Great thread, ILS. Hats off, you covered an impressive amount of bases with this one.
One subject you touched on was Maul's disuse of Lightning and posted an image of a source saying he does know that power. We know from Restraint that while still at the Orsis academy Maul hoped to perfect his mastery to learn that one day:
Swept up in the grip of sadistic delight, he kept firing, the dark side writhing through him like an aggrieved serpent.
And one day he would be able to unleash bolts of electricity from his fingertips!
--Restraint
It's obvious Maul is aware of the concept of such a power, but he just hasn't learned it in his teens yet. When he did or how well he did is a bit unclear since we never see him use it (your Insider scan notwithstanding). I don't think this is a jab against Maul though when you consider that the author of Restraint is James Luceno, and in Darth Plagueis, Luceno offers this rather curious description about mastering Force Lightning through Plagueis:
"In order to summon and use lightning properly, you will someday have to be on the receiving end of its power, as a means of taking the energy inside yourself."
--Darth Plagueis
I think that's kind of silly myself since many characters learn Lightning without being first a victim to it, but it could just be that Plagueis himself doesn't know of another way to teach Force Lightning. It's possible Sidious or any number of other Sith Lords did. Regardless, the reason I brought this up is because it's possible, under Luceno's pen, that Maul doesn't know Lightning simply because he hasn't yet undergone its effects, and this could be a justification for Maul's lack of use of it. Take it as you will.
Since you posted a source that confirms Maul's dark side knowledge far outstripped Mighella's, who blasted him with Lightning, his lack of use of Lightning is hardly damning in Legends, especially when we consider how Lightning has been abused in the EU. In Legends, virtually anyone can use Lightning. Quinlan Vos instinctively used Lightning while struggling with the dark side, and Sith academy trainees on Korriban learned it as well. It doesn't carry the weight of import that it did initially.
In Canon and in the films themselves, I think Lightning is supposed to demonstrate mastery in the upper echelons of Force users because of it being originally the Emperor's signature power and then Dooku's boast to Obi-Wan and Yoda ("As you can see my Jedi powers are far beyond yours," "I've become more powerful than any Jedi...even you."). We never see Maul or Pre-Mustafar Vader exhibit Lightning, maybe because they lack the polish in Force mastery to. In TCW, Ventress, Savage, Barriss, and whatever other Dark Jedi I'm forgetting about also don't display Lightning. It was supposed to be a more unique power transcending the usual lot of Jedi, not a power that a Sith Lord's mother might accidentally zap herself with while brewing a pot of tea.
Even early EU treated it this way too, if you think about it. In Tales of the Jedi, the sorcerers and Sith Lords would project all kinds of energies but not exactly Lightning (this has since been retconned, I know, and Sith Lords like Exar Kun can fire Lightning). Many Bantam Star Wars novels featuring a dark sider villain didn't show them harnessing electricity either. In Canon, I think it just shows that Maul's Force mastery may not be the equal of someone like the Emperor's or possibly Dooku's, but nothing more. It doesn't say anything about the amount of power he can bring to bear.
Very comprehensive respect thread(s) for Yoda. I wish I had the time to fill in what I was missing when I was making one for him. This really is the definitive Yoda thread. Great work.
I would offer this as another accolade for Yoda's lightsaber skills.
With a stooped, small appearance, Yoda may not look like a great warrior, but his skills with a lightsaber were unequaled.
--Taken from Lightsabers: A Guide to Weapons of the Force
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