Star Wars Finally Reveals How Inquisitors Stack Up Against Darth Vader

Lucasfilm brought the Inquisitors back into the mix, and the new animated series Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord uses them to make one point crystal clear: Darth Vader plays in a different league. There is a moment in Episode 6 that quietly hammers that home, and it is a fun little deep-cut canon reminder of where everyone actually sits on the power chart.

The setup: Vader did not hunt Jedi alone

Back in A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader helped the Empire hunt down the Jedi. That was true, but as the canon expanded, Lucasfilm filled in the rest: after the Empire rose, Palpatine created the Inquisitorius Program to track down Order 66 survivors. Those Force-sensitive bloodhounds have shown up all over the timeline between the prequels and the original trilogy, from Obi-Wan Kenobi to the Jedi video games.

Enter Marrok (yes, the one from Ahsoka )

Shadow Lord brings in a younger Marrok, first introduced in Ahsoka Season 1, and drops him into the hunt for Maul. He arrives with Imperial forces that seize control of the planet Janix, all in an effort to flush Maul out. Marrok gets a solid supporting role here, and he is clearly dangerous. He is just not Vader-dangerous, and the episode goes out of its way to show you why.

Episode 6: the moment that says it all

• Episode: Chapter Six - Night of the Hunted
• Marrok shows up at Captain Lawson's home and clashes with two Jedi: Eeko-Dio Daki and Devon Izara.
• During the escape, Devon grabs the controls of an Imperial gunship. Eeko-Dio, Lawson, and Lawson's son Rylee pile onboard, and they blast off.
• Marrok is perfectly positioned to try the obvious play: use the Force to yank the ship out of the sky. He does not even attempt it.

That choice says more than any monologue could. Go rewatch Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 5 for the contrast: Vader flat-out stops a transport mid-air and rips it open. The only reason Obi-Wan and company get away is because they bank on Anakin's tunnel vision and use a second ship to slip out while Vader is fixated on the first. If Vader were the one chasing Daki, Devon, and the Lawsons here, that gunship is back on the ground in pieces, and the interrogation droids are warming up.

So why doesn't Marrok try it?

The show never spells it out, but the implication is simple: he cannot. Marrok is strong with the Force, just not on the level of Vader (the former Chosen One) or Sidious (one of the heaviest hitters the Sith ever produced). Knowing his limits, he lets other gunships continue the pursuit and looks for another angle. Practical, if not exactly terrifying.

The bigger play: Maul vs the Empire, and a tease

While the Empire is trying to stomp out Maul's growing criminal operation and tick a couple more surviving Jedi off the list, Night of the Hunted closes with a dangling thread: Marrok speaks to a mysterious figure via hologram, and the show keeps the identity hidden. That little tease has already spun up the obvious theory machine: if the Inquisitors cannot get it done, the Empire might send the only closer it trusts. A Vader vs. Maul face-off would not just sell the posters; it would also make perfect sense in-story.