Identifiable Monsters: The Appeal of Darth Maul

George Lucas had a problem. He was developing his much-anticipated new "Star Wars" prequel, and he needed to create a villain. In the first version of the "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" script, Lucas described the new bad guy, Darth Maul, as “a vision from your worst nightmare.” With little direct instruction to go on, artist Iain McCaig worked up a haunting image of a blank white face with metal teeth. Lucas demurred and told him to give him his “second worst nightmare.”

McCaig eventually came up with the red-and-black, horned visage that millions of "Star Wars" fans grew to love. Love so much, in fact, that Darth Maul, who was killed off at the end of "Phantom Menace," was resurrected in the "Clone Wars" series. He now has his own signature series on Disney+, "Star Wars: Maul—Shadow Lord." What is the attraction of this demonic creation?

For George Lucas, the key to creating Maul was to go “back into representations of evil.” As he explained in an interview with Bill Moyers, “I think the first thing you’re supposed to react to is fear. You’re supposed to go, ‘Ooh.’ You—you wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.” This might sound obvious, but it is essential to understanding the visceral appeal of villains who “look” truly evil.

Humans evolved to determine quickly what was and what was not a threat. Identifying danger was essential to survival. Big predators were easy—lions, hyenas, alligators, and other toothy beasts meant danger. Locating and responding to them via the famed “fight or flight” response was the name of the game if you wanted to live. But how about the danger posed by other humans? How do you know if a person means you harm?

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Talking to Strangers, he relates the idea that people are not good at telling whether or not other people are lying to them. We tend to take folks at their word. This can have dangerous consequences if the other person has bad intentions. As Gladwell puts it, we “default to truth.” This default mode can lead to an anxiety of uncertainty, of not realizing that a friendly person might be out to get us.

Indeed, numerous studies show that people can detect lies, at best, at a rate only slightly higher than random. To explain this, scholars like Timothy R. Levine posit “truth-default theory,” arguing, “Honesty is the starting point for both senders and receivers of communication.” Because we assume people are telling us the truth, we can be highly susceptible to honest-sounding untruths.

What makes this foible so disconcerting is that we know that there are people out there who do not have our best interests in mind. Some of the worst bad guys can seem friendly. They can approach us with sincerity, and they might not "look" evil. Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer, is an example. He did not look like a monster. He was handsome, cordial, and clean-cut. As one woman told a reporter outside of the courthouse when he was on trial for murder, "He just doesn't look like the type to kill somebody."

The appeal of the villain who clearly telescopes the danger they pose is thus powerful and enduring. Think about how "properly" evil-looking villains can "make" popular film series. Michael Myers, of "Halloween" franchise fame, just looks wrong. The blank white rubber mask he wears clearly indicates that this guy is a problem.

So too with the hockey-masked Jason in the "Friday the 13th" series, or the hideously scarred and knife-gloved Freddy in "Nightmare on Elm Street." And, of course, we must not forget Darth Vader, whose skull-like visage has drawn mass audiences around the globe.

The appeal of the identifiable villain speaks to our evolutionary need to assess danger quickly. From the moment Vader enters the screen in "Star Wars," every person in the audience immediately knows he is bad news, even before he delivers his raspy-voiced threats.

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Clearly identifiable human-monsters let us know their intentions on sight. We need not try and comprehend their motives. There is a certain assurance in this. The human world can be a very confusing place. It is often hard to differentiate people with bad intentions from those who mean us well.

One look at Darth Maul, and we know what we are getting. Reflecting on the genesis of this villain, Lucas said, “We were trying to find somebody who could compete with Darth Vader, who’s one of the most, you know, famous evil characters now. And so we went back into representations of evil.” This led to a red-and-black face that looks a bit like a painted-on skull. Maul’s horns, red eyes, and black cowl complete his nefarious look.

The appeal of the recognizable villain is the appeal of certainty in an uncertain world. Obvious bad guys are not going anywhere.