Why Maul HATED General Grievous

Throughout The Clone Wars and beyond, every Star Wars fan knows how deeply Maul’s hatred for Obi-Wan Kenobi ran, it defined his entire life. Later, in Rebels, that obsession shifted toward his old Sith Master, Darth Sidious.

But did you know that, aside from those two, there was someone else Maul absolutely despised, maybe even more than Kenobi? That’s right, General Grievous. And there are two main reasons behind that hatred

1. Grievous Led the Massacre on Dathomir

The first reason is pretty clear — General Grievous was the one who brought an end to Dathomir and wiped out nearly all the Zabrak and Nightsisters living there. By the end of the massacre, only Mother Talzin managed to escape.

In The Clone Wars, we see Grievous lead the Separatist invasion of Dathomir under Count Dooku’s orders. His army of droids stormed the planet with overwhelming force, slaughtering the Nightsisters and destroying everything in their path. Even Asajj Ventress, one of the Order’s most powerful warriors, couldn’t stop the assault.

2. Grievous Killed Mother Talzin

As for the second reason for why Maul hated Grievous — it’s because Grievous was the one who took down Mother Talzin’s life right in front of him.

This moment takes place in the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic series, which continues Maul’s story right after The Clone Wars. At the end of the show, we see Maul captured by Darth Sidious. The comic picks up from there — revealing that Maul escaped with the help of the Shadow Collective and later reconnected with Mother Talzin, who had been hiding elsewhere in the galaxy.

In the final act of that story, the conflict between Maul’s Shadow Collective and Dooku’s Separatist forces reaches its breaking point. Mother Talzin makes her last stand to protect her son. Using her dark magic, she manifests her spirit through Count Dooku’s body to face Sidious himself in one last duel between Sith and witch.

The best moment for canon Grievous
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But as her strength fades, Grievous steps in. Acting as Sidious’s personal executioner, he lunges forward and strikes Talzin down with his lightsabers — killing her right before Maul’s eyes.

Maul Showed His Hatred for Grievous

During the Imperial Era, long after his fall from power, Maul’s hatred still consumed him. In Stories of Jedi and Sith: The Ghosts of Maul, we find him wandering the galaxy, obsessed with destroying both Sidious and Kenobi, the two men who had taken everything from him. His search for strength leads him to a Sith fortress on the ash-gray world of Damanos, where he encounters something, or rather, someone — from his past.

As Maul descends into the castle’s depths, he’s confronted by a vision of General Grievous, descending from the ceiling with all four of his lightsabers ignited. The sight reignites every wound in Maul’s soul. The vision taunts him, reminding him of their last encounter on Dathomir, when Grievous struck down Mother Talzin, Maul’s only remaining family.

Overwhelmed with rage, Maul shouts, “I never asked for any of this! You and your masters took everything from me! My family, my power, you left me with nothing!”

“You didn’t ask for this, that much is true… but you never leave it behind.”

Grievous became the face of his humiliation, the blade that cut away the last pieces of his family and his pride. Even years later, long after Grievous was gone, Maul still carried that anger like a wound that never healed. For all his strength and cunning, Maul could never escape what the Sith had made him, a weapon fueled by rage, defined by loss, and haunted by the ghosts of those who took everything from him.