Here Is How Darth Maul Died (First & Second Time)
One of the most popular Sith Lords of all time is Darth Maul due to how cool his appearance is and how he came with a different kind of mystique and vibe that was unique to him. He made his first appearance in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace’ as one of the main antagonists, only for him to “die.” But he returned during the events of the Clone Wars as another antagonist before he eventually died years later. So, how did Darth Maul die the first and second time?
Darth Maul was believed to have been killed on Naboo when Obi-Wan Kenobi bisected him from the waist down as he fell through a shaft. However, Maul survived and returned in ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars.’ He was eventually killed a final time on Tatooine by Obi-Wan Kenobi in their ultimate duel.
Out of all of the Sith Lords we’ve seen, Darth Maul was one of the most resilient because his anger kept him alive long enough for him to return. In that regard, he was proof of the fact that Sith Lords don’t always stay dead, especially because the dark side is strong enough to preserve their lives even after a fatal wound. That said, let’s look at how Maul died in Star Wars.
Darth Maul’s first “death”
Darth Maul’s first appearance as a canon character was in ‘The Phantom Menace,’ the very first movie of the entire Skywalker Saga. He appeared as the mysterious apprentice of the equally mysterious Sith Lord named Darth Sidious, who was working in secret with the Trade Federation to destabilize Naboo and open the door for a future war between the Republic and some of the systems that were no longer in line with what the Republic was doing.
Maul revealed himself to the Jedi on Tatooine when he attacked Qui-Gon Jinn as he was on his way back to Queen Amidala’s ship together with a young Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon was shocked at how well-trained this mysterious warrior was as he concluded that he was a Sith. And he reported this to the Jedi Council, who wanted to ensure whether or not the warrior who attacked Qui-Gon was actually a Sith.
After Amidala failed to force the Senate to take action against the Trade Federation, which blockaded and took over the entire planet of Naboo, she had to return to her homeworld to protect her people. Because Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were assigned to protect Queen Amidala, they accompanied her to Naboo, where she fought back against the Trade Federation.
However, Sidious had sent Maul to Naboo as well so that he could kill the Jedi protecting Amidala. This led to a two-on-one battle between the Jedi and the mysterious Sith warrior. Maul was able to fight on par with a Jedi Master and a skilled Padawan. He managed to separate Obi-Wan from him and Qui-Gon.
This led to a one-on-one fight between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, as the Sith warrior killed the Jedi Master by stabbing him right through the torso. Obi-Wan couldn’t do anything but watch because he was isolated. But once the ray shields that were keeping him isolated were gone, he rushed his way to Maul to avenge his master’s death.
Maul managed to disarm Obi-Wan, who fell down the shaft and was hanging for dear life. His lightsaber fell through the shaft. Maul thought that he had won the fight as he was using his lightsaber to create sparks that would force Kenobi to fall down.
Instead, the Padawan used the Force to pull Qui-Gon Jinn’s lightsaber. He leaped over Darth Maul and suddenly ignited the lightsaber and bisected Maul from the waist down.
Maul fell over the shaft as both halves of his body were separated from one another while he was falling. Kenobi and the Jedi Order believed that Darth Maul had died right then and there.
Darth Maul’s second death
During the Clone Wars, however, Mother Talzin revealed to Maul’s brother, Savage Opress, who had become a strong dark-side warrior, that his brother was still alive and that he would be the one to complete his training in the dark side of the Force. Talzin gave Savage the task of finding Darth Maul.
Savage eventually found a broken Maul living on a junkyard planet. He had survived his fight with Obi-Wan by holding on to his rage and hatred. Maul also used spare parts to construct spider-like legs that allowed him to move. Savage brought the broken and mentally unstable Maul to Mother Talzin, who fixed his mental state and gave him a new pair of legs constructed from the remains of the battle droids that attacked Dathomir.
Maul went on a rampage together with his brother. They even created a crime syndicate known as the Shadow Collective, which helped destabilize Mandalore well enough for Death Watch to take over the planet. But Maul took Mandalore as his own and sat on the throne of the planet long enough before Darth Sidious arrived and defeated him.
Eventually, Maul returned to Mandalore as a shadow leader. Ahsoka Tano defeated him during the Siege of Mandalore. But on the way back to Coruscant with a captured Maul, Order 66 happened. This forced Ahsoka and Maul to form a temporary alliance to escape the events of Order 66 unharmed.
Maul destroyed the ship’s hyperdrive, which caused it to crash. However, he was able to escape the ship and survive Order 66. He continued living in the shadows during the time of the Empire while eluding the Inquisitors. Maul earned the nickname the “Shadow”.
During the time of the Empire, Maul spent a good deal leading the crime syndicate known as Crimson Dawn as its shadow leader while he was scouring the galaxy for Sith artifacts that could help him defeat Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader so that he could take his revenge against the people who wronged him.
On Malachor V, he met Ezra Bridger, who he tried to seduce to the dark side of the Force. With Ezra’s help, they acquired a Sith Holocron that was used to operate a Sith superweapon on Malachor. Maul, however, was defeated by the recently blinded Kanan Jarrus.
Months later, Maul appeared once more to force Ezra, who had the Sith Holocron in his possession, to use a ritual that would allow Kanan’s Jedi Holocron to fuse with the Sith Holocron so that Maul would be able to get what he wanted through a vision, which allowed him to see that Obi-Wan Kenobi was still alive and was living on Tatooine.
Maul went to Tatooine but couldn’t find Obi-Wan on the desert planet until he lured Ezra to try to find Obi-Wan. While Ezra fell for the trap and found Kenobi, the Jedi Master didn’t worry about Darth Maul. Instead, Obi-Wan faced his longtime rival and asked Ezra to flee the planet without worrying about him at all.
Maul wondered why Kenobi would spend his final years on a backwater planet with nothing but sand. That was when he realized that Obi-Wan was protecting someone important. Understanding that Maul was a threat to Luke Skywalker, who he believed was going to bring balance to the Force, Kenobi had no time to waste.
Obi-Wan tricked Maul into thinking he would use the same move that allowed the former Sith Lord to defeat Qui-Gon. But in a matter of just three moves, Obi-Wan defeated Maul by countering all of his attacks before slashing him across the chest.
Maul was dying in Obi-Wan’s arms as the Jedi Master had nothing but compassion for his longtime rival, who he understood was just one of the many people whom Palpatine manipulated.
The former Sith asked Obi-Wan if he was protecting the Chosen One, to which Kenobi replied that he was. And Maul died in peace because he understood that whoever Obi-Wan was protecting was going to avenge both him and the Jedi Order.
