Originally posted by Tondemonai
Ahsoka in a seriously close fight. They're both very impressive combatants, but I see Maul faltering, seeing as Maul has been isolated and it's reasonable to assume he's been out of practice for a very long time, where Ahsoka has been in combat far more frequently. SoD Maul would have dispatched the Inquisitiors alone far faster than his current incarnation did, even while being helped.Maul's loss to Kanan was not due to his nonexistent 'superiority' but to Maul being who he is. He was overconfident, seeing Kanan as someone who would be easily discarded, seeing as he is already inferior in lightsaber combat, Force prowess, and he was blind. He had every reason to believe Kanan would be an easy kill; however, he didn't anticipate Kanan being able to put up any fight, and this made a noticeably reckless attack meant to bisect him which was easily countered by Kanan who was using the Force to sense his surroundings, giving him heightened awareness and improved premonition. In a drawn out duel where they were on equal footing with no prior injuries (namely Maul's surprise attack that blinded Kanan), Maul would slaughter him. It's pretty much the same thing that got him bisected by Kenobi in TPM, only it was his overconfidence rather than being completely off-guard.
All this sounds like 'after-the-fact' reasoning. There is absolutely nothing on screen to indicate that Maul fought "recklessly." He was just as confident about thinking he could take Ahsoka and Kanan at the same time.He displayed equal confidence prior to facing Pre Vizla but performed just fine in that duel.
Had he charged blindly towards Kanan only to be tripped or something, yeah, but we actually see them clashing sabers for a bit only for Kanan to use a move we've seen from both Ahsoka (see Ahsoka's duel with the 5th brother and 7th sister) and Vader (see Vader vs Kanan and Ezra). Thus, what you're really arguing here is that "There's no way Darth Maul could lose to some random no-name Jedi Knight legitimately!" Unfortunately, bad writing doesn't permit us to disregard what happened. I'm sure that once another writer gets a hold of this (likely in a novelization), you'll get all sorts of justifications that will support your view (i.e. Maul was just testing Kanan, Maul needed an excuse to leave before Vader arrived, Maul hadn't eaten in days, etc).
For the time being, however, unless Filoni comes back and has Maul say "Arrrgh, if only I were 20 years younger!" or "Had I only taken my imperial flu shot before that duel!", it is what it is and anything else is baseless conjecture.
Honestly, it seems clear to me that Filoni loves his characters and wants to make them look good by jobbing well-known powerhouses. I expect to see more of this as the series continues. Don't be surprised if he has Ezra "beating" Maul or pulling a Galen Mareck and going toe to toe with Vader.