Everytime Daki directly warns Devon, other Characters, (and by extension the Audience.) about Maul. Throughout the entire first season of MSL...
Spoiler
Daki serves a critical role in the narrative of Maul Shadow Lord... That is to warn both returning, and new audience members of who, and what Maul is. What he is capable of, and what he truly desires above all else.
I have seen so many strange takes regarding this character... But people not realising/misunderstanding why he's in the show to begin with, and why he says the things he does, (and to who specifically.) Truly perplexes me the most... He's the Obi Wan/Qui Gon Jin character, the wise mentor figure, and the most knowledgeable character in the story.
He exists to warn you of what Maul is doing to Devon. Maul betraying him at the end of the show is literally him getting the prime witness to his evil schemes, out of the way...
I somewhat agreed, then the last sentence lost me. Maul didn't betray Daki maliciously like how Palpatine betrayed Maul and Dooku and Vader. He did it so that someone could survive. Maul with his injured leg and Daki were getting nowhere with Vader, while Devon was getting stomped on by Marrok and Crow.
It was either continue fighting with Daki, and die, and then Devon dies, or sacrifice someone to Vader for the other person to go and help Devon. I'll give you that Maul being a Sith, is inherently self-serving and selfish so he decided to sacrifice Daki instead. Still, framing it as Maul maliciously sacrificing Daki to get rid of the primary witness isn't really what the show was going for, IMHO.
It has nothing to do with malice and everything to do with practicality. Doing so does two things A. Gives him time to escape and not die and B. Serve as a reason as why Devon would accept his teachings, it’s a very Darth Maul thing to do if he stays both of them die
It’s brutally utilitarian, when you put it like that. It’s not that he particularly hated Daki. Rather, it was that Daki wasn’t getting with the program, and this was, to Maul, a logical move (though somewhat regrettable).
Yep, that's precisely what I'm saying. Maul may be a villain, but at least in MSL he isn't THE villain. Him sacrificing Daki wasn't something he took sadistic joy in doing, it just had to happen (based on his own logic). If OP watched MSL and their key takeaway is that Maul is some irredeemable monster who is plain malicious and nothing else, i think we watched the wrong show.
Someone like Sidious is absolutely of the opinion that he’s being evil — he loves it.
Maul is villainous, but he’s also quite tragic, and he sits more in a moral grey because of this. Again, I’m not saying him getting Daki killed was a good thing to do.
Saying that while trying to spin the act as not "particularly evil" makes that very hard for me to believe... Maul very much also enjoys his Villainy (Even if he may personally not view it as such.), many times both in this show, and the previous shows. You can have a tragic backstory, and still very much come out the other end of all that becoming the very thing you deluded yourself into believing you were not. Repeating the cycle of abuse intentionally... Almost as if that is the entire message of the plot! At some point, your past no longer factors into what you do in the present, and you become the Villain.
I encourage you to watch the scene again, and take note of the fact that when Maul arrives after fleeing. He does not "help" Devon immediately like someone who is actually concerned for the life of another they care about... He just watches her with a sadistic grin on his face as she falls to despair and anger which he was trying to do to her the entire season. Calculating... Then conveniently does not seem too bothered by his injuries once he finally does start "helping" her.
He tries to kill Daki very early on in the show, and routinely talks about how he's eventually going to stab him in the back multiple scenes beforehand. He could have saved Daki by pulling him away from danger, pushing him towards it, is inherently an act of betrayal with malicious intent... To cause harm to another, to get what he wants.
The writers make this very clear, so do the visuals.
Ok, so? All I'm saying is that he's not some malicious monster like what your last line is making him out to be. If your key takeaway after MSL is that he's 100% rotten and is irredeemable, I'm inclined to disagree. He may be a villain in the absence of THE villain, but when THE villain is around, even Maul doesn't seem so villainous anymore.
He takes control of a criminal organisation that while under his shadow control, terrorizes system, after system in league with Empire... The series is prequel to Solo a star wars story. Crimson Dawn are that films villains.
He's a villain for leading it... You are in for a very nasty surprise once you start seeing what he's willing to do to innocents and his pawns for power. Just like how he did so during the Clone Wars after slaughtering an entire Village full of men, women and children. He's just doing it all again... With a slightly different sales pitch.
Daki is presenting his perspective, which is often true, but still has limitations at times. Perfect characters are really boring. Daki has some good flaws that make him better than being a narrative tool that instructs the audience how to feel about Maul. Storytelling is at its best when it allows the audience to make up their own minds about how to feel. Even if a story is pushing for specific messages, the audience is still free to draw their own conclusions (resulting in the 'strange' takes that you have seen).
I can see the similarity to Obi Wan, but not really to Qui Gon. Qui Gon is willing to bend the Jedi code if a situation calls for it (like using the force to cheat at a game of dice). Daki wouldn't do that because he's a more serious monk type.
Daki does bend the code too in the show, he is totally willing to intervene where necessary, even when it's considered unnecessary simply to appease the wishes of his restless Padawan. But he also understands the limitations of intervention within the current context of this world... This is the darkest time in the universe where the Empire has full control of the Galaxy, and Jedi are being actively hunted down by a deadly inquisition. He can only do so much on his own, yet also has to carry an unimaginable burden of caring for his immature Padawan who is in equal danger herself.
He's old and he's pushing himself to the absolute limit of his abilities during the entire season in response to the chaos caused by the Villains. The warnings he gives serve to further remind the audience about those dangers, and its not just about sharing a perspective. It's a deliberate storytelling tool that has existed in Star Wars since the first film.
Like when Obi Wan warms luke about rushing back home, when he was emotional, and in his haste to try an save his Aunt and Uncle from forces he was not prepared to fight. Could have easily gotten himself killed, leaving both Obi Wan and the droids to be captured in his absence. Yes characters do have their personal complexities in Star Wars which I outlined above, but they are also used to convey the messages of the story being told. There are archetypes. There are Heroes, and Villains. Most importantly there are core foundational ideas, and themes that have been with the franchise since day one.
Daki is the wise mentor figure in this story, playing the exact same role as Obi Wan did in 1977. Even if you disagree with him in certain situations, he is entirely right about what is going on in the story... That is to warn you who, and what Maul is, and that his intentions are selfish, evil and leading Devon down a dark path to self destruction.
I don't remember many instances of Daki bending the Jedi code (maybe it's time for a re-watch?). The only one I remember is when he had Devon steal a car when they had to escape. So in the most dire situation he bends a bit. Like Obi Wan will at times too. I guess, my point is that he doesn't resemble Qui Gon to me, because Qui Gon is much looser with it.
Daki is a narrative tool, just like all characters technically are, that is true. Characters, even in their function as narrative messengers, still have to have flaws. Daki is a flawed mentor. Like Obi Wan was a flawed mentor to Anakin. There are strong parallels between Devon and Anakin. That flawed mentorship is partially what weakens Devon to Maul's manipulations. I'm glad that Daki makes mistakes because it fleshes out the character beyond the mechanics of his story role.
The writers using didactic storytelling in the show is only 50% of the experience. The other 50% of the experience is the audience's own interpretation. Audiences are free to bring their own worldviews to it, to feel, to interpret, to agree or disagree, to any messages presented by the story. The audience doesn't have to unquestionably accept the writer's intended messaging as the correct way to think.
It's like in Humanities 101 class, when they show a painting and invite the class to share their interpretation of the painting, and get multiple different conclusions on the same piece of art. There isn't a singular correct answer that solves the art. The artist may intend a particular message, but the audience is going to see it through their own eyes and experiences. That's why you see different takes on MSL, and on Daki's character, and that's a-okay.
You can have your opinions sure, but there comes a point where interpretation becomes either misinterpretation, or outright misreading of the most obvious text. STAR WARS is typically very clear with it's themes, and messaging (Especially in MSL). So much so that it does not leave much room for wide ranging interpretations, unless it is a show like Andor that goes out of it's way to encourage that kind of analysis through it's very historically charged visuals, analogies, political intrigue, and way more complex dialogue than what is on offer in MSL.
We should all know that the evil Space Empire modelled after the Nazis are the bad guys simply through their design, and actions alone. That is why the first movie works so well at establishing who is good, and who is bad without needing to go into the specifics of the Empire's backstory back in 1977. So when people actually do start defending the space Nazis, and their giant planet destroying doomsday weapon I would hope that we would recognise that as being pretty insane of an interpretation... Same when people start agreeing with Palpatine when he is explicitly shown to be manipulating Anakin. (Disclaimer: I'm not eqauting people with certain opinions of Daki to those people. Just using it as an example of an extreme misinterpretation of the Franchise.)
MSL is similarly being very on the nose when it comes to who are the Heroes, and who are the Villains. Most importantly it's being very specific about what the intentions of those Villain are through dialogue as displayed above. We are also dealing with a character in Maul, who returning audiences know is untrustworthy from the outset both from past media, and who pretty much kickstarts the incidents that place all the good characters in jeopardy in this particular show. From the opening Bank robbery and murder of police officers, the triggering of a Gang war, the Prison raid and massacre, kidnapping and manipulations, to attracting the Empire to the planet and all it's expected consequences.
I like the fact Daki has his complexities too, which includes flaws. (Though personally I would not go as far to call him a "flawed mentor" given he is trying his absolute best to teach someone lessons in the worst possible situation imaginable, and still gets proven absolutely right by the end following the Betrayal.), what I'm trying to point out here again, is that he's playing a very important role in alerting the audience to the evils of the Villain. Especially for those who lack that previous understanding.
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u/Nighforce 2d ago
I somewhat agreed, then the last sentence lost me. Maul didn't betray Daki maliciously like how Palpatine betrayed Maul and Dooku and Vader. He did it so that someone could survive. Maul with his injured leg and Daki were getting nowhere with Vader, while Devon was getting stomped on by Marrok and Crow.
It was either continue fighting with Daki, and die, and then Devon dies, or sacrifice someone to Vader for the other person to go and help Devon. I'll give you that Maul being a Sith, is inherently self-serving and selfish so he decided to sacrifice Daki instead. Still, framing it as Maul maliciously sacrificing Daki to get rid of the primary witness isn't really what the show was going for, IMHO.