Not kind of. He showed up, he fought, he died. There's no dimensions there. But he looked cool, had a new lightsaber, and was probably the first actor in Star Wars that actually knew how to fight IRL.
the first actor in Star Wars that actually knew how to fight IRL
That also goes for Liam Neeson, who had already had a badass sword fight, check out his climactic duel versus Tim Roth in "Rob Roy". In fact, I believe that scene was key in his being considered for the part of Qui-Gon, I remember it being said at the time.
If you watch the clone wars TV show (highly recommend) the character definitely has more depth than what was portrayed in the movies. If you're interested in star wars character development. No better place to look than that show. You just have to suffer the first season a little bit. Since the series ages with it's audience.
Fencing with a rapier is different from waving around something which cuts and burns through stuff without pressure with every side, and doesn't have edges, and its resistance to movement stems not from gravity and aerodynamics, but from oxygen being burnt.
Though that's fans overthinking it, it's not like lightsaber fighting in SW was ever logical.
Fencing with a rapier is different from waving around something which cuts and burns through stuff without pressure with every side
It's actually closer to what Lightsaber dueling would be than the Kendo style used in most of Star Wars. The Light Saber has no mass and a single touch is incapacitating. So two handed hard chops like classic Luke are ridiculous. The rapier fencing technique to parry, thrust or slice quickly and lightly is ideal. You have a massless blade not a two handed clamore. You need only prick the opponent to severely harm them in the same way in fencing a touch, no matter how light, is a point for you.
I was always confused because I thought Dooku (Darth Tyrannus) was Sidious's apprentice. He's the one who arranged the clones to start being made 20 years before episode 2. But that would mean Sidious had two apprentices. Did they know that? Was Maul just given a title to make him feel better but was always seen as disposable?
I never saw Maul as a real apprentice initiated into the mysteries of the sith, just someone trained to fight with the force, although Maul may have thought he was an apprentice. Dooku got the real sith training, hence the force lightning.
All those inquisitors running around at other times aren't sith, just force sensitive enforcers.
Imo rule of two was an unnecessary retcon of a line from Phantom. "Always two Sith are found together" didn't have to mean ONLY two. It was to reflect that like Jedi Master and Jedi Padawan are always two Jedi found together, two Sith are always found together.
Instead of seeing the symmetry that Lucas was so fond of (it's like poetry), the EU ran with the line into an absurd history of how Sith developed into only 2 Sith in the entire Galaxy.
The fact that there was Emperor, Dooku and Maul coexisting meant Lucas saw the Sith as the evil version of the Jedi.
One of the weapons I've wanted to see make live action were the discblades as used by the Zeizon Sha. as far as a character's load out, one big one, and dozes of, like wrist-bangle-thingies, used in a telekinetic sort of fuck-you.
I'm purposefully ignoring the inquisitor's toys... I'm pretty sure they were actually a joke. (especially at the point that that one dude.... used it like a helicopter rotor...)
At that point it was actually the 4th time - they fought on Raydonia with Ventress and Maul's brother, and again on Mandelore during the Clone Wars. I feel like im missing an encounter, but Kenobi faced him for the last time on Tatooine in Rebels.
I think we should think of his lightsaber more like a bow staff than a blade. It became the standard for the Inquisitors in Rebels and other later parts of the various series
The problem with double bladed lightsabers is that they have none of the good aspects of a staff of the same length. Keep in mind, pretty much whatever a lightsaber's blade touches is going to get seared or slagged. Thrusting with one blade, means the other is very awkwardly close to your side. Then, you can't really do vertical strikes or parry vertical strikes. And the "Oh, but you can strike much faster... BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!" thing... well, that's about all you can do. Also, a single bladed lightsaber is going to parry those individual and move to the next both faster and more efficiently than you can strike.
Personally, I'd go something more like the concept art for Darth Bane's Glaive-thing. Maybe a collapsing haft for a second side. You can see the obvious advantage in this HEMA video.
then my question is: did you watch the clone wars? in the main movies, he was just the prealpha of darth vader. but in clone wars and rebels (although i have not finished rebels) he gets a lot more coverage.
still not my favorite bad guy in the franchise by far, but not a shallow character at all. then of course this is my opinion, and my watch-through of media covering him is a long time ago.
Why is that your question? Obviously I did if I could compare the amount of dimension his character had relative to the movie.
Rebels was great too. I just loved the long arc between Maul and Kenobi. Maul was like a revenant that just kept coming back until KenobiI finally defeated him on Tatooine. It struck me how Kenobi just moved on with life, but Maul's sole focus was killing him.
That and outside of the movies you see how brilliant Maul was, mad, but brilliant. He came close to seducing Ashoka and Ezra to the dark side (although Ashoka saw right through him, it took Ezra longer).