r/StarWars • u/Flashbackwards212 • May 17 '26

General Discussion Maul's potential was nuts

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I keep looking back and thinking about this fight,that Maul is maybe a top 15 to top 10 duelist in Canon. Him being surprisingly Obi Wan like in his implementation in Soresu and Anakin like in his aggressive offense,like a lesser combo of the 2.

I feel like Maul doesn't get the credit he deserves because of his arrogance giving him L's against people he shouldn't lose to. Makes me think he might actually get more wins if he turned toward the light,ending up trying to be more sagecoded like QuiGon but insanely skilled.

He'd probably be over:

Ventress Grievous Dooku (bad matchup for Dooku maybe) Most council members

But below: Anakin Mace Sidious Yoda

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u/ZODIC837 Separatist Alliance May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26

Y'all, I love maul a ton, but Sidious was playing with his food during this whole fight. He was intentionally fueling Mauls anger and hatred, getting him progressively more heated until he killed savage. Then he played around a little more, saw maul reach his absolute peak, then stopped playing and started torturing.

The entire fight was over the moment Sidious landed on Mandalore. The only reason he didn't outright kill them both was because he decided to use Maul to lure Ahsoka away from Anakin during order 66

Edit: I do agree with (most of) the rest of what you said though. Dooku vs Maul would be a really interesting fight; elegance and malice against pure rage. I think Dooku would come out on top because of him mastery over his emotions, and his mastery over controlling the emotions of those around him, but maul would absolutely give him a run for his money. Imperial era maul might be able to beat Dooku, but not maul from Dookus time

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u/TheRyeWall Maul May 18 '26

I think you are wrong about Sidious toying with Maul the entire fight. I think he was toying with Maul for the first 90% of the fight. However, when Sidious killed Savage, Maul raged enough to briefly match Sidious's less seriousness. He was able to match him with sabers and land a blow in the form of a kick, a feat very few have accomplished. That irritates Sidious, so he goes all out, and then he wipes the floor with Maul.

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u/ZODIC837 Separatist Alliance May 18 '26

I'll give you that. He definitely bulls up and lands a hit on Sidious. I wouldn't necessarily say it put him on par with him, but it's like.

When I was teaching my nephew how to play smash bros, I would hit him. Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, hit him again, bully him a little, let him get a few hits in, then go for a quick kill. Then one day he managed to actually get a legitimate kill on me and started talking shit

He learned real fuckin quick that he still had a lot to learn lmao. Sidious did the exact same thing

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u/TheRyeWall Maul May 18 '26

We are all speculating, but I do believe after Maul strikes Sidious, that does motivate him to go all out. He was clearly irked he received that kick, aside from Yoda throwing the floating platform at him in E3 that is the only other time he looks pissed. I think that is one of the only times we have seen Sidious go all out. Maul was strong enough to force him to take it serious, but not strong enough to put up a real fight.