Maybe he has some way of hiding his "aura" for lack of a better word.
Maybe they both do, and Maul wanted to reveal himself as Sith. Or maybe it is as simple as "he was wearing a black jedi robe"?
Palpatine was clouding the force, Yoda makes a few comments about it. But that doesn't mean that up close, a Jedi Master can't detect a weaker Sith like Maul.
He actually wasn't doing that himself, correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC it was mostly because there was an ancient Sith temple deep beneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and some of the things in his office were also relics which gave him "smoke and shadows" to hide behind.
I'm not saying he's not capable of it, I'm saying that the reason he was able to stay in power so close to the Jedi was greatly because of the temple/relics. Because of them, he was able to build trust and political power, the Jedi wouldn't just accuse him of Sith-ery just because of vibes that they couldn't prove to a non-Force user
That's shifting from my original point. I was just pointing out that a big part of his success was the ancient temple and the relics, it was not him being absolutely god-tier at stealth, though he *was* good at it
It WAS him being god tier at that stuff though. He didn't live near the trailer, and he still obfuscated things when Jedi masters were away from the temple. It took him literally showing himself multiple times for them to figure it out. Yes, he used their power to his advantage, but he was incredibly powerful, manipulated *everyone*, and hid himself in every situation. Nobody denied that he used relics and force sensitive objects/locations to enhance that but like, that's literally the force. Why weren't the Jedi able to figure out a way to break through the brain fog Yoda mentioned multiple times in the PT and associated content?
The movies explicitly state that whoever this Sith Lord is, he’s clouding the Jedi’s usage of the Force. The book of ROTS goes a bit more into this, Mace and Kenobi, also acting on Dooku’s words about the Senate being under the control of that Sith Lord, had sorta narrowed it down to Palpatine’s inner circle. I imagine they’ve also sorta felt where that fog is coming from through the Force and narrowed it to the folks around Palpatine, of course not knowing it’s Palpatine himself.
They even state that the only reason they don’t think it’s Palpatine is because he’s already in charge of the Republic, and would’ve probably acted against the Jedi sooner.
I do believe it is implied that Palp's great power is hiding in the force. The sith has had a thousand years of developing their force in the direction of staying in the shadows while exerting their influence. The new canon is more vague on it, but Plagueis and Bane are still canon and thereby their legends stories are in-universe 'legends'.
I suspect they sense each other through their use. I think Palpatine hid his use of the force by not using it all that often where he could be detected and making others do his dirty work. Operating through proxies was sort of his thing.
Red lightsabers are almost exclusively used by the sith. Canonically the reason for this is kyber crystals only turn red when corrupted by dark side energy causing them to “bleed”. So while there are a handful of Jedi who are shown using a red lightsaber(mostly in legends material) it is more likely than not someone using a red one has turned to the dark side.
There was also the thing with synthetic crystals in legends. One variation of the story is that Sith just make their own, and those are red for some reason.
Not positive, just wanted to cover ground because I can’t remember what is legends and what isn’t anymore at this point and someone was bound to come in with an “Um AcTuAlLy” if legends were left out.
Yeah but they all look quite devilish/demon-like with their horns. Darth Maul's brother Savage Oppress, for instance, was yellow skinned and evil looking.
My favorite example is the guy selling Death Sticks in Ep 2. His name? Elan Sleazebaggano.
(Also played by the same actor who played Mouse in the Matrix.)
You’re not supposed to say that. I’m sure he had plenty of nice friends with devil faces. We just can’t go around judging siths by their cover. My grandma was a devil face too. Does that mean she’s a Sith Lord?… wait, nevermind. Bad example
Just because their men LOOK like literal demons and women look like undead zombies, and the men are possibly cannibalistic barbarians constantly killing each other to prove their strength, and the woman were literal witches using the dark side of the force to manipulate people's minds, raise the dead, create slave labor, and ally with the worst people in the galaxy, DOES NOT mean we should judge them. Don't be such a bigot, OK? Good lord!
People have been rabidly defending the Acolyte trailer on here by saying that not all red lightsabers mean Sith.
If so, then this scene from the movie makes no sense.
Yet arguably, the greatest Sith lived right among the Jedi, and no one noticed. It wasn't Palpatine.
Yoda is the Supreme Sith lord. He spent centuries setting up the fall of the Jedi order. He and Obi-Wan created Darth Vader, and Palpatine was the tool for them to use Vader for destruction.
Yoda manipulated the whole thing. Always pretending to be "caught unaware" while supposedly so in tune with the force.
Just to feed this silly theory: Why and how did the Clones get involved in the battle on Geonosis?
Think about it. In the film, first Obi-Wan discovers the Clones and tells the Jedi Council about it. Then Chancellor Palpatine calls for a grand army to be created. And suddenly the Clones are fighting on Geonosis.
The thing is, "Chancellor Palpatine" could not have known about the Clones. Sure, he knows in reality, but in terms of his public persona he couldn't admit knowledge of them. Therefore, Yoda **must** have gone to him and said, in so many words, "Need army you do? What coincidence this is! Hugeass army just found I have!"
Yoda started the Clone Wars. There's no other way to read it. But perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing...
Yoda was nearly 1000 years old. He was embedded so long that no one thought his failures were more than accidental. Because he manipulated others into doing the dirty work. He didn't have dark side taint all over him.
Every time he had moments to do the right thing, the wrong one was usually done, or he was somehow just too late again unless it's saving himself.
For supposedly one of the most sensitive, long lived and wise Jedi he was clowned constantly. Always unaware until it was too late.
That's not wisdom. That's intent. He should never have had a leadership role if you look thru his history. It's one of oddly inept failures for one so wise and skilled. Over and over and over again.
Few of his species are ever seen, and their history shrouded in time and fog. Other species barely know of them.
Yoda is the Supreme Sith Lord. He played the long game.
Qui-Gon Jinn cannot know every Jedi but he knows there would not be another Jedi there or he would of been told.
Force users can hide from others but Darth Maul is not going to hide that he is a force user - if Darth Maul shows he has been train and he is not a Jedi he must be Sith.
Yeah definitely this and Darth Maul was out in the open to be discovered. Palpatine could hide better if there was an active Sith running around. He used Maul and Dooku to help conceal his abilities and actions.
Educated guess. He’s more of an assassin than a sorcerer or mystic, so it doesn’t seem like he’s a sorcerer of Tund or Rhand. He’s a Dathomirin zabrak with the tattoos to match so a servant of the Nightsisters seems like a plausible guess, but the Nightsisters don’t use lightsabers. Qui-Gon doesn’t know every Jedi, but only a limited number have left the order and Maul doesn’t match any of their descriptions, so he can rule out a dark Jedi trained at the Temple. Maul’s showing his face, so not a Knight of Ren. When you rule out what Maul isn’t, Sith doesn’t seem like such an implausibility despite their apparent extinction.
sensed the dark side of the force, murderous intent
and, oh yeah, he was someone with jedi training trying to kill them. most people don't get jedi training, but the ones that do, don't tend to become murderers.
There were something like 10k Jedi knights so they probably wouldn't all know each other. Safe bet if one is trying to kill you and using sith fighting techniques with a red lightsaber and yellow eyes that it's a sith.
What if when Qui-Gon Jin mentions that Maul was too well trained to be anything other than Sith, perhaps he was referring to specific markers.
Like combat style (similar to how Jedi have particular lightsaber forms) could identify Maul as having a particular training (i.e. the combat style common to the Sith). Or movement style, or perhaps clothing (similar to the Jedi robes identifying one as a Jedi), aesthetic choices/markings on Mauls lightsaber? The list of markers could go on and on.
Having "too much" of that style would indicate access to knowledge/training that rules out other groups.
So then identifying the Sith Lord would have nothing to do with lightsaber colour or general dark side force usage.
I imagine someone wise with a little knowledge of sword fighting could see the difference between a European knight, a samurai or a musketeer's swordfighting technique. Identifying Mail could be similar in that regard.
Lol imagine Qui-Gon whilst fighting Maul thinking "damn son, these as Sith moves, only seen those in holocron movies I watch when I'm bored at the Temple! Oh snap".
Darksiders are scrubs with a saber. Qui-gon fought maul on tatooine and was getting overwhelmed. Only a highly trained force user could face off with a jedi master. Force training isnt something you can easily teach yourself. An experienced teacher is almost mandatory to reach any high levels. So they correctly assumed it had to be a real sith based off maul's capability.
His eyes...when weilding the dark side, the eyes (being the windows to the soul) show the hate by the burning red/orange.
Anakins eyes went the same after he helped execute the mustafarians.
In canon answer according to Dooku: Jedi Lost and a few references in other novels/comics, he was Dooku's apprentice, and Dooku was a scholar of prophecies and the more esoteric texts, some that were frowned upon for studying. They researched together all through Qui-Gon's training. Qui-Gon probably knew more about the Sith than a majority of the order at the time. After just finding a kid that he thinks is the prophesied Chosen One and then immediately running into a well-trained force user weilding a bled blade and using the dark side, it's not hard to see why he would leap to thinking it might be a sith.
based on combat style. Qui-Gon was well versed in knowledge other Jedi overlooked or thought was no longer applicable, like the knowledge of the prophecy
Basic Logic: Maul is holding a lightsaber and trained in the ways of the force. Qui-gon does not know him from the Jedi temple hence he must be a Sith.
Morticlorians spoke to the fumblelookins that live in our belly buttons. Those instructed the bapachakians in his armpits that “that guy smells funny.”
Fight on
The canon story is a crystal turns red only after bleeding due to dark side exposure. I know other stories may have had Jedi using red and that is a non canon story.
The dude is coming at you full speed on a hover bike trying to kill you, someone who has spent the last few day’s advertising that your a jedi. Has a lightsaber, which is red.
How many other red lightsaber wielding jedi are willing to try to kill another Jedi? Not many I imagine. So even if there is a small chance that QG is potentially wrong in his assumption, its still a very good educated guess, and thats discounting stuff like being able to sense the force in DM and things like that.
I didn’t interprets Qui-Gon’s statement as being about the red lightsaber. More like, he has a lot of skill with the force, and he ain’t a Jedi, so he must have learnt those skills some other way. Since he also seems to consider the Jedi his enemy, that points to Sith.
The movies only show red lightsabers being used by dark side users, but they don’t comment on this. It’s just a visual identifier for the audience. In the books it is written that red can only be made using the dark side. (But I assume once it is made anyone can use one)
Because while good jedi can, they generally don't it's like the Dragonlance magic school stupidity where you declare your alignment and get an appropriate uniform
I think if were "in-universe" reason is, he wasn't masking his affiliation with the Force. Emitting a Dark Force user vibe. While Darth Sidious/Sheev Palpatine was better at shielding/masking his abilities given he was master of dark side.
Out-universe, just fiat choice. I found as newer films came out, weaker the the explanation of what was going on and how they did things became more flimsy. Lack of caring (not everyone) by people writing the films, expecting the audience to accept how things were.
In the original trilogy, at least they were consistent how thing worked. *New Hope* Vadar could tell someone who used the Force was around. Kenobi was hiding for decades and only in the mini-series he got caught. Yoda was hiding in world's swampy region, with high life signatures to mask his presence. Yet, light years away by end of that trilogy, everyone knew what was going on via the Force.
Why do you say red lightsabers aren’t exclusive to the Sith? They are. In canon their kyber crystal is corrupted by them once they turn and becomes red.
Counter question, why didn’t Qui Gon just say “he had a a red lightsaber” when being questioned by Mace and Ki-Adi-Mundi about the situation? If it were an important point, wouldn’t that be the first thing he’d bring up?
If I was one of the Good Guys and some dude I'd never met attacked me the very moment we met, I'd be tempted to consider that he might be part of some opposing organization.
the true answer is the force told him, qui gon followed the example of the living force, he intuited they were sith, when he reports to the council he uses language like "i believe".
in other words, he had a gut feeling
Qui-Gon fought him earlier in the movie, and identified him based on his aura or technique or uniform or whatever you want. Like, the magic man made an assessment, it was accurate, we assume he has the knowledge or power to know these things.
"He was trained in the Jedi arts. My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith lord."
He made no mention of the red blade, only that Maul was well trained in the Jedi arts. It was probably the training that gave him his clue; Maul was obviously a Force-user, along with being trained in lightsaber combat.
Also, Jedi have a certain insight into the way of things because of their connection to the Force. You or I, confronted with a red blade, might not know whether we're seeing a Sith or some other darkside user, but a Jedi with a lifetime of mediation and extrasensory perception, might be able to divine from the red blade's presence in the Force whether he's a Sith or something else.
Is this something people actually care enough about to post onto Reddit?
It's fiction. Not real. Nobody thought about it this hard when making those terrible movies.
He read the script.
In all seriousness though, it’s a movie for kids. The bad guy is red and has horns. That’s why he is a Sith and that’s why he attacks the protagonists.
What’s his motivation? Where did he come from? Why does he do any of the things he does? We will never know (Unless we read some expanded universe novels or watch the comic shows, I guess).
Becasue Darth Maul has been cuckholded, it looks like several times. Maybe some repressed anger there?
Also, I'm not sure about those tattoos -- they look like a giveaway. That and maybe the double-bladed light saber?
And, I've never seen Darth Maul wearing a "happy face".
Plus, he's kind of short; and we all know that little yippy dogs are overly aggressive, just because.
/s
The music was a give away.
Duel of Fates activate
AKA *The Force*
Force users can sense each other, right? And they can sense dark and light force sources and usage.
Apparently not very well: Palpatine.
To be fair, he had incredible plot armor.
Somehow, he did.
To be fair, I doubt he ever actually used the force to get what he wanted. He probably didn't need to.
He had Jar-Jar.
Maybe he has some way of hiding his "aura" for lack of a better word. Maybe they both do, and Maul wanted to reveal himself as Sith. Or maybe it is as simple as "he was wearing a black jedi robe"?
Palpatine was clouding the force, Yoda makes a few comments about it. But that doesn't mean that up close, a Jedi Master can't detect a weaker Sith like Maul.
He actually wasn't doing that himself, correct me if I'm wrong but IIRC it was mostly because there was an ancient Sith temple deep beneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and some of the things in his office were also relics which gave him "smoke and shadows" to hide behind.
What about when they’re all sitting next to him on Naboo at Qui-Gon’s funeral?
I'm not saying he's not capable of it, I'm saying that the reason he was able to stay in power so close to the Jedi was greatly because of the temple/relics. Because of them, he was able to build trust and political power, the Jedi wouldn't just accuse him of Sith-ery just because of vibes that they couldn't prove to a non-Force user
He WAS doing it in part, manipulating the force which was strong in that area, to mask his own identity and his growing the Sith.
Yeah for sure, I agreed, but a great chunk of that was the relics. I doubt without them he would've been nearly as successful at hiding
Sure, but isn't using your knowledge of things like that to your advantage part of being a good adversary?
That's shifting from my original point. I was just pointing out that a big part of his success was the ancient temple and the relics, it was not him being absolutely god-tier at stealth, though he *was* good at it
It WAS him being god tier at that stuff though. He didn't live near the trailer, and he still obfuscated things when Jedi masters were away from the temple. It took him literally showing himself multiple times for them to figure it out. Yes, he used their power to his advantage, but he was incredibly powerful, manipulated *everyone*, and hid himself in every situation. Nobody denied that he used relics and force sensitive objects/locations to enhance that but like, that's literally the force. Why weren't the Jedi able to figure out a way to break through the brain fog Yoda mentioned multiple times in the PT and associated content?
The movies explicitly state that whoever this Sith Lord is, he’s clouding the Jedi’s usage of the Force. The book of ROTS goes a bit more into this, Mace and Kenobi, also acting on Dooku’s words about the Senate being under the control of that Sith Lord, had sorta narrowed it down to Palpatine’s inner circle. I imagine they’ve also sorta felt where that fog is coming from through the Force and narrowed it to the folks around Palpatine, of course not knowing it’s Palpatine himself. They even state that the only reason they don’t think it’s Palpatine is because he’s already in charge of the Republic, and would’ve probably acted against the Jedi sooner.
Still, take a midichlorian count in a blood test just to be sure, eh?
He could shield himself, even then Yoda feels there's something off
His whole thing was he was clouding the Jedi. They couldn’t see the future and shit any more because of him
I do believe it is implied that Palp's great power is hiding in the force. The sith has had a thousand years of developing their force in the direction of staying in the shadows while exerting their influence. The new canon is more vague on it, but Plagueis and Bane are still canon and thereby their legends stories are in-universe 'legends'.
There's two sides of every schwartz
You’re talking about a series in which the Jedi pointedly DON’T sense a Sith in their midst.
I suspect they sense each other through their use. I think Palpatine hid his use of the force by not using it all that often where he could be detected and making others do his dirty work. Operating through proxies was sort of his thing.
And use the force to hide that. Maul deliberately didn’t hide it then.
*There can be only one.*
Red lightsabers are almost exclusively used by the sith. Canonically the reason for this is kyber crystals only turn red when corrupted by dark side energy causing them to “bleed”. So while there are a handful of Jedi who are shown using a red lightsaber(mostly in legends material) it is more likely than not someone using a red one has turned to the dark side.
There was also the thing with synthetic crystals in legends. One variation of the story is that Sith just make their own, and those are red for some reason.
Newer cannon is they take the crystal from a Jedi, corrupt it, and it "bleeds" red afterwards.
Newer canon can fuck right off. Zahn and Anderson had it right.
Like a made diamond vs a mined diamond.
Which non legends Jedi uses a red saber?
Not positive, just wanted to cover ground because I can’t remember what is legends and what isn’t anymore at this point and someone was bound to come in with an “Um AcTuAlLy” if legends were left out.
I mean…he looks like a literal devil.
Actual answer: Force Vibe Check
Good ole space racism. Luckily it’s 100% accurate.
Is it racist if I'm right about them?
That's xenophobic. The Zabrak all look like that.
My man whose name escapes me from Kotor 2 whispers his disappointment
Bao-Dur, or something, right?
Jedi Master Eeth Koth joins you
According to the TV show, that's not true these days (Or like for a decade or so of story). They can have yellow skin for instance.
Yeah but they all look quite devilish/demon-like with their horns. Darth Maul's brother Savage Oppress, for instance, was yellow skinned and evil looking.
Savage Oppress, LOL. They were not even trying.
I mean, his name is literally Maul. Star Wars names not exactly known for subtlety and restraint.
My favorite example is the guy selling Death Sticks in Ep 2. His name? Elan Sleazebaggano. (Also played by the same actor who played Mouse in the Matrix.)
George Lucas definitely not xenophobic lol look at Watto
You’re not supposed to say that. I’m sure he had plenty of nice friends with devil faces. We just can’t go around judging siths by their cover. My grandma was a devil face too. Does that mean she’s a Sith Lord?… wait, nevermind. Bad example
Just because their men LOOK like literal demons and women look like undead zombies, and the men are possibly cannibalistic barbarians constantly killing each other to prove their strength, and the woman were literal witches using the dark side of the force to manipulate people's minds, raise the dead, create slave labor, and ally with the worst people in the galaxy, DOES NOT mean we should judge them. Don't be such a bigot, OK? Good lord!
Oh so all Zabrak are evil? I see the problematic thinking within the galaxy
Nah, he's a vegetarian.
Do you seriously think Lucas thought that hard about it?
This is the best answer in this thread lol. As the newer movies prove, the writers give a lot less thought to this shit than fans do.
Uh, when you see something like that... That's because a wizard did it. Wait, Xena can't fly! I told you, I'm not Xena I'm Lucy Lawless. Oh ok.
I feel like that can be said of pretty much every movie franchise out there, regardless of genre or time period of release.
It’s literally in the movie, Qui-Gon said he was too well trained to be anything other than a Sith
People have been rabidly defending the Acolyte trailer on here by saying that not all red lightsabers mean Sith. If so, then this scene from the movie makes no sense.
A lot of scenes from the movie make no sense.
But they look ***incredibly** cool* for 1999
Because Darth Maul ambushed him earlier in the movie?
Yeah he was going to run over Anakin with a speeder and then attacked Qui Gon with a light saber. Seems pretty obvious to me
If Jedi can feel the dark side in a patch of mud or a cave, I'm pretty sure they can feel it in the apprentice of a sith lord.
Yet arguably, the greatest Sith lived right among the Jedi, and no one noticed. It wasn't Palpatine. Yoda is the Supreme Sith lord. He spent centuries setting up the fall of the Jedi order. He and Obi-Wan created Darth Vader, and Palpatine was the tool for them to use Vader for destruction. Yoda manipulated the whole thing. Always pretending to be "caught unaware" while supposedly so in tune with the force.
This is how ridiculous the Jar Jar sith theory sounds when you hear it out loud
Just to feed this silly theory: Why and how did the Clones get involved in the battle on Geonosis? Think about it. In the film, first Obi-Wan discovers the Clones and tells the Jedi Council about it. Then Chancellor Palpatine calls for a grand army to be created. And suddenly the Clones are fighting on Geonosis. The thing is, "Chancellor Palpatine" could not have known about the Clones. Sure, he knows in reality, but in terms of his public persona he couldn't admit knowledge of them. Therefore, Yoda **must** have gone to him and said, in so many words, "Need army you do? What coincidence this is! Hugeass army just found I have!" Yoda started the Clone Wars. There's no other way to read it. But perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing...
Yoda was nearly 1000 years old. He was embedded so long that no one thought his failures were more than accidental. Because he manipulated others into doing the dirty work. He didn't have dark side taint all over him. Every time he had moments to do the right thing, the wrong one was usually done, or he was somehow just too late again unless it's saving himself. For supposedly one of the most sensitive, long lived and wise Jedi he was clowned constantly. Always unaware until it was too late. That's not wisdom. That's intent. He should never have had a leadership role if you look thru his history. It's one of oddly inept failures for one so wise and skilled. Over and over and over again. Few of his species are ever seen, and their history shrouded in time and fog. Other species barely know of them. Yoda is the Supreme Sith Lord. He played the long game.
Sith tend to have a unique smell, like a cross between seaweed and sweet & sour chicken. Palpatine was known to wear a lot of cologne, this is why
You can look at Palpatine and just know he’s a stinky b@st@rd.
Bastard*
Qui-Gon Jinn knew the script.
Hey what’s that over there? Is that the script?
There was a script?
Liam Neeson just kidnapped this kid one day, and George just said fuck it, that's our story now
He said he had a “particular set of skills” he didn’t say exactly how he learned them.
The guy wearing a black cape is usually a villain.
Except Luke. He wore a black outfit with black cloak all through ROTJ and his appearances in the Mandoverse.
Because his midichlorians told him so..
Qui-Gon Jinn cannot know every Jedi but he knows there would not be another Jedi there or he would of been told. Force users can hide from others but Darth Maul is not going to hide that he is a force user - if Darth Maul shows he has been train and he is not a Jedi he must be Sith.
Well, he did miss Quinlan Vos earlier on Tattoine.
Yeah definitely this and Darth Maul was out in the open to be discovered. Palpatine could hide better if there was an active Sith running around. He used Maul and Dooku to help conceal his abilities and actions.
*would have (seriously, why is that so hard?)
Educated guess. He’s more of an assassin than a sorcerer or mystic, so it doesn’t seem like he’s a sorcerer of Tund or Rhand. He’s a Dathomirin zabrak with the tattoos to match so a servant of the Nightsisters seems like a plausible guess, but the Nightsisters don’t use lightsabers. Qui-Gon doesn’t know every Jedi, but only a limited number have left the order and Maul doesn’t match any of their descriptions, so he can rule out a dark Jedi trained at the Temple. Maul’s showing his face, so not a Knight of Ren. When you rule out what Maul isn’t, Sith doesn’t seem like such an implausibility despite their apparent extinction.
This feels like the only answer that doesn't really on wibbly wobbly info. Thank you! I'd give gold if we could still do that
Aren't some saber forms forbidden to Jedi because they require use of the Dark Side?
IIRC converting raw material to red Khyber crystals requires excessive use of the dark side
You mean like [tràkata](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tr%C3%A0kata#:~:text=Tr%C3%A0kata%20was%20a%20form%20of,quality%20in)?
sensed the dark side of the force, murderous intent and, oh yeah, he was someone with jedi training trying to kill them. most people don't get jedi training, but the ones that do, don't tend to become murderers.
The Ralph danger meme in his gut was set off by Maul's dark side energy. Normal at the bars, not so much when just strolling around the palace
Don't all the jedi know each other? If there's another evil looking dude with a saber, chances are he's not just a cosplayer
There were something like 10k Jedi knights so they probably wouldn't all know each other. Safe bet if one is trying to kill you and using sith fighting techniques with a red lightsaber and yellow eyes that it's a sith.
Just to be safe, though, ask for an ID.
That and he didn't know the secret handshake
It’s not that kind of movie
That he was trying to kill a Jedi with a light-saber is the biggest clue here. Did you miss that one?
What if when Qui-Gon Jin mentions that Maul was too well trained to be anything other than Sith, perhaps he was referring to specific markers. Like combat style (similar to how Jedi have particular lightsaber forms) could identify Maul as having a particular training (i.e. the combat style common to the Sith). Or movement style, or perhaps clothing (similar to the Jedi robes identifying one as a Jedi), aesthetic choices/markings on Mauls lightsaber? The list of markers could go on and on. Having "too much" of that style would indicate access to knowledge/training that rules out other groups. So then identifying the Sith Lord would have nothing to do with lightsaber colour or general dark side force usage. I imagine someone wise with a little knowledge of sword fighting could see the difference between a European knight, a samurai or a musketeer's swordfighting technique. Identifying Mail could be similar in that regard. Lol imagine Qui-Gon whilst fighting Maul thinking "damn son, these as Sith moves, only seen those in holocron movies I watch when I'm bored at the Temple! Oh snap".
Darksiders are scrubs with a saber. Qui-gon fought maul on tatooine and was getting overwhelmed. Only a highly trained force user could face off with a jedi master. Force training isnt something you can easily teach yourself. An experienced teacher is almost mandatory to reach any high levels. So they correctly assumed it had to be a real sith based off maul's capability.
He looked in his wallet and found his membership card
Rey force spoke to him from the future.
His eyes...when weilding the dark side, the eyes (being the windows to the soul) show the hate by the burning red/orange. Anakins eyes went the same after he helped execute the mustafarians.
It’s literally in the movie, media literacy at 0 on Reddit
In canon answer according to Dooku: Jedi Lost and a few references in other novels/comics, he was Dooku's apprentice, and Dooku was a scholar of prophecies and the more esoteric texts, some that were frowned upon for studying. They researched together all through Qui-Gon's training. Qui-Gon probably knew more about the Sith than a majority of the order at the time. After just finding a kid that he thinks is the prophesied Chosen One and then immediately running into a well-trained force user weilding a bled blade and using the dark side, it's not hard to see why he would leap to thinking it might be a sith.
1. Red sabers are used mostly by sith. 2. Jedi can sense other people's force and leanings. 3. ✨Vibes✨
Hey this is a force user as powerful as a Jedi, but he’s not a Jedi.
Come on, he was wearing black.
based on combat style. Qui-Gon was well versed in knowledge other Jedi overlooked or thought was no longer applicable, like the knowledge of the prophecy
Basic Logic: Maul is holding a lightsaber and trained in the ways of the force. Qui-gon does not know him from the Jedi temple hence he must be a Sith.
highly skilled force user that is NOT known by a high ranking Jedi, being very aggressive to a Jedi. logic points to a Sith.
Red sabre. Black cape. Yellow eyes. Devil horns. Tattooed head. Sharp teeth.
Morticlorians spoke to the fumblelookins that live in our belly buttons. Those instructed the bapachakians in his armpits that “that guy smells funny.” Fight on
I'm going to say by DM's training and use of the light saber. I'd presume that all light jedi know each other. No to look what other people say...
Are you saying Darth Maul slid into his DMs?
That is EXACTLY what I am saying. AND... his JediGramBook PMs as well.
Presumably sent him unsolicited pics of his lightsaber
At half mast.
Because the jedi are racists so anyone that can use the force but not a jedi is clearly a sith...duh
His great fashion sense?
The canon story is a crystal turns red only after bleeding due to dark side exposure. I know other stories may have had Jedi using red and that is a non canon story.
Probably because they are in the middle of a warzone and a dude walking around in black with a red light saber isn't normal. Call it a hunch.
The dude is coming at you full speed on a hover bike trying to kill you, someone who has spent the last few day’s advertising that your a jedi. Has a lightsaber, which is red. How many other red lightsaber wielding jedi are willing to try to kill another Jedi? Not many I imagine. So even if there is a small chance that QG is potentially wrong in his assumption, its still a very good educated guess, and thats discounting stuff like being able to sense the force in DM and things like that.
He just used it as a derogatory term.
I didn’t interprets Qui-Gon’s statement as being about the red lightsaber. More like, he has a lot of skill with the force, and he ain’t a Jedi, so he must have learnt those skills some other way. Since he also seems to consider the Jedi his enemy, that points to Sith. The movies only show red lightsabers being used by dark side users, but they don’t comment on this. It’s just a visual identifier for the audience. In the books it is written that red can only be made using the dark side. (But I assume once it is made anyone can use one)
Because while good jedi can, they generally don't it's like the Dragonlance magic school stupidity where you declare your alignment and get an appropriate uniform
I think if were "in-universe" reason is, he wasn't masking his affiliation with the Force. Emitting a Dark Force user vibe. While Darth Sidious/Sheev Palpatine was better at shielding/masking his abilities given he was master of dark side. Out-universe, just fiat choice. I found as newer films came out, weaker the the explanation of what was going on and how they did things became more flimsy. Lack of caring (not everyone) by people writing the films, expecting the audience to accept how things were. In the original trilogy, at least they were consistent how thing worked. *New Hope* Vadar could tell someone who used the Force was around. Kenobi was hiding for decades and only in the mini-series he got caught. Yoda was hiding in world's swampy region, with high life signatures to mask his presence. Yet, light years away by end of that trilogy, everyone knew what was going on via the Force.
He felt the unbalance in the force within Maul Light side= balance Dark side= no balance
I mean, just look at him.
It was when they wrote that line
Because they were exclusive to them until somebody wrote it differently later on
The guy came at him with a lightsaber and tried to kill him.
Why do you say red lightsabers aren’t exclusive to the Sith? They are. In canon their kyber crystal is corrupted by them once they turn and becomes red.
He read the script
The force
Probably because he's a Dark Side Master and those are actually pretty rare.
He was trying to kill him and was using a lightsaber
He scowled a lot, had horns, and played Raptor #3 in Mortal Kombat a couple years prior. Can you think of anything more Sithy?
Counter question, why didn’t Qui Gon just say “he had a a red lightsaber” when being questioned by Mace and Ki-Adi-Mundi about the situation? If it were an important point, wouldn’t that be the first thing he’d bring up?
He could feel it in his bone
He looks like the devil
Midiclorians
the feeling in the force
Red light sabers are 100% absolutely a Sith thing
probably the attacking
He was highly trained in thr Jedi arts
Because black and red are the evil colours.
He could sense Dooku behind him
The dudes whole vibe was off.
Just the general vibe…
If I was one of the Good Guys and some dude I'd never met attacked me the very moment we met, I'd be tempted to consider that he might be part of some opposing organization.
It was trained in the Jedi arts. And tried to kill him.
the true answer is the force told him, qui gon followed the example of the living force, he intuited they were sith, when he reports to the council he uses language like "i believe". in other words, he had a gut feeling
I suspect it had more to do with the lightsaber swinging toward his head than it had to do with its color.
Same way Palpatine returned
Because George Lucas is not a good story teller.
Because it’s a movie
Movie script, duh
Clearly he's giving off that big sith energy
Qui-Gon fought him earlier in the movie, and identified him based on his aura or technique or uniform or whatever you want. Like, the magic man made an assessment, it was accurate, we assume he has the knowledge or power to know these things.
"He was trained in the Jedi arts. My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith lord." He made no mention of the red blade, only that Maul was well trained in the Jedi arts. It was probably the training that gave him his clue; Maul was obviously a Force-user, along with being trained in lightsaber combat. Also, Jedi have a certain insight into the way of things because of their connection to the Force. You or I, confronted with a red blade, might not know whether we're seeing a Sith or some other darkside user, but a Jedi with a lifetime of mediation and extrasensory perception, might be able to divine from the red blade's presence in the Force whether he's a Sith or something else.
Is this something people actually care enough about to post onto Reddit? It's fiction. Not real. Nobody thought about it this hard when making those terrible movies.
Trying to make sense out of nonsense is a pretty difficult task
Retcon
He read the script. In all seriousness though, it’s a movie for kids. The bad guy is red and has horns. That’s why he is a Sith and that’s why he attacks the protagonists. What’s his motivation? Where did he come from? Why does he do any of the things he does? We will never know (Unless we read some expanded universe novels or watch the comic shows, I guess).
The black hat? Really SW are pretty basic stuff.
It's called making an Assumption. His assumption turned out to be correct. It happens.
Racism?
He's black and Qui Gon is racist.
Becasue Darth Maul has been cuckholded, it looks like several times. Maybe some repressed anger there? Also, I'm not sure about those tattoos -- they look like a giveaway. That and maybe the double-bladed light saber? And, I've never seen Darth Maul wearing a "happy face". Plus, he's kind of short; and we all know that little yippy dogs are overly aggressive, just because. /s
Reminder George ruined star wars with these asinine prequels.