Darth Maul Not Dead? The Clone Wars Opens Pandora's Box
By suggesting that Darth Maul survived his duel with Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars and the novel The Wrath of Darth Maul create a very uncomfortable dilemma for fans. I'm not sure the people who came up with the idea grasped what kind of Pandora's box it opens.
The one thing the expanded universe should avoid at all costs is making fans choose: believe the movies, or believe the EU. Anybody who reads this journal knows I love most CW episodes, because they confirm and expand on what's more or less subtly present in the movies. But in this case, I have to consider TCW to be nothing more than a part of the EU.
The point of the original trilogy, and in fact of the whole saga, is that Anakin Skywalker was the Jedi Chosen One, destined to bring the Force back into "balance" by destroying the Sith (not a customary meaning of "balance", which is an equilibrium between two opposing forces, but whatever), as Qui-Gon was the first to believe, and that in the end, despite an unfortunate... detour, he fulfilled his destiny. He fulfilled the prophecy when he stopped being a Sith and caused the death of the last remaining Sith, Darth Sidious, in Return of the Jedi. I assume we all agree on that.
I also assume we agree that Darth Sidious was a much more powerful Sith Lord than Darth Maul.
And lastly, we agree on the fact that Darth Sidious and Darth Maul died in the same way: a fall into a reactor pit. Maul, however, was probably already dead by the time he reached the bottom, having been bisected by a lightsaber. Are you starting to see the problem?
The logical conclusion is that if Maul could survive (being cut in two and) a fall down a reactor pit, his more powerful master could do the same. Is The Clone Wars trying to rewrite not only the ending of TPM, but of ROTJ?
Fans have to either ignore logic, or doubt the finale of the Star Wars movies, which - no. Just no. Don't go there. Even fanfiction authors avoid going there. Dark Empire was bad enough, but even it made a little more sense than this.
The one thing the expanded universe should avoid at all costs is making fans choose: believe the movies, or believe the EU. Anybody who reads this journal knows I love most CW episodes, because they confirm and expand on what's more or less subtly present in the movies. But in this case, I have to consider TCW to be nothing more than a part of the EU.
The point of the original trilogy, and in fact of the whole saga, is that Anakin Skywalker was the Jedi Chosen One, destined to bring the Force back into "balance" by destroying the Sith (not a customary meaning of "balance", which is an equilibrium between two opposing forces, but whatever), as Qui-Gon was the first to believe, and that in the end, despite an unfortunate... detour, he fulfilled his destiny. He fulfilled the prophecy when he stopped being a Sith and caused the death of the last remaining Sith, Darth Sidious, in Return of the Jedi. I assume we all agree on that.
I also assume we agree that Darth Sidious was a much more powerful Sith Lord than Darth Maul.
And lastly, we agree on the fact that Darth Sidious and Darth Maul died in the same way: a fall into a reactor pit. Maul, however, was probably already dead by the time he reached the bottom, having been bisected by a lightsaber. Are you starting to see the problem?
The logical conclusion is that if Maul could survive (being cut in two and) a fall down a reactor pit, his more powerful master could do the same. Is The Clone Wars trying to rewrite not only the ending of TPM, but of ROTJ?
Fans have to either ignore logic, or doubt the finale of the Star Wars movies, which - no. Just no. Don't go there. Even fanfiction authors avoid going there. Dark Empire was bad enough, but even it made a little more sense than this.