Am I Your Daughter Now?

even before that, rook was transparent with maul about his choice to pursue devon. "is this about the girl? she tried to kill you." and maul gets defensive: "stick to the plan." when rook questions why maul is choosing to save devon from marrok, he says, "she need only prove her resilience, and she will find me her ally." he really seethes that last word, and it almost looks like he glares at her, too.

i don't think he liked that rook was questioning his decisions; she's always been loyal to him. but rook's loyalty isn't simply because he's maul: it's because he's the leader of mandalore and the shadow collective. he should act as such. and when he strays, she's there to advise him.

that anchor is gone now that rook is dead. maul is alone. the rest of the shadow collective died with her. he has no one -- except for devon. and since daki is gone, there is no one else for devon to go to for guidance except for maul. they've both lost the one person who cautioned them of the consequences their relationship could bring. there is no one left to stop maul from completely devoting himself to devon, and there is no one left to stop devon from embracing the dark side.

i've seen ppl argue that rook's death was solely for shock value, but i think if that were the case they would have used vario instead. i think everyone would've been happier if vario died instead of rook -- instead of icarus -- instead of spybot -- instead of scorn. but maul has to lose pieces of himself to become more reliant on devon.