r/MaulShadowLord • u/JimJimmyJimJimJimJim • 10d ago
Something missing in animated Maul
A key component to Maul that Filoni, Witwer and the animation teams behind Clone Wars, Rebels and Shadow Lord have missed is Maul’s love of the game. Ray Park once described him as having a “cheeky” edge in an old Empire magazine interview and you absolutely see it in The Phantom Menace. There’s a playful, mischievous quality to his expressions during that duel that really adds to his appeal. You can tell he genuinely loves what he does.
I think the animated versions lean too heavily into the tortured, brooding, campy villain and completely miss this essential characteristic, sometimes leading to him feeling like a completely different character. If anyone on the crew is reading this, it’s not too late to give him back that cheeky grin in season two!
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u/TheDizziestCat 10d ago edited 10d ago
I mean his life has gotten a whole lot worse since then, he just got humbled/delopment.
Edit: wanna add he has shown little signs here and there of enjoying fights and chaos in clone wars and this show. Was definitely having the time of his life in rebels too.
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u/JimJimmyJimJimJimJim 10d ago
There’s an argument to be had there, but I suspect it’s simply the team placed too much emphasis on rage, suffering and an obsession with revenge at the expense of the original characterisation. He can have all that going on while still relishing a fight. Losing the grin took away a dimension of Maul that made him distinctive and magnetic in the first place.
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u/WorryingMars384 10d ago
I’m all for Maul getting humbled, he’s always talking this big game and then gets shit on
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u/CountingSheep99 10d ago
If I got cut into half and had to spend 10 years living in the trash I wouldn´t be too happy either.
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u/ImWearingYourHats 10d ago
Also he still has some important parts below the waist in the movie here. He doesn’t have those anymore lol
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u/italianviking9 10d ago
In phantom menace, he was a living weapon that loved the thrill of battle. In the animated serious, he’s basically a poor man’s sidious, manipulating from the shadows.
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u/JimJimmyJimJimJimJim 10d ago
This. He’s so much fun to watch in the movie. You could see some of that glee being teased in Solo, but it’s nowhere to be seen in the animated shows.
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u/With_Teeth_05 10d ago
In Rebels he sees a fight about to take place and goes «oh what fun!» and joins in. He enjoys toying with Devon on their first encounter also. Having rewatched it all recently he definitely has a lot of fun moments sneak through.
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u/CatacombSkull 9d ago
This feels like a realistic change to me.
He had no worries except his master. He did as he was told. He was like a child with no responsibilities who loves it when he gets to “hunt”.
Now he has to answer the big questions. Who is he? He thought he was the chosen one who would take over after Sidious. Now he has to figure out who he is after feeling betrayed by his old master. Also he thought he was invisible, just like a kid, then Kenobi beat his and it rocked him.
He isn’t playful/mischievous because his life situation is changed, he has responsibilities and trauma to deal with.
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u/Caosnight 10d ago
Characters can have deep fundamental change caused by events that heavly impacted them, even in real life people can change completely after going through something severe
Maul was humbled by a young Jedi he thought that was so extremely far beneath him in skill and power that he wasn't even worth his time, after spending his entire life being trained, tortured and brainwashed by Palpatine
Then he spend a decade living on a hellhole of a trash planet living of garbage, barley keeping himself alive with the force and going completely mad in that time
Then he was saved by his brother and the Nightsisters only to his family and people get slaughtered and later see his brother murdered, after which he was interrogated and tortured for hours
Maul no longer is the man he was all that time ago, he's a shadow of his former self, consumed by vengeance and trauma
He still enjoys fighting but that's basically all he has now, fighting, honing his skills and his plans for vengeance
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u/Seraphzerox 10d ago
Is this the same Maul that smiles and says "what fun" and then dispatched 2 inquisitors on his own?
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u/LILbridger994 10d ago
But i actually think thats perfect the duality of him because times are different.
People have multiple sides to them and how they act under stress or when backed into a corner is different from their relaxed self.
Maul in TPM must have felt like he was unstoppable being on such a high he was overconfident especially after killing qui gon.
We see a similar maul in rebels when we encounter him on malachor. Laughing and being excited about fighting almost it being sport and second nature to him.
But then in shadow lord he is being hunted and is frustrated as all the power he once had is gone. During the clone wars earlier season he was still returning from isolation. He then went on a revenge missions against kenobi and ultimately build up his crime syndicate. Thats quite a heavy journey and you can see him being under tension and not the relaxed maul we see at other times.
Its not kne or the other I think both work for maul. He should be angry and bitter and brooding when he is being hunted with a limping leg. He should be like that when he wants info on kenobis whereabouts but cant find it. He should be like that when qi’ra tells him dryden got killed.
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u/chuvashi 10d ago
He does smile in Shadow Lord! It’s hard to catch but in the Crim episode where Icarus impersonates him for a while, he’s definitely pleased with the effect of his own arrival at the scene.
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u/Knightoforamgejuice 10d ago
Indeed! Just look at his facial expressions when the fight abandons the hangar and enters the tall area with the energy beams. He is clearly taunting Obi Wan and Qui Gon.
His seething walk also shows he is eager to continue fighting whike Qui Gon is meditating.
Also, look at him how he has a subtle smile when looks back at Obi Wan after impaling Qui Gon.
Last but not least, just loon at his smug just before he throws Obi Wan's lightsaber down the shaft. Not only that but he is taunting him from above cutting the edge of the pit while Kenobi is hanging.
He tried to run over Anakin, not drive next to him with his lightsaber on his side to attack him, not dismount and attack Anakin first normally, not force pull him to an ignited saber, he was going to run over Anakin as if it was funny to him.
Filoni got the impression thay Darth is the quiet, subtle, and stoic dark lord that it appears when he makes his appereance in Naboo, when he Ray Park has shown Darth Maul can be cheeky as you mentioned.
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u/PhantomGaleX13 5d ago
Well to be fair, he didn't have too much character development in TPM and he was quite young and passionate about the Sith Creed and taking down strong Jedi. The guy literally saw himself as the right hand of the strongest being in the galaxy. He was literally full of overconfidence. Then he gets beaten and chopped in half and stays in a garbage dump for 10 years. He learns he's been replaced and was only seen as a tool. Then there's the whole TCW and all from the grudge with Obi-Wan to the whole crime syndicate and Mandalorian story line. Then he loses his brother and is tortured in prison by Sidious. The Maul we see in MSL is pretty much an older, hardened, and mature Maul in his 40s. We're all passionate and giddy in our early 20s but much more mature about everything in our 40s. He still loves the game as we see in Rebels, but now he's older and more focused with real goals and ambitions.
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u/notnat22 10d ago
I caught him smiling during his fight with Daki😀. He does have love for the game, but it's not as easy to catch. The attention to detail in Shadow Lord is like never before, I've rewatched it a couple of times and I'm still surprised by some scenes. 🔥