What if Darth Maul was General Grievous?

 

Recently I read a screenrant post about how George Lucas considered a certain twist for the prequel series. He considered that General Grievous was Darth Maul behind the armor after he was cut in half by Obi-Wan. This made me think how would Stars Wars be different if Darth Maul was General Grievous. This post will go over hypothetical connections that can lead one to believe that Darth Maul is General Grievous and what changes would happen if they were the same.

In Star Wars episode I, The Phantom Menace,  we were first introduced to a lightsaber wielder using a double bladed lightsaber, Darth Maul. It was an epic fight between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi where Maul lost after being cut in half by Obi-Wan soon after Maul killed Qui-Gon. Let’s just assume that Palpatine went out to retrieve his apprentice like he did with Anakin in episode III, Revenge of the Sith, and found out that Maul was useless for loosing half of his body but reconstructs him for a war he is about to start (aka the clone wars). It takes time for Maul to become cyborg because no one has done it before. Darth Maul name is retracted because he is not powerful with the force to be considered a Sith and goes back to his original name, Grievous. While his construction was occurring Palpatine finds his new apprentice (because there is only two sith a master and his apprentice) Darth Tyranus, Count Dooku, and starts the Clone Wars.

Soon after the Clone Wars starts General Grievous enters and kills off jedi and collects lightsabers. Why does he collect them? Because he is not permitted to wield a sith lightsaber anymore and he knows that two lightsabers was not enough to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi, so four lightsabers should be sufficient to kill him.

If you watch the 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars animated show we learn how terrifying Grievous was to the other jedi. He was able to take out groups of Jedi by himself. If that was Maul it makes sense because it takes multiple Jedi to take down a sith, even a former one. In the show we see that Grievous trains with Count Dooku and looses to him because he can’t use the force anymore which is a disadvantage even with four arms, yet he trains because he wants revenge on the person who took his took away his inheritance as a sith, but then everything changes when he faces against Mace Windu who crushed Grievous’ lungs causing him to have that iconic wheezing that he had in Revenge of the Sith and the other Star Wars Clone Wars and became the coward he is because he realizes that no matter how hard he tries he alone cannot defeat strong Jedi, like Kenobi.

This leads to Maul (General Grievous) true death at Utapau in Revenge of the Sith. Grievous is cornered and uses his army to attempt to kill Kenobi as he flees. He couldn’t escape and dies in an uncivilized manner, a blaster.

In my opinion it is a good thing that Darth Maul didn’t end up being General Grievous. Even though General Grievous came out of no where in the prequel movies, the depth they give him in the animated shows was good and the depth they gave Maul was great. Also, if they were the same, then Kenobi kill count would drop by one (spoilers).