u/Glittering-Age-2013

Rebels is my favourite depiction of Maul. He’s the slightest bit sympathetic, while still being an absolute monster.

Until now, it was his most sympathetic portrayal.

But Shadow Lord has painted him as someone who is willing to work with Jedi to achieve his goals, and seems to not outright hate them anymore.

He causes Daki’s death, and you could say that he was planning on doing that the other time. But he picks a moment where Devon won’t see him.

This leads me to my main question.

Why does he blind/try to kill Kanan in Twilight of the Apprentice?

It’s honesty a pretty similar situation. He wants to recruit Ezra to the dark side, but Kanan stands in his way. Ahsoka likely would, too. Ezra trusts them both too much, and neither of them would EVER trust Maul.

And Maul is in a position where he could genuinely use their help. He even says as much to them.

“I cannot defeat Vader alone.”

I feel like he should’ve stuck it out and tried to escape with all of them, and maybe trip Kanan on the way out like he did with Daki if he has the opportunity.

But he just jumps him. Even if he expected to kill him in one hit, he still has a battle-ready Ahsoka there, who (if I have my power-scaling right) would absolutely give him a run for his money.

Why would he risk Ahsoka telling Ezra what happened, and losing out on a chance to recruit him?

Before Shadow Lord, this wasn’t as much of an issue. In rebels I could still buy that Maul absolutely despised the Jedi, maybe to the same extent as the Sith.

His line right after blinding him seems to imply as much.

“(I will use the holocron) to exact my revenge on ALL my enemies!”

So in this version I assume that he hated and really wanted to kill any surviving Jedi, nearly as much as he wanted Ezra as his apprentice. Here, he’s still very much a villain.

But in Shadow Lord, he seems to see the Jedi more as just gullible idiots, maybe even deserving of some pity, after they were genocided.

It’s like he sees that they were all victims of Palpatine, just as he was. Which I always thought was a clarity he didn’t reach until his final moments in Obi-Wan’s arms.

“He…will…avenge…US.”

But what do you guys think? What’s the in-world explanation of his actions in Rebels? Is his characterization consistent? And did Shadow Lord go a step too far in making him sympathetic?

“1v1 me! 1v1 me!” Dawg how about you 1v1 a shower.

Where does this show sit in your SW show ranking?

Shadow Lord alters Maul’s characterization, and I have questions about its implications.

Rate my top 5 moments in the franchise