Star Wars: The Clone Wars — 7.12: “Victory And Death”

The fact that obimaul isn't a more popular ship makes me crazy. How do more people not see it.

They're narrative foils. Maul survives a killing blow because the thought of Kenobi kept him alive, and what is obsession but a mirror of devotion? Obi-Wan is the master of defense and Maul is the master of offense. Obi-Wan's first and last kill of his life is Maul. The trajectory of their lives is extraordinary similar until the Same Duel sends them shooting off into opposite directions and defines them both for decades. A duel that teaches Obi-Wan the feeling of revenge that will haunt Maul the rest of his life. Obi-Wan was the apprentice who was never wanted. Maul was wanted too much. Obi-Wan overcame his trauma, but Maul never could. Both rebellious by nature, forced into the mold of the Perfect Example of their respective orders, and yet they have the same failing - Maul, desperate for companionship from ANYBODY, and Obi-Wan who struggles with his attachment to the people he loves. Both forced into exile by the same man who destroyed their lives and orders. They've hurt each other in unimaginable ways and yet understand each other like no one else can.

"The only one allowed to kill you is me" but isnt that just another way of asking live for me? Who is your rival but your purpose? Is there not a tenderness in the eyes of your worst enemy who has seen you at your absolute lowest and still needs you to get back up? Because without you, what are they?

tatooine boy discovers not all planets are covered in sand, will need an hour or so to process this

(commission info // tip jar!)

Darth maul is a good example of making an interesting menacing villain with a sad backstory without redeeming them

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree Further, I think Maul is great at being incredibly sympathetic and tragic without redeeming him (in the sense of making up for his actions or in saving his soul from the dark), that we can genuinely love him and ache for him, we can hurt for the abuse he was dealt pretty much his entire life, we can understand why he couldn’t climb out of the dark, without making him narratively right. Maul had a great character design, he has some absolutely iconic fights, he has an incredible story and he is genuinely menacing and legitimately awesome in a fight, he’s cool in a very legitimate way! But he is also someone who has been shown even by the Force itself (in Age of the Republic: Darth Maul) that he could choose another path, he could have been a Jedi, he could still make better choices, and who rejected that, because he’s too afraid to admit to that possibility, because he doesn’t have the tools to do it, no one ever gave those to him. Maul is amazing because there’s so much there to examine that has so much sympathy, like I really think underneath it all he’s incredibly lonely--he latches on to Savage, to Ezra, to Eldra Kaitis, even to Ahsoka to a degree, because he wants companionship and the only thing he knows what to do with that feeling is to try to force those people into his worldview, to beat them down because he thinks that’s the only way he can have any kind of real connection. It also helps that Maul can be genuinely funny a character, like some of the fandom silliness around the character is hilarious, so you know when a character can make you laugh, can make you cry, and can make you frustrated, all at the same time, you know they’re a great character.

NIK’S FOLLOWER PARTY ★ Maul + A Study of Zabraks for @obiewan​ 💌 

3rd Star Wars daemon AU post!

Here by popular demand: The Jedi Council and their daemons!

Depa Billaba - Hooked Billed Kite (Taryz)

Mace Windu - Bald Eagle (Maisha)

Yoda - Ostrich (Kieachkta)

Shaak Ti - Hyacinth Macaw (Thevren)

(Commander Colt - Anatolian Shepherd (Pistol))

Plo Koon - Osprey (Averyl)

Ki-Adi Mundi - Great Blue Heron (Czirda)

Kit Fisto - Blue Footed Booby (Krios)

Now onto my random AU lore and thoughts:

JEDI LORE TIME: So, as I’ve said in my last daemon AU post, the Jedi generally have bird daemons. This is by nurture, not nature. The way the Jedi teach young force-users to interact with the Force usually ends up directing their daemons to settle into a bird species of some kind. Which conveniently is around the time a Jedi Initiate is either chosen to be a Jedi Knight or be sent to the Jedi Corps. While it is not a rule that a Jedi Knight has to have a bird daemon, there are stigmas in the Jedi culture that lead to Jedi Knights and Masters not wanting to pick Padawans with not-bird daemons. This was one of the reasons the Council was hesitant to take in Anakin originally. He was already past the age of being nurtured to have his daemon settle as a bird, as he was raised outside the Temple.

(If you’re wondering why Obi-Wan doesn’t have a bird daemon, look at my last post. But to summarize his daemon settled while on Melida/Daan. So not ideal circumstances) (Also Qui-Gon Jinn cares not for cultural taboos, so he did not care much that Obi-Wan’s daemon ended up not being a bird lol)

The exceptions to this bird-daemon rule is generally Jedi in the Corps and Jedi Shadows (I will be making a Quinlan Vos post at some point that goes into that more).

DEPA BILLABA and her daemon, Taryz, who is a Hooked Billed Kite.

Okay for the life of me I cannot remember the reason I picked Depa’s daemon 😅, but it was probably just: ‘I like how Hooked Billed Kites look’. So a good reason obv.

I inserted some silly interactions between Obi-Wan and Depa, and Kee-Ayt and Taryz. I headcanon that since they are the two youngest council members, they will go out of their way to act like children in front of the older council members. Just to make the others role their eyes and say ‘kids 🙄’. Despite the fact that both of them are like in their mid 30s-40s. But besides them acting like two siblings alone in the back seat of a car, they are close with each other. Taryz is the daemon most comfortable being casually around Kee-Ayt, out of the other daemons in the Council. (I imagine that since most Jedi daemons are birds, sometimes other Jedi don’t know how to interact with Kee-Ayt)

MACE WINDU and his daemon, Maisha, who is a Bald Eagle. 

In the Temple there runs a rumor amongst the Padawans about which came first: Mace being bald? Or Mace’s daemon settling as a Bald Eagle? A real ‘chicken or the egg’ question lol.

But more seriously, I really did just end up picking a Bald Eagle daemon because I wanted to make bald jokes hahaha. That and Bald Eagles just naturally look pissed all the time, which matches well with Mace’s ‘resting bitch face’.

YODA and his daemon, Kieachkta, who is an Ostrich.

My whole concept for Yoda was just: ‘if Yoda is a small species, then he should get a big ass daemon to balance it out’. And yes, Yoda rides around on Kieachkta because of course he does. And when he can’t hit your ankles with his stick, he’ll get Kieachkta to peck the back of your head (which hurts ow).

(If you’re wondering, all of Yoda’s species have bigger daemons. Like Yaddle has an Emu daemon).

SHAAK TI and her daemon, Thevren, who is a Hyacinth Macaw.

My only thoughts for Shaak’s daemon was I wanted it to be big and colorful. 1. Because she’s just this tall figure with long montrals. She just needed a big bird species to go with her impressive figure. 2. She just has always had a fun color scheme, so I thought a colorful bird of some kind would be fun. SO A HYACINTH MACAW. They’re huge and a beautiful blue color (that matches her montral stripes). I also just wanted her to have a fun, friendly looking daemon. Since she’s on Kamino most of The Clone Wars, and interacting with Tubies and Cadets. I think her having a big, loving, approachable looking daemon was just right. (Which is why in this AU, she was chosen to be the one working with the younger clones). Hence why I have so many doodles of her daemon with young clones’ daemons. 

Plus I added an extra doodle of Commander Colts’ daemon, Pistol, who is a breed of Livestock Guardian Dog. Since Colt is also on Kamino, he often is ‘herding’, ‘protecting’ and ‘training’ the young clones. So a herding/guardian  dog daemon felt right for him. (Pistol is the bad cop to Thevren’s good cop lol)

PLO KOON and his daemon, Averyl, who is an Osprey.

Tbh I didn’t have any idea what bird I wanted Plo to have. So I ended up googling ‘bird species that are good parents’ lol. And Osprey were on that list! Idk how true that is, but IN STARWARS IT IS NOW TRUE.

 Plo is just The Jedi Dad Of All Time (*cough cough* Ahsoka *cough cough* Wolffe *cough cough* Wolf Pack), so he got a Parent Of All Time bird lol. 

And yes Averyl spends all her free time trying to preen EVERY member of The Wolf Pack. Is that physically possible? I don’t know, but don’t even try to tell Averyl she can’t do it. All her furry dog children WILL feel her affection.

KIT FISTO and his daemon, Krios, who is a Blue Footed Booby.

All I can say is I knew I wanted Kit to have a sea bird, because he’s The Swimming Jedi^TM. And I love Blue Footed Boobies. 

Also Kit is a silly guy who deserves a silly bird, with silly blue feet and a silly name.

KI-ADI MUNDI and his daemon, Czirda, who is a Great Blue Heron.

Ki-Adi is a long, lanky looking dude so he gets a long, lanky bird. 

I have spoken.

(Also I see a lot of Blue Herons around where I live, so they’re a favorite of mine).

Savage can’t meditate without falling asleep 10 minutes in lol

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jedi maul and his clone commander I drew instead of sleeping

New Maul show and hes the main character wtf

I hope they make him a bitch. I hope they make him mean and his anger has layers. I hope they make him yearn and poetic. I hope they make him guilty and resentful for feeling that way. I hope they entrench him in his past. I hope they throw it in his face. I hope he isn't lonely even for just a little while. I hope they give him a chance to escape but he can't take it because he doesn't know anything else. I hope it's a tragedy that moves like a slow motion car crash.