DNI: Proshippers, Minors, Reylos Hi, Iām Rhi. 28, she/her Just an average nerd with a plethora of things I enjoy, which include God of War, Spiritfarer, Lord of the Rings, Books, Star Wars, Obi-wan, Finnrey & Starset. I write. And read. A lot. My TBR is as long as my arm but Iāll always accept new recommendations!
This is what we call a completely tone-deaf and ridiculous response. Finn was an incredible character, in fact, his arc is what most Kylo Ren fans *think* is Kylo's. Someone who was raised in a totalitarian environment and made an active choice to say no and redeem himself--that is excellent characterization, despite Rian Johnson's messy writing and the misguided attempts to salvage him in TROS.
If they'd cast a white actor--say, that miserable Adam Driver--his character would be vastly more celebrated. Racism was talked about because whether you like it or not, it IS a big screaming deal that a huge franchise like Star Wars had a black main lead. Whether you like it or not, people were INCREDIBLY ugly and awful to John Boyega because of it.
I loved Finn and Rey because they made sense canonically, they were foreshadowed in TFA, and it was a great romance for an adventure film. Trying to shoehorn in Kylo Ren as a romantic rival made absolutely zero sense and was part of the reason the subsequent sequels were so bad.
Please take your racism apologia elsewhere because I'm in my blocking era and I really cannot hear stupid-ass takes like this anymore.
Scrolling through the Maul x Reader tag has left me withā¦many ideas. So Iām tossing my hat into the ring. Hopefully this is coherent because hoo boy, it turned out much longer than I had thought it would.
Content warning: nsfw (18+ no minors), descriptions of sex, blindfolds, afab/female reader, mentions of masturbation, post The Phantom Menace Maul, mentions of Maulās injuries, mentions of oral, light mention of bondage, weāre handwaving about prosthetics but trust me Maulās got a package made just for you
Maul first pulls out the blindfold when training.
He tosses the scrap of fabric to you, not caring where it came from. Makes sure you tie it on tight, that you canāt see, that the Force and your other senses are your only guide. It takes a while, but, slowly, you become accustomed to having your vision taken from you.
And something shifts one day.
It isnāt until Maul has thrown the fabric to you that he realizes it isnāt just a scrap of fabric. It was a part of his robe, torn on a mission gone wrong. How it had survived to this point within the base, he had no clue. But when he sees you tie it on your face without question, settle into routines you know so well that your body is practically dancing at this pointā¦
Oh, something shifts.
It starts off slow. The fabric used as a blindfold comes from his wardrobe now. When he canāt find something to use, he snaps and grumbles and your training is halted for the day. You arenāt quite sure whatās going on until you pass one of the blindfolds across your face and oh, interesting, it smells like your master. Itās enough to distract you that day, leaving you sore as you stumble off to clean up.
And he notices that youāve noticed.
Maul becomes more bold. Instead of using training droids, he moves in while youāre blindfolded. He tightens the knot at the back of your head, careful not to drag any of your hair into it. His hands drag across your lower back, his voice low in your ear as he scolds you for flinching. Hand to hand sparring becomes an odd dance of lingering touches. With his scent lingering around your nose and his hands all over your body, you canāt help it. It becomes the highlight of your training, your body slowly turning it into more until you find yourself sliding your fingers between your legs in your showers afterwards, trying to ease the fire that had built when Maul had tugged your hips into a new position, his breath hot against your ear as he told you to hold still.
Little did you know he was in another room, holding himself, thinking of how your body had shuddered against his own when he had pulled you close.
The two of you perform this dance for what feels like too long, until one particularly sweaty bout of sparring ends with your chest against the wall, Maul pinning one hand above your head, and the other between the two of you. You can feel his chest rising and falling in unstable pants against your back, and you know if you flex your fingers, youād be able to feel the hard, rigid shape that was pressing against your backsideā¦
But he doesnāt let you. He takes you right there, against the wall. Your cries muffled by the fingers he stuffs in your mouth, his own hot against your throat as he pushes himself into you with desperation and need. Turning you into a shaking, breathless mess when heās finally done with you.
And so begins a new training routine. Once the blindfold goes on, you know youāre in for a ride. Maul puts you through your paces, knots the blindfold around your eyes himself, and then rips shouts of ecstasy from your throat until youāre hoarse. Then he tidies the two of you up, dresses you both, removes the blindfold with a gentle kiss on your brow and guides you to the showers.
But it doesnāt take long for you to notice that any other time you try to engage with him, he rebuffs. He will still keep you close during meetings and missions, but if you try to sneak a kiss in the hall, or reach to touch him anywhere below his dramatically low collarā¦he pulls away. Catches your wrist. Scolds you for not focusing. Usually, itās the training session after that becomes more ferocious. You find yourself leaving with more bruises from training and kisses across your body than you can count, sore in many ways that you feel for weeks after.
When you finally work up the courage to stop him from putting on the blindfold, to ask him why he hides your vision when the two of you are intimate, Maul pauses. Lowers the familiar band of fabric that you had been using for a while. It smells like the two of you now, of sweat and sex that normally leaves currents of excitement running through your veins. Today, you just look at him, curious, concerned. Wondering. He looks back at you, his expression unreadable.
And Maul walks away. Your training routine shortens. No more blindfolds. No more touches. He stands apart from you during meetings. Folds his hands behind his back when you approach, as if heās keeping himself from touching you. Frustration blooms in your gut. Why is he avoiding you?
You finally corner him, weeks later, after days of trying to get him to talk only for him to leave the room. You donāt have to say anything, he knows what youāre going to ask him. What surprises you the most is that he apologizes for being distant. For pushing you away. Itās here that he admits that heās scared.
Slowly, he tells his story. How he fell on Naboo. How he had crawled through the garbage with a body that was constantly on fire with pain. How he had used the Force to hold himself together physically, but not mentally. How metal became fused to flesh thanks to magic and Mandalorians. He had survived, but everything he hid under his clothes, everything that he had gainedā¦he hated. He loathed. Sure, it was helpful in keeping him upright and moving, butā¦it wasnāt him.
Maul had been afraid that, without the blindfold, you would reject him. That you would see the monstrosity that fate had turned him into, and push him away. The blindfold had been a selfish move to have his way with you without that fear, but now that things were moving beyond physicalā¦
It melts something inside you, hearing this. You tell him that seeing him wouldnāt chase you away, but Maul hesitates. Seeing that he needs a push, thatās what you give himāyou push him into the nearest closet and, once you have his consent, give the Zabrak some much needed head. Seeing you between his legs, no longer hidden under thick clothes, your eyes focused on his face as he fills your mouth and throat up with his releaseā¦well. Heās always been quietly glad that he had such an attachment made for himself, but today? Today he was very happy with it.
The blindfolds are still used from time to time. But not all the time. Sometimes, itās used to keep your hands tied together above your head, while he searches for a longer piece of rope to contain you. All for training, of course.
Benās eyes narrowed slightly at Maulās question, his fingers flexing near his lightsaber hilt. They were both old, time and war taking its toll on their bodiesā¦but the Force was forever strong. He just had to tap into it, and prepare himself for Maulās attackā
The Dathomirian Sith grunted quietly at Ben Kenobiās lack of an answer, and, much to the other manās astonishment, he eased himself to sit before the fire. Another surprise was how he laid his cane out by his folded legs, effectively disarming himself. A show of peace? From Maul?
āI will not forgive you for what youāve done, Kenobi,ā he said quietly, staring into the fire. It reflected in his yellow eyes, making them glow. A fire that had been burning since before they had met each other on Naboo. āBut I cannot sit by as Sidious continues to live.ā
He looked up at Ben, a mixture of emotions on his face. He was exhausted, a life that should have been lost decades ago, carried forward only by hate and pain. āYou are certain that thisā¦child is the one who will bring balance to the Force?ā
Ben slowly moved his hand away from his lightsaber, nodding once. āHe is.ā
Maulās mouth shifted, a grim line of a smile hidden underneath his tattoos. āHe will avenge us, then.ā
thereās something almost sinister about how Shadow Lord handles Maulā¦ and I donāt mean in-universe. I mean what it does to us as the audience.
because tell me why I caught myself multiple times leaning forward like, "ohā¦ this might actually work." "oh, i would like to see what happens," like I was considering it. like I was ready to watch Devon fall and go, "yeah, okay, I get it, I support it."
and thatās the trap.
this whole time, we knew who Maul is. manipulator, survivor, (at one point) a victim, walking vendetta wrapped in charisma, Sam Witwer voice, and cool tattoos. him technically not being a Sith anymore doesnāt cleanse anything. it just makes him more unpredictable. heās not serving Sidious anymore, heās serving himself.
and stillā¦ the show makes you feel for him.
that last episode especially felt like emotional whiplash in the best, most unsettling way. one moment youāre watching him inch closer to getting what he wants; Devon as an apprentice, and thereās this creeping tension where you think, "is it really gonna happen?" and then the next moment heās practically delivering Master Daki to Vader like a calculated sacrifice.
and it snaps back into place.
oh. right. heās awful.
but it doesnāt stick, does it? because then Daki dies, Devon is angry and shattering the way Maul wants.
and Maul... Maul has that moment. that barely-contained smile. that flicker of satisfaction he tries to hide while feeding her anger, sharpening it. "we will have our revenge." and suddenly you realize something deeply uncomfortable:
heās not just manipulating her.
heās been manipulating us the entire time.
because why are we feeling anything close to hope when he speaks? why does his pain feel compelling enough to blur the lines? why did I, even for a second, forget that wanting Devon to follow him is wanting her destruction?
itās not just character writing at that point. itās narrative sleight of hand.
and honestly? I have to give it to the writers. because making Maul likable isnāt new. making him tragic isnāt new. but making the audience complicit in his manipulation? making us feel the pull of the dark side alongside the characters?
thatās something else entirely.
itās unsettling. and it works a little too well for my liking.
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?
Itās a crackpot theory but I would not be surprised (and be absolutely delighted) if they pulled a fast one on us and Devon isnāt the apprentice that Maul is searching for.
Spoiler talk below the cut!
Look, all Iām saying is that Maul never said that Devon was the one he was looking for. Even when Rook asks him what he wants with the kid, he doesnāt say āhey I saw her in my visionā. He just talks about making her a tool in his schemes. Meanwhile, with his visions, he just talks about their face becoming clearer to him as he gets closer. Not once does he really look at Devon like heās trying to look for something recognizable.
But who did Maul perk up at when he saw them for the first time? Who did Maul leave alive during the prison break? Who has had multiple encounters with Maul and his gang and survived? Doesnāt want to call in the Empire because he wants to handle this alone, becoming more and more obsessed with tracking Maul down?
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