Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars...


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Part of the problem with Darth Maul is the same thing that happened to Boba Fett. He was just supposed to be a one-off villain that no one cared about, but the character design and stuntwork ended up being so amazing that fans latched onto him despite his relative unimportance to the core story. Logically, Count Dooku makes more sense as a core villain because he was Qui-Gon's master, thus he's also sort of Obi-Wan's grandfather, and Anakin's great-grandfather. As powerful as Maul was on-screen, he had basically no character. It's only now, with the recent novels like Darth Plagueis and The Wrath of Darth Maul leading up to his return in The Clone Wars that he's really been given anything resembling character depth.

As for the Maul-coming-back thing, the EU story where he returned was non-canon even by EU standards (basically a What If story), so this is the first time he's actually coming back officially. There's also a really interesting element where apparently he survived by tapping into the power that Palpatine mentioned in Revenge of the Sith (the power to delve completely into the Dark Side's hatred and fend off death itself), so there's deep connections to the very nature of the Force in this story.

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There's also a really interesting element where apparently he survived by tapping into the power that Palpatine mentioned in Revenge of the Sith (the power to delve completely into the Dark Side's hatred and fend off death itself), so there's deep connections to the very nature of the Force in this story.

That was also mentioned in one of the early Star Wars video games. I remember one of the bad guys used the dark side of the force to keep himself alive. I believe they said his hatred was keeping him alive.

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I knew that story was non-canon (I assume like half the EU stuff doesn't really count anymore) but it's interesting foreshadowing nonetheless.

One of the biggest draws to Phantom Menace was Darth Maul, Lucasfilms answer to how you solve the problem of creating a foe that could visually compete with Vader. He had the most iconic design of any character the prequels introduced and frankly, since they knew from the start that those films would be a trilogy they should have counted on using him throughout. He shouldn't have been disposable. I'd make examples of how much more meaning it would have for Obi-wan and Anakin to be chasing this guy through several films would be, Obi-wan coming to terms with his quest and staying on the light side, Anakin not. I would do that, but then if I start listing all the things I'd change in the prequels you'd been reading three complete fanfic scripts for that trilogy with entirely different plot, characters, locations, dialogue, the whole thing. Those films weren't salvageable, they were rotten at the core.

But Maul should have been Tyrannus and General Grevious. Those characters meant little in the long run.

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It's true, had Maul survived TPM, he would have meant more as a character, since Obi-Wan would be forced to face Qui-Gon's murderer repeatedly throughout the prequels. At least they're doing that now with The Clone Wars, since a good portion of the story is supposed to be dedicated to Maul seeking revenge on Obi-Wan. Also, from what's been said, Maul likely won't be killed off in this story arc; he'll continue on into at least the next season.

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It's interesting that you mention the moral issues. I've heard a lot of people say that TCW's questionable war morality is something that's deliberately put in there for the older fans. Kids will watch it and basically see the modern equivalent of G.I. Joe fighting Cobra, but adults will understand the complicated nature of the false war that's been orchestrated by Palpatine and the questionable idea of using clones as soldiers (something that was hammered home with the Umbara arc this season).

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I've said this before, but it's not about the clever nature of the false war or anything, it's how the whole thing paints the Jedi. They're always horrified when a Jedi is killed but when an Anakin gets half his fleet and thousands of clones killed no-one even has a go at him. The Jedi are depicted as thinking clone life is disposable.

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I've said this before, but it's not about the clever nature of the false war or anything, it's how the whole thing paints the Jedi. They're always horrified when a Jedi is killed but when an Anakin gets half his fleet and thousands of clones killed no-one even has a go at him. The Jedi are depicted as thinking clone life is disposable.

They've sort of clarified it now in the current season. The Jedi generally treat the clones like soldiers, not disposable machines. If you equate it to World War II, the same moral logic applies. All soldiers are treated as people individually, but in terms of the greater war they're mere resources. The Jedi treat fellow Jedi as special not because they're "better," but because they're respected colleagues and friends. There's an arc this season that deals with a Jedi who actually does treat the clones as disposable, and it's a huge deal.

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It was never all the time, we've had some very good clone-centric stories, but we've also had them treated basically as a slave-race whose casualties don't matter. And I'd hope that the attitude of a peaceful priest-like figure commited to the preservation of life and peace would be better than the monsters who ran WWI sending millions to their deaths. No that is not all of them, but it's enough.

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And I'd hope that the attitude of a peaceful priest-like figure commited to the preservation of life and peace would be better than the monsters who ran WWI sending millions to their deaths. No that is not all of them, but it's enough.

Yeah, I've heard GL talk about how the entire Clone War is basically set up to put the Jedi in a position where their principles are challenged. They fall in more ways than one.

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