Why would being a sorcerer make a lick of sense opposed to a physically dominating assassin? Sidious was in charge of Maul's training for a start and restricted him from learning anything other than what he wanted for him. And his goal as Sidious' apprentice was to assassinate high priority targets, go on covert missions, espionage, infiltration ect. Being a super powerful Force beast isn't going to help you do any of that. Learning how to become invisible and move silently will, both things Maul mastered. At this time the Sith weren't allowed to reveal themselves, so it made on sense for Maul to develop high level offensive Force techniques.
And to be honest, the fact that he was only 22 by the time he was considered to be one of the greatest duelists in Sith history already shows just how much more skilled he is than other characters relative to age. Then consider the fact that he had time in there to squeeze in all types of Esoteric Force techniques ranging from advanced telepathy, advanced mind tricks, invisibility/cloaking, Mechu-Deru, gravity manipulation, ect. Juyo itself is a lightsaber form that requires you to be a high level master of several other fighting disciplines before you can truly control it, and one of the fighting disciplines used to supplement his Juyo was Niman - which takes ten years of training itself to even master. Not only that but he also learned Jar'Kai, the dual blade variant of Niman on top of his mastery of the Saberstaff. And not only did he master Teras Kasi and funnel that into his lightsaber combat, he mastered numerous other Martial arts even as a teenager according to a few sources.
Then consider how he lost two of his legs, twelve years of his life, doing nothing other than surviving and stewing in his hatred in a little cave. As a result he comes back into the world a hell of a lot more powerful and skilled with the Force, but every bit as skilled in terms of dueling, every bit as intelligent and tactical as he once was and as physically capable as he once was.
I mean, the guy has crammed a lot of disciplines into his collective of skills and combat techniques. People underrate the hell out of Maul (probably due to Marco wanking him), because he isn't some out of the stratosphere Force User. Fact is, given his circumstances and age, he's proportionately done a lot more than some characters could ever dream of doing.
Registered: Mar 2014
Location: The Misty Mountains
Maul is one hell of a duelist that is for sure but when looking at his potential, if he truly was going to surpass Sidious, he didn't even come close. Maul had so much potential but all sidious ever trained him to be was a dog on a leash. And after Maul stopped being Sidious's dog, Maul was just a minor pest. If you are saying that he became what he was because of Sidious's training then Sidious is a shitty master
I don't think it has ever been stated anywhere that Maul was intended to surpass Sidious, so I don't get why people keep going on about this.
LOL @ him just being a dog on a leash. Like I've said before, you can call him a dog on a leash all you want but he'd eviscerate 90% of characters he would encounter, and he's done more in his short span of life than most characters are capable of.
Actually it was noted in an interview that Maul's military was a legitimate threat to Sidious.
And yes.. he got his training from Sidious, and the Orsis Academy where Sidious sent him. For what he was intended to be - an assassin and spy - he excelled, and he was already one of the best duelists in the mythos by the time he was 22 based on pure work ethic. I find that more interesting to read than some hurrdurr uber powerful Force magician.
And on the point of surpassing Sidious - if Maul was given a true Banite Sith apprenticeship, and was actually given longer than his early twenties to train before being cut in half by a plot device, maybe he would have surpassed Sidious. He certainly has the discipline for it that most others lack.
__________________ “The galaxy must experience the pain of death and the rapture of rebirth as I have. I will bring chaos. It is time for war.”
First of, Maul was a True Banite Sith apprentice to Sidious. He was intended to take over from Sidious one day.
But yeah, he was only around 22 in TPM. Had he not been cut in half and had he spent the next 30 years mastering the Force, then I don't see why he couldn't be an equal to Sidious (or at least close to that level).
But saying all that I've not seen anything to make me believe that he could/would have actually Surpassed Sidious's power level.
Based on the way the creators of TCW portrayed him. And Lucas confirming Sidious didn't want him killed/replaced (unless obviously someone much more powerful came along).
That's why he was able to build a power base for himself. It was all part of his training (which he even confirms to Sidious). That's not part of a mere Assassin's skill set.
I don't believe there was any improvement room for Maul. Children learn faster, Maul was trained from childhood down to his limits.
True Sith training would add lightning and Sorcery to his abilities, first is a negligible advantage, second - non factor.
How did TCW portray him as a Banite Sith? And that theory doesn't really hold up considering Sidious was planning to replace Maul with Dooku prior to TPM anyway, which makes sense because he would need someone with a talent for politics heading into the Clone Wars opposed to an assassin.
Maul never was a mere assassin but it was the foundation of his training. Forming the Shadow Collective showed great intelligence and cunning on his part but that has nothing to do with whether or not he was a Banite Sith or if he was meant to surpass Sidious.
Even Proxy's Darth Maul program was a good match for Galen, take the real Darth Maul and he can kick Galen's ass.
Agreed, by TPM he was even younger than ''padawan'' TPM Kenobi (Kenobi 24 / Maul 22) yet he was clearly much more powerful than Kenobi like one tier ahead, even in TPM.
I am not sure he could surpass his master or not eventually, but I am sure he would be a good challenge for his master (in lightsaber combat at least) he could be similar to vaapad amped Mace Windu maybe.
__________________ ''You are no warrior, Maul thought. You know nothing of the dark side.'' ★_Darth Maul Respect Thread_★
Last edited by Marco1907 on Nov 5th, 2014 at 06:09 PM
Galen was ridiculously powerful naturally, though. I don't get what source people seem to be referring to when referring to Maul's "potential". His potential has never been detailed specifically by any source that I know of. Galen Marek is highly powerful because of his midichlorian count but aside from that he's nothing special tbh.
And I can't help but giggle at people thinking Galen and TPM Maul are remotely comparable as duelists.
When Dave Filoni and Sam Witwer were discussing about Darth Maul's return, they talked about the rule of 2, and how Maul would have to be trained in all the ways of the Sith so he could replace Sidioud one day.
Who said Sidious was already planning to replace Maul with Dooku. He might have been considering it, but Lucas clearly states Sidious didn't plan on losing Maul.
Forming the Shadow Collective was all down to his training by Sidious as a true all round Sith. This had been made very clear by Sam Witwer and Dave Filoni.
All Jedi are trained from a young age. And I personally think all Jedi and Sith improve over time. That's why people like Windu and Dooku are above people like Kenobi and Maul.
Jedi bid their time and generally hold back on training most of the time. The best example is how slowly Anakin progressed comparing to Luke who didn't even have a master to train him.
Sith drill and strain their limits on regular basis. Also, Maul has got accolade of being one of the most highly trained Sith in history.
In the Darth Plagueis novel, Sidious never expected such a lost, he even wonder how Maul defeated a more powerful jedi while he lose to inferior. Once, after Maul destroyed the part of Black Sun, he even warned Maul to not toying with his force sensitive opponent, this is really contradicts with some thoughts here.
__________________ ''You are no warrior, Maul thought. You know nothing of the dark side.'' ★_Darth Maul Respect Thread_★
Last edited by Marco1907 on Nov 5th, 2014 at 08:43 PM
Dooku pretty much stated that he had reached his limit in power as of Yoda: DR. Don't remember the quote, but if my memory serves me, he also somewhat implied that Ventress had greater potential than he, so it's very likely that Maul's potential could have been above Dooku's as well. Not hard to imagine anyway, as I doubt Ventress's potential to be above Maul's.
__________________ "The power of the dark side is an illness no true Sith would wish to be cured of" -Darth Plagueis
Nov 5th, 2014 01:33 PM
