Star Wars fans have uncovered a new dimension to Qui-Gon and Darth Maul's Phantom Menace showdown

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Star Wars fans have uncovered a new dimension to Qui-Gon and Darth Maul's Phantom Menace showdown News By Molly Edwards published 5 February 2026

There's a whole extra level to the first showdown between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul

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The Star Wars prequels contain countless fantastic lightsaber battles, but there's one in particular that has fans discussing.

When Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul first clash blades on Tatooine, one fan has realized this is a pretty significant moment for the saga.

"Is this the first time in ages that a Jedi had to fight another saber-wielder in a life-or-death scenario? I can't imagine how stressed Qui-Gon would be in this situation, he probably never fought this hard in his life," they question on Reddit.

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"Qui-Gon doesn't stress. He wields the force with composure and peace," argues one fan, while another counters: "Perhaps, but I recall him being a little out of breath and spent when he got back into the ship and they took off. He recovered fairly quickly, but he was definitely a little bit taken aback by that sneak attack and needing to fight for his life."

Another fan points out that there likely would have been Jedi falling to the dark side who needed to be battled before this particular fight. "I think people ought to remember that Jedi have and do fall to the dark side. So it's likely that saber-wielders have had to fight to the death throughout the history of the Republic. I'm pretty sure there are instances of it happening during the High Republic (I've only read the first novel so far)," they say. "The key here isn't the saber duel, it is that the saber duel is with a Sith. It's an important distinction."

Others say that The Acolyte shows Jedi doing battle with a lightsaber wielder – Qimir – but, since everyone involved died (or lied about what happened), the full story isn't known by the Jedi. "The events of the Acolyte happened 80-90 years before this, but no one out of that group knew what happened, and they all died," someone says.

It's true that this is quite the unconventional situation for a Jedi, which also explains why Qui-Gon eventually falls to Maul.

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Recently, Star Wars fans have also realized that Andor rehabilitates a controversial plot point from the sequel trilogy.

Next up for Star Wars is Maul – Shadow Lord, which will fill in some blanks in Maul's story after The Clone Wars. After that, Star Wars returns to the big screen with The Mandalorian and Grogu.

You can keep up to date with everything that the galaxy far, far away has in store with our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.

TOPICS Disney Lucasfilm Molly EdwardsSocial Links NavigationDeputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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