by Chris Snelgrove
| Published
in The imaginary threat, X-Men Veteran Ray Park brought Darth Maul to life, and his mysterious villain quickly became the highlight of the entire Prequel Trilogy. However, as die-hard fans know, Park isn't actually the best actor to bring this Sith warrior to life. That honor goes to Sam Witwer, the voice actor of Darth Maul, who explains in the video below why he liked his character's death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Rebels.
Sam Witwer and the death of Darth Maul
If you don't have Sam Witwer's almost encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars, you might need a quick refresher… In short, The Clone Wars The cartoon confirmed this Darth Maul He cheated death, and the character continues to plague our heroes Rebels spin off. In one of the episodes Rebelswe get a rematch between Maul and an older Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the fight ends almost immediately with Qui-Gon Jinn's former apprentice killing this Sith once and for all. Many fans complained that this fight was short and disappointing in the end, but in this video from the fan convention, Witwer explained why the fight was so perfect.
According to Sam Witwer, Darth Maul's death came from the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi embraced the maturity of the tooth and effectively lured the Sith warrior into a trap. The voice actor noted that if you watch Kenobi's movements carefully, he cycles through different lightsaber stances, effectively transitioning from young Obi-Wan to older Obi-Wan. Witwer sees cycling as the old man's way of realizing that he has changed as a warrior and Jedi master, which is why he turned away from carrying his lightsaber as Ewan McGregor Done to keep it as Alec Guinness did.
The Jedi's final lightsaber stance is that of its master, Qui-Gon Jinn. As Sam Witwer noted, Darth Maul caused the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi's old master, and when Kenobi takes the familiar stance, the Sith go for a repeat performance. In short, he thinks Obi-Wan is just copying what Qui-Gon did again The imaginary threat And he tries to respond accordingly.
However, Kenobi has had nearly two decades to think about why his old master was killed, and he counters Maul's moves perfectly. His deception is what made this fight so short, as Maul got so close that his opponent could pull off an almost instant kill move. Aside from Kenobi's deception and fancy moves, Sam Witwer believes that Darth Maul's death was due to the fact that he underestimated his opponent.
In the actor's words, the Sith sees his opponent as a “hopeless man hiding in the desert”, a “coward” and a “failed Jedi”. Witwer claims that it was only in his defeat that Maul realized that “this is an active-duty Jedi Master, and if he is this good, this must be the most important guard post in the galaxy.” He notices that Kenobi protects the Chosen One, and thanks to his hatred for Palpatine, he has an interesting perspective on the famous Jedi prophecy: “He will avenge us.”
Other than Ray Park and George Lucas, few people have as much insight as Sam Witwer when it comes to the life and death of Darth Maul. His great perspective on the character's final duel may not have been enough to calm fans who thought the fight was too short, but it certainly gave us a new way to look at one of our favorite Star Wars scenes. Between Witwer's lyrics and the relatively high quality of AhsokaOne thing is clear: there's never been a better time to rewatch Rebels And experience the best that a galaxy far, far away has to offer.
