Yknow I find it so funny how many people simp for Maul considering the origin of his design was basically
George Lucas: ok make this bitch the SCARIEST mf you could ever imagine. The thing of nightmares. The thing that stares ominously at you on the edge of your bed when you're having sleep paralysis
Iain McCaig: *makes design*
George Lucas: ...
George Lucas: ok maybe tone it down a bit because this is a family movie do the SECOND scariest thing from your nightmares instead
Iain McCaig: *makes Darth Maul's design*
George Lucas: perfect. This is it. He looks horrifying. I'm sure everyone, kids and adults alike, will quiver with fear and disgust at this character desi--
do you think other zabraks consider maul to be somewhat feminine/flamboyant/whatever in this realm due to him using force whith is a nightsisters trate that probably lead to sich huge gender separation of their species in the first place?
like when you think about it nightbrothers are culturally fight with big emphasis on brute force and raw physical strength while mauls combat techniques are sharp, swift and somewhat elegant? does it also make him more feminine in their eyes?
and considering again that their species is matriarchal, does this associasion with femininity makes him more authoritative and respected?
Just rewatched the Clone Wars season 3 episode "Monster."
Did Savage Opress think Ventress was choosing him as a mate? That's definitely what the other male Zabraks in the village believed. They say as much when Anakin and Obi Wan come looking for answers about Savage, who's been out terrorizing the Jedi.
The Selection, which Ventress invoked, seems to be the process by which a Nightsister chooses a male Nightbrother when she wants a mate, or to have children. Not sure what happens to the Nightbrother after that, but I would assume the Nightsister keeps him around if he proves satisfactory as a mate/whatever else that role entails.
So from Savage's perspective, he's about to become Ventress' mate, have sex with a woman for (probably) the first time, and perhaps have some children. Instead, he gets roided up on green ichor, brainwashed, and made to kill his beloved brother Feral.
The Maul show making me realize I could NOT be a member of the Shadow Collective.
Not because it’s dangerous, not because of crime, not even because of Darth Maul and his whole “I monologue instead of communicating” situation. No. It’s because I would be getting HIT from EVERY DIRECTION.
I’m bisexual. This is attacking me on ALL fronts. Like imagine clocking in. You just got your caf. You’re ready to have a normal, terrible day in a crime syndicate. Then you got-
A./ Zabrak men who are all 6’4+, covered in tattoos, built like they were personally handcrafted by the concept art team to ruin lives
B./ Mandalorian women in full armor just EXISTING like that, moving around like walking legends
C./ Mandalorian men ALSO in armor, because why not, let’s just make it worse
D./ Darth Maul HIMSELF, WALKING around like that is normal. Like excuse me?? Why is the most emotionally unstable man in the room ALSO serving face, posture, VOICE??? Pick a struggle. You cannot be terrifying AND hot. That is against several galactic laws.
Everyone is enormous. I'm like 5"2 at BEST. I am fighting for my life just to be SEEN.
The absolute AUDACITY of this environment to expect productivity. You want REPORTS??? In THESE CONDITIONS???
I just know I would try to contribute to a discussion and it would immediately go wrong. I’d be like “I think we should reconsider the logistics—” and then someone leans down slightly to hear me better and that’s it. I’m gone. Spirit left my body. I have nothing left to give this organization. Call me Alderaan cause nothing is left of my brain.
Also NO ONE in there is normal about ANYTHING. Everyone is either silent, brooding, armored, or delivering a speech like they’re in the final act of a tragedy. Like, pop off Shakespeare I guess???? I would be in the corner thinking about how I have not had a sweet treat in hours and I am being visually overwhelmed from every possible angle by beautiful people.
The Mandalorians girlies alone would be enough to end me. You’re telling me I have to coexist with women in full armor moving around like that, confident, terrifying, competent, and I’m supposed to maintain eye contact and coherent speech???? Be FOR REAL BESTIE-
I am experiencing a severe lack of dessert and an overwhelming abundance of intimidating hot people. Fix it. I am simply too small for the narrative being presented to me-
For fun, I wanted to think through which organs Darth Maul is actually missing. This gives us clues as to which bodily processes he just doesn't have anymore, which ones he's using sith juju to make up for, and what Talzin or Death Watch might've done for him with the prosthetics. To be fair, humans have about 70 to 80 possible organs systems (don't ask), but who knows what zabrak have, and where they truly are located. We can only guess.
✓ Means he probably has this.
X Means he probably doesn't have this.
O Means he probably only has some.
(Checklist and conclusions below the cut.)
✓ Adrenal glands (above the kidneys)
X Anus
X Appendix
X Bladder
O Bones
O Bone marrow (spongy part of the bone)
✓ Brain
✓ Bronchi (tubes in the lungs)
✓ Diaphragm (muscle of breathing)
✓ Ears
✓ Esophagus
✓ Eyes
✓ Gallbladder
X Genitals
✓ Heart ( 2 of them!)
✓ Hypothalamus (in the brain)
O Joints
✓ Kidneys
O Large intestine
✓ Larynx (voice box)
✓ Liver
✓ Lungs
O Lymph nodes
O Mesentery (Nerves, vessel, & fat storage in gut)
✓ Mouth
✓ Nasal cavity
✓ Nose
✓ Pancreas (hormones/enzymes)
✓ Pineal gland (in the brain- hormone production)
✓ Parathyroid glands (hormones, in the neck)
✓ Pharynx (back of the throat)
✓ Pituitary gland (in the brain, hormones)
X Prostate
X Rectum
✓ Salivary glands
O Skeletal muscles
O Skin
O Small intestine
O Spinal cord
✓ Spleen (big blood filter)
✓ Stomach
✓ Teeth
✓ Thymus gland (immune training, in the chest)
✓ Thyroid (hormones, in the neck)
✓ Trachea
✓ Tongue
O Ureters (Kidney to bladder tubes)
X Urethra
O Ligaments (connect muscles to bones)
O Tendons (connect bones to bones)
✓ Blood cells
✓ Hair (Uhhh... horns? I guess he has eyelashes?)
✓ The vestibular system (of the ear)
X Testes (unless zabrak locate them internally)
✓ Nails
X Vas deferens (testes to genitals tube)
X Seminal vesicles (semen fluid production)
X Bulbourethral glands (makes preejaculate)
X Penis
X Scrotum (if zabrak keep the testes externally)
✓ Parathyroid glands (neck, hormonal)
O Thoracic ducts (Where lymph flows into veins)
O Arteries
O Veins
O Capillaries
O Lymphatic vessels
✓ Tonsils
O Nerves
O Subcutaneous tissue
O Olfactory epithelium (nose)
✓ Cerebellum
Long story short, besides just his legs and genitals, Maul lost most of his digestive and urinary systems.
He actually kept almost all of his life-critical organs, so whatever sith voodoo he was doing to stay alive on Lotho Minor was probably focused on fighting off sepsis (due to the unclean end points of his digestive system. Remember he got cauterized by a lightsaber so assume he had to make... new holes. There may have also been some self-done surgery to reconnect what remained of his large and small intestines.)
The loss of his testes, if he indeed had human typical location for them, could have proven a growing problem, considering that they make 90% of a man's testosterone, and that's needed just to have normal amounts of energy.
The digestive track is also a problem, as the gut microbiome is where a lot of neurochemicals are produced. For example, 95%~ of the body's seratonin is produced in the gut. Lacking huge chunks of his small and large intestine means that Maul had poor absorbtion of nutrients, and probably needed to eat all the time just to get a fraction of the calories and nutrients from his food.
So. He lived on the edge of starvation due to a truncated digestive track, had low energy, mood imbalances like you wouldn't believe, and constant sepsis. I'm sure the acid rain being the only source of fresh water was also just, so helpful.
I assume, by the lack of black veins on him afterward, and (sort of?) stable mood, that talzin might've regrown some of his gut and fixed the end point issues. Later on, Death Watch (being mandalorians) might've given him more robust life support systems that included testosterone replacement and cybernetic genitals. Seems like what they would do for their own people.
Possible lingering complications? I assume he has a VERY weird relationship with food. He had spider legs for twelve years, so bipedal motion probably fails him sometimes. Back pain. Phantom leg pain. Nerve junction issues. Immune system weirdness (from all that missing marrow, and a long stint with sepsis). Issues storing fat. Talzin yoloed his brain back to sane-adjacent, so mental health is... I mean. Yeah. Triggers. Teeth prone to chipping and cavities (from malnutrition and acid water). Possibly goes to the bathroom once a day and urinates like a race horse. Issues with being touched, myriad phobias, and a squirrelly libido.
I think what makes maul so unsettling is how real he feels. Strip away the violence and the space and the magic and you have someone with intense ptsd reacting by controlling others and his whole situation in order to make the pain go away, but it only makes it worse, and hes never able to see it due to that perpetual cycle that was started by somelne else but that he keeps putting himslef in. And i think more people have been in that spot than theyd like to admit. And watching maul puts you face to face with the idea of holding sympathy and holding accountable. And the fan reactions being knowing how things have played out but eanting to imagine a better life for oneself.
What would healing even look like for someone whos caused ao much destruction. Healing is needed, but can you climb the hurdle of deserving? What do you even do when you lose everything? Where do you go? How do you feel? What conclusion do you even make from that? How do you sit with yourself, even when the the shadow self, the shadow lord, is making very ugly but very human mistakes right in front of you, shortcomings and behavioral patterns that no one really likes admitting to?
Its a powerful show, but is anyone ever really ready for that?
If you look closely, Maul has kept a small piece of Savage with him!
Remember the magic infused compass Mother Talzin gave Savage in season 3 of the Clone Wars? The one that helped find Maul in the first place? It’s next to a knife and machete.
Not only that, but the fact he trusts his fellow brothers more than the Mandalorians shows just how much he misses Savage. Especially since both Icarus and Scorn are meant to represent Savage in spirit.
