DarthShizuka

this show is doing a perfect job at highlighting the circular tragedy of Maul and I feel so frustrated for him

The tea scene is fascinating. he wants to connect and relate to Devon, but because of who she knows maul to be, it's impossible for her to show him the same reciprocity.

He comes to the table open, honest, earnest, and even kind. He's making an effort completely out of the realm of what comes normal to him in an attempt to connect to someone like him.

She comes to the table (albeit understandably) standoffish, unwilling, untrusting, and irritated. She already knows enough about who he is to give him a chance so she is unwilling to humor him.

There's a moment when she can choose to accept the tea he offers but she ultimately decides to steal his weapon instead, rejecting his gesture of good faith.

The result pushes Maul back into being who he normally is; Threatening, violent, angry.

Even when he tries to be something more than what he was forced to be, the damage of that perception will never leave him in the eyes of those around him. The people who could help heal him want nothing to do with him, so he stays stuck in his narrow world view when another perspective is potentially all he needs to break out of his own self limiting prison. Maul is a damaged individual with so much potential for growth, not easily or cleanly, but the cracks are there.

It happens again in this encounter. Maul was anticipating Devon bringing her master back to him in hopes of reaching out to him as well as her. But just as devon did, Daki does not want to reciprocate Maul's invitation for conversation.

Maul is doomed to be a villain despite desperately not wanting to be, or knowing that he is. It's frustrating to watch, because you can see the potential of support changing maul for the better. He needs people around him Who align with his goals to offer different perspectives, and come to compromises. Show him a different path to success. Is it possible for Maul to get out of his own way? Maybe it could have been if he managed to find someone else willing to see past his flaws. It's very possible, and it makes him so compelling and tragic af. But at the same time you can't fault anyone for it, because would you trust someone like Maul?

In this moment right before Maul is about to kill Daki, Devon steps in to save her master. maul has this moment of envy as he is confronted by his own loneliness. He craves that loyalty and comradery with people he can relate with.

Maul could have been a killer asset to the rebellion, but he died a nobody.

Because as I was reading that I realised how watching the show so far in my head I was praying that Devon doesn't trust him because I know how he betrayed Ezra, and how I myself dont trust him to be honest and trustworthy, but I'm realising that this show is way before those events in Rebels. And here it really does seem like he could take the right path out. But I think now we're going to see what pushes him even further down the path of bitterness, hate and need for revenge.

So my heart hurts so much for him

And I can't help but wonder who in the galaxy could have been the right person to redirect him.

And we dont know how this is going to go. But so far I see that Devon's responses to Maul are affecting him negatively. I think he's getting the idea that he has to be who people think he is. That no-one will trust him to be anything else.

The problem isn't necessarily that he can *never* get people to help him, because they do. We see that with Ahsoka, Ezra, and likely devon. The problem is they utterly reject him at the very first disagreement they have instead of working through it.

The other crucial detail is that Maul is finally at a place in his life where he's reachable. He's reflecting, he's assessing, he can speak to people with a level head and take in their suggestions. He's actually WILLING to show Jedi respect and ally with them. He was so focused on his own rage and hatred during the clone wars that it wouldn't have been possible to get through to him at that time. his brother fell into his lap and he didn't need to work for his loyalty, so he just ordered him around and took him for granted. Maul is at a point where he's lost everything that he didn't even realize mattered soo much to him. He's wounded in new ways, and reaching out for a different kind of help.

The unfortunate reality is that the only people who could really help maul would have to be Jedi because he RELATES to their pain, they offer a different perspective, and they have the physical power to resist his negative qualities. He craves mutual understanding, but he also needs someone he can respect, who will not just be ordered around and would have the power to stand up to him if he falls back onto dominating tactics, while also maintaining that they will stick by him even in the challenging moments. That last point is the one that nobody is willing to do.

But the Jedi don't see what the audience sees. they only know maul as the first sith to reveal himself in 1000 years and slay countless jedi. It's perfectly reasonable for them to reject him or want to bring him to justice. these people have zero obligation to help Maul out of his self destruction. But of course for maul there really is no other way out of his indoctrination but through another mind illuminating and challenging it for him.

Thus lies the tragedy of it all. Maul is trapped.

When this show was first announced I felt like it was pointless because do I really want to watch maul fail again? It's redundant and it's hopeless. Maul is described as a character that doesn't change, but that's not really the case at all. He's changed a lot. He's doing his best to navigate a world that's totally against him, and you can see how it keeps failing him. he's still so compelling despite the inevitable because he never gives up trying. He's a surprisingly hopeful character that we'll never stop rooting for even till the bitter end because we are the only ones in the world who know who maul really is.

Don't think about any part of this too hard, it was supposed to be pose practice and then it turned into a crack what-if-ben-stayed-on-mandalore au. I do what I want.