AotC Anakin vs Darth Vader

Vader holds up one hand and Anakin dies

CuckedCurry wrote:Vader holds up one hand and Anakin dies

pretty much this

@Latham2000 The duel is also heavily implied to be a vision or illusion:

"The Vader vs. Maul brawl is canon? It's not quite the real Darth Maul. Hence the "or something." Who knows, it could have been a vision like Luke confronting Vader on Dagobah or just some sort of Sith illusion. Or a clone. Nothing's been determined as to what we are actually seeing, just that Vader and Maul have a pretty cool battle."


It's not Maul. Likewise, Chee even suggests that it could have been a Dagobah Cave style vision, visions which are far from reliable.

BoD wrote:@Latham2000 The duel is also heavily implied to be a vision or illusion:

"The Vader vs. Maul brawl is canon? It's not quite the real Darth Maul. Hence the "or something." Who knows, it could have been a vision like Luke confronting Vader on Dagobah or just some sort of Sith illusion. Or a clone. Nothing's been determined as to what we are actually seeing, just that Vader and Maul have a pretty cool battle."


It's not Maul. Likewise, Chee even suggests that it could have been a Dagobah Cave style vision, visions which are far from reliable.

Leland's comment regarding the nature of Maul's appearance isn't mutually exclusive with quotes regarding the Resurrection's intent and purpose for being published. Whether Maul was a clone, vision or illusion, it would be an accurate clone/vision/illusion of Maul based on the story's intent and purpose, and in the same comment that you're quoting Leland said "Nothing's been determined as to what we are actually seeing..." meaning the nature of Maul's appearance has yet to be decided, at least at the time he posted this comment (2006). Leland states that the possibilities are that Maul could either be a clone, Force vision or a Sith illusion, but there hasn't been a formal decision on the nature of Maul's appearance. Leland doesn't completely rule out that Maul was real, he just says that the nature of Maul's appearance has yet to be decided, but lists the various possibilities... But he still says that Maul could've been a clone ergo being real in the physical sense.

True, but it suggests that what we're seeing isn't necessarily what would happen if the two fought otherwise:

- If a vision or illusion, Maul's win makes sense as it's an attempt by the acolytes (or Sidious) to decide whether Vader is pure or not, so it challenges him mentally, not physically.
- If a clone, he would also have been given knowledge of Vader that the original wouldn't have, as well as advanced training. Not to mention he'd have intimate knowledge of the facility so the "home turf advantage".

The most likely outcome is that it was an illusion or vision, as there are numerous signs of it:

1. Maul and the acolytes knowing Vader's true identity and everything about him.
2. Vader seemingly being uninjured by the end of the duel.
3. Sidious repeating exactly what the acolytes said to Vader. Note that Sidious has repeatedly shown the ability to fool or trick Vader's senses in the past, so this could just as easily be an example of this.
4. The place is noted to be strong with the dark side, again like the Cave of Evil on Dagobah.
5. Maul appearing in other entries in the series: A version of Darth Maul is back long enough to have a Maul vs. Vader showdown. Note that Visionaries also had a Maul with a cybernetic lower half that is killed by Owen and Obi-Wan on Tatooine. And in Tales #17, there's a guy preserving Maul's brain.

BoD wrote:True, but it suggests that what we're seeing isn't necessarily what would happen if the two fought otherwise:

- If a vision or illusion, Maul's win makes sense as it's an attempt by the acolytes (or Sidious) to decide whether Vader is pure or not, so it challenges him mentally, not physically.

It challenged him mentally to the point it was a real duel and he treated it like a real duel, and the notion that this is a mental test isn't mutually exclusive with the OOU sources that confirm that the fight is supposed to show us how 32BBY Maul and 0BBY Vader compare in a fight.

BoD wrote:- If a clone, he would also have been given knowledge of Vader that the original wouldn't have, as well as advanced training. Not to mention he'd have intimate knowledge of the facility so the "home turf advantage".

This is speculation.

BoD wrote:The most likely outcome is that it was an illusion or vision, as there are numerous signs of it:

1. Maul and the acolytes knowing Vader's true identity and everything about him.

The Dark Side prophets logically would've told Maul who Vader was and they probably got that knowledge of Vader's former Jedi identity from Palpatine because it is alluded that Palpatine was behind all this.

BoD wrote:2. Vader seemingly being uninjured by the end of the duel.

That's just a case of artwork error because it rests on the idea that the author and artist of the comic intended Maul to be an illusion, but that's false because we know that the author (Ron Marz) intended Maul to be real as he confirmed on his Twitter page. I could argue that the smoke stopped leaking from Vader's helmet because it cooled down over time. I could also argue that the injury is still there, but the angle of Vader's helmet prevents us seeing that injury.

BoD wrote:3. Sidious repeating exactly what the acolytes said to Vader. Note that Sidious has repeatedly shown the ability to fool or trick Vader's senses in the past, so this could just as easily be an example of this.

This is an interesting point but it's not good enough to prove that Maul was an illusion/vision. 

BoD wrote:4. The place is noted to be strong with the dark side, again like the Cave of Evil on Dagobah.

Not all Force Nexuses conjure illusions and visions.

BoD wrote:5. Maul appearing in other entries in the series: A version of Darth Maul is back long enough to have a Maul vs. Vader showdown. Note that Visionaries also had a Maul with a cybernetic lower half that is killed by Owen and Obi-Wan on Tatooine. And in Tales #17, there's a guy preserving Maul's brain.

Leland only mentioned these stories as additional information while describing the third in-continuity Resurrection in his list to let people know that Maul has had 2 other post-TPM appearances, but these appearances were just additional information, and he didn't list include them as 6th and 7th Resurrections because the "Resurrections" that Leland listed as he described in his own words were:

1. Boba Fett [Marvel Comics, Bounty Hunter Wars #1: The Mandalorian Armor, et al]
   
2. Palpatine (clone) [Dark Empire comics]
   
3. Darth Maul (clone or Sith magic or something) [Tales #9]
   
4. Bib Fortuna [Tales from Jabba's Palace][Rogue Squadron: Battleground: Tatooine]
   
5. Grievous [Galaxies video game]
   

At the time of his blog, all these resurrections were in-continuity.

Ultimately this contest boils down to morality. I have never felt anything for the attack of the clones version of Anakin skywalker but distinctly and disappointment so yes Darth Vader winning would be completely morally sound