As much as I loved the episode, I found Kenobi besting Maul so quickly... shocking.
Was it referencing the old Western gunfights, Maul's arrogance completely consuming him, or had Kenobi truly evolved to a combatant well beyond Vader and instead opted not to defeat him in ANH?
__________________ "There is only Revan. Only he can shape this galaxy as it is meant to be shaped."
Ben has grown more powerful and adapted his fighting style to suit his age (we see Kenobi shift from one of his prequel stances to a far simpler one) whereas Maul has degraded and still tries to fight like he did in TPM.
Yeah, I'd argue that Kenobi was more focused here than even when he dismantled Grievous. And Soresu is a style that focuses on exploiting openings in close quarters combat. Maul bull rushed him angry and arrogant, left himself open, and was cut him down.
Comparatively, Vader fought a far more cautiously and controlled, and gave Kenobi no openings to exploit.
Registered: Aug 2016
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
He's just grown more skilled and powerful in his exile. Maul was also pretty unstable, clouded by hatred for Kenobi. I find it interesting that Maul didn't learn from his past failings to kill Kenobi though.
Ur evil, Wolff. Even I, as a Maul basher, am upset with the outcome. Imagine one of his most staunch supporters - it's a delusion of 18 years, it's longer than many marriages. You can break people with far less.
I don't think the fight can be accurately used to powerscale for Ben or Maul for several reasons. The biggest thing is the fact that Maul used the same old tricks *exactly*; moves that Kenobi has already seen and is familiar with. Kenobi is a more transformative and progressive fighter than Maul is, and that transformation is seen pretty evidently when Ben shifts from his PT opening stance to a simpler one, as Ares has mentioned. Maul thought he was facing an old, crippled hermit and nothing more, so I don't think he really expected anything impressive skill-wise from Kenobi.
The fight is more symbolic of Maul's stagnation and how he clings to the past, while Kenobi has moved on, both mentally and in a dueling-sense. Ben and Maul's face-off is more exclusive to them and their past and growth (or lack thereof) as characters. Using it to start saying "ya lol maul is fodder even ___ can beat him" or "ben can stomp malgus now" is really just ridiculous.