Tag: darth maul

kuzkuza:

Real name? I once had a real name, so long ago… I don’t remember it.

That still kills me, because when Darth Vader chose to walk away from the Sith, he became Anakin Skywalker once more. “Vader” was the name of Sith Lord, a man who killed children, a man so distinct from Anakin that Obi-Wan blamed Vader for Anakin’s death.

But Maul is always Maul. He can discard the title “Darth” but the name Maul is all he’s ever known, all he’s ever been.

Even when Talzin remade his body and pulled his mind from the depths of darkness, he was still Maul. She could have given him any name, perhaps even the name she gave him in the womb, in his first yowling moments of infancy, but no, instead she christens him Maul, reborn Son of Dathomir. Perhaps she did it to spite Sidious, to reclaim the creature Maul in the name of Dathomir, and there’s a sort of poignancy to that, a certain strength that comes from taking back what was stolen, but still, it strikes me as incredibly sad that even in his second life, Maul is Maul, a weapon, an implement, a tool of vengeance.

And it’s even sadder that when Maul casts aside the ways of the Sith, there’s no piece of his old life for him to reclaim. His people are gone, his planet ruined, his family, slain. He can’t stop being Maul the way Anakin could stop being Vader; and there’s no one to lift him out of the darkness and remind him of who he once was.

I suppose what strikes me most of all, what has always struck me about Maul, is that he didn’t have a choice in becoming Sith, not like Vader or Tyranus; those were names given to fallen Jedi, but Maul was born to be Sith, not just once but twice.

I want to believe that he can choose to walk away from it. I want to believe that even though he will always be Maul, he can choose to define that name for himself. I want to believe that even someone who has always known darkness can choose to turn towards the light.

@sl-walker