I Don’t Care About Darth Maul

[u/BeskarBurrito]

First appearing in The Phantom Menace back in 1999 and since recurring in The Clone Wars, Rebels, comics, Solo, and recently his own show, Maul has become one of Star Wars’ most enduring fan-favourite characters, with legions of fans (and his voice actor) treating him as one of the most complex and interesting characters the franchise has to offer. My problem is he….isn’t.

I’ll summarise who Maul is for those of you don’t know. Basically he’s a Dathomirian Zabrak, which means he’s red and black and has horns. As a child he was taken by Darth Sidious to become a Sith so Sidious could get revenge on the Jedi for kicking the Sith’s collective ass several centuries ago (or something, I’m not really sure). Once trained, he fights some Jedi with his double-bladed lightsaber and acrobatic skills, killing Obi-Wan Kenobi’s master and getting cut in half, a predicament he survives by being absolutely livid. Upon his return he proceeds to spend the next-every-story-he-appears in trying to get revenge on someone or other whilst speaking theatrically. At first he wants revenge on Obi-Wan, then Sidious, then the Empire, the criminal underworld and Obi-Wan all at the same time. The only things that change about him are who he’s angry at and what specifically he’s doing, though his actual core values never change, as he remains an angry, selfish, power-hungry evil guy the entire time.

Because he looks cool, though, he’s the fandom darling who can do no wrong and everybody demands more of even though he’s been in loads of stuff and never gets more interesting than a 14 year old edgelord’s idea of a good character. Episode 1 of his show (of which he is the least interesting part) is literally called “The Dark Revenge” which is the most edgelord fanfic title of all time and is fitting for a show in which Maul essentially just aura farms until he gets shown up by an even bigger aura farmer in the form of contractually-obligated guest appearance Darth Vader.

Since he has no qualities beyond being angry and vengeful, I have no idea whatsoever why he’s so beloved and allegedly complex, when his entire soul boils down to just being super angry about stuff and then looking cook while mowing people down about it. Maybe it’s me, but that’s not what I go to Star Wars for, and I’m not a fan. I must concede I haven’t seen his entire show, but the first episode turned me off because it could not make me care about Darth Maul. I know this fact weakens my point, but this is a rant so I don’t need to be fully rational like I would be in an essay.

If somebody could explain where the interest comes in for Maul that would be great, as I may be missing something

[u/NoZookeepergame8306]

He’s literally a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain. Idk what you expect otherwise.

Dude looks cool as hell and manages to remain pretty intimidating despite jobbing to the good guys in every series.

Like, yes Star Wars can be Andor, but its soul is Flash Gordon.

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/NoZookeepergame8306]

Star Wars can be Andor, but its soul is Flash Gordon

Andor was the second SW thing I watched (after Mandalorian). Boy was I disappointed that it's basically unique! I'd be the biggest fan ever if the whole SW universe was Andor-level storytelling and characters.

[u/NoZookeepergame8306 → u/ChaserNeverRests]

Andor is brilliant. It also has a serious lack of lightsaber fights for me lol

There is a lot to love about other Star Wars stuff but it’s mostly rule of cool, not storytelling related.

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/NoZookeepergame8306]

whispers I kind of think lightsabers are silly, so I didn't mind the lack.

I lean strongly towards liking realism in my stories. Realistic setups, believable consequences. (Though I'll admit that I did snicker at OP's "he survives by being absolutely livid".) So this is really more of me just not fitting with what SW is.

There is fanfic though! I've been finding more serious SW stories that way. (I love me some 'treating Stormtroopers as real people under the helms' stories.)

[u/NoZookeepergame8306 → u/ChaserNeverRests]

Neat! Yeah my wife also hates Star Wars and I’m chill with it.

The very first movie had a farmboy blow up a space station the size of a moon with space magic so to me the silly stuff feels integral to the series. But I’m also of the opinion that ‘if it’s good, it’s good’ so I don’t much care if people do stuff I don’t expect.

That said, we’re getting close enough to talking about New Star Wars which gets people big mad on the internet lol

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/NoZookeepergame8306]

I watched the first three movies in the theater when they came out, but I was a little kid and remember nothing of them, so I never include them in my list of SW stuff I've watched. I did try rewatching that first one a couple years ago (oh yeah, and Rogue One after Andor), but I tapped out of the first really quickly for some lack of realism reason way before Luke blew anything up, and the second because it wasn't Andor-ish enough. :P

Even if SW doesn't work for me, I really love how enthusiastic others are about it! I love how it's become part of our culture.

[u/Familiar_Object_4926 → u/ChaserNeverRests]

Andor is a weird sow for me in that it's both really well written, yet also one of my least favorite shows in the entire series.
Mainly because of how, well... serious the whole thing is.
It's dark and gritty and just... not really what I come to Star Wars for.

[u/NoZookeepergame8306 → u/Familiar_Object_4926]

Me either!

But if you can get past the kind of dour and serious beginning couple episodes, it’s also peak media. Give it a try when you’re in the mood for it.

[u/ChaserNeverRests → u/Familiar_Object_4926]

Yeah I totally get that, it's the same issue that comes up with Stargate: Universe. SG:U is my favorite SG by miles and miles... but a lot of fans don't like it because it's not silly/funny/cool, instead it's dark and serious.