Here’s How Darth Maul Ended Up Alive in ‘Rebels’

Out of all of the different Sith Lords we’ve seen, Darth Maul was one of the most resilient characters in the storyline of Star Wars as he survived getting bisected in two and went on to become a threat to the Jedi Order during the time of the Clone Wars. Of course, we saw that he was also a recurring threat to the Spectres during the events of ‘Star Wars Rebels.’ So, how is it that Darth Maul was still alive during the events of ‘Rebels’?

Darth Maul was still alive during the Imperial era or in the events of ‘Rebels’ because he was able to survive Order 66 with the help of Ahsoka Tano. During the time of the Empire, he was able to hide from the Inquisitors and the Empire by hiding in Dathomir and scouring Sith Temples throughout the galaxy.

One of the things that people need to understand about Maul is that he was a very tragic figure whose life was dictated to him by a manipulative Sith Lord. In that regard, he ended up yearning for revenge for almost all of his life after surviving his initial battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi. This mindset persisted even during the Imperial era. Now, let’s look at how Maul was still alive during the events of ‘Rebels.’

How did Maul survive Order 66

During the events of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ it was clear that we were able to see the return of Darth Maul after it was revealed that he had survived getting bisected by Obi-Wan Kenobi in their first encounter in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.’ Maul became a threat to the Republic and the Jedi Order but was the least of their concerns, even though he was able to take over Mandalore.

Not willing to allow the Mandalorians to live under Maul’s rule, Ahsoka Tano teamed up with Bo-Katan Kryze to defeat and capture Maul, who was the shadow ruler of Mandalore at that time. This led to the Siege of Mandalore, which happened concurrently with the Battle of Coruscant.

During his duel with Ahsoka, Maul revealed that he had foreseen Darth Sidious’ plans and was trying to warn Ahsoka so that they could join forces to defeat the evil Sith Lord. Maul also told her that he thought Anakin would come to Mandalore, as his original plan was to win Anakin to his side before Sidious could do so. Nevertheless, he still tried to reason with Ahsoka while dueling with her in what was a tough fight between the two powerful force-wielders.

Ahsoka and Bo-Katan successfully defeated Maul. Bo-Katan assumed the role of Mandalore’s regent. Meanwhile, Ahsoka imprisoned a captured Maul onboard the Tribunal cruiser as she, Captain Rex, and the rest of the 501^stLegion were on their way back to Coruscant.

However, Order 66 happened while they were still on their way back. Ahsoka could defend herself against the initial onslaught of the clones but was clearly in need of allies. Reluctantly, she freed Maul so that he could act as a decoy while Ahsoka tried to remove Rex’s inhibitor chip. But the problem was that Maul became too dangerous as he not only killed a lot of clones using only the Force but destroyed the hyperdrive of the Tribunal.

Maul used the confusion to his advantage to escape in a shuttle. While Ahsoka and Rex survived, they lost the entire Tribunal, including all of the clones who were still in the cruiser. And while the Empire was still hunting Jedi down while transitioning from the Republic, Maul hid behind the shadows.

What did Maul do during the Imperial era?

During the events of the Imperial era, the Empire employed the Inquisitors to hunt down any remaining Jedi who survived Order 66. Darth Vader led the Inquisitors during certain points as he also hunted down Jedi, hoping to get closer to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s location. And as the Empire was a bit too busy hunting the Jedi down, Maul kept himself hidden.

Nevertheless, Sidious still sent Inquisitors after Maul because he saw him as a rival that could threaten his rule as the galaxy emperor. As such, Maul was still one of the priorities of the Inquisitors. But Maul was far too skilled at hiding, leading the Inquisitors to nickname him “the Shadow.”

During the Imperial era, Maul spent time on Dathomir, which he still called home, as he realized that the Empire might not try to return to this planet after Grievous and the Separatists destroyed its population during the Clone Wars. However, while Maul lived on Dathomir, he still ruled a criminal organization called the Crimson Dawn as its shadow ruler. Dryden Vos was the organization’s puppet leader so that the Empire wouldn’t suspect that Maul was leading this group from the shadows.

All while Vos was busy ruling in Maul’s place, the former Sith Lord spent time scouring different ancient Sith Temples all over the galaxy in search of a weapon or a way to defeat Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the only thing that he wanted in his life was revenge against the people who wronged him.

While Qi’ra was ruling Crimson Dawn as its new leader after Dryden’s death, Maul continued his search for a superweapon. This led him to Malachor V, which was home to an ancient Sith weapon that petrified the Jedi and the Sith who fought on this planet ages ago.

Ezra Bridger went to Malachor together with Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano, as this was Yoda’s instruction in a Force vision. After Ezra got separated from Kanan and Ahsoka, Maul found the young Padawan and seduced him into using the dark side without Ezra even knowing that he was already tapping into his inner darkness. And that was when Maul claimed Ezra as his apprentice.

Even though Maul failed to use the weapon on Malachor after he got bested by a blind Kanan on Malachor, he still sought a way to achieve his revenge, as he convinced Ezra to combine Kanan’s Jedi Holocron with the Sith Holocron they found on Malachor.

The phenomenon allowed Maul to have a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was hiding on Tatooine, as the former Sith Lord became excited when he found out that he could still take revenge on at least one person, even though he could no longer exact his revenge on Sidious and Maul.

For one last time, Maul used Ezra so that he could find where Obi-Wan was hiding on Tatooine. Ezra found the old Jedi Master, who had no qualms about dueling Darth Maul one last time. When Maul told Obi-Wan that he had a good idea about who he was protecting on Tatooine, Kenobi finished the duel in just three strikes.

Maul died in Kenobi’s arms. Finally finding peace as he was dying, Maul asked Obi-Wan if he was protecting the Chosen One, to which Kenobi replied in the affirmative. As such, Maul died in peace as he believed that Luke Skywalker was going to be the one who would take revenge on the Sith on his and the Jedi Order’s behalf.

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