@skit: Alrighty. Well I'll just give you everything you need to know on Maul.
Basic Info
Maul is a Dathomirian Zabrak, born as a Zabrak Nightbrother on Dathomir. He was taken at infancy by Darth Sidious and trained to be the ultimate Sith warrior. He is a ferocious and merciless opponent with years of brutal training in martial combat, where he was constantly punished for his failures. As a result, failure is now no longer even a concept to Maul. He's a beacon for self-sufficiency and determination, and is not the kind of opponent you want to face in a deathmatch without coming prepared. Most people find him too intimidating to be near after they see him under his black robes. For some people, he's the last thing they see.
As a Zabrak, Maul has two hearts, vestigial horns on his head which he occasionally uses as weapons, and a great tolerance to pain. He can also see in the dark well. He is a master martial artist and one of the most famous practitioners of Teräs Käsi, a martial art developed in 3678 BBY originally for fighting Jedi. He is also in tremendous physical shape.
Physical Stats
Strength/Speed/Striking
Maul is 176lbs of pure power. First, I'll show you just what kind of training he does to get into the kind of shape he's in:
Leaning forward, he placed his right hand between his knees and lifted himself up off the bench with one arm, holding there for a count of fifty before lowering himself and switching to the other arm. He repeated this exercise ten times for each arm, back and forth. Then using both arms he lifted himself straight up into the air, extending his legs, body held erect until every muscle trembled with the strain.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
That is some serious muscle endurance right there.
Next, some combat feats.
The fight hadn’t lasted long, and only when the blade-bearer had accidentally bumped into him had Maul glanced up long enough to drive an elbow upward and shatter the Rodian’s lower spine. The guards onboard hadn’t even blinked as the Rodian pitched over sideways, wailing and paralyzed, to the deck, where he lay whimpering for the duration of the trip, gazing up through moist and pleading eyes. It was the only time during the entire trip that Maul had moved.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
Maul shatters a Rodians lower spine before their prison guards could even blink. Impressive showing of striking power and speed.
“You— you don’t understand ,” he said. “You can’t be here. He thinks you’re dead.” Zero started to stand up, and Maul’s hand moved faster than the eye could see, grabbing Zero’s fork and slamming it down so that it impaled the Twi’lek’s sleeve, pinning his arm to the table.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
Maul moving faster than the eye could see. Granted this isn't a fight situation, but it's impressive nonetheless.
"The creature in front of him was a walking trophy case of previous kills. Two and a half meters high, its massive shoulders and upper torso encased in jagged plates of primitive armor that clearly had once served as the jawbone and carapace of a much larger predator, it seemed to occupy an entire corner of the prison cell."
"..he fell into a reflexive series of moves. Both hands shot out and grabbed the creature by its throat, hoisting it up over his head and squeezing until he felt the deep tendons of its neck beginning to give and weaken in his grip. There was a wet, muffled click from somewhere inside the thing’s chest and a sudden glut of warm, thick, sticky fluid began spurting up from its throat. Blood. Jet black."
"He tightened his grip, and the screaming sound got louder, becoming a broken, birdlike squawk. More blood leapt up, inky black and viscous, and started pouring from its mouth and eye sockets. Enough. Executing a perfectly balanced spin, Maul swung the creature around and slammed it to the floor with a sharp clang, connecting hard enough that he felt the steel plates reverberate under his feet. The thing’s head drooped on its broken neck.."
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
These are the relevant parts from one of Mauls prison fights on Cog Hive Seven. He was facing a savage creature standing at over 8 foot tall, which had killed an innumerable amount of foes during it's own underground fighting career. The thing had to of been weighing.. 250 pounds minimum, with a maximum of somewhere around 300+ pounds, considering it's height and the armor it was wearing. This is a showing which demonstrates Mauls ability to physically dominate even the largest of creatures, and the sheer brutality of his fighting methods.
Durability/Pain Tolerance
Now here's a really cool fight. Remember that massive snow monster (the Wampa) from the movie Episode V, Empire Strikes Back? The one that nearly eats Luke Skywalker? Well, Maul killed one. With his bare hands. This thing was just short of 10 feet tall, had to of been weighing 400lbs or more, had massive claws, tusks and sharp teeth. One of the most feared predators in Star Wars. I'll only document the relative stuff like the punishment Maul took, how he reacted to that punishment, and how he won the fight.
Maul leapt upward , dodging the initial attack— but the creature’s massive arm swung around as it passed, its claws raking his back, ripping through flesh to gouge deep into the muscle along his spine. Maul felt his breath sucked from his lungs. A cruel, hot spike— even now he refused to think of it as pain—took hold of that entire side of his body, settling deep inside his nerve endings.
The wampa’s claw shot forward, slashing diagonally across Maul’s face. The moment of clarity vanished in the hot rush of his own anger. Maul lowered his head, tightening up his core, hearing a new growl rising up— his own growl this time, emanating from the most deep and primal pit of his being. He opened himself to it, the deep venom of wrath taking control, fast and sleek and powerful.
The thing lunged again, sinking its teeth into Maul’s shoulder, hitting crucial nerve bundles. All the strength disappeared from his hand and wrist, his body turning traitor at the worst possible moment. His arms fell slack and he stumbled backward, staring up at his adversary.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
So as we can see here, Maul took some serious hits during this match. Even having his major nerve bundles being bitten into didn't cause him to give into pain. In fact, this punishment only motivated Maul as the second paragraph shows. So, what was he throwing back at the Wampa, and how did he kill it in the end? Read below:
"Maul slid down through the pool of his own blood, rolled free, and sprang up behind the thing faster that it could turn. Cocking back one arm, he tensed his shoulder and snapped his elbow into the base of the creature’s skull, putting every ounce of upper body strength into a blow that should have shattered its neck. Nothing. It was like launching an elbow strike against solid stone covered with a layer of thick fur."
"..he fell into a low crouch, letting the wampa come at him again. Its next move would be its last. Maul sprang straight upward into it, driving his horned head into the thing’s lower jaw, pulverizing its mandible and slamming needle-sharp bone fragments into its cranial vault. Maul could actually feel the joints and fissures shattering inside the wampa’s skull and knew intuitively that he’d dealt it a killing blow. But when he looked up again, the thing was on its feet and advancing toward him, howling and keening, a blind colossus. The head-butt had left its face a caved-in mass of blood and exposed bone. Somewhere within the cauldron of his anger, Maul felt a wave of disbelief. How was it still fighting?"
"Summoning whatever remained of his strength, Maul fired himself at the beast. Hooking his hands into claws, he plunged them through its fur, ripping into the soft tissue of its torso... ...Shoving his hands deeper, he sank both arms in up to the elbow, beneath its rib cage and into its thoracic cavity, groping until he found what he was looking for— the slick, pulsating mass of its heart. Maul grabbed it, laced his fingers together, and squeezed. The wampa’s heart burst between his fingers like a dense and fibrous flower."
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
That's right.. Maul clawed into the Wampas torso and crushed it's heart with his bare hands. Pretty insane stuff there. He also landed some powerful shots like his lunging headbutt that left the Wampa's face bloody and bone-exposed, and his elbow strike which should have shattered the Wampa's neck.
Next, here's a nice feat of Maul resisting even the most damaging of burn injuries in order to complete his mission:
He clenched his teeth, the heat very close to him now, pressing in from all sides , clinging to him like a second skin. By now the walls had become scalding steel plates, burning the palm of his hand and the fingers holding him in place . The inside of his mouth felt cool by comparison. A drop of sweat hit the floor and he realized that he could actually hear it sizzle. If the temperature kept going up like this, he guessed that he might have another minute or two before he blacked out from heat prostration, and then— He kept working. There was an odd, meaty smell rising up around him, and when his blistered palm shifted slightly on the wall, he realized that it was his own flesh beginning to roast.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
His flesh was beginning to roast. His palms and fingers which were against the wall, holding him in place, were being blistered by the scalding hot steel plates they were against. A drop of sweat sizzled when it hit the floor. He was in temperatures of 200 degrees and rising. He was basically being cooked in an oven. Yet he endured.
Fighting Skill/Brutality
I think one of Mauls biggest advantages is the brutality of his fighting style. I've already shown him punching through a Wampas torso and squeezing it's heart till it burst, him throwing bone shattering elbow strikes, choking an 8 foot creature until blood spurted from it's mouth and eyes. Now here's some more brutal yet efficient fighting methods of his:
Something broke open inside him, a vein of pure instinct that ran even deeper than his commitment to the mission. On his feet at once, he grabbed the Weequay by his seclusion braids, jerked the other’s head back, and thrust his own head forward, driving the horns of his skull against the inmate’s throat. Radique’s windpipe burst open, splintering beneath the attack. His body fell limp, and Maul released the braids, letting him drop to the floor.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
Similar to what he did to the Wampa in my above quote, he drives his head-horns into the throat of an opponent, bursting his windpipe, killing him pretty quickly.
The Aqualish made a wet, shuddering noise. “It’s all I know. Don’t kill me. Don’t—” “You were dead when you were matched with me,” Maul said. “But I will give my word to you. It will be quick.” He took hold of Rook’s head with both hands and cracked the thing’s neck in a single, instantaneous jerk. The Aqualish shuddered and fell motionless, slipping backward and toppling from view.
Taken from -- Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown
Kills someone instantly by cracking his neck.
Now I'll discuss Mauls martial arts skill. Here is another one of his training exercises.
The dueling droids were programmed to kill. There were four of them, top-of-the-line Duelist Elites from Trang Robotics, all armed in different ways: one with a steel rapier, one with a heavy cudgel, the third with a short length of chain, and the last with a pair of double-edged hachete fighting blades as long and wide as a human’s forearm. They had been programmed with the skills of a dozen martial arts masters, and their reflexes were calibrated just a hair faster than human optimum. Their durasteel chassis were blaster-resistant. They had come factory-equipped with behavioral inhibitors that prevented them from delivering a death blow once their opponent had been beaten, but these inhibitors had been nullified by their new owner. A mistake against one would be fatal. Darth Maul did not make mistakes.
Taken from -- Darth Maul Shadow Hunter
He takes down these droids in 60 seconds, which isn't even a good time for him.
Darth Maul exhaled, relaxed his stance, and nodded. His heart rate had accelerated perhaps five beats above normal at most. There was the faintest sheen of perspiration on his forehead; otherwise his skin was dry. Perhaps sixty seconds had elapsed from start to finish. Maul frowned slightly. Not his personal best, by any means. It was one thing to face and defeat droids. Jedi were a different matter.
Taken from -- Darth Maul Shadow Hunter
Here's a nice snippet to support my claims of Mauls mastery of martial arts and combat.
Any Jedi Knight could wield a single-bladed lightsaber; only a master fighter could use the weapon first designed by the legendary Dark Lord Exar Kun millennia ago. Unless one was in perfect attunement with it, the weapon could be as deadly to the user as to the opponent.
Taken from -- Darth Maul Shadow Hunter
The weapon being referred to is Mauls saberstaff, or double-bladed lightsaber. It's stated only a "master" fighter could use the weapon, and that unless you were in "perfect" attunement with it, you're as likely to kill yourself as your are someone else. Not that he's using a lightsaber here, but it shows his depth skill and precision.
Summary
I feel like I have shown the following about Maul:
- He is in tremendous physical shape. His strikes are bone shatteringly powerful. He has overpowered larger opponents before and has even punched into the torso of a Wampa, before crushing it's heart.
- His combat speed is extremely impressive, being able to strike faster than people can blink or see.
- His durability is off the charts. He's taken shots from beings much stronger than himself such as the unknown creature he fought, and the Wampa. He's endured having his nerve clusters bitten into and his spine muscle being raked by claws. He managed to ignore being cooked alive at 200 degrees, even having his flesh roasting and his hands being scalded by the steel walls he balanced against. Pain and failure are not even concepts to Maul. You can't hurt him. You can only motivate him to channel his rage further.
- He is a master martial artist, and not only that, he is one of the most brutal fighters I personally have ever come across. Whether he's snapping your neck, crushing your heart, choking blood out of your eyes or shattering your spine - you're not going to have a good time.
I look forward to hearing about Ken!
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