Darth Maul is one of the most prominent Sith Lords we see in canon. He’s shown impressive command over the Dark Side of the Force in myriad ways across Star Wars media.
However, was he able to utilise the Force Lightning ability seen used by some other Sith and Dark Side practitioners?
Here’s what you need to know.
Contents
What is Force Lightning?
Force lighting is a rare Force ability that allows some powerful Force-sensitives to manifest electrical energy from their fingertips. The effects of this lightning vary based on the user’s power and intentions, from inflicting severe (nonlethal, but sometimes disfiguring) pain on the target to vaporisation capable of destroying large spacefaring vehicles.
While there are exceptions in Legends, this ability is the exclusive domain of darksiders in canon.
Could Darth Maul use Force lightning?
Despite being a prominent antagonist and quite powerful in the Dark Side, Maul is never shown employing the Force Lightning ability in canon. The same is true in Legends, though he did display the rather unique ability to resist Force Lightning from Mighella, a Dathomiri Nightsister in the employ of the Black Sun syndicate.
This resistance has its limits, as we see Maul fall prey to the full effects of Sidious’ Force Lightning more than once.
Why doesn’t Darth Maul use Force lightning?
There are a few possible reasons why Maul doesn’t utilise the Force Lightning technique in battle, despite some demonstrably less powerful darksiders like the aforementioned Mighella being able to do so.
Some of the more likely reasons are:
- His Incomplete Training
- Reliance on Lightsaber Skills
- His Artificial Limbs
- Indifference to the Power
His Incomplete Training
While Maul is well known and extremely dangerous, it is worth remembering that he was never fully trained in the secrets of the Dark Side. Maul’s training began much earlier than most Sith, having been taken by Sidious as a child.
This also meant that Maul was being trained by Sidious while Darth Plagueis was still the latter’s Master.
Due to the Rule of Two and Plagueis’ aversion to the prescribed method of Sith succession, it is very likely that Sidious trained Maul largely as an acolyte and assassin, similar to how he later instructed his apprentice Darth Vader to train his Inquisitors.
Due to this limitation, Maul’s training would largely focus on lightsaber combat and auxiliary skills like tracking and espionage.
While Sidious did have every intention to take Maul as a true apprentice at some point (as indicated by his title of Darth after the murder of Plagueis), it is likely that Maul received no instruction or prompting to learn this skill before his supposed demise against Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo.
You can find out more about why Maul hated Kenobi here.
Reliance on Lightsaber Skills
Following on from the last possible reason, another reason why Maul might not have utilised Force Lightning might be his prodigious lightsaber skills and the pride Maul himself took in those abilities.
From his first appearance, we see that Maul is a duelist above all else and a very talented one to boot. This is unsurprising, as his Master was also a supremely talented duelist, very nearly unmatched by others.
In the confrontation between Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn, we see just how deadly a duelist he is, and we also see his pride in these abilities cause his downfall against Obi-Wan Kenobi twice.
You can find out more about how Maul managed to survive the first duel with Obi-Wan here.
This immense skill might have led to some complacency in developing more advanced Dark Side abilities. While Maul was quite accomplished with Force telekinesis and other similar abilities, these were more basic things that he would have naturally picked up with little effort due to his impressive potential.
The degree of his skill likely also meant he would not find himself in any situations where he might instinctively employ Force Lightning, as we see with Rey Skywalker in the sequel trilogy.
You can find out more about whether Jedi could use Force Lightning here.
His Artificial Limbs
It is also possible that Maul refrained from using the ability because it would negatively affect his cybernetic limbs, which would be a costly loss mid-battle. We see this with Vader as well, another prominent Sith lord who didn’t rely on Force Lightning, preferring Force Choke for intimidating or killing disappointing subordinates.
While Vader’s case is extreme, as his armour has an essential life support unit., it is feasible that Maul would not risk the use of his legs in a combat situation. This also ties into his skills with a saber, making the loss of his mobility too steep a price to pay for any one ability, no matter how powerful.
Indifference to the Power
In addition to the reasons given so far, there’s also the possibility that Maul just didn’t particularly want or need to use the ability. Every Force-sensitive in Star Wars is unique and favours certain abilities over others.
It’s entirely possible that Maul was capable of using Force Lighting, but didn’t care much for it.
This is supported by the fact that he had experienced the power firsthand more than once, as both his Sith Master Darth Sidious and his replacement Darth Tyranus used Force Lightning against him to great effect.
Palpatine used this against Maul instead of killing him, and you can find out why he didn’t do so here.
His mother, Talzin, was also known to use the ability proficiently. So we can conclude that he wasn’t lacking in exposure or a source of instruction.
Maul, with his propensity for high-paced lightsaber combat and mastery of telekinesis, might just not have felt the need to shoot electricity from his fingertips.
Conclusion
While Force Lightning is an awesome and iconic Sith ability, Maul has managed to become a fan favourite character and formidable threat to many a protagonist without the need for it.
When looking at Vader’s case, his own unique story and immense combat capabilities elsewhere have more than made up for this omission.
In a way, Maul’s example likely inspired other dark side acolytes like the Inquisitors, who stray from the lighting-wielding dark figure motif of a Sidious or Tyranus.
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