Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber

Darth Maul constructed his double-bladed lightsaber due to certain circumstances. He was dispatched to the Jentares system to assassinate the isolated Jedi Master Siolo Ur Manka, but Maul realized he was not physically strong enough to compete with the warrior. Their first fight ended with Maul being struck in the face with his adversary's Force-imbued staff and subsequently disarmed. Knowing he could not win through physical strength, Maul relied on his strategic abilities, deciding to surprise his opponent.

Maul returned to his ship and used the Sith schematics he had available to construct two individual lightsabers. Maul then welded the two weapons together, resulting in his new lightsaber. Because Maul's lightsaber was made up of two weapons joined at the pommels, they shared identical designs. The modulation circuitry and activator were located directly below the beam emitter and projection plate on both weapons. A control lock and a small, ridged handgrip were located next to the activator. The control for blade modulation was next, with a second set of control locks directly beneath it. The joint between the two lightsabers was located in the weapon's center.

Maul took great pride in how he fashioned the crystals for his weapon. He created four synthetic lightsaber crystals in a compression furnace, then meditated deeply for four days, utilizing the Force to manage and observe the crystals' formation.

Maul returned to the jungle planet and approached Manka once more, who was prepared for him. Manka criticized Maul's lack of honor or artistry, preferring pure skill, and took up a fighting stance, giving Maul one last chance to escape. Maul activated one of his weapon's blades. Manka attacked first, charging with his staff. Maul narrowly dodged before countering. Seeing no need to delay, Maul used the same tactic he had used before, allowing himself to be disarmed. As Maul caught the weapon in his left hand, Manka rushed inside the Sith Lord's guard, pinning Maul's extended arm and the "pommel" of his lightsaber against the Jedi's back while holding his staff to Maul's throat.

Manka declared Maul defeated, stating he could crush Maul's throat long before the Sith Lord could attack with his lightsaber. However, Manka was completely taken by surprise when Maul activated the second blade of his weapon, igniting it through the Jedi's chest. As he died in Maul's arms, Manka inquired if the Sith Lord had used some kind of trick. Maul responded that he had simply achieved victory.

Darth Sidious was genuinely impressed by Maul's ingenuity and suggested Maul name the weapon, predicting it would "tell great tales." Maul declined, believing the weapon was merely an instrument of murder, much like himself.

Sometime in 33 BBY, Sidious matched Maul against the Force-sensitive Drovian Silus, sending Maul to an unknown planet in the Outer Rim. Silus was a large, savage brute who used the Force for financial gain by fighting weaker opponents in a dueling ring. Sidious offered to take Silus on as his new apprentice if he could kill Maul. Maul located the Drovian and, after showing him a holo-message from his master offering Silus Maul's position, the two began to fight. A nullifier field surrounding the dueling ring prevented the use of energy weapons, rendering Maul's lightsaber useless and forcing them to fight using only the Force and unarmed combat techniques. Sidious's offer to replace Maul with Silus alarmed and unnerved his apprentice, causing a near-fatal lapse in focus that allowed Silus to gain the advantage.

Maul ultimately prevailed by tapping into his rage, using the Force to overload the field and his lightsaber to end Silus's life. Darth Sidious then revealed to Maul that the ordeal had been a test.

Maul fought with the lightsaber during his final test at the end of his training. He was abandoned on a remote planet in the Outer Rim and forced to survive alone while being hunted by swarms of assassin droids. After a month, Sidious returned and challenged his apprentice to a lightsaber duel.

Maul, weak and starving, quickly lost. Sidious then threw Maul's lightsaber aside, told Maul he had failed, and revealed he had been secretly training another apprentice to replace Maul. Maul was overwhelmed by rage and hatred, and in a final act of defiance, he lunged forward and bit his master's hand. After spitting the blood back into his master's face in contempt, Maul realized he was no match for the Dark Lord of the Sith, and when his emotions subsided, he prepared for death. Sidious struck Maul with his lightsaber, but did not kill him, as it was only a training lightsaber. Sidious then laughed. By wanting to kill his own master, Maul had passed the final test. There was no other apprentice. Sidious declared him to be Darth Maul, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and took him to a new home on Coruscant.

Darth Sidious dispatched Maul to destroy the leaders of the Black Sun crime syndicate after a brief training session with several of his Duelist Elite droids, because the organization's influence was significant enough to concern Sidious. Maul fought his way through the nine Vigos and confronted and killed the bodyguard Sinya and the Dathomiri Nightsister Mighella. He beheaded Sinya, despite her skillful use of her twin Guard shotos. Mighella fought him with a Darksword, but was eventually disarmed. Maul resisted her subsequent blast of Force lightning and cut her in two.

Maul longed to defeat Jedi, and his wish was finally granted when he pursued the Neimoidian Hath Monchar. While he successfully killed Monchar, the Neimoidian managed to sell sensitive information about Darth Sidious to information broker Lorn Pavan. Maul pursued Pavan, inadvertently drawing the attention of two Jedi due to the disturbance in the Force caused by his actions.

A speeder chase ensued, with Maul pursuing the Jedi and Pavan on the Bloodfin. One of the Jedi, Anoon Bondara, attempted to turn the tables by leaping off their speeder at Maul. The two crashed on a nearby platform, beginning a fast-paced duel. Bondara ended the fight by ramming his lightsaber into the power core of Maul's bike, destroying it. Maul survived and continued pursuing Pavan. However, before he could capture him, Bondara's Padawan, Darsha Assant, attacked him. Unable to defeat the Sith Lord, she ended the fight as her master had, detonating several explosive barrels.

Maul eventually caught up with Pavan, slicing off his hand, but Pavan escaped. Although he achieved his goal, he only brought his information back to the original mastermind: Darth Sidious.

Darth Maul was dispatched to Tatooine during the Naboo Crisis to retrieve the escaped Queen Amidala. He arrived planetside and deployed his probe droids to locate her before attacking.

Maul attacked as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn returned to their ship from Mos Espa with Anakin Skywalker. Maul charged Jinn on his speederbike, then leapt off and quickly attacked. He activated only one blade of his weapon and quickly pressed the attack, rapidly gaining ground on Jinn. He likely would have defeated the Jedi Master then and there if his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, had not decided to rescue him.

Kenobi had the Queen's pilot guide the ship over to the duel, allowing Jinn to leap aboard and escape. Maul was left fuming on the desert floor.

While Queen Amidala pleaded her case before the Senate, Palpatine's manipulations ensured that the Senate took no action. Believing she had no other option, she returned to Naboo to lead an insurgency against the Trade Federation occupation. Maul was dispatched to Naboo to fight the Jedi.

Maul revealed himself as the Battle of Naboo raged and the insurgency, aided by the Jedi, stormed the palace. He blocked the rebels' path to the throne room from the hangar, brandishing his lightsaber. He held it out as if offering it for inspection, then ignited both ends. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi activated their blades and attacked.

While the insurgents took an alternate route, Maul's duel with the Jedi tore through the hangar. Maul held off his dual adversaries and guided the fight towards one of the hangar exits, entering the adjacent Theed Generator Complex. As the battle raged on the narrow catwalks above the reactor floor hundreds of meters below, Maul realized he could not defeat his opponents while they were together.

Maul decided to separate them and leapt onto one of the overhead catwalks. He engaged the Jedi above and kicked Kenobi aside. Kenobi was knocked off the catwalk and fell two levels down, landing on one of the lower platforms. Jinn retaliated with a backhand swipe that knocked Maul off the catwalk to a lower level. Jinn leapt after Maul, bringing his blade to the prone Sith Lord's throat, hoping to end the fight quickly. Maul kicked Jinn in the thigh and quickly regained his feet. Jinn quickly took the initiative, driving Maul back with a resolute offense. Maul was forced to give ground, retreating into the laser gated security hall leading to one of the cooling pits as Jinn pressed the attack, with Kenobi in staunch pursuit. Their battle was briefly interrupted when the laser gates activated, trapping each combatant in a separate cell. Maul tested the walls with his lightsaber blade and, finding them impenetrable, extinguished the weapon.

Kenobi began patching his wounds with strips of cloth torn from his robe; Jinn knelt down in meditation; and Maul paced his cell like a caged animal. When the walls opened again, Jinn surged to his feet and again pressed the attack, driving Maul back to the rim of the cooling pit. However, Jinn's momentum finally waned, leaving him vulnerable, and Kenobi was still separated by the last laser gate. In the confined space of the narrow pit rim, Jinn was unable to adequately counter-attack, so Maul drove him back with a focused offense. Kenobi was forced to watch as Maul struck Jinn in the face with his saberstaff hilt before whirling and shoving his lightsaber into Jinn's gut.

Maul turned to Kenobi, waiting for the wall to open. The two reignited their lightsabers seconds before it opened, and then Kenobi charged out in a rage-fueled frenzy. Kenobi caught the experienced Sith Lord off guard, rapidly gaining ground. He used an elaborate feint to trick Maul into bringing his lightsaber into a horizontal position, then slashed the weapon in half with a swift undercut, knocking the nonfunctional half of the weapon into the wall.

Maul was knocked to the ground by Kenobi's follow-up kick, but he held his grip on the functioning half of the weapon. He regained his feet and retreated with a series of leaping twirls, creating distance between the two to regain his composure. Maul turned and countered with a sequence of swift strikes, following up with a kick to Kenobi's face, wielding his single blade. He deflected Kenobi's counter and leapt over a strike at his legs, then pressed the attack again. After another brief series of chops and blocks, Kenobi performed a rapid overhand, locking blades with Maul. Maul broke the lock, shoving aside Kenobi's blade before blasting him in the face with a Force push. Kenobi was thrown off his feet and fell into the pit, grabbing hold of an inactive input nozzle.

Darth Maul loomed above, triumphant. He kicked the Padawan's lightsaber into the pit and hacked at the rim with his single blade to shower Kenobi with sparks in an attempt to dislodge him. However, Maul lowered his guard, believing he had won, giving Kenobi an opening. Kenobi threw himself up and out of the pit, summoning Qui-Gon's fallen lightsaber. He flipped above and over Maul, cutting the Sith Lord in half at the waist, eliciting a shocked and pained flinch from Darth Maul. Maul extinguished his lightsaber and fell back, tumbling down the pit with a muted yell.

Despite his severe injuries, Darth Maul retained the functioning half of the lightsaber during his escape to Lotho Minor via a garbage-disposal ship on Naboo. Once on Lotho Minor, Maul used the lightsaber to cut his way out of the garbage tube he had been sealed into and to destroy a Fire-breather, saving the life of Morley. The lightsaber was later stored while he attempted to recover parts to replace his lost limbs. However, over the next twelve years, Maul descended into insanity due to prolonged isolation and the overwhelming humiliation of his defeat.

During the Clone Wars, Savage Opress, Maul's long-lost brother, was sent on a quest in 21 BBY by Talzin of the Nightsisters to find Maul for training in the dark side. After a vicious brawl between the siblings, Opress convinced his brother that he was an ally and to come to Dathomir with him, retrieving Maul's lightsaber from the Sith Lord's scrap-cave before departing.

After Maul was brought to Dathomir and healed by Talzin, Opress returned the lightsaber to him. Maul then plotted a trap to lure Obi-Wan Kenobi to them by killing innocents on Raydonia in the Outer Rim.

Kenobi traveled to Raydonia, where he was met by Maul and ambushed by both brothers. Opress quickly rendered Obi-Wan unconscious, and the two captured him and brought him aboard their stolen vessel. Obi-Wan awoke and was tortured by the brothers until Asajj Ventress discovered him and freed him. The brothers engaged the two in lightsaber combat, but they soon realized they were outmatched. Under Obi-Wan's leadership, they escaped, with Maul advising Savage to be patient.

The weapon would later be used against the Jedi Masters Grohto, Ko Solok, and Bruu Jun-Fan on Pleem's Nexus, Paklan, and Orto Norwe sometime later in 20 BBY. It was also used against several bounty hunters. Afterwards, Maul and Opress caused chaos throughout the galaxy, engaging Jedi Masters Salmara, Judd, and Padawan Dray on Moorjhone. Maul used the saber to sever Dray's hands. Maul killed Finn Ertay at an unidentified Outer Rim spaceport with the lightsaber.

Maul later used the lightsaber when he and Opress raided the Cybloc Transfer Station, destroying several security droids. Maul used it in a brief duel against his brother during a power struggle for the status of teacher and student. Maul sought to recruit pirates above Florrum, and when the pirates led by Jiro mistook them for Jedi, Maul used the blade to swat aside blaster fire, quickly ending the skirmish and forming an alliance. Shortly after, he used it in a duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi on Florrum.

Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan later discovered Maul and Opress near death in their escape pod above Florrum. Vizsla had them taken to their camp on Zanbar for treatment, and he kept the weapon briefly before returning it to Maul after they formed an alliance.

Maul fought alongside Opress and Vizsla on Nal Hutta against several bounty hunters sent after them by Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Maul later used it during the takeover of the New Mandalorian capital city of Sundari, and then in a duel with Pre Vizsla. The weapon was knocked out of his hand near the end of the duel, but Maul used the Darksaber to decapitate his fallen opponent.

He would later use it against his former master Darth Sidious during the battle.

Hasbro has produced a Force FX lightsaber modeled after Darth Maul's damaged lightsaber. The lightsaber includes an adapter that allows collectors to combine it with a second battle-damaged lightsaber to create the complete weapon. The lightsaber is programmed with digitally recorded sounds from the movie, including the power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down sounds. It also features power-up and power-down light effects.

The artwork "Rancor," created by Arantzazu Martinez for the book Star Wars Art: Visions, depicts a regally dressed woman reaching for a lightsaber inside a rancor pit. The woman's lightsaber, which is partially buried in the sand, appears visually identical to Darth Maul's lightsaber.

On the cover of Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Darth Zannah's lightsaber is the same as Darth Maul's.