Darth Maul's Double-sided Lightsaber

Submission 17,314

Part of a series on Prequel Memes. [View Related Entries]

About

Darth Maul's Double-sided Lightsaber refers to a series of reaction image macros based on a screen capture from the 1999 science fiction film Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. Among the most popular forms of these memes include a two-panel object label series, which showcase the surprise second side of Maul's lightsaber, expressing undesirable qualifier to a statement.

Origin

On May 19th, 1999, the film Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace premiered in the United States. In the film's climatic fight scene, the film's antagonist Darth Maul (portrayed by Ray Park) reveals a second side to his weapon (clip below, left).^[1]

Since the film's release, the double-sided lightsaber has been the subject of many parodies in popular culture. Most infamously, the use of the double-sided lightsaber became an iconic meme in the form of Star Wars Kid, which was originally posted on November 2nd, 2002 (shown below, right).

Spread

Image Macros

On June 4th, 2018, Redditor ^[2] Thetrashman754 posted the image of Maul revealing the blade as the setup to a variation of the And This Is Where the Operatic Part Comes In meme. The post received more than 28,000 points (93% upvoted) in less than one year (shown below).

The following year, on March 6th, 2019, Redditor^[3] Tristan_Culbert posted a photoshopped version in the /r/PrequelMemes subreddit. The post received more than 7,500 points (99% upvoted) and 30 comments (shown below, left).

Several days later, on March 8th, Facebook ^[6] martin.nixon.5 posted posted an object labeled variation of the screenshot that reads "Hating Rose" in the first panel and "Being an actual Nazi" in the second panel, a joke about criticism of the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as well as the racist trolling of Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Rose Tico in the film. The post received more than 400 reactions and 95 comments in less than one month (shown below, center).

On March 9th, Redditor^[4] Mussu007 posted an object labeled variation of the screenshot that reads "I like you" in the first panel and "I like you as a friend" in the second panel. The post received more than 15,000 points (96% upvoted) and 80 comments (shown below, center). That day, Redditor^[5] Ec22er posted the meme in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit/, receiving more than 34,000 points (89% upvoted).