The Wrath of Darth Maul - Ryder Windham
Summary: In the tunnels of Lotho Minor resides a monster; broken and mad. It cannot remember how it got here, but it does remember it used to be someone else. Someone powerful. This creature is Darth Maul, and this is the story of his breaking.
My thoughts (spoiler free):
It is my understanding that this book was written after Maul’s return in Clone Wars with the intention of combining and developing previous books and short stories about Maul in order to give him a comprehensive backstory. And of course the author adds his own things as well. We get to follow Maul all the way from his childhood training to his downfall on Naboo and being found on Lotho Minor years later by Savage.
The writing feels kinda juvenile (I think the intended audience might have been children or teens but I’m not sure since the book is very dark?) with clunky metaphors and the like, but the plot doesn’t fit that description because its basically just Maul’s childhood trauma complete with torture, manipulation and murder.
This book isn’t canon anymore with the release of the Son of Dathomir comics and Maul: Shadow Lord, but much is still compatible with the new canon so I would recommend reading this if you want more Maul backstory! I also think they make some references to this book in Maul: Shadow Lord. For example this books starts with young Maul looking at his reflection in a window, and this ”boy in the window” is referenced several times throughout the book when Maul thinks about a free life. In Shadow Lord there is of course a pivotal scene where Maul sees and speaks to a reflection of his younger self. In the book Maul is also partially raised by a big spider droid, which might be why he chooses to have a spider-ish droid companion, Spybot, in the show. It might also be why he fashions himself spider legs in Clone Wars after being cut in half.
The core of this book is the fact that all Maul ever wanted was a friend. But Sidious fucked him up so badly and he never got to have a single normal relationship in his childhood so that want gets twisted and corrupted. The only forms of relationships Maul is able to form in adulthood is that between a master and apprentice/master and servant or a connection fuelled by hatred or a lust for revenge. He never really got that friend he so desperately wished for. Even with Savage he forces a master and apprentice dynamic upon them because he doesn’t know how to just be brothers. The Maul tragedy truly is something.
It was also interesting and horrifying to see how Maul was conditioned to view Sidious as the center of his universe. The loyalty and obedience is absolute, as is the need to prove himself as worthy. This is so deeply ingrained in Maul that it stays with him throughout his entire life, even when he’s working against Sidious. He doesn’t turn him over to the Jedi and when he plots revenge on him it’s almost as if he’s still trying to prove to his former master that he’s strong enough to do it.
My thoughts (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!):
There were a lot of little things that I really liked, for example that the little verses Maul sing when he’s going mad on Lotho Minor being things Sidious sang/recited during his upbringing. It’s like a dark and twisted version of a child remembering a lullaby their parent used to sing for them.
There are so many tragic little tidbits, like Maul only knowing what friendship was because of an educational recording, or him having never revived an apology in his entire life until he was like eight years old. He also doesn’t know anything about himself. The only way he knows what he looks like is because he once could see his reflection in the window. He doesn’t know where he came from, he doesn’t even know his own age. It’s also shown that Maul can’t enjoy anything normally because it’s all somehow connected to some form of trauma. For example when he goes swimming with Kilindi all he can think about is when Sidious tried to drown him in a frozen lake…
On the topic of Kilindi I really liked the relationship between her and Maul. It’s complex because they obviously like each other and have a connection but Maul can never fully open up to her. Its also sad to see that Maul understands that Kilindi being a slave was a bad thing, but he doesn’t seem to understand that he himself is a slave to Sidious. And of course it ends in tragedy because Maul kills her.
Maul being trained by a Mandalorian was also super interesting giving his collaboration with Death Watch and takeover of Mandalore in Clone Wars. This connection also continues in other projects and I look forward to seeing how they incorporate that in the next season of Maul: Shadow Lord.
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