Maul: Shadow Lord's finale didn't disappoint. After spending the entire season trying to amass power, the titular villain made a deal with the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn to get him and his underlings safe passage off the planet Janix. The Empire was bearing down on them, leaving them with no choice, but they didn't realize the danger they were actually in.
In addition to dispatching stormtroopers, the Empire also sent two Inquisitors, Marrok and the Eleventh Brother, who were no slouches. Maul and his reluctant Jedi allies did all they could to fight them off. And the tide actually started to turn in their favor, until a new enemy revealed themself and wasted no time wreaking havoc.
Darth Vader stepped out of the fog in Shadow Lord's penultimate episode before really getting to work in the finale. He proved too powerful for any character to take on alone. Izara and Daki were overwhelmed by his power, and Maul didn't have much luck gaining an advantage in the fight, either.
In fact, Maul struggled so badly against Vader that he gave in to his worst impulse, handing over Daki on a silver platter to his master's new apprentice to aid his own escape. Vader eventually caught up, and Maul once again got away by the skin of his teeth by dropping a structure on his opponent.
While Maul would probably give himself a notch in the draw column for facing Vader and living to tell the tale, that's not an accurate assessment. The former Sith Lord never got the high ground and only survived by throwing someone else under the dark side bus. The reality is that Maul suffered a major loss in Shadow Lord's finale, like he's done so many times before in a galaxy far, far away.
Every Major Fight Maul Has Lost in Star Wars
Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi 1
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace came out of the gates swinging when it introduced Darth Maul. The Sith had been gone for a millennium when Qui-Gon Jinn came face to face with a red-lightsaber-wielding Force user on Tatooine. The Jedi Master survived that first encounter, but he didn't make it out of the second.
After watching his master die at the hands of Maul on Naboo, a young Obi-Wan Kenobi locked in and joined the list of Jedi who have killed a Sith Lord. Maul's body was split in half and fell down an energy shaft, and Obi-Wan thought he had taken care of the Sith problem for good. But the conflict between the light and dark sides was only beginning.
Maul vs. Darth Sidious
Using hatred alone, Maul survived the events of The Phantom Menace, and his brother, Savage Opress, came to his aid in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While it took a bit for Maul to get his head on straight again, he eventually began a quest for power that led him to the war-torn planet Mandalore. Maul and Savage set up shop and made plenty of noise across the galaxy, which put them on a certain Sith Lord's radar.
Darth Sidious paid the brothers a visit in The Clone Wars Season 5. Being a novice Force user, Opress didn't last long, dying at the hands of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Maul didn't fare much better, struggling with his former master's lightsaber skills. At least Sidious showed mercy for Maul and took him captive rather than killing him.
Maul vs. Ahsoka Tano
Sidious' mercy gave Maul a second wind, as he was able to escape and once again weasel his way to the center of the galactic conflict. When the Republic came to Mandalore in The Clone Wars' final season, Maul revealed to Ahsoka Tano that he orchestrated the battle on the planet in order to lure Anakin Skywalker there. He thought killing Sidious' next potential apprentice would save the galaxy from a dark fate.
Maul might've been on the right track, but he didn't get to follow through with his plan because Anakin's apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, showed up instead. The former member of the Jedi Order taught Maul a lesson and got him thrown back in a cell. He didn't stay there for long, though, because Ahsoka broke him out to help her survive Order 66.
Maul vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi 2
Despite having his hands in countless pots during the Clone Wars and the early years of the Empire's reign, Maul's hatred for Obi-Wan never disappeared. In Star Wars Rebels, after crossing paths with Ezra Bridger, Maul discovered his arch-enemy was lying low on Tatooine, the same planet he fought Qui-Gon on decades ago.
After a quick space trip, Maul confronted Obi-Wan in the desert. And it was like Obi-Wan had been preparing for years for this final fight, immediately taking a reserved approach that let Maul make all the mistakes. Obi-Wan won the fight in one move and shared a tender moment with the dying villain, reassuring him that he would be avenged once Sidious was defeated.
