Darth Maul’s Personal Mantra Perfectly Explains Why Star Wars Allowed the Sith to Defeat the Jedi

One of Star Wars’ most compelling and powerful Sith Lords, Darth Maul is a persistent menace whose Sith Code perfectly mirrors Palpatine and the Empire’s rise in power. One of Palpatine’s earliest apprentices, Maul knew enough of his master’s plan to predict the Republic’s fall and Darth Vader’s ascension well before Order 66. If the Jedi Order had paid more attention to Maul’s creed, they may have seen their destruction coming.

Star Wars: Darth Maul – Death Sentence – by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo – is a Legends-era comic miniseries that follows Maul and Savage Opress as the brothers are forced to deal with the consequences of a bounty placed on Maul’s head.

Momentarily pausing their reign of terror in the Outer Rim, the Sith Lords have tracked down the person who ordered the hit. After inscribing the military might of the local population, Maul and Opress lay waste to their enemy’s forces. In the midst of the lethal chaos, Maul proudly recites his Sith mantra to his brother:

“We move as Sith. We move in confusion. We move in fear. We move in chaos.”

Confusion: Dooku’s Formation of the Confederacy Destabilized the Status Quo

Star Wars: Darth Maul – Death Sentence #1-4 – Written by Tom Taylor; Art by Bruno Redondo; Colors by Michael Atiyeh; Lettering by Michael Heisler; Cover Art by Dave Dorman

“We move in confusion.”

Confusion, fear, and chaos. These three concepts define Palpatine’s decades-long plan to overthrow the Galactic Republic and install a Sith-led government. Long before the rise of the Empire, Palpatine needed a justification that the Republic rally behind to peacefully turn itself over. Of course, this would come in the form of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Inciting a surge of revolutionary rhetoric among those dissatisfied with the rampant corruption within the Senate, Dooku inspired several independent systems and banking clans to turn against the Republic.

In the galaxy’s tense final moments before the ignition of the Clone Wars, no place felt safe. Neighboring Confederate systems were swarmed with battle droids and previously safe hyperspace lanes were cut off by Separatist blockades. Companies and governments affiliated with the Republic could no longer rely on the banking clans, destabilizing large portions of the galactic economy. Tracing back to a single speech delivered by an ex-Jedi, the galaxy had become engulfed in distrust in both the centralized government and their militant lapdogs, the Jedi.

Fear: The Clone Wars Turned the Jedi Into Official Militants

The Jedi Were No Longer Paragons of Peace, All According to Palpatine’s Plan

“We move in fear.”

All-out war soon consumed the galaxy, as confusion turned into terror. Entire populations of clones were grown, raised, and killed for the sake of the Republic. Casual genocide had become an art of war. Planetary economies crashed without stable trade routes. And the Jedi had been perverted into dogs of war. Nothing was off limits during the war and no one was safe. While the films and television shows did a fair enough job at depicting the slow-burning terror of the Clone Wars, the comics’ storytelling thrived.

Legends series like Star Wars: Republic expertly depicts the exhaustion and distrust that had spread throughout the galaxy and the Jedi. The Jedi, in their teachings, are not meant for war. They are peacekeepers, forced to throw away their dogma and lead soldiers to their deaths. Children like Anakin and Ahsoka were forced to become militant leaders and transformed into killers. The Jedi had been made to fear the concept of the Separatist movement and the power of “fallen Jedi” like Count Dooku. All according to his plan, the Emperor wanted the galaxy to fear itself and its peacekeepers-turned-soldiers.

Chaos: Order 66, For Many, Was a Promise of Safety

Palpatine Vilified the Jedi, Turning the Galaxy Against Them

“We move in chaos.”

By the issuance of Order 66, the Jedi had become as Palpatine had hoped they would. No longer arbitrators of peace, the Jedi were considered powerful and violent religious fanatics. The Jedi Order had become synonymous with war and death. Meanwhile, both the Republic and the Confederacy had exhausted their resources. When it came time to blame a new enemy for the failures of both sides, the Jedi were perfect targets. Order 66 made the Jedi the scapegoats, offering the galaxy a common enemy to unify against. Leveraging the collapsing pillars of galactic society, the Empire promised safety amidst chaos.

Looking back at Maul’s mantra and tactical philosophy, every element of Darth Sidious’s rise to power can be found hidden in Maul’s words. Everything the Sith Lord knew and believed had been implanted into him by Palpatine. The Sith needed the galaxy to be confused, afraid, and disorganized to gain the leverage to overthrow the old government and the Jedi. Had the Jedi Order taken Darth Maul more seriously at the time, they may have seen the patterns that inevitably led to their fall.