Darth Maul: Apprentice is a 2016 Star Wars Fan Film set prior to The Phantom Menace in which the eponymous Sith warrior first appeared. It shows Maul's Rite of Passage as a Sith Lord as he is pitted against a Jedi scouting force on a remote world.
The film was praised by fans for its dynamic battle choreogrphy that, according to some, is even an improvement over The Phantom Menace. It can be found here
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Tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. Maul is portrayed as a nigh unstoppable killing machine who can duel six Jedi at once, with several masters among them at that, and win. His original cinematic incarnation from The Phantom Menace is slightly less impressive by comparison, as he ultimately loses to a padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi in the climactic fight on Naboo, albeit in large part only because of letting his arrogance get the better of him when he had Obi-Wan at his mercy after slaying Qui-Gon with relative ease.
- Bait the Dog: Maul hesitates against the heartbroken female padawan and he clearly goes easy on her when she musters the will to fight him solo, indicating that he does have a shred of conscience left. But in the end, a Sith's gotta do what a Sith's gotta do. Besides which, he knows that his Master is watching him.
- Beam-O-War: Maul and the female padawan start exchanging Force Pushes until the two Force Push at the same time, causing an explosion that blows Maul back a few feet and knocks down the Padawan. The situation is not unlike part of the final fight from Revenge of the Sith.
- Big Damn Heroes: Despite having a burning hole in his chest, the Jedi Berserker somehow gets back to his feet just in time to distract Maul from killing the Jedi Padawan. He can only Hold the Line for so long, however, and is promptly cut down by Maul.
- Big Red Devil: Darth Maul's countenance is even more satanic here than in the films. His Sith tattoos are a more vibrant shade of red, and he's portrayed as an implacable monster on the battlefield.
- Blood Knight: The Apprentice's master really seems more interested in testing his mettle against Maul than either covering her or getting away. It doesn't end well for him, as you can probably guess.
- The Cavalry: Darth Maul has the female padawan lying on the floor with his blade ready, when the Berserker Jedi pops out of nowhere and attacks Maul from behind.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: The Jedi somewhat suffer from having six of them, allowing Maul to pick them off one by one.
- Combat Pragmatist: Darth Maul does not mess around when it comes to fighting like other Sith might. No gloating, no taunts, no playing with his opponents for him; he goes straight for the kill, whether he needs to cut them apart, blast them with the Force, or kick them in the gut. And, if need be, he'll call in aid (in this case, droids) to keep his opponents occupied while he continues to pick them off.
- Cool Mask: The Jedi Berserker wears a striking black mask that electronically alters his voice. It is quite similar in shape to Sub-Zero's.
- Death Glare: The Jedi Berserker's permanent expression. His mouth-covering mask emphasises his eyes all the more.
- Doomed by Canon: Well, considering the Jedi as a whole had no clue about the Sith until The Phantom Menace...
- Dual Wielding: The Berserker normally wields only one lightsaber, but once he has to fight Maul alone, he grabs one of his allies lightsabers and fights with two sabers at a time. You'd think he'd stick with his default style, but hey, he looked awesome doing it.
- Evil Mentor: Palpatine/Darth Sidious has been providing Maul with surveillance footage of the Jedi and having him practice deflecting laser fire, but for his final exam, Maul is tricked into getting ambushed by six psychic laser knights, forcing him to either die or kill the six innocents.
- Excuse Plot: A squad of Jedi are lured to a remote planet. An awesomely choreographed six-on-one duel against the franchise's resident Sith Breakout Villain ensues. That's not to say that the film doesn't have emotional stakes, however, as the Jedi protagonists are easily sympathetic.
- Failure Knight: As the lead Jedi Master dies to Maul's blade, a look of horror crosses his face as he realises that he has lead his apprentice to her death as well. He can only apologise to her before falling down.
- Final Girl: The last survivor happens to be a female Padawan. She is completely terrified of Maul but manages to escape the initial slaughter.
- Flynning: Most of the films run time is taken up by absurd, over-the-top fights between Maul and the Jedi, with everyone spinning around, hitting their swords right into each other, and flipping around just because it's looks really cool. It is very much in the style of the lightsaber duel from the climax of The Phantom Menace.
- Force-Choke:
- In order to put less pressure on himself, Maul telepathically chokes the female padawan while lifting her far higher in the air than Vader ever did, provoking her master to attack Maul and leaving her to fall hard into the ground.
- At the very end of the battle with the Jedi, Maul chokes the female padawan until she's on her knees, leaving her helpless as Maul finishes her off.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since this a film that takes place before the events of The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul will pretty much survive and kill every Jedi out to dispatch him.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: The "Berserker Jedi," as the character is listed on iMdb.com, gets carved into three pieces.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Despite already being mortally wounded, the Berserker Jedi gets a Heroic Second Wind long enough to hold off Maul so the Padawan can escape. It still doesn't save her, but points for the effort of managing to fight with a gaping hole in his abdomen.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Darth Sidious needed to see if Maul was really vicious enough to destroy the Jedi, so he set it up so Maul would have to personally kill six young people. The best example is right at the end, when Maul has to murder the crying, defeated padawan who Maul clearly sympathizes with.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Maul doles this out to a few of the Jedi.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: The biggest injury Darth takes during his fifteen minute battle with six different laser knights is a small cut on his sleeve, which still worries him enough to force a tactical retreat.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Maul runs him through, the Apprentice's master snaps out of his frenzy and realizes just how badly he messed up by not taking his pupil's advice and running for it. His last words to her are a heartfelt apology.
- Non-Indicative Name: Sorta. While he is a fierce fighter, the Berserker never seems to lose control of himself in combat. Instead, it's the Apprentice's master who appears to go berserk, with predictable results.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Padawan of the last Jedi still alive begs her master to take the opportunity to escape when Darth Maul retreats. He refuses and instead decides to go after the Sith. Unsurprisingly, it costs both him and his Padawan their lives.
- Parrying Bullets: Two of the Jedi end up distracted from the main fight by two probe droids that rapidly fire lasers at them. Being Jedi, they don't even come close to getting hit by virtue of swinging their swords where the bullets will land.
- Redemption Rejection: Ultimately, Maul has the choice to either act on his sympathy and spare the final Jedi or he can slaughter them and truly be a Sith Lord. Anyone familiar with the source material knows his choice.
- Rite of Passage: Darth Sidious deliberately lured the six Jedi to Maul to test whether he is ready to become a real Sith Lord.
- Suddenly Speaking: Darth Maul says only three words at the very end of the film. For the rest of the time, his emotions are conveyed purely through facial expressions.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Despite having lost three Jedi over the course of the battle, the padawan's master isn't dissuaded and insists that they have to destroy Maul for the safety of the Galaxy. They all fail.
- Surveillance Drone: A black drone with a red eye watches Maul's battle with the Jedi from afar, implied to be broadcasting the entire ordeal directly to Maul's Sith master.
- The Worf Effect: The Jedi are not quite up to the level of the masters from the canon films, serving as a means to show just how much of a badass Maul is. Justified as at this point in the timeline, the Jedi haven't dealt with the Sith in a millennium. Even a master of Qui-Gon's caliber had his hands full with Maul.
