Star Wars is filled with many characters who have proven their worth time and time again. Of course, there are some characters who are more notable than others.
In particular, Darth Vader is one of the (if not the) most popular characters in the franchise. Not only is he the most popular, but he is also one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy.
Still, there are other characters who are just as masterful as Lord Vader. One such character is his comrade and brother in arms, Darth Maul.
Naturally, the existence of these two powerhouses prompted fans to pit them against one another. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Who would win between the two?
These questions and more will be answered in this article. Keep reading as we dive in.
Table of Contents
Darth Maul
Known only as Maul at the time, this Force-sensitive male began his life as a Dathomirian Nightbrother. As an infant, Maul’s mother gave him up to Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine), where he would be trained in the way of the dark side.
With arguably the most powerful Sith Lord as his mentor, Darth Maul became one of the galaxy’s strongest individuals. Maul became an exceptional swordsman and a master of Teras Kasi (a lethal form of martial arts).
Although Maul was well trained, he had to be kept secret as he was in direct violation of the Sith’s Rule of Two.
What this rule stipulated is that the Sith are only to exist in groups of two. Thus, there should only be a mentor and an apprentice. This allowed for the Sith to prepare incognito to launch their attack against the Jedi (and Galactic Republic at large).
Being the rebel that he was, Darth Sidious blatantly disregarded this rule. Darth Sidious took on a student while he himself was an apprentice to Darth Plagueis.
Despite it breaking the rule of two, Plagueis allowed Sidious to have an apprentice. This is because Plagueis thought Maul could be an essential assassin for the Sith Order as opposed to a full fledged Sith.
Strengths
Darth Maul is considered one of Sidious’ most ruthless and intense mentees. When he first began his training, Maul was tortured relentlessly by Darth Sidious. Yet he did not let that break him.
Rather, Maul endured and made tremendous progress in his lightsaber training. So much so, he even impressed Sidious’ master, Darth Plagueis.
Darth Maul became such a powerful swordsman that he was ranked among some of the greatest Sith warriors in history. At the age of seventeen, Darth Maul was extremely close to beating Sidious, even though he was starving, in severe pain, and exhausted.
This only further proves how resilient and powerful Maul had become. With his training in Teras Kasi among other fighting styles, Maul is unquestionably a force to be reckoned with.
Aside from physical ability, Maul was also an exceptional force user. He has shown himself to be competent in telekinesis, Force Choke, Force Grip, Force Lightning, and other Force techniques.
Darth Maul developed the ability to combine his use of the Force, swordsmanship, and mechanics to his advantage. With such a broad array of skills, Maul was also able to upgrade his protocol droid, upgrade his bike, and create another assassin droid.
Weaknesses
Although there isn’t a lot of information about Darth Maul’s weaknesses, he was not infallible. This is proven when Darth Maul was sent to execute Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn on Naboo, in the film The Phantom Menace.
Maul gained the upper hand and killed Jinn during a duel aptly named the “Duel of the Fates”. After the loss of his comrade, Kenobi overpowered Maul, sliced him in half, and threw his seemingly lifeless body down a reactor shaft.
This was perceived to be the end of Darth Maul, however, this was not the case. Maul channeled his burning hatred for Obi-Wan Kenobi to fuel his recovery.
With this, he was able to use the Force to escape the shaft, and over time return to a battered version of his former self.
While this does not show the specifics of Darth Maul’s weaknesses, it does show that he can be bested.
Darth Vader
Darth Vader began his life as a Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker. Growing up as a slave on Tatooine with his mother, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin wanted more for himself and his family.
Luckily for him, a golden opportunity presented itself when, at the age of nine, Anakin was recruited to be a Padawan in the Jedi Order.
Even though he was a bit old to be a Padawan, Anakin became a Jedi Knight in record time. Anakin became a Knight in a mere ten years, while most take twice that time to complete training.
This is in no small part due to his insanely high midi-chlorian count (20,000 per cell), which was the highest known count in the galaxy.
This coupled with his raw talent and determination made Anakin one of the strongest individuals in the galaxy. So much so, he was known as the “Chosen One.”
Unfortunately, Anakin piqued the interest of Emperor Palpatine, who was determined to do anything to convince the Jedi to join him on the dark side.
Palpatine didn’t have to try too hard, as Anakin was already breaking the rules of the Jedi Code. All the Emperor did was prey on Anakin’s love for his family and sell him the dream of the dark side being the only way to protect them.
Of course, this was not true, and Anakin lost the love of his life, Padme Amidala. From that point on, Anakin was an angry, broken shell of his former self and became fully immersed in the dark side.
That was when he assumed his new identity as the villain we know and love, Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Strengths
As we have already established, Lord Vader has been powerful since childhood. As a Jedi, Anakin was one of the strongest the Jedi Order had seen. These skills only got stronger as he became a part of the dark side.
Darth Vader was an exceptionally powerful Force-sensitive. He had an arsenal of Force Powers in his repertoire. Not only did he have the techniques he learnt as a Jedi, but there were more dangerous ones that the Jedi Code did not allow.
Once Vader left the Jedi Order, he was free to unleash his rage and test out techniques he wouldn’t regularly get to use. Darth Vader could now use skills such as Force Choke, and the most dangerous of them all, Force Kill.
What Force Kill does is allow the user to crush their victims’ organs in an instant using the Force.
This, coupled with Darth Vader’s natural inclination for impeccable swordsmanship, made Darth Vader a dangerous foe to come across.
What’s more, Lord Vader is filled with so much rage, self-loathing, depression, and hatred that he can easily annihilate anyone without giving it a second thought.
The former Jedi became such a broken shell of his former self that he seemingly no longer valued life. Vader was able to murder without hesistation.
For this very reason, Darth Vader has one of the highest kill counts in the galaxy, having slaughtered hundreds of individuals.
Weaknesses
Regardless of how amazing Lord Vader was, he was not without fault. In fact, Darth Vader’s biggest weakness was the very thing that was meant to save his life.
You see, just before he fully joined the dark side, Darth Vader faced off against his former friend and mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Mustafar.
During this duel, Kenobi did not want to believe that his past student was completely lost to the dark. As such, he wanted to see if he could reason with Vader.
Regrettably, Vader no longer saw Obi-Wan Kenobi as his friend and was ready to eliminate him. What followed was probably one of the most intense battles in the Star Wars franchise.
Trying to not harm his former friend, Kenobi jumped away from Vader onto higher ground. Vader, on the other hand, was ready to eliminate Kenobi and tried to make the same jump. In an effort to protect himself, Kenobi used his lightsaber to slice off three of Vader’s limbs.
This caused Lord Vader to fall near the lava. When he did, his entire body (inside and out) was engulfed by the flames and the heated air of the lava pit. This left a mangled version of the man he once was. He was so badly wounded, in fact, that he needed to be placed in a life support suit with a specially pressurized mask.
This suit ran on electricity, which meant that if Vader used (or was hit by) Force Lightning, he could have easily short-circuited it and died. This is why he usually stayed away from this Force technique.
Aside from that, the Sith Lord’s dependency on a pressurized mask meant that he could not breathe without it. Thus, should his mask be removed in atmospheric air, Lord Vader could simply die of asphyxiation.
This just goes to show that an enemy can use Darth Vader’s suit against him, which would consequently give them the upper hand.
Darth Maul vs. Darth Vader
When comparing Darth Vader to Darth Maul, there is much debate as to which of the two would win in a battle. With the Star Wars community split on this issue, I would have to side with those who say Darth Vader would be the winner.
Here’s why.
Now don’t get me wrong, Darth Maul was unquestionably strong in the Force, however, Darth Vader was one of the most powerful Force users to ever exist. His grasp and control of the craft was unparalleled.
There’s no doubt that he was more powerful in the Force than Maul was. Despite his injuries, Lord Vader proved time and time again that he was able to defeat any enemy who came up against him, no matter how strong.
Darth Maul, although strong, was generally unstable. He lost control of his criminal organization and lost to Obi-Wan Kenobi on multiple occasions.
Actually, Darth Maul himself admitted that he couldn’t face off against Darth Vader on his own. Furthermore, in the comic Star Wars Tales #9, Darth Vader defeated Darth Maul.
Conclusion
While it is heavily debated who would win between Darth Vader and Darth Maul, it must be remembered that Darth Vader is an absolute beast, and a menace in the galaxy.
Even with his life-threatening injuries, Lord Vader was able to defeat hundreds of people, including Emperor Palpatine. This alone solidifies the fact that Lord Vader placed fear in the hearts of everyone around him.
This doesn’t mean that Darth Maul was a slouch. He could hold his own and was even able to survive being sliced in half, plummeting down a massive shaft, and having to relearn everything while he healed. Nevertheless, a fight between this pair would be one for the history books.