Originally posted by ILS
Scourge trained on Korriban, becomes a Sith Lord. Maul trains under Sidious, becomes a Sith Lord.I think we already established that training under Sidious to be the "ultimate weapon", or the "violent embodiment of their partnership", kind of shits on training at the academy.
You forgot to mention, becoming a tool, as Sidious describes Maul multiple times.
And Maul's training "shits" training at the academy? Don't make me laugh:
Instructors of Sith acolytes, the overseers are tasked with rooting out the weak and molding the next great Sith who will lead the Empire to glory. Cruelty, manipulation, and deceit are choice tools of instruction. By demanding nothing short of perfection from their class of students, acolytes quickly learn the cost of failure. While still a young teacher, Overseer Ragate took delight in cutting down the first acolyte to stumble under her tutelage - a grim and effective warning to her suviving students. Brutality is only one way an overseer shapes Sith acolytes. Some plant the seeds of deception, showering weaker acolytes with praise to goad another student to strike them down. Others dispatch acolytes on impossible tasks in the deadly tombs or hostile wastes of Korriban. Overseer Rance was one such instructor, sending his acolytes into the lower wilds. For days, the corrupting influence of Korriban's wilds twisted their minds and drove the students mad. Only two acolytes returned to Rance. He simply smiled and ordered the exhausted acolytes to battle to the death. The victor would be Sith." - SW:TOR Encyclopedia, p.164.
Emphasis mine.
While Sidious did put Maul through quite some cruel stuff, the level of cruelty the overseers at the academy were showing with their acolytes tops that off. Maybe because they didn't care if they "wasted time" with the less capable acolytes. But it's quite clear, that the training on Korriban is extremely harsh. Even for extremely gifted people such as the Sith Lords that would later be known as Darth Nox and The Wrath.
FFS, one of the first tasks the later Wrath has to go through is walk into the tomb of Marka Ragnos and kill the beast guarding the tomb. An entity powerful enough, that its death at the hand of the Wrath led ripples in the Force that caught Darth Barrass attention.
And Scourge went through that rather hard elimination process, even building a reputation as a very gifted lightsaber duelist among the way, given that even his instructors were reluctant to engage him in a training fight.
I'm now comparing their dedication to dueling after that point - while they are Sith Lords; whereas you're trying to compare Maul's continued training of the lightsaber to what Scourge did at the academy.. which is because there's a severe lack of evidence for Scourge, as a Sith Lord, maintaining his lightsaber ability to the same degree as Maul. It's nice attempt at deflection, but it's not going to fly. Maul evidently just trains harder and better than Scourge.
And here we have the appeal to ignorance. As far as I'm concerned you have no grounds for suggesting Scourge's training was equivalent.
The quality of the training and experience matters a hell of a lot more than the length of it. It isn't time that improves a Force user as much as it is their experiences that mould them - hence why after becoming a Sith Lord, or after any particularly traumatic experience, Maul felt himself growing more powerful from it.
*cough*
The quality of training and experience matters? Really? So how exactly does Maul training compare to a Scourge's actual life as the Wrath?
"As the Sith Emperor’s personal executioner, the grimly fatalistic Lord Scourge has personally killed more than a hundred Jedi–and ten times as many Sith. Even the most powerful members of the Dark Council avoid offending the man bearing the title 'the Emperor’s Wrath.'" - SW:TOR Codex Entry "Lord Scourge".
Emphasis mine.
The sheer number of force users Scourge has killed in his career should give you some pause, when trying to estimate his skill with a lightsaber and his abilities in the Force. And before you even object with something like "Well. Maybe those were weak or he just executed them." Nope:
"When a Jedi grew too powerful or a Sith too ambitious, Scourge eliminated the threat. Conspiracy theories held that Scourge was a title rather than a man, for even pureblooded Sith are mortal. Allegedly, dozens of men preserved Lord Scourge's fearsome reputation across the centuries. These assassins, surgically altered to resemble Scourge, secretly replaced predecessors who fell to old age or violence. However, the Dark Council knew the truth. There was only one Scourge, his life prolonged by Sith alchemy, and his battle prowess enhanced by the Emperor." - SW:TOR Encyclopedia, p.94
Emphasis mine.
You may want to think about what kind of person Vitiate would consider "too powerful" and "too ambitious" in order to send the Wrath to kill them. There is a reason why even the most powerful members of the Dark Council didn't mess around with Scourge: Because he killed those kind of people in combat and did so for 300 years without fail. This is why he has his "fearsome" reputation, that even scares the most powerful individuals in the Empire. Hell. It is even mentioned outright, that Vitiate enhanced his prowess in combat specifically.
On your end, your argument amounts to "Scourge is really old and trains a few times a week!"
By all accounts Maul only became more powerful after TCW, not crippled. He spent that decade stewing in utter hatred and as a result it made him stronger. It's experiences like that, again, which mould a character, not simply time itself.
I find it rather funny, that you mention Maul spending a decade with pain as an experience that would make him more powerful, considering Scourge was in a constant state of pain for three centuries.
"Scourge screamed as inivisble claws tore at his indides, seemingly shredding his vital organs. The heat in his cheast had spread to the rest of his body; it felt as if his blood were made of fire. The agony became unbearable, and he shrieked and collapsed on the floor. "The ritual cannot be undone," the Emperor said as Scourge writhed and wept at his feet. Through his toment, Scourge realized with dawning horror what the Emperor was saying. The ritual was over, but the searing heat and the rending of his insides continued unabated. [...]
"How long will this anguis last?" he asked, his jaw clenched. "As time passes you will learn to accept and endure your suffering," the Emperor answered. "Your mind and body will find ways to deal with the pain. After many months you will become accustomed enough to it to function in your role as the Emperor's Wrath. Eventually you will simply become numb, unable to feel anything at all." - Revan Novel, Chapter 29.
I wonder how getting bisecting feels compared to three centuries of feeling your intestines being ripped apart and your blood being made of fire. And if the former made Maul more powerful, what did the latter do to Scourge? How did the killing of more than 1,000 force users influence Scourge in terms of "experience"? After you answered that question, you may want to consider the fact, that Scourge is equipped with experimental gadgets to aid him in combat (cortosis weave armor, personal shield generator).
Then tell me again Maul wins this somehow.
