*nods to Borbarad* Darth Malak vs. Darth Maul

well he inspired me to make this thread in his small comparison of the two in the Bastilla thread
plus Advent's old post establishes Malak on his own is below Dooku
(so are a lot of people but just saying)

so which Sith wins here ?

Darth Malak

Is Malak being powered by the Star Forge in this duel?

no

Originally posted by 123KID
well he inspired me to make this thread in his small comparison of the two in the Bastilla thread
plus Advent's old post establishes Malak on his own is below Dooku
(so are a lot of people but just saying)

so which Sith wins here ?

Malak wins a force fight but gets tooled in a saber duel by maul

I don't see how Malak, head and shoulders above an entire Sith Order consisting of hundreds, "strongest among us who leads" according to them, legendary swordsman (KotOR official website- unfortunately now defunct), and someone the Jedi Council was absolutely terrified to challenge could be manhandled in saber combat by a talented though relatively raw Sith Lord. Yes, Maul was good, but I doubt he was much far at all below Dooku; Dooku's real one-ups over Malak would be longer life leading to more Force mastery and Form II mastery (Though we are never told what form Malak uses).

I'd consider both Maul and Dooku, by virtue of also being above the vast majority of Jedi at the time, to be on par with Malak in reference to swordsmanship. Maul comes up well short in force powers, though. However, Maul having made the Jedi Battlemaster, someone whose skills were apparently close to Yoda and Mace, and second to none below the council, realize he was completely outmatched in moments, would be able to make Malak realize he'd had a fight

So then in this case, since both are lightsaber prodigies, the real deciding factor is Force powers and knowledge.

Pretty much. With Dooku, he has the edge there, but Malak is very likely above Maul with the Force. In a saber combat, it'd be extremely close

Why does Dooku have the edge in force powers over Malak? According to KOTOR and the Dark side sourcebook I think, Malak had more force abilities than Dooku

If it's simple stats, those tend to be fully disregarded. Story info is what matters

True, Malak was a bonafide Sith Lord, but Dooku was top of his generation and master of Form II. That makes him pretty damn difficult in a real battle. Personally, I think Malak's physical power would help negate some of the Form II precision, as well as Malak hardly being unfamiliar with a lightsaber. As for Force? Dooku's one of the best Force users of his era.

That he is Janus, but Malak was #2 of his. I'm not saying that automatically puts him higher than Dooku and I haven't read every book about Dooku, but Malak's skill with the force, especially on the SF, is considerable.

Here's what we know of Malak's Force abilities:

1. He can use Force lightning.

2. He can Force Freeze other Force users of decent skill.

3. He is way over Bastila's ability.

4. He was one of the two Sith Lords who used the Star Forge and wasn't eaten by its power.

5. Malak's showings in the final battle are buffed by the power of the Star Forge itself and reflect a boosted Malak.

For Maul's power...that's difficult, except we know he could shrug off Force Lightning from a Nightsister, use force choke/crush....he was also described in the TPM novelization as being more powerful than Qui-gon...both better with a saber and stronger in the force. He obviously doesn't use the Force a great deal, though

I doubt Sidious really wanted him knowing advanced techniques either.

Palpatine wanted him to be a powerful, vicious killer...and really, Palpatine was never in danger from Maul. Maul's 'initiation' proved that

If TPM Kenobi can slice Maul in two, Malak can most certainly do it also, and much quicker. Although Star Forge Malak is a "boosted" Malak, he is pretty powerful when you face him onboard the Leviathan, no matter how short that duel may be, when he's unboosted. True, Revan wears him down in that duel, but I doubt Maul could as fast as Revan could.

And yes, I'm doing that thing again. You know, ignoring the debate straying from the topic and going back to the beginning of the thread. It's my special talent 😉

If Maul has Malak hanging over the edge of a pit and decides to get really, really careless, then Malak could indeed pull it off