader” due to his status as a Dark Lord of the Sith.
In other words, Vader may have personally sent Marrok after Maul.
A Stolen Destiny
From childhood, Palpatine raised Maul to be a weapon. Maul expected to be at his side when the Republic fell. Then Obi-Wan Kenobi cut him in half on Naboo, and Palpatine simply… moved on. He found a replacement, shifting his focus on corrupting Anakin.
When Maul looks at Vader, he sees the person who now lives his life. The title, the place beside the Emperor… all of it should have been Maul’s. Vader is a living reminder of everything that was taken.
Vader also has a couple of reasons to make this personal.
He takes his identity as Palpatine’s true successor very seriously. It was his sole purpose after losing everything on Mustafar. To him, Maul represents a failure whose existence is almost an insult to his role.
Then there’s the matter of Maul killing Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi who was originally supposed to train Anakin. Qui-Gon believed in Anakin before anyone else did, and was the closest thing the boy ever had to a father. Even after all these years, deep down Vader must sense the role Maul played in the events that ultimately ruined his life. Hunting Maul down would be, in some twisted way, avenging the person Vader used to be, even if he would never admit it to himself.
The Fight Fans Have Been Waiting to See Recanonized
With Maul and Vader being two of the most prominent characters in the Star Wars franchise, to say that a proper (canon) confrontation between them is highly anticipated would be an understatement. They’re both men who were destroyed by Palpatine and defined by their pain. A duel between these two is going to carry a lot of weight.
With the season finale for Maul – Shadow Lord set for May 4, 2026, the stage is set for a showdown that could redefine both characters. And give fans the duel they deserve.
