Maul Seeks to Recruit Ahsoka Turns Into Awesome Lightsaber Duel

Maul and Ahsoka engaged in lightsaber battle


Maul shows up in the throne room
While discussing the prolonged occupation of Mandalore, with Bo-Katan wanting it to end quickly and voicing her displeasure to Ahsoka and Captain Rex, they walk into the Mandalorian throne room and are surprised to see Maul sitting on the throne, having dispatched his allies, flanked by ARC trooper Jesse. At this shock, Bo-Katan takes out her blasters and, running towards Maul, blasts away at him, with him Force-flicking the blasts away. This using of the Force to move away blasts is a first in Star Wars and quite fascinating to behold!

Maul then Force-chokes Bo-Katan, lifts her up in the air, and asks, “My lady, is that any way to treat your rightful ruler?”
He sets her down and says, “And now, as a show of good faith, I return your comrade in arms to you.”
While Maul’s returning of Jesse to his fellow clone trooper is, indeed, a show of good faith, he also has gotten his usefulness out of Jesse in finding out about Ahsoka. Jesse then returns to Captain Rex, who helps him out of the room, with Bo-Katan also departing to take part in the battle outside, leaving Ahsoka alone with Maul.

Ahsoka and Maul begin their dialogue
Having only met briefly at the outset of “The Phantom Apprentice”, Maul, while looking out the window at the battle, tells Ahsoka, “Look at them – so blissfully ignorant.”
Ahsoka: “Care to tell me what this is all about? Or would you rather save it for the Council?”
Maul: “Oh no, no. You are the one that I wish to speak with. Were you not cast out of your order?”
Ahsoka: “I left voluntarily.”

Maul: “Yes, but you were motivated to leave by the hypocrisy of the Jedi Council.”
Ahsoka doesn’t respond to this indictment of the Jedi Council, causing Maul to observe, “We were both tools for greater powers.”
This move by Maul to compare his and Ahsoka’s experiences with their trusted erstwhile fealties is fascinating and insightful.

Maul tells Ahsoka about Darth Sidious
Ahsoka, still very much in the do-gooder spirit, tells Maul, “I am here to bring you to justice.”
Maul, in a manner of concern, says, “Justice is merely the construct of the current power base. A base, which, according to my calculations, is about to change.”
Ahsoka: “And Darth Sidious is behind it?”
Maul: “He is behind everything, in the shadows, always. But soon, very soon…he will reveal himself.”
Ahsoka: “With your help, the Jedi can stop Sidious before it’s too late.
Maul: “Too late for what? The Republic to fall? It already has, and you just can’t see it! There is no justice, no law, no order, except for the one that will replace it! The time of the Jedi has passed. They cannot defeat Sidious. But, together, you and I can.”
Maul has flipped the conversation from Ahsoka seeking to bring Maul to justice in front of the Jedi to being that of part of the solution against Darth Sidious, who is threatening to destroy both the Jedi and the Republic, which is an incredibly convincing move, especially since Ahsoka knew none of this prior to the conversation. Curiously, everything Maul is telling her is 100% true.

Ahsoka considers allying with Maul
This suggestion that Ahsoka join Maul to defeat Sidious gives Ahsoka a pause, as Maul is now offering a solution to do good, yet in alliance with him versus Darth Sidious.
Maul: “Every choice you have made has led you to this moment.”
Maul extends his hand to Ahsoka, seeking her assistance in this matter. At this moment, an explosion of glass panels rips through the room, with debris flying everywhere, from the battle raging outside. At this moment, Ahsoka, surprisingly, says, “I will help you.” Maul has convinced her to join him(!).

Maul tells Ahsoka that Anakin Skywalker is the key to everything
However, Ahsoka adds a caveat: “But you must answer one question.”
Maul: “You have but to ask.”
Ahsoka: “What do you want with Anakin Skywalker?”
Maul: “He is the key to everything.”
Ahsoka: “To bring balance to the Force?”
Maul: “To destroy. He has long been groomed for his role, as my master’s new apprentice.”
Ahsoka: “You lie.”
Maul: “I’m afraid not. In fact, I was so certain of his fate that I orchestrated this war to lure him here with Kenobi to kill him, thus depriving Sidious of his prized pupil.”
Maul has continued to tell 100% the truth to a ridiculous degree, being fully transparent and holding nothing back from Ahsoka. Yet, these truths are so unsettling and incomprehensible to Ahsoka that she pushes back.


Epic lightsaber battle
“I know Anakin,” says Ahsoka, as she lights up her lightsabers, and says, “Your vision is flawed.”
At this point, Maul growls, and not simply, it seems, because she decides to fight him, but because he was being fully truthfully forthcoming, he was convincing her, and she even tentatively agreed to join him, yet in her stubbornness, refused to believe that Anakin Skywalker would be a force for the Dark Side, decided that Maul was untrustworthy.
Maul: “I see the Padawan needs one last lesson,” followed by Maul lighting up a dual-bladed lightsaber, which he must have constructed since the battles with the Separatists in Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir, since we do not see him using it there.
Ahsoka and Maul then engage in the best lightsaber duel of all of Star Wars The Clone Wars, with Ahsoka eventually kicking Maul out of the room and through a stained glass window. She looks out and sees Maul running off.

Maul flees
Amidst the battle raging outside, the Maul loyalists are losing ground, with Gar Saxon communicating to Maul for assistance: “Lord Maul, I need backup. Our forces are falling. We need your support.”
Maul: “No, I think not. Any moment, my ship will be arriving. Die well, Mandalorian.”
Saxon: “No! Wait-”
This dialogue evinces such a cold, unfeeling, and totally unconcerned side of Maul that one wonders how much of it is due to Maul’s concern with stopping Sidious and having to be bothered by this battle on Mandalore which is insignificant compared to the changes Darth Sidious will be bringing upon the galaxy, or whether it shows how little Maul ever really cared for the Mandalorians, just treating them as something to be used for his power.

Further lightsaber combat
Ahsoka catches up to Maul and says, “Obi-Wan was right – you are difficult to kill,” followed by their re-engaging in a lightsaber duel on beams in what could be a construction site.
In a pause in battle, Maul angrily tells Ahsoka, perhaps upset at this endeavor when he believes she should have simply joined him, “We could have destroyed Sidious!”
Ahsoka responds, “Only for you to take his place!”

Maul seeks to leave
Maul’s ship arrives and he goes up to go toward it, although Ahsoka catches up to him and engages him in further lightsaber battle.
Maul has Ahsoka in a not good spot and he says, “I give you one last chance: Join me…or die.”
Ahsoka: “Never.”
Then, amidst fighting, while Maul has his dual-bladed lightsaber and Ahsoka is without either of her lightsabers, Maul then goes after her, yet she grabs a hold of his lightsaber, they struggle over it and Maul falls, but Ahsoka Force-catches him and he says, “Let me go! Let me die!”
What’s Next?
In the next installment of the Darth Maul project, Maul gets captured by Ahsoka and held by Republic forces.