The Star Wars series is very well known for the effort that it puts into designing the physical appearances of its characters.
From the iconic silhouetted appearance of Darth Vader, to the gross forms taken by aliens like Jabba the Hutt and Watto, it really does go a long way to making the galaxy far, far away feel varied and exciting.
Of those characters, one of the most immediately recognisable is Darth Maul, who first appears as the main on-screen antagonist in the opening of the prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace.
With his red and black face and double-sided lightsaber, his design was one of the absolute highlights of a divisive first movie, but if recently surfaced art is to be believe, it could easily have been so very different.
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From Pale Blue to Red And Black
Over on Reddit, one user shared a series of drawings depicting Star Wars villains from their initial designs all the way through to the final product. For many, like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, the evolution was fairly subtle, but for others the total opposite is true, including Darth Maul.
Maul himself seemingly started life as a deathly pale blue being with long red locks. From there, the character kept the same face, though he was given a hood, before they changed tactics entirely and turned him purple, with gold detailing on his face and a haircut straight from the accountant's handbook.
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He then became a golden being with a nefarious moustache before, finally approaching the final design we know and love. As one comment under the post notes, there's even a funny story about how the designs came to be.
"If I recall correctly, the first Maul was from Lucas saying to Ian McCaig "I want to see your most horrifying nightmare." Upon seeing the design Lucas paused and then said "Maybe let's see your second most horrifying nightmare."
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The other character who really went through the wringer on the way to their final form was Count Dooku, who started life as a golden-skinned woman with writhing, almost sentient, hair. From there, the character became a more generic hooded figure, before we eventually get to the version Christopher Lee made so famous.
General Grievous is the final surprise, initially seen by the artists as a blank eyed boy in a chair. How they got to the wheezy final product is beyond me, but I'm glad they did, even if I am curious as to what that boy had up his evil sleeve.