3. What Darth Sidious Was Looking For In The Ultimate Apprentice
Forgetting what we know about Star Wars for a few minutes, lets look at where we are at the start of Phantom Menace. A hidden enemy (Darth Sidious) has been making plans to take over the galaxy. Hes a Sith and the Sith can only work in twos, because theyll kill each other if there are more. As we enter the events of Episode 1, we are presented with Darth Maul. The ultimate apprentice. Loyal, powerful. highly skilled and in on the plan for Sith dominance. At last we will have revenge. Maul is the ultimate Sith. He's very much a blueprint for what Papaltine needs in a follower but of course Obi-Wan puts a stopper on that one. In Maul we can see what Sidious would want out of Anakin. He's Maul with power. The training is there already and all he needs is to turn him. Because of this, as the Saga advances we can see just how much of a disappointment it must have been when Anakin was reduced to the suit and of course why Palpatine's eye turns towards Luke Skywalker. As we move through the prequels, well look at how Sith politics inform us of what Vaders and Palpatine's larger intentions were in the Original Trilogy but as at Episode I, were given a blueprint for how the Sith operate and how theres one pulling the strings while the other one mingles with the puppets, very much the continued case in the original trilogy.