Very nerdy analysis of the lightsaber techniques in Maul's fight with Devon Izara
I read a lot of lightsaber lore when I was younger, and it actually lines up really well with the depth of Maul's duel with Devon in Ep. 3.
Devon states she "Isn't foolish enough to fight [Maul]", but when cornered at the exit, she says "Let me pass, I'm not afraid of you". She then opens into what appears to be an opening stance for Form III lightsaber combat (Soresu), which supports a couple ideas about her character.
1 . She's past the basic fundamentals of Form I lightsaber combat (Shii-Cho), which is what padawans generally start with. She's no beginner.
2. She is prioritizing defense and endurance here, as these are the primary functions of Form III. Her goal here really is to defend herself as long as she has to. You can win a duel with Form III, but she definitely just wants to get past him.
Maul responds with an opening stance for Form II (Makashi), which isn't his typical fighting style. We usually see Form II with Count Dooku.
Form II is a traditional & advanced form, focused on efficiently defeating an opponent in saber-on-saber combat. He wants to flex the extent to which he can easily outclass Devon, because he wants her to buy into the value of his training (much like Vader with Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. Wow parallels).
She actually holds up pretty well for a minute, and is very much on the defense, so yeah... Form III.
Unfortunately, he essentially beats her here:
Obviously, he isn't trying to kill her, and she can gather as much. He just wants to do this little demonstration, test her, and get in her head.
She ultimately gets away, but only after he frustrates her enough that she perhaps "taps into the dark side" a little bit, as the kids say. He pushes her to be more discontent and ambitious with her life, so that he can be part of the answer. She can gather as much.
I'm curious where this is really headed. As a final note, Maul doesn't open into his typical fighting style with Form VII (Juyo) until Ep 4., when he has to fight both Devon and her master.
You don't exactly need to know any lightsaber lore to extract these ideas from the narrative, but it was pretty fun to see these details lining up.
Keep in mind this is just my interpretation, but it all felt pretty intentional. If anyone wants to hear more saber combat analysis like this, lemme know.
