As a franchise, Star Wars has always prided itself on being a family product that could be enjoyed equally by kids and adults. It would be safe to assume that the mantra still holds true for a show like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, maybe even more so than usual since cartoons are traditionally made for children (at least in the West). That assumption would be wrong.
Of course, The Clone Wars does not go into a full-on graphic territory and still can be enjoyed by the whole family. However, there are enough intense, violent, and horribly dark moments littered throughout the show that makes older audiences think twice about whether this show was ever for kids, to begin with.
10 Darth Maul Is Captured After Warning The Jedi
Despite aligning good guys and bad guys with light side and dark side, most Clone Wars characters are depicted as morally gray characters. Including Darth Maul, who gets captured in "The Phantom Apprentice" after failing to warn the Jedi of the takeover Sidious plans to unleash on the galaxy and his plans to take Anakin Skywalker under his wing.
Knowing not only his fate but the fate of the galaxy is set in stone, Darth Maul begs them to just let him die, and struggles to convince them of the universe's impending doom. It's both bittersweet and disturbing to hear a feared villain reduced to being viewed as a scared individual, especially when he was right. Order 66 commenced soon after.
9 A Clone Gets Cut In Half
In the episode "Counterattack," Obi-Wan Kenobi and his team are escaping through the ventilation shafts, but their presence there triggers the security doors to shut rapidly between each door. Obi-Wan knows the danger that awaits them and warns his staff, "Move, or you'll be cut in half!"
Luckily the team is able to evade each of the doors. Except for one unlucky stormtrooper clone, at least, whose death is offscreen, but his blood-curdling screams are enough to make any squeamish viewer cringe a little bit.
8 Stabbing Tal Merrik
Tal Merrik, prince of Kalevala, was cornered by the planet's Duchess and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the conclusion of the "Voyage of Temptation" episode. Merrik was convinced that despite threatening to blow up the ship they were on, neither would kill him because the Duchess would be going against her pacifist beliefs, while Kenobi's beloved Duchess lover would never forgive him if he struck.
Just as Merrik said anyone who'd kill him would be branded a cold-blooded killer, Anakin stabbed him with a lightsaber through his chest from behind with a shrug, much to Obi-Wan's horror. The philosophic implications —not to mention the foreshadowing for Darth Vader— are even darker than the imagery itself.
7 Darth Maul Kills the Duchess In Front Of Obi-Wan
Satine was kidnapped by Darth Maul so he could lure Obi-Wan Kenobi into a trap in "Shades of Reason." As Obi-Wan looked upon Maul, the latter pierced his lightsaber through her stomach as he Force Choked her.
This is another moment where the implications and emotions behind the scene are much more intense than the visual itself. The scene puts a heavy focus on the face of Obi-Wan and the face of Satine rather than the blade piercing her stomach. After watching and understanding the connection the pair had across different episodes, this was brutal.
6 Cad Bane Tortures Bolla Ropal To Death
In hopes of finding a Jedi to cooperate with him by using the kyber crystal, Cad Bane tortures Jedi Master Bolla Ropal brutally and mercilessly in "Cargo of Doom." The voltage and the strength of the torture machine become so great that even the droids grow concerned, telling Bane increasing the voltage could kill Bolla. Bane doesn't care and continues the torture until a defiant Bolla dies.
The imagery of the torture is heavy enough on a viewer, but to see a character tortured to death creates a whole new level of discomfort.
5 Anakin & Clovis' Punch-Out Brawl
Star Wars stories tend to have a habit of focusing on over-the-top, space-driven sci-fi plots. This is fine, but seeing as most of us have never even been to space, it's not exactly relatable. This is why Anakin's fight with Clovis in Season 6's "The Rise of Clovis" hits such an intense emotional chord with some viewers.
They weren't fighting over some unobtainable space object, but because Clovis put the moves on Anakin's partner. And contrary to the usual lightsaber duel, this was just a knock-down, drag-out fight between two men using their fists. Anakin hardly even used the Force. Just straight punches and the relatable conflict mixed with relatable offense made this more intense than the usual fights in the franchise.
4 Darth Maul Slaughters A Village
Sometimes, the darkest, most horrific moments in Clone Wars history take place offscreen. This is one of those instances. In hopes of drawing out Obi-Wan Kenobi to enact his revenge, the long exiled Darth Maul conspired with his brother Savage Opress to slaughter an entire village filled with children on the planet of Raydonia in "Revenge." Maul even goes as far as to send footage to Obi-Wan.
Without seeing the rampage, the moment is sold from Maul's insane hatred as he taunts Obi-Wan, and the sinister look he gives moments before eyeing the innocent with his lightsaber in hand.
3 Anakin's Brutal Interrogation Methods
One of the first moments in which Anakin unleashed his Dark Side also happened to be one of the most notable of the show. In the "Brain Invaders" episode from Season 2, Anakin interrogates Poggle the Lesser, who refuses to talk. But Anakin doesn't plan on using any Jedi Mind Tricks on him.
Instead, he punches Poggle the Lesser to the ground and chokes the life out of him, with the intention of either getting Poggle to talk and making Poggle wish he did before Anakin killed him.
2 The Jedi Torture Cad Bane
Trailing back to Cad Bane, he is finally brought in for his crimes —not just torturing Bolla Ropal, but for kidnapping Force-sensitive children— in the episode "Children of the Force," Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi collaborate to pry information out of Bane.
To get him to talk, the trio collectively uses a Jedi Mind Trick technique to the point that Bane is in clear agony and pain as he fights the urge, until he finally agrees. Especially as the camera focuses on Ahsoka Tano's horrified and conflicted face, the scene makes audiences think twice about how unquestionably good the Jedi really are.
1 The Scene That Cartoon Network Had To Censor
This may very well be the most brutal scene in Clone Wars history, just on grounds that it was censored by Cartoon Network itself because it was just way too dark for a kid's show.
In the scene in question from "Eminence," Darth Maul tries to convince The Black Sun to join his Shadow Collective. When all else fails, Maul's brother Savage Oppress uses Maul's double-sided lightsaber to decapitate everyone at the Black Sun's table, including its figurehead. The decapitation itself was removed from the televised cut, but preserved for the DVD Director's Cut.