We hadn't seen anything quite like it; Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) facing off against Darth Maul (Ray Park) in STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE wasn't like anything we had seen in the original trilogy. Fueled by John Williams' epic "Duel of the Fates" soundtrack, the battle between the two Jedi and their Sith opponent was most impressive, but while some may have written off the duel as simply a cool lightsaber battle, Dave Filoni believe's that it's actually one of the most important moments of the entire franchise.
The creator of Star Wars: The Clone Wars spoke during a round-table conversation in an episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian on the Disney+ streaming service, where he laid out his thoughts on the Duel of the Fates. "I love the lightsaber fight with Darth Maul, not because it’s a lightsaber fight, but because George is so good at crafting why that fight’s important every time," Filoni said. "You know the Obi-Wan and Darth Vader fight isn’t the most wonderfully staged combat you’re ever going to see, but there’s so much a stake. It’s so meaningful when Obi-Wan dies. We all feel like Luke." Filoni continued, saying "In Phantom Menace, you’re watching these two Jedi in their prime fight this evil villain. Maul couldn’t be more obviously the villain. He’s designed to look evil and he is evil. And he expressed that from his face all the why out to the type of lightsaber that he fights with." Although the duel is certainly visually exciting, the stakes behind the duel are higher than you might expect.
What’s at stake is really how Anakin’s going to turn out, because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi. You get that in the movie, and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows that he’s the father that Anakin needs, because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that Jedi are supposed to care and love and that that’s not a bad thing. The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they’ve become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But, Qui-Gon is ahead of them all and that’s why he’s not part of the council, so he’s fighting for Anakin. That’s why it’s the duel of the fates, it’s the fate of this child and depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different.
"So, Qui-Gon loses, of course, so the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment and he’s left with Obi-Wan," Filoni added. "Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he made to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him." The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is very different than the relationship between Qui-Gon and Anakin, as Obi-Wan compares Anakin to Jar Jar Binks, telling Qui-Gon, "why do I sense like we've picked up another pathetic life form." Eventually, Obi-Wan becomes something of a brother to Anakin, but not the father figure he needed. "That’s a failing for Anakin, he doesn’t have the family that he needs," Filoni said. "He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made to his mother that 'I will come back and save you.' So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family. So, that moment in that movie, which a lot of people diminish as a cool lightsaber fight, but it’s everything that the entire three films in the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight and Maul serves his purpose and at that point died before George brought him back. But he died." I'll certainly be looking at Duel of the Fates a little differently during my next watch of THE PHANTOM MENACE.