Your Thoughts Kill You, Don't They?

my in-depth analysis on why maul is still a massive dirt bag despite dabbling in character growth. And how he might have been low-key right and I hate it here

This obviously isn't the first time Maul has teamed up with other characters, but it is the first time Maul has made an alliance without the intention of betraying everyone involved. He goes into this alliance with genuine respect for them. These are brave people willing to fight and that's a rare commodity.

One of my favorite things about this show is the juxtaposition of what the audience knows about maul, and what the characters know about Maul. we have seen Maul's introspection. We know about the vow of justice made when he was at his lowest down in the tunnels. We know that Maul has clearly changed, at least in mentality. He's watched people he cares about sacrifice their lives for him. He values what other people bring to the table and he's had his turning point moment.

But the other characters still think of maul how he's always been; maliciously deceitful. They believe he's just using them to help him escape, then he will dispose of them at his earliest convenience.

The reality is that maul is being genuine here. I believe Everything he is saying is surface level. He means exactly what he says.

The danger maul poses to them is no longer in inherent malicious deceit. the real danger now lies in the ideological divide; how things should be done for the success of the group. If you believe someone is a handicap to the success of the group, it's going to cause the eventual betrayal. not a betrayal of malice, but a betrayal of perceived necessity. More on that later.

I like how in these conversations all of the characters seem to be on the same page about who maul is, except maul himself. They say he is untrustworthy, he is a double-crosser, rook assumes he's going to kill Daki. But then maul comes out and says, "hey have some respect. This guy is on our team now."

Of course Maul being Maul, he always leaves in the caveat of "for now" because he's prepared for this to not work out over ideological differences. He's more than willing to kill Daki If he needs to, but I don't believe he wants to. I think he would much rather work with Daki than be at odds with him.

I love these moments of maul showing respect and building rapport with Daki. He agrees with his logic, He notices when the Jedi senses something wrong. I don't think Maul necessarily likes Daki, but he doesn't dislike him either. He respects him and what he brings to the table. (I will always appreciate how mauls characterization is up for interpretation depending on who you ask.)

Maul is putting himself in harms way for the safety of his teammates. He's defending them, he prioritizes their escape while he holds the line. He tells Rook to flee despite her protests to stay at his side. He urges Devon and Daki to safety while he holds back the inquisitors. Maul is very openly putting himself in danger for his allies. That in of itself is growth.

Maul genuinely sees the value in his team. Even while he's losing people, he doesn't give up trying. At least not yet.

The first disagreement comes after the first fight with Vader

Daki reassures Devon to keep calm, but of course maul believes real power comes from emotion. It's an interesting scene because maul is not mad at Daki, he's really trying to get through to them to help them understand, at least in his perspective, that they are handicapping themselves by not using their full power. He's frustrated and he wants them to succeed. He has unique insight into who Vader was. he knows Vader will exploit their weakness and defeat them easily.

Maul is really desperate here to get through to these Jedi. He's being patient, he has no desire to betray them. But he believes they can't win unless they tap into their passions.

It's so heartbreaking how supportive Daki is throughout the rest of this scene. He helps maul up, let's him lean on him for support, assures maul that together they can beat Vader. And maul for his part is reciprocating sincerity. Maul of all people is the flexible one in this scenario, imploring Daki to heed his advice. and As they fight together daki is so trusting of maul to have his back, and Maul is genuinely committed to the task. Support is all maul has ever wanted and he's finally got it, but Maul believes that unless Daki taps into his rage, this is a losing battle.

At this point maul has been hit in the leg 3 times, he's having trouble even standing up. There's a point where he gets up to lunge back into the fight but his leg spasms out and he realizes that they won't be coming out of this on top. He's too bruised and beaten. All the while he can hear Devon fighting the inquisitor alone. He's struck by the reality that he can either fight a losing battle, or he can sacrifice Daki to give himself time to save Devon, push her into her power, and flee to see another day.

You can clearly see that maul is conflicted here. he's grown to respect Daki but he knows this is over. He is either going to die here or make a choice.

I like the moment where he hears Devon struggling by herself to fight the inquisitor, and in a panic he just says "no". He knows without help she will die. he's lost everyone at this point and she's all he has left.He can't do any of this alone, he needs her help. Without her all of this was in vain.

It's interesting that the episode reminds us Lawson and Vario have a history. Vario's been so Maul-centric this season that I almost forgot he and Vario were old respectful adversaries and Lawson initially tried to help him. I wonder if, in being one of the only two people who knew Lawson on the escape barge, he's going to be someone Rylee tries to reach out to next season. He and Two-Boots would make an interesting shoulder devil and angel dynamic.

---- When Spybot dies, Maul reacts with fury. But what hit me was when Maul reacts with Fury, we get a shot of Two-Boots being taken aback. I like to think it's because Two-Boots wasn't expecting someone like Maul to care about a droid.

---- Maul's relationship with the Jedi characters was interesting to the last. Since Maul's the kind of person who constantly lies to himself, I wonder in retrospect if he was almost genuinely starting to appreciate cooperation with them - rather than merely appearing that way - up until that last moment. Him being "yeah, we'll need to get rid of him eventually, but show the man some respect" about Daki, in particular, was compelling. He's got a complicated perception of the Jedi these days, but then it's Maul and he's got a complicated perception of everybody who isn't Sidious or Kenobi. When I say Maul constantly lies to himself, I mean that my read on him is that he's someone who says he cares about people, and even actually someone believes he cares about people, up until the moment its "me or them" and he chooses murder or betrayal rather than self-risk. It's interesting to see those moments like where Spybot dies, where he genuinely mourns someone, but then you have to think that if circumstances required him to kill Spybot himself to succeed he probably would've.

----

young maul does not sound confident or happy when he tells savage "he "must" go. "i must [leave dathomir with sidious]". the implication to me is very much that he "chose" (through coercion) to leave to protect his people from sidious, and/or from talzin*.

*son of dathomir is seemingly canon here, since maul makes references to "his mother" being murdered. thus it's also likely that the line about maul being a "not-so-appreciated gift from mother talzin" is also at least partially true, and talzin was forced to "gift" him in the same manner she allowed asajj to be abducted.

that's a fascinating angle for maul and one that affords him just a degree more agency to take back control of his life. he knows very well the life he could've had on dathomir; he remembers his culture, and his brother. and he still, ultimately, had no choice in who sidious decided he should become -- all he could do was limit the harm to himself.