Why the Hero of Umbara is Bruu-Lee Fan

The Hero of Umbara is a rising Jedi Padawan as of the start of the Clone Wars. Within a year or two, he has fought and defeated almost every notable Jedi in a sparring duel. S3 Anakin even tells him, "Some say your skill with a lightsaber rivals my own," clearly showing there's some legitimacy behind the duels. He goes on to force ~ 21 BBY Dooku to a stalemate, then carves through the Umbaran Sith Academy and defeats both Maul and Savage between S4 and S5 in ~ 20 BBY.

In The Sith Hunters comic, set not long after the Umbara victory, the Jedi Council devises a strike team to again tackle Maul and Savage. Plo Koon immediately recommends Bruu Jun-Fan--a character we've never heard about before--and says his "expertise would be most suitable for this mission." Mace cautions that Bruu is young and inexperienced. Yoda responds that he makes up for his inexperience "with skill" and that his Force-combat abilities are "unparalleled in the galaxy."

- Bruu has unique expertise that is most suitable for fighting Maul. Granted, that could just be referring to his overall abilities (though why not nominate Yoda?) or more specifically his H2H abilities (though Plo likely would not be familiarity with Maul's obsession with H2H, especially considering he doesn't use it commonly in his duels), but it could also be a reference to him already having proven success and experience beating Maul (via being the Hero). Food for thought as we continue. 

- The Hero undergoes unprecedented rank and power progression within a few years, matching Mace labeling Bruu as young and inexperienced despite somehow already being a Jedi Master. And note it's in-character for Mace to be skeptical about a prodigy's abilities and consistency, like he is with Anakin. 

- And despite Bruu's inexperience, he has still developed insane skill and unprecedented H2H abilities. The Hero likewise doesn't seem to do anything until the Clone Wars starts, he's then thrown into a handful of battles and spars, and suddenly he's already matching Dooku and beating Maul. Lots of connections here.

Feel read to read the exchange for yourself: 

(1) link

(2) link

Then as for his actual second fight with Maul ...



Mocks Maul mid-fight.



Lands a good blow on Maul while Maul was looking at him.



Matches Maul's physical strength while smiling. 



Manages to literally overpower and strangle Maul in that grapple.



And only dies due to a cheap-shot of Maul's legs.

Overall, he shows superiority to Maul across the entire fight.  

His death also explains why we don't hear anything else about the Hero later in the war, as he would have died not long after the end of his game.

Who is this Jedi Master that's young, has low experience, somehow insane skill, unprecedented combat abilities, is outclassing Maul himself in a fight, then dies? Probably the same earlier Jedi Knight that's young, has low experience, somehow insane skill, unprecedented combat abilities, already defeated Maul in a fight, then vanished.

THE HERO OF UMBARA. 

fuck it nigga, im voting for him next round

The only caveat is that Maul threw his lightsaber away to kill Ko Solok, which Bruu capitalized on.

But I can fuck with this. Why not.

Eh, even if we take HOU’s dodge of the saber throw as something Maul planned, I wouldn’t say Bruu has any circumstantial advantage from it considering he then deactivates his own lightsaber, charges a Maul staring at him, then beats him in H2H until the cheap-shot.

Hail HOU.

It's certainly a good look for him, but you're overstating it. Bruu gets a solid strike in because Maul has just thrown his weapon away to remove the second Jedi from the fight - his attention thus far has been split in half. If you know anything about fighting it's that momentum is important and the guy who lands the first blow has the advantage. So he keeps the advantage going by catching Maul's punch and... scratching him. He gets a hold of Maul's neck, but Maul trash talks him then oneshots him. If he had normal legs here, he would have still kicked him away and the fight would resume. I'm not exactly sure why it's a cheapshot... Bruu chose to put two hands around his neck and they were still fighting. But maybe you can explain that further!





If your case for Bruu being the HOU is predicated on the idea that the above showing makes him out to be someone who can take Maul and Savage at the same time, it's pretty weak. I found the comparisons about their age and quick rise to fame to be much more compelling, haha!

Well, if Maul's willingly throwing his lightsaber at Bruu and/or Solok, it follows that he would be aware of the fact he will be unarmed in the immediate aftermath. If he hits Bruu, great, but he's unarmed against Solok. If Bruu dodges it and it strikes Solok, like it does, he's unarmed against Bruu. Recall that Maul is the most rigorously trained Sith in history and hyper-intelligent. He's able to process, "Well, if I throw my lightsaber, I won't have my lightsaber anymore!" and prepare accordingly. 

After that happens, Bruu deactivates his lightsaber, crosses the distance between him and Maul (which seems to be somewhat notable considering Maul could even do a saber-throw at him), then strikes him. And this is a Maul, please recall, that is watching Bruu advance and attack the entire time. Bruu claims the advantage legitimately. And, yes, Bruu catching Maul's direct punch and holding it there while smiling is really impressive. It links back to how I said that the fight painted Bruu more favorably. 

Bruu's death is unrelated to an augmentation brawl and solely due to the unique way Maul's cybernetic legs can contract--ways neither human legs nor his later cybernetic legs can. If Maul had conventional legs, like TPM or S5, he wouldn't be able to get a kick in on Bruu while so close to him. And that's probably why unprecedented-Bruu went for the move in the first place, not expecting his cybernetic legs to contract like that. Spikes, too. Maybe a knee kick by Maul would work, but you'd have to convince me that would be able to kick him away. Seems especially hard to do when Bruu's standing upright. Unknown circumstantial leg bending sounds like a cheapshot to me! 

And if you don't think Bruu choking Maul out is legitimate because Maul blinked or whatever and that Maul is actually way better, then clearly him being the HOU doesn't fly, since the HOU beat down Maul and Savage combined after fighting hundreds of Sith disciples and another Sith Master on a dark side nexus. 

Hail HOU.

DarthAnt66 wrote:Well, if Maul's willingly throwing his lightsaber at Bruu and/or Solok, it follows that he would be aware of the fact he will be unarmed in the immediate aftermath. If he hits Bruu, great, but he's unarmed against Solok. If Bruu dodges it and it strikes Solok, like it does, he's unarmed against Bruu. Recall that Maul is the most rigorously trained Sith in history and hyper-intelligent. He's able to process, "Well, if I throw my lightsaber, I won't have my lightsaber anymore!" and prepare accordingly. 

Indeed. Has absolutely nothing to do with what I said, but cool.

DarthAnt66 wrote:After that happens, Bruu deactivates his lightsaber, crosses the distance between him and Maul (which seems to be somewhat notable considering Maul could even do a saber-throw at him), then strikes him. And this is a Maul, please recall, that is watching Bruu advance and attack the entire time. Bruu claims the advantage legitimately. And, yes, Bruu catching Maul's direct punch and holding it there while smiling is really impressive. It links back to how I said that the fight painted Bruu more favorably. 

Considering the fact they fight at a pace well beyond their ability to perceive clearly, and rely almost entirely on their Force awareness, I don't really see the relevance of this, but also cool. I don't think anyone denied that Bruu does well and momentarily seizes the advantage, I'm simply pointing out that you're overstating the impressiveness of this. I'm not sure why narrating each panel back to me is meant to alleviate this, haha. Again, just to make it crystal clear for ya - Bruu seizing a momentary advantage after Maul has thrown his weapon during a 2v1 fight, and then, as is often the case in martial arts, using that momentum to keep his advantage going, is not even close to the same realm as defeating Maul and Savage outright at the same time.

DarthAnt66 wrote:Bruu's death is unrelated to an augmentation brawl and solely due to the unique way Maul's cybernetic legs can contract--ways neither human legs nor his later cybernetic legs can. If Maul had conventional legs, like TPM or S5, he wouldn't be able to get a kick in on Bruu while so close to him.

I agree, and already acknowledged, that Maul's abnormal legs are what led to Bruu's untimely death, but I guess this is part of your ongoing panel-by-panel narration. I'm half expecting a script in the next post, aha! But this stuff about Maul's giant legs being more useful in CQC than his comparatively smaller ones? Is this is based on anything, or?

DarthAnt66 wrote:And that's probably why unprecedented-Bruu went for the move in the first place, not expecting his cybernetic legs to contract like that. Spikes, too. Maybe a knee kick by Maul would work, but you'd have to convince me that would be able to kick him away. Seems especially hard to do when Bruu's standing upright. Unknown circumstantial leg bending sounds like a cheapshot to me! 

Nobody has to show you anything, because you haven't backed anything you've said up with evidence. You're just getting a bit overzealous, as usual. Bruu is in the business of not being kicked, and yet there he is, lying sprawled out. You've given very little in the way of evidence to support the idea that this constitutes a cheapshot, a phrase almost-always reserved for a shot that takes place outside of combat.

DarthAnt66 wrote:And if you don't think Bruu choking Maul out is legitimate because Maul blinked or whatever and that Maul is actually way better, then clearly him being the HOU doesn't fly, since the HOU beat down Maul and Savage combined after fighting hundreds of Sith disciples and another Sith Master on a dark side nexus. 

The thing with ifs is, often enough, the if is actually just a strawman argument, as is the case here. But you are correct, and good to agree with me that, if we were to compare Bruu seizing a momentary advantage over Maul and then getting kicked to death to the Hero of Umbara running a Sith-school gauntlet before outright defeating the same chicken-legged Maul alongside Savage, you would leave feeling that the comparison is extremely weak, and one that would require no unimpressive amount of mental acrobatics to make with a straight face. That's why I'm thanking my lucky stars that you do agree with me, because that would be totally embarrassing, haha!

Not sure how it's circumstantial for chicken legs Maul to use his cybernetic legs, a part of his own body, to kick the Bruce Lee ripoff back, because chicken legs Maul isn't chicken legs Maul without those legs. If what you mean to say is that TPM Maul or Mandalorian legs Maul wouldn't have been able to replicate that because these versions of Maul don't have such elongated legs with claws, then sure, but he could still deliver a knee strike to break out of the choke hold, and the fight would continue.

> Maul uses a limb that's now a part of him.
> Maul using said limb is a cheap shot.

I don't really follow. In a brawl or H2H combat, it's normal for combatants to use everything at their disposal: hands, elbows, knees, etc. Why is Maul using his legs a cheap shot? I grant you that it was what won him the fight as that's literally what happened, but even if he had normal or his Mandalore arc legs, he would have knocked Bruu away and broken his momentum. 

Bruu's advantage here appears to be because he doesn't let up from an offensive. Before Maul can engage him again, he slams a metal bar (aka his lightsaber hilt) against the side of his face. Then, Maul catches a hit from him but is forced to take a scratch that draws blood. Bruu then apparently goes straight for Maul's throat, choking him before Maul kills him.

I feel like this duel is made out to be too brief to get a real sense of whether Bruu is superior to Maul or not. However, the rest of the case is very compelling and makes a lot of sense. 

@ILS @BoD @Latham2000

Consider the below panel with TPM Maul or S5 Maul.



Maul's not in any position to kick Bruu here. He can't. Bruu is too close. If he motions to do a kick, he'll generate no power or full backwards trying. Actually imagine yourself in Maul's situation, with Bruu less than a foot away from him and vertical with at least his upper torso, and try to get a good kick in. Not possible.



As shown brilliantly via Microsoft Paint, here is what S4 Maul can actually do though. While in an upright position, he can contract his leg all the way inwards, then push out to kill Bruu. Neither a human leg, nor Maul's later legs, nor really any other character's legs ever can contract like that. It's unique to just S4 Maul's legs.

Now, if you can sleep better at night calling it a "wowshot" instead of a "cheapshot" or whatever, sure, use that term. My usage is meant to stress it's an attack not indicative of superiority by Maul, but rather capitalizing on a very unique and circumstantial benefit of his legs that he could not replicate earlier or later in his life.

@ILS

Again, just to make it crystal clear for ya - Bruu seizing a momentary advantage after Maul has thrown his weapon during a 2v1 fight, and then, as is often the case in martial arts, using that momentum to keep his advantage going, 

There is no momentary advantage, lol. Maul's attention is not split. 



Maul is staring at both Bruu and Solok when he throws the lightsaber. The only split-second loss of attention is from Bruu, who snaps his head away from Maul to scream Solok's name. Recall that when Revan did this after Meetra was stabbed, Vitiate pounced with a lightning attack that downed him.

Meetra gasped and toppled forward, dead before she hit the floor. Revan’s head snapped to the side, shock and horror emanating from him even though his mask hid his expression. The distraction gave the Emperor the opportunity he needed, and he unleashed another blast of lightning into the Jedi’s chest. 

Yet Bruu turns back around, likewise deactivates his weapon, charges Maul, then still gains the advantage over Maul. Maul, all the while, staring at him and ready. 

is not even close to the same realm as defeating Maul and Savage outright at the same time.

If you respond to me, please quote where I said this. This strikes me as a deliberate misinterpretation of my argument. 

@Latham2000

but he could still deliver a knee strike to break out of the choke hold, and the fight would continue.

It may prove difficult for Maul to do a knee strike considering their relative positions. Though, even if he does and the fight resets, Bruu's already just shown how he can approach, strike, counter, and choke a prepared Maul, so by all indicators the fight should continue in his favor. And, like BOD said, even if you don't necessarily take the fight as advantageous for Bruu, I would say Bruu performs well enough that it is plausible he is the same Hero of Umbara that beat Maul down months earlier. 

@BOD

Then, Maul catches a hit from him but is forced to take a scratch that draws blood

No. Bruu catches a hit from Maul. Maul's hand is in the fist.

DarthAnt66 wrote:

This has got to be a joke

@ILS: ?



It's what happens here (minus the constraints of Paint). Maul's cybernetic joints allow his lower legs to move inward then push outward.



It's why, then, the bottom of his foot is able to strike Bruu in the center of his chest. That's not possible normally if you're half a foot away from someone. 

Why is ILS the Champion of Darkness when Latham is our elected leader?

🧐🧐🧐

DarthAnt66 wrote:It may prove difficult for Maul to do a knee strike considering their relative positions. Though, even if he does and the fight resets, Bruu's already just shown how he can approach, strike, counter, and choke a prepared Maul, so by all indicators the fight should continue in his favor. And, like BOD said, even if you don't necessarily take the fight as advantageous for Bruu, I would say Bruu performs well enough that it is plausible he can be the same Hero of Umbara that beat Maul down months earlier.

He only started gaining an advantage on Maul after Maul had executed a lightsaber throw at Bruu's Jedi partner, and then Bruu slammed his lightsaber hilt at an unarmed Maul, who was quite likely completely taken by surprise by this given that he had just thrown his lightsaber at Solok, whilst Bruu screamed his head off and abruptly changed his tactics. Bruu's advantage started the moment he, while armed with a lightsaber, deactivated it, then slammed the hilt on a unarmed Maul who hadn't had his lightsaber. Granted, Bruu was trash talking him earlier, but that's hardly conclusive proof of superiority, especially since Maul was fighting Bru and Solok, not just Bru, and fighting both of them would've required Maul to divide his attention span and Force sense given they're both working together to take Maul down, not to mention Maul likely would have to reach deeper into his Force reserves.

CuckedCurry wrote:Why is ILS the Champion of Darkness when Latham is our elected leader?

🧐🧐🧐

Because this isn't a Vader low balling fest, it's Ant presenting a theory with his own evidence.

No, I get that, but the Paint hilarity aside (which I'm still killing myself laughing over for the record, that was genius   ), you've already conceded that they're like 1ft apart and have now just posted a panel of Maul clearly bringing his knee up to his chest, indicated by it pointing directly up relative to his speech bubble. Him bringing his knee that high up has absolutely nothing to do with his extra flexible lower joints, and in fact, it indicates that he would absolutely be able to do that if he had smaller legs - the chicken legs are extremely ungainly. I'm sure he wouldn't do near the same amount of damage but even repeatedly kneeing or kicking someone in the gut would be enough to disincentivize them to keep the choke hold.

@ILS:

If Maul brings his knee up, there's not enough room between him and Bruu to get a good kick in. Go up against a wall--the same distance Bruu is from Maul (probably half-a-foot)--and try to kick off it with your force. You're either not going to be able to, or you're going to fall backward. The difference with S4 Maul is that he has connector between his knee and lower leg (picture below). That allows the lower leg to contract inward so that he can kick Bruu horizontally. He can't do that otherwise.  



@Latham2000

He only started gaining an advantage on Maul after Maul had executed a lightsaber throw at Bruu's Jedi partner, and then Bruu slammed his lightsaber hilt at an unarmed Maul, who was quite likely completely taken by surprise by this given that he had just thrown his lightsaber at Solok, whilst Bruu screamed his head off and abruptly changed his tactics. Bruu's advantage started the moment he, while armed with a lightsaber, deactivated it, then slammed the hilt on a unarmed Maul who hadn't had his lightsaber. Granted, Bruu was trash talking him earlier, but that's hardly conclusive proof of superiority, especially since Maul was fighting Bru and Solok, not just Bru, and fighting both of them would've required Maul to divide his attention span and Force sense given they're both working together to take Maul down, not to mention Maul likely would have to reach deeper into his Force reserves.

Why is Maul taken by surprise by his own attack? Wouldn't it be Bruu taken by surprise, considering he's the one who visibly shifts his attention away from Maul and is shocked by his dead companion? And, while Bruu had a weapon to strike Maul and Maul didn't, that's a situation Maul willingly put himself into, and he's watching him charge and strike but still unable to counter the attack. Then, even after Bruu tosses the weapon and Maul goes for his own attack, it's stopped mid-punch by a smiling Bruu. You may disagree that Bruu comes off necessarily superior, but if there's any advantage to be given, it's certainly to Bruu. And Maul was only fighting Bruu. Maul punked Solok instantly at the start of the fight, then when Solok tries to reengage he has a lightsaber thrown into him since he was moving directly behind Bruu.

So Bruu is > Maul?

That's based, I'm on board

DarthAnt66 wrote:@ILS:

If Maul brings his knee up, there's not enough room between him and Bruu to get a good kick in. Go up against a wall--the same distance Bruu is from Maul (probably half-a-foot)--and try to kick off it with your force. You're either not going to be able to, or you're going to fall backward. The difference with S4 Maul is that he has connector between his knee and lower leg (picture below). That allows the lower leg to contract inward so that he can kick Bruu horizontally. He can't do that otherwise.  

So you're just going to gloss over this point?

ILS wrote:I'm sure he wouldn't do near the same amount of damage but even repeatedly kneeing or kicking someone in the gut would be enough to disincentivize them to keep the choke hold.

The point is if he's flexible enough to get his knee up to his own chest he's flexible enough to get it up to Bruu's. Regardless of whether a knee or a kick is more efficient, Maul will be able to accomplish one, and if he does it repeatedly, Bruu will back off. Far be it from me to provide martial arts commentary to a guy who decapitates lightsaber proof space monsters without even using the Force, but I think he knows how to kick someone off of him? Like maybe he could move back and then kick?
IDK? We've got options here Ant, and you know better than I that with enough time spent in Microsoft Paint we could explore damn near all of them and have a pretty good fan-script finished by the end of it.

DarthAnt66 wrote:Why is Maul taken by surprise by his own attack? Wouldn't it be Bruu taken by surprise, considering he's the one who visibly shifts his attention away from Maul and is shocked by his dead companion? And, while Bruu had a weapon to strike Maul and Maul didn't, that's a situation Maul willingly put himself into, and he's watching him charge and strike but still unable to counter the attack. Then, even after Bruu tosses the weapon and Maul goes for his own attack, it's stopped mid-punch by a smiling Bruu. You may disagree that Bruu comes off necessarily superior, but if there's any advantage to be given, it's certainly to Bruu. And Maul was only fighting Bruu. Maul punked Solok instantly at the start of the fight, then when Solok tries to reengage he has a lightsaber thrown into him since he was moving directly behind Bruu.

Maul isn't taken by surprise by is own attack because he didn't commit self harm by attacking himself during the fight. Bruu's shock over the death of his companion was very brief and only motivated him further given how he attacks more aggressively, and I can easily argue have abrupt increase in aggression took Maul by surprise because Maul was using tactics against a much calmer Bruu. The fact that Maul put himself in that situation by throwing his lightsaber away, becoming unarmed, then get slammed in the face by Bruu's lightsaber, which is when Bruu finally gets the advantage, doesn't help your case. Yes, Bruu continues the have the advantage even after throwing his lightsaber away, but that was because he pressed his pre-existing advantage - which stems from being armed with a lightsaber hilt that he used to slam against he face of an unarmed Maul - this isn't indicative of what would happen to them had they had random encounter in H2H with no lightsabers. The fact that Maul "punked" Solok instantly isn't mutually exclusive with the fact that he'd have divide his brainpower, attention span and Force sense between Bru and Solok, as well as probably needing to reach deeper into his Force reserves to augment himself to dealing with a duo than he'd have to with a single opponent, and Juyo isn't suitable for multiple opponents anyway.

The Hero of Umbara is Act I HoT 

@ILS

The point is if he's flexible enough to get his knee up to his own chest he's flexible enough to get it up to Bruu's. Regardless of whether a knee or a kick is more efficient, Maul will be able to accomplish one, and if he does it repeatedly, Bruu will back off. 

If Maul moves his knee upward, there's still enough distance between him and Bruu to thrust out his lower leg. Maul would need to move forward to land a knee kick, but that's going to be hard while Bruu's holding him still and "throttling him." Bruu's got him in a nasty position where, evidently, Maul can't get in a good leg kick without falling down or a good knee kick without pressing forward. How fortunate he has those unique legs; otherwise, he may have even been choked out before he could do anything. 




Though, let's suppose Maul does manage to escape ... so what? What's your ending point? My initial point was that Bruu showed superiority to Maul across the fight. You dropped your rebuttals to that behind a wall of laughing emojis about a picture. My secondary point is that, even if you disagree that Bruu showed superiority or that Bruu's showed superiority is indicative of replicable superiority, still nothing in this fight precludes Bruu being the Hero of Umbara, which is what this blog is all about.

@Latham2000 I'll get back to your post later tonight.

That Bruu was momentarily throttling him does not mean he would have been choked out if he had human sized legs. What would have happened lies in the domain of speculation. Your track record of analyzing the nuances of comic-panel martial arts is already pretty grim at this point, it's probably gonna be a good idea not to add to it further.

And I mean again, if you're going to appeal to IRL logic about martial arts and apply it to characters with ridiculously superhuman skill and physical stats, you should probably acknowledge that a basic front choke hold is not exactly difficult to interrupt or get out of. Seeing as you've made such a bluster about Maul being hyper-aware and ready for everything and that he's a martial arts master, and since you're so ready to speculate, it's entirely possible to come to the conclusion that Maul lured Bruu into a trap, or at least, was entirely okay about getting into a messy CQC because he knew he had these legs to fall back on. Maul was shittalking him while being "throttled" and didn't seem too worried about it.

Didn't Filoni say that Maul's chicken legs diminish his ability to perform acrobatics and martial arts? Ant I know you're the one who found that statement on youtube before the video got removed.

Latham2000 wrote:

CuckedCurry wrote:Why is ILS the Champion of Darkness when Latham is our elected leader?

🧐🧐🧐

Because this isn't a Vader low balling fest, it's Ant presenting a theory with his own evidence.

Doesn't Curry just refer to ILS's title, unrelated to the thread?