Full Series Rebels 3.20 - Twin Suns - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Ezra was never supposed

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to be on Tatooine nor cross paths with Kenobi or especially ever Luke. Maul called upon Ezra to lure out Kenobi as Kenobi refused to reveal himself as Kenobi had no intention to fight him. Most of Ezra's comments are more Sith-like in aggression and out look, more reminiscent of his views in TOTA. He was mislead and mistaken in believing Kenobi would destroy the Sith and aid his fight against the Empire. It was Luke to whom Ezra had no clue about. Ezra mistakenly believed it was Kenobi the entire time. Maul wanted Kenobi, because he saw him and where he was. Maul never shared Ezra's simplistic and naive view . He suspected something deeper or knew already via the knowledge of the holocrons that he kept from Ezra and never shared. They never directly tell us what Maul learned or unlocked, but holocrons are keys that can open many doors. Plus we have Bendu's remarks on the holocrons being merged . We learn from Kenobi because Maul had altered the chain of events for his own purpose and the exact repercussions are not entirely known.




Ezra: Why would the holocrons send me to you?

Kenobi: They didn't. Maul did. Maul used your desire to do good, to deceive you. And in doing so he as altered the course of many things. he knows your fears, your heart, and he manipulated the truth. Which has lead you here, where you should never have been.

Ezra: But the holocrons, they tell the truth.

Kenobi: Do they? The truth is often what we make of it. You heard what you wanted to hear, believed what you wanted to believe. And now the only one that has gained anything from all of this is..

Maul: ME

Maul used the holocrons and Ezra the entire time for his own personal purpose, and he's been largely aloof the entire season, so we know do not know all the details of what he was up to, maybe never will.

It is clear Kenobi wanted nothing to do with Ezra, but was aware of him(likely via Yoda , and Kenobi's connection to the living and comic Force learned from his training with Yoda and Jinn while in exile and the training Yoda had for him back in ROTS). Maul used the holocrons to impose himself into their own little world and tie himself to the events of the OT and maybe beyond.

 

I am very content with how things went.

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So Maul's 'hope' was vengeance, after all.
Not for vengeance against Obi Wan, his hope was for vengeance against Sidious. Obi Wan was just an "old wound".
Maul realized his vengeance was always to come through another, not by his own hands. He tried attaining this hope through Ezra, but Ezra 'disappointed' him.
Maul's hope was renewed by confirming that the chosen one lives, and once he knew this truth, Maul died. I wonder if Maul even suffered a physical wound, or if he just flat out gave up once and for all. He would have gone through the same struggle as Ezra, traversing the desert, after all. There never would have been a prolonged duel between Ben and Maul. Ben was fresh (albeit old) and Maul was exhausted. Maul's facade finally broke and he died a weak old man.

 

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As I already mentioned, I think the problem everyone has is that Maul vs Obi-Wan was really meant to be a symbolic ending to Ezra's character arc. Obi Wan is the light that finally leads Ezra back on to his true path, Maul is the one who perverted Ezra's true destiny. Obi-Wan defeating Maul easily is a sign that Ezra truly has no more temptation towards the Dark Side. It's meant to propel Ezra's character while closing Mauls arc as him being a weak, self-destructive, and in the end utterly pitiful old man. And Mauls final line of him saying "He will avenge us." Was him finding the only closure a man as destructive as him could find. Death. In the Mail did not die a Sith. A Sith fears death to the end. Like the Grand Inquisotr, Mail was trapped in darkness but found his freedom through death. Maul's character is was always meant to be tragic, so him dying without even anything symbolizng his days as a strong warlord would be missing the point of his character arc in Rebels. His arc is all about his refusal to let go of his anger, and it takes his death for it to finally fade. Maul finally got his freedom from the Dark Side and with the comfort his people wouldn't have died for nothing, knowing the Chosen One will defeat him the Sith. He died with hope in his heart, just liked he wished for.

 

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An excellent and in depth analysis of the episode. Whether this is what the writers intended or not, it's officially part of my head-canon.

 

So...just my humble $0.02...

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Theft of Alliance property, Unauthorized Absence, Disobedience of Orders.....and it all goes away with an 'I'm sorry' with the real military worked that way.

Would have liked for Kenobi to tell Ezra..."no one can know I am alive." Or something to that effect.

The landscapes were stunning though. And the final fight while short was a good ending. Would have preferred seeing maul on a funeral pyre....just as total confirmation he was not coming back.

 

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Dave Filoni pays attention to detail. He even had Obi-Wan switch from using his form to the one Qui-Gon used in order to bait Maul. Pay attention, all of these things are intentional. I've rewatched multiple times.

 

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Yeah, that part with Ezra at the end annoyed me. His actions (no matter the reason behind them) shouldn't be taken lightly, yet there are no consequences at all. At this rate, it's just a matter of time before he runs off again.
I agree with the rest of your post. Amazing landscapes, and the ending with Obi wan/Maul was one of the good parts of the episode.

 

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It seems obvious to me that Maul had no idea what he was looking for when he asked for hope. He found it in his final moments, but he lost his mind when he learned that Obi-Wan was still alive and instead focused on that. Although I'm convinced that he came to the realization that Obi-Wan was protecting someone very important on Tatooine long before he encountered him, I think that Obi-Wan's confirmation at the end led to the loss of his last doubts.

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I don't think Obi-Wan tried to bait Maul, for the simple reason that Maul switched stances before him. Either Obi-Wan fell for Maul's bait or he saw something in that stance change which lead him to switch to what they both knew back during TPM.

 

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Totally agree for the most part though I think Kenobi was a bit less distant than your perceived him as. I saw Kenobi as seeing a Verizon of Anakin in Ezra he could save before his obsession and his naive denial pushed further down a dark path to destruction. Kenobi finally learned that giving the questions to an young adult to figure out on their own with some guidance is far more effective than trying to make force them to accept the answers. Ezra is the midway point between Anakin and Luke. Not to driven by his obsession that he can't be reached, but not as willing to trust Kenobi's guidance as a young hopeful and naive Luke is. He's been in the Twilght for so long now. I finally think that Twilight of the Apprentice truly referred to Ezra in S2, not Ahsoka or Maul. He's been conflicted for so long due to his divergence from his true destiny, that he literally ended up essentially cutting himself off from others and focused on defeating the Sith. He became a twisted mirror to Kenobi's purpose if you think about it. But Ezra has found himself now.

But can we at least all agree that it was clever writing to essentially say straight up that Maul and Ezra nearly breaking canon was completely not in the Force's plan and was literally fighting tooth and nail to keep the prophecy from being threatened. And the fact is, it was absolutely Ezra's fault. He was the only one who would be insane enough to work with a unknown person to obtain a Sith Holocron and actually show him trust that was required to open up a Temple designed to test if the hypothetical 'Sith' duo in question are able to trust each other to obtain the Sith Holocron. It makes perfect sense now why Vader was confused as heck to how Ezra unlocked the secret of the temple. The Jedi have that trusting relationship, and Sith don't. You need to use the dark side to open the Temple Doors, while also relying on your partners power instead of your own to help you. And Jedi would never work with Sith to obtain knowledge like that. Ezra, by sheerly being crazy enough to trust and emapthize with a Sith legiamtely (at least on Malachor.) but also thanks to Visions and Voices we know Maul was actually effected by Ezra's empathy to where he didn't just want an apprnetice in Ezra, but even a brother.. Their relationship, however twisted, had a foundation of something geniune. Ezra somehow created a legitimate connection with a former Sith Lord by just being himself. That's what has always made Ezra dangerous. His ability to not only empathize with others, but to inspire empathy within them.

 

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So it is over.... I am happy that Maul died knowing that the sith would indeed be destroyed.
It was also cool to see the tusked raiders.

What a good episode

 

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I have seen it multiple times too, maybe you see it one way, but that doesn't mean it was intentional. You TELL me to "Pay attention to detail," well I will politely ASK you to realize not everyone sees things your way.
but tbh if Dave Filoni "paid attention to detail" He would have never done this arc in twenty two minutes, he wouldn't have put it right after the worst episode of the series and he would have at least given Maul a respectful amount of screen time in the last episode we will see of Maul.

 

Woof. Maul should have been left dead on Naboo.

 

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One thing to keep in mind, Maul originally wanted to open Jedi Holocron by himself and he could not since you need to be a Jedi or think like one, he was still on the dark side of things, and that basically why Ezra was still of use to open the Jedi holocron) and carry along for entire end game arc. Maul used the Nightsister magick to get the missing fragments that Ezra possessed buried deep in his mind after the uplink of knowledge was abruptly severed by Kanan the first time. One odd thing I noticed, that Ezra already knew it was Tatooine when he spoke to Kanan and Hera, while in Visions and Voices they had not yet learned of the exact location and all of that kinda thing.

 

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I am a bit confused as to why Obi Wan said Luke is the chosen one unless thats what Obi Wan believes? I also find it interesting that Maul says that he will avenge "us".

 

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Once again I'm gonna reiterate...

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It was never about Maul. Maul was always symbolical of Ezra's temptation to the dark side. He was a side character and antagonist in the spiritual sense, like the Devil trying to tempt Adam and Eve to eat that forbidden fruit. His arc in the Clone Wars to Rebels was all about him losing everything again again and again because he couldn't let go of his unending hate for Everything. So what better way to kill a tragic figure like Maul then for Kenobi, who still retains his sanity and control throughout, to cut him down not mercilessly, but definitely not fearfully. Kenobi moved on and focused on the future. Maul didn't. Their battle was symbolical of Ezra struggling to decide whether to finally turn away from the Dark Side, or give in to it. Kenobi's victory and Ezra's statement at the end make this clear. And Maul dies with the one thing he desired, dying with hope of the Chosen one avenging all Sidious had taken and broken. He died like he lived after Sidious. "Formely Darth, now just Maul." The story worked in the terms of how they wrote it, its just that most people here on these forums are so meh on Ezra that nobody sees that this was Ezra's story first, not Maul's or Kenobi. Or maybe they do, and they don't like it.

 

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which is exactly why Filoni made a mistake, he USED Maul and Kenobi, two super important characters to the entire star wars saga, for a character that is so bleh that he cant decide if he is eight or eighteen. That is a major injustice to both Maul AND Kenobi. Sure, the voice acting for Kenobi was great. We didn't need an arc like this for Ezra if all he is gonna do is be the generic "Good guy" Jedi. Seriously everything that Happened on Malachor and with Maul and Ezra was a complete waste, there was no reason for this entire story arc to take place. I mean gee wiz thanks Filoni, we really needed a hyped up final confrontation between two great rivals to turn into another "Oh Im Ezra I don't know what I want the Sith are evil dont hurt my Friends waaaaah then Mauls dies the end." Like come on, probably the worst storytelling as a whole I have seen in star wars

 

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Saw an interesting breakdown on YouTube.

"Obi-Wan assumes his stance for Form III - But then, he shifts to the opening stance of Form IV. Now, Maul has had experience fighting both Forms. He fought a Form III master in Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars. But he also fought a Form IV master in Qui-Gon... and defeated him, using an old trick involving his lightsaber hilt. So when Maul saw Obi-Wan seemingly switch Forms, he was certain that he had it in the bag. A Form III-using Kenobi would've fought him to a stalemate, but an Form IV-using Kenobi would be just as easy as his master was... Which was precisely what Obi-Wan knew Maul would think. Because even though Obi-Wan shifted his stance, he never actually changed his Form. Maul rushed forward with the same trick that killed Qui-Gon, expecting to a Form IV user, but instead, he ran headfirst into a Form III master who had seen that little trick and had had nearly three decades to devise a counter to it."

There is also the suicide by Kenobi which others have mentioned and I also like.
Overall I was surprisingly pleased with the final duel, brief and unflashy completely consistent with Bens ANH characterization. Don't get me wrong, I love awesome looking duels more than the next guy. but my love for continuity takes precedence.

Short, sweet, to the point, and another loose thread is cut.

Now Rebels just needs the guts to kill of two more characters within the next season and It will gel as good as I could possibly hope with my idea of continuity.

 

This episode was alright. Definitely should have been a 2 parter since things felt rushed as usual.

 

Very nice episode, but i just done like how things are always being rushed into one episode....my goodness this involved Obi Wan and Maul! You could easily do at least 2 episodes. No one would complain. This is important stuff and all rushed into 1 episode again.

 

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I took "us" to probably mean Maul and his family (Savage, Talzin).

 

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Maybe - just maybe - it was a very complicated kind of suicide? Perhaps, in the end, he sought in that final confrontation something he could not do in his own: find redemption, hope, and an end to all things, all at once.

 

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Today will be a day long remembered. It has seen the death of Maul, and will soon see the end of the Rebellion.

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I took "us" as meaning Maul and his family and Obi-Wan and his "family", the Jedi Order.

 

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I think so too. Maul meant everyone who suffered because of Palpatine and the Empire. But especially Kenobi and himself.

 

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Wonderful episode, better then expected and tied up some plot lines pretty nicely. As much as I wanted a longer duel, I think this was better, really shows Obi-Wans growth from the Episode 1 and the Clone Wars, seeing him calmly handle Maul was nice, especially after all the heartache he's put him through.