Darth Maul's robot legs: A definitive Star Wars timeline

With the character finally set to get his moment in the spotlight with Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord right around the corner, what better time to look at the weird (and kinda wonderful) history of Maul and his many kick-ass pairs of prosthetics?

Humanoid Legs: 54 BBY - 32 BBY

In the 2014 Dark Horse comic Star Wars: Darth Maul — Son of Dathomir, we see that a younger Maul was born with normal, functioning humanoid legs. Despite the brutality of his life and eventually serving as Sheev Palpatine's Sith apprentice, Maul managed to keep these legs fairly unscathed.

That is, until the Zabrak came face-to-face with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace. After being dispatched to Naboo to assassinate Padmé Amidala, Maul ends up in a tense stand-off with the two Jedi. The following duel is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic in all of Star Wars history and showcases Maul's live-action actor, Ray Park, in impressive swordplay and acrobatics.

While Maul does strike and kill Qui-Gon Jinn during the duel, he meets his match against Obi-Wan, who slashes through Maul's middle, bisecting him and sending both halves of the Zabrak thudding down a reactor shaft. Thus goes the winning streak of those particular legs.

Spider Legs: Sometime between 32 BBY - 22 BBY

After being assumed dead for 10 years, Maul's ability to survive despite the truly extraordinary bad odds is unveiled for the first time in The Clone Wars episode “Brothers.”

Mother Talzin, the matriarch of a coven of witches known as Nightsisters, tasks a Nightbrother named Savage Oppress with finding Maul. Savage discovers him on a planet known as one of the galaxy's many dumping grounds, Lotho Minor. Unfortunately, there's a big catch: Maul's isolation and desire for vengeance against "Kenobi" have driven him to madness. But wait, there is an upside: sometime after his duel with Obi-Wan, Maul has fashioned himself some sickeningly cool spider legs.

Made from scrap by Darth Maul himself, the legs are surprisingly functional despite Maul, as far as we know, not being particularly mechanically inclined. But when you hate as hard as he does, it's no surprise that even legs made out of junk are able to move around with that much ease.

Besides, what's better than two legs? Six, clearly.

Nightbrother Magic Claw Legs: Somewhere between 22 BBY - 19 BBY

After finally finding Maul and earning his trust, Savage brings Maul back home to Dathomir in the Clone Wars episode “Revenge.” They are both received by Mother Talzin.

Seeing that Maul wasn't likely to live much longer without their help, the witches rebuild the ex-Sith Lord. With their magic as well as salvaged parts, the Nightsisters replaced Maul's six legs with two (a normal amount, but not half as cool) metal ones that had claw-like grips. While the spider legs were great at piercing enemies and allies alike, these new ones enabled Maul to have a firmer grip — with lethal effect.

Mandalorian-issue Humanoid Legs: 19 BBY - 2 BBY

You would think that with grippy legs, Maul would be sorted on leg upgrades for the rest of his life. Alas, that isn't the case. After encountering both Jedi and pirates on Florrum in The Clone Wars episode “Eminence,” Maul and his brother Savage are left fighting for their lives. They manage to get away in an escape pod, but not before Maul gets sliced and diced by a lightsaber, sending his shiny new legs hurtling off into space.

But thanks to Maul's incredible luck and cockroach-like resilience, he and his brother are rescued from certain death by Pre Vizla, the leader of the splinter fascist Mandalorian cell known as Death Watch. It is at this Death Watch camp that both Maul and Savage are treated, with the former receiving brand-new Mandalorian-grade prosthetics. While they may look like a regular set of legs — and thus lose all the cool factor of the previous — as Din Djarin proved in The Mandalorian with his beskar armor upgrade, Mandalorian materials are nothing to turn your nose up at.

It remains to be seen whether Maul's long history of prosthetic legs will be mentioned in Shadow Lord. Since Maul’s upcoming show takes place shortly after Revenge of the Sith (during the Mandalorian beskar legs era) and centers on his efforts to rebuild his criminal syndicate on Janix, it’s likely he’ll get into many fights with the gangs already on the planet. Considering that he appears to have Shadow Collective Mandalorians like Rook Kast supporting him, if his legs are ever in danger during the series, at least he will have someone looking out for him. Of course, given Maul’s last appearance in Star Wars: Rebels, we assume his legs will remain (fairly) safe throughout Shadow Lord.