As The Clone Wars begins to wind down its fifth season, an arc that has major Obi-Wan connections – even if he’s not in it for all that long – is the penultimate of the season.
1. Maul’s plan
So, this arc is focused around Maul wanting to, essentially, be the king of the criminal underground (a theme we see reprised in Solo: A Star Wars Story), and taking to Mandalore and Death Watch to achieve that. And he would’ve gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for that meddling Palpatine.
What I liked about the Maul stuff in this arc was that, yes, he’s still doing some Sith stuff, specifically when battling people, but he’s really developing as a different type of character. He’s sort of a marauder, sort of a political rabble rouser, and sort of a guy who just wants to make everyone hurt like he’s hurting. He’s a weird mix, and I dig that.
2. Double blades
So, I had a theory that I was going to share about force users who have two lightsabers or a double bladed lightsaber versus those that use just one. We’ve seen a bunch of Jedi use two lightsabers in specific instances, like when Anakin fights Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, but we’ve only seen four characters do this with regularity: Ahsoka (a padawan), Grievous (not a Force user), apprentice Maul, and Savage Opress. My theory was something along the lines of that you initially get good with a lightsaber, and you get a little cocky, so you add a second one, but eventually realize that all you need is one.
This theory was disproven when Palpatine showed up with two lightsabers to fight Maul and Savage, though maybe you could argue that fighting two Sith is something he would have never done before (mostly due to the rule of two), or that Palpatine is so powerful that he is the one Force user who can actually wield two blades as effectively as he does one. I don’t know; that scene was pretty dope, though.
3. See ya, Savage
Savage was a far more interesting concept than he was a character. Seeing his literal transformation, his role as not quite Sith apprentice, and then the right hand man to Maul’s plans for conquest all had their merit, but very little had to do with anything that came out of Savage’s mouth. He was simply an interesting visual; a larger Maul, but one that literally and figuratively seemed pale in comparison.
This is also an area where the ‘rule of 2’ Sith was annoying. The way I always understood it was that for every Sith there was an apprentice, but that didn’t mean there could only be one Sith. I figured that, unlike the Jedi, the Sith, being out for themselves, could have little factions all over the galaxy. It still may be that way, but Star Wars, thus far, just wants to keep the Sith really limited.
4. Poor Satine
The Satine story is one of my favorite parts of The Clone Wars, and that’s not just because Obi-Wan is my favorite Star Wars character. Her character has just about all the traits you’d want from a protagonist: she’s principled, she’s brave, she’s in touch with her emotions, and she is illustrated to resemble Julie Delpy (or so I think). She also adds so much to Obi-Wan’s character, from giving him pre-The Phantom Menace intrigue to showing that his commitment to being a ‘perfect’ Jedi is, perhaps, less than we anticipated (not in a bad way).
Her death was not shocking, but it was quite sad. Outside of the reality of what that means for her character, it also represents the death of Obi-Wan’s hopes and dreams beyond the Order. This is when, more than ever, his dye is cast. The only thing he would consider leaving the Order for is gone, so he’s all in. Even if that means living on a backwoods sand trap for 19 years peeping on a kid.
5. Maul to come
I know that Maul pops back up in Star Wars: Rebels, and I’ve obviously mentioned his scene in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and in thinking about that, something interesting occurred to me: Maul is the only ‘new’ character from the Prequels to appear outside of the prequels and The Clone Wars, as far as I’m aware, aside from Bail Organa. Now, maybe Rebels will challenge that, but it’s interesting that the symbol of the Lucas myopia and poor planning is the only one that has really survived is really fascinating to me.
If Lucas was still in charge, I’m sure it would’ve been Jar-Jar.
Next week: the finale for Ahsoka.
