Now, this feat requires some elaboration. Maul engages in daily practices with his bladework in which he performs ten thousand maneuvers. He repeats this exercise one hundred times a day and still finds time to conduct other exercises (such as the aforementioned fights with assassin droids), sleep, meditate, and receive teachings or missions from Sidious (which do not come to Maul every day, I should point out, and on days in which he has missions, his exercises will be suspended until the mission is finished). The latter activities would significantly reduce his time in the day to conduct these practices. How long precisely it takes Maul to complete one of these regimens is unclear, but to perform ten thousand moves one hundred times per day on top of his other tasks is impressive. It would necessitate him to strike several times each second.
When I complete my basic exercises, I power up my double-bladed lightsaber and practice maneuvers. My body is as strong as durasteel and as fluid as water. I shift from one position of attack to another. I fall on one knee and slash my lightsaber as I imagine cleaving my victim cleanly. I roll away and grip my lightsaber with both hands for a vertical sweep. I leap and twist and come down, leading with my left shoulder. I deliver a death blow and leap away, somersaulting in the air. I perform ten thousand slashes, lunges, attacks.
My lightsaber is no longer a separate weapon, but part of my arm. I move in the time it would take my opponent to blink. I move in the time he would take to raise his weapon. He would only see the space where I had been. He would feel the sudden shock of the blow that would knock him to the floor. I do these maneuvers a hundred times a day. I do them even though my body knows them intimately, even though I have not made a mistake or a misstep in years. I do them until the memory of the movement is part of the muscle itself. The goal of the Sith is to fight without thought.
--Taken from Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
This showing also needs context. Maul has rewired a frigate;s controls so that the engine controls and the weapons controls are crossed so that when a Togorian activates the engines, he will destroy the ship. Maul runs to his own ship to escape the frigate but is interrupted by a Togorian whom he fights. He slashes the Togorian a thousand times in a short but undefined span of time. We can surmise, however, that he did this in a brief period because Maul had to leave before a Togorian ignited their ship's engines to leave. All that would need to precede that is for a Togorian to enter the frigate's bridge and activate the controls. How long it was before one did that is, again, unspecified but still not long considering the Togorians were starting their controls by the time Maul entered his ship.
My rage is a torrent, a burning river. I leap, twist, keeping my weight on my good leg. My lightsaber is part of my body now, merciless, hard, cruel. I dance around him, slicing his arms, chest, shoulders. I want a thousand cuts to kill him. He falls facedown without a cry.
I leap over his body and up the ramp. My leg wound screams in protest but I do not limp. I steel myself against the pain, disciplining my mind against it. I won't attend to it until I am safely away from this ship and have landed on Tatooine.
Then I hear the warm-up of the preliminary ignition of the freighter. I start my engines and activate departure procedures. A warning light tells me that the hatch will not close.
--Taken from Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
Maul records that he could unleash four to five blows in the flicker of an eye and then steps behind and kicks an approaching Tusken Raider faster than the Raider can see it happen.
The Sand People advance on me angrily. In their breath masks and goggles they are protected from the sand that now stings my eyes and clogs my mouth. The howling intensifies. The Raiders shake their gaderffii and begin to surround me. There are just too many of them. I can take out four or five in the flicker of an eyelash, but that will just infuriate the rest. Frustration boils inside me. These interruptions deflect me from my mission.
I never run away from a battle. But this one will tax me, and my strength is needed for the Jedi. If my Master hears I have been wounded, he will be furious.
All of these calculations race through my mind, faster than the Tusken Raiders are moving. One fierce Raider is the first to come at me, racing forward with his stick held high. It is easy for me to fake a dodge to the left, then make a half turn and kick him from behind as he staggers, surprised that there is now empty air where I had been standing.
--Taken from Episode 1 Journal: Darth Maul
I think these and the other showings I cited for Maul can collectively stand to Anakin's higher end showings, but there is room for interpretation.
Log in to comment