By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapters 9-10 of Maul – Shadow Lord
The newest Star Wars animated series concludes in resounding fashion with an episode that furthers our understanding of Maul’s psyche and delivers on a showdown fans have long waited for. But it also treats fans to all kinds of cool easter eggs, parallels, hidden details, references, and more.
Check all the Easter Eggs, Hidden Details, and References we noticed in Chapters 9-10 of Maul – Shadow Lord below.
Chapter 9: Strange Allies
Dryden Vos appears in Chapters 9 and 10 of Maul – Shadow Lord. Vos was the primary antagonist in Solo: A Star Wars Story and was voiced by Paul Bettany, known for his role as Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bettany does not reprise his role as the character here, as Vos is voiced by Scott Whyte, known for his roles in City Guys, That ‘70s Show, and D2: The Mighty Ducks.
Dryden proposes a deal with Maul: in exchange for helping the former Sith lord avoid the clutches of the Empire and flee Janix, Maul will kill the current leader of Crimson Dawn and install Dryden Vos as the crime syndicate’s new leader. The proposition clues us into the status of Crimson Dawn during this time in the galaxy and hints at how Maul eventually comes to control the organization. The episode seems to suggest that Dryden Vos is currently second-in-command at Crimson Dawn and hopes to use Maul to usurp the present leader. Presumably, Maul will follow through on Dryden’s deal (at least in part) by killing the Crimson Dawn leader, but, instead of installing Dryden as the new head, crown himself king of the crime syndicate. As evidenced by these two episodes, however, the creative team behind the series are seemingly saving this plot for Season 2.
The current leader of Crimson Dawn is Rintero, a person yet to be depicted in a canon story. Dryden Vos’ predecessor was first mentioned, but not identified, in the 2023 YA novel Crimson Climb by E.K. Johnston.
Mirroring Luke and Leia’s Force connection in The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi and Rey and Kylo’s Force connection in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Maul uses the Force to bridge his mind with Devon’s and, in doing so, provides his prospective padawan details on how to find him.
Daki says, “We must remain cautious of the Shadow Lord,” which, if our memories serve us correctly, is the first time Maul has been referred to as such in the series.
Maul takes down an AT-AC in a manner similar to how Starkiller takes down an AT-ST in The Force Unleashed. Both Maul and Starkiller are voiced by Sam Witwer.
Maul does the unexpected and lets Daki flee while he holds the Inquisitors off. This critical moment parallels and juxtaposes a critical moment in Chapter 10, one that sees Maul face a similar predicament yet take the less virtuous route. Does Maul help Daki here because he wants to show Devon he’s more than just a villain? Or does Maul genuinely feel the need to care for Daki, a person he has obvious respect for? It’s unclear.
The official Star Wars website confirms that Darth Vader kills Rook Kast. Earlier drafts of the script featured a more graphic death for the Mandalorian.
The episode concludes with a shot of the upper half of Vader’s body lit up red by the glow of his ignited lightsaber. The shot appears and is lit extremely similar to how Vader was depicted in the iconic hallway sequence in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Chapter 10: The Dark Lord
When the episode titles of Maul – Shadow Lord were unveiled, Chapter 10 was listed as “Finale.” That was obviously a placeholder, and now we know why. “The Dark Lord” title refers to the episode’s big bad and one of the most iconic characters in pop culture history – Darth Vader.
Darth Vader’s arrival was inspired by Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th and Michael Myers in Halloween, according to the official Star Wars website.
The imagery of Vader emerging from the fog is a purposeful homage to Ralph McQuarrie’s cover art for the first Star Wars spinoff novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster.
Darth Vader and Maul have never clashed in canon before, but they did duel in the Legends comic Star Wars Tales #9.
“Duel of the Fates” play during the title card.
Vader is simultaneously portrayed as a formidable fighting force and a figure who has the stiff, slower dueling style of the character we see in A New Hope. The animators referred to David Prowse’s movements and muscular body type while crafting Vader for the series.
Maul, at least at first, doesn’t know who Vader is, but the audience knows that Vader is fully aware of who Maul is. To Anakin, Maul is the person who killed his pseudo-father figure Qui-Gon Jinn (as depicted in The Phantom Menace), the man who promised to train him and would have likely prevented his fall to the dark side. Although not explicitly stated, it’s neat to think that Vader may be motivated to take down Maul, not just because Sidious has commissioned him to do so, but because he wants revenge for Maul’s slaughter of Qui-Gon.
The creative team behind the series had lengthy discussions around how much Maul knew about Vader.
The episode pays homage to the Cartagena slide in Romancing the Stone as Vader uses the Force to pull apart the temple and send his enemies sliding to their deaths.
Daki mentions that he senses the person they just fought is a “dark lord of the Sith.” This is an interesting line as it implies that Jedi can not only sense the presence of the dark side of the Force, but can more specifically identify a Sith. This trick sure would’ve come in handy in the days leading up to Order 66.
Maul has a brief moment where he seemingly puts the pieces of the puzzle together and concludes who the dark lord they just faced off against really is. As revealed in The Clone Wars Season 7, Maul knew of Sidious’ plan to convert Anakin Skywalker to the dark side. In Chapter 10, he senses that the person they fought is a former Jedi and, putting two and two together, probably means he recognizes that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker.
Daki’s death scene calls back to Ben Kenobi’s death in A New Hope and Qui-Gon Jinn’s death in The Phantom Menace, as all three sequences depict a padawan watching their master die at the hands of Sith from an unreachable distance.
The music that plays as Devon reckons with the immediate aftermath of Daki’s death is heavily inspired by similar music in Revenge of the Sith.
Speaking of music, the music that plays as Vario tries to be a distraction is very similar to the Ewok music in Return of the Jedi.
The stormtroopers use a large defensive cannon similar to the E-Web heavy repeating blaster used by snowtroopers in The Empire Strikes Back.
The ending note of Season 1 suggests that Devon will indeed go on to become Maul’s apprentice and (possibly) the canon version of Darth Talon, as fans have long speculated.