(Darth) Maul (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
survivalthroughhate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2022-10-08 04:10 pm
survivalthroughhate) wrote in deernet2022-10-08 04:10 pm
Entry tags:
- alice baskerville (black): holly,
- beatrice: mila,
- darth maul: shade,
- dito: kaiya,
- echo: kaito,
- ezra bridger: lis,
- lord felwinter: niki,
- lucius artorius castus: orlando,
- luke skywalker: skyla,
- makoto naegi: anne,
- nara'a sunvara: matt,
- neopolitan: latroma,
- obi-wan kenobi: timmy,
- pyrrha dve: silyara,
- ruby rose: josh,
- sakamoto ryouma: min,
- savage opress: vette,
- sharon da silva: lunare,
- shen yuan: drake,
- stefan salvatore: trace,
- tory nichols: lex,
- usagi tsukino: jax
Video; un: darkness (Storytime With Maul!)
[Maul's doing a little better than he has been the past few months. At least he's not all corrupted into insanity like he was for a couple of weeks in July or about to breakdown after his video in June. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice he's got a new piece of jewelry. On the ring finger of his left hand, there's a black, sparkly wedding band made of Darkblood. Yep, Maul got hitched. But who would be crazy enough to marry the Zabrak Sith Lord? A question one can ask if they're feeling especially brave.]
Everyone always thinks they're the hero in their own story. And it's easy to justify that you are no matter what you do because you're the main character in your mind. No one ever wants to admit they're just one of the side characters or even the villain. And how do you even know when you've become the bad guy? It's easy to say what actions you undertake are for the greater good or at least something that will get you what you want. You keep telling yourself that until you look around one day and see the only monster around you is yourself.
[He leans forward.]
I am very fond of stories. So I'll tell you a story about a villain from my world and you can tell me one about a hero or villain from yours in return.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had darkness in his heart. He coveted power amongst all else and to that end he committed many monstrous acts to gain it. When he saw that his family stood in his way, he killed them all without thought. Over the years, he gained power but it was never enough. Always, he wanted more. Eventually, he realized that no matter how much power he possessed, he would lose it all when he died. And so he sought to gain immortality.
He eventually found a Sith Lord, very old and wise, who told him he had discovered the secret to living forever. "Become my apprentice, do everything that I command, and I will teach you my secret," he told the man. And so he did. Day after day, year after year, he obeyed the Sith Lord, committing many more atrocities in his quest to gain immortality.
He would often ask the Sith Lord, "Am I ready?"
The response was always the same. "Not yet."
After many years the man, no longer as young as he once was, began to grow impatient. He went to his master. "I have done all that you asked. Teach me what you promised."
The Sith Lord merely laughed in his face. "You will never be ready to learn."
The man felt rage rise up within him. "Why not?"
"Because only a Sith who has no fear can conquer death. But you? You will always fear dying no matter what you do and so you will never master the secret of immortality," the Sith Lord told him with contempt.
The Sith apprentice was furious. He felt he had been lied to and so he waited. His master never slept, for he had seen the future and knew he would die in his sleep, but his apprentice was cunning. Eventually, he got his master drunk, and the Sith Lord finally fell asleep. So the apprentice took up his lightsabers, stabbing his master in his hearts, and killing him. Only then did his anger abate and he realized he still did not know the secret to living forever.
He would spend the rest of his life seeking it out and never finding it until the day he died, always shackled by his fear instead of facing it head on and conquering it instead. He used the power he'd acquired to create a vast empire that stretched throughout the entire galaxy but still it was not enough. Always he was afraid of what was to come at the end of his life. And when he finally died, betrayed by his own apprentice as usually happens with Sith Lords, it was done so screaming in fear as he realized he had failed in his lifelong ambition.
[He pauses for a moment, examining his claws without looking up.]
That was a true story by the way. It is called the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Sith Lords often have a dramatic way of doing things, especially when it comes to teaching their apprentices.
Everyone always thinks they're the hero in their own story. And it's easy to justify that you are no matter what you do because you're the main character in your mind. No one ever wants to admit they're just one of the side characters or even the villain. And how do you even know when you've become the bad guy? It's easy to say what actions you undertake are for the greater good or at least something that will get you what you want. You keep telling yourself that until you look around one day and see the only monster around you is yourself.
[He leans forward.]
I am very fond of stories. So I'll tell you a story about a villain from my world and you can tell me one about a hero or villain from yours in return.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had darkness in his heart. He coveted power amongst all else and to that end he committed many monstrous acts to gain it. When he saw that his family stood in his way, he killed them all without thought. Over the years, he gained power but it was never enough. Always, he wanted more. Eventually, he realized that no matter how much power he possessed, he would lose it all when he died. And so he sought to gain immortality.
He eventually found a Sith Lord, very old and wise, who told him he had discovered the secret to living forever. "Become my apprentice, do everything that I command, and I will teach you my secret," he told the man. And so he did. Day after day, year after year, he obeyed the Sith Lord, committing many more atrocities in his quest to gain immortality.
He would often ask the Sith Lord, "Am I ready?"
The response was always the same. "Not yet."
After many years the man, no longer as young as he once was, began to grow impatient. He went to his master. "I have done all that you asked. Teach me what you promised."
The Sith Lord merely laughed in his face. "You will never be ready to learn."
The man felt rage rise up within him. "Why not?"
"Because only a Sith who has no fear can conquer death. But you? You will always fear dying no matter what you do and so you will never master the secret of immortality," the Sith Lord told him with contempt.
The Sith apprentice was furious. He felt he had been lied to and so he waited. His master never slept, for he had seen the future and knew he would die in his sleep, but his apprentice was cunning. Eventually, he got his master drunk, and the Sith Lord finally fell asleep. So the apprentice took up his lightsabers, stabbing his master in his hearts, and killing him. Only then did his anger abate and he realized he still did not know the secret to living forever.
He would spend the rest of his life seeking it out and never finding it until the day he died, always shackled by his fear instead of facing it head on and conquering it instead. He used the power he'd acquired to create a vast empire that stretched throughout the entire galaxy but still it was not enough. Always he was afraid of what was to come at the end of his life. And when he finally died, betrayed by his own apprentice as usually happens with Sith Lords, it was done so screaming in fear as he realized he had failed in his lifelong ambition.
[He pauses for a moment, examining his claws without looking up.]
That was a true story by the way. It is called the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Sith Lords often have a dramatic way of doing things, especially when it comes to teaching their apprentices.
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[He's spent the better part of a year restraining himself from killing others and generally doing things that hurt the people he cares about, which for better or worse, now include Obi-Wan.]
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You have.
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That's the first time you've ever done that.
[Given Maul that sort of smile he means.]
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[He looks off to the side of his Omni like there's something else supremely interesting there, feeling like he's said far too much.]
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[He rubs a hand over the back of his neck, resting it there.]
--I'm glad I was finally able to give you one.
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You should keep at it.
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[He means for the words to come out lightly but instead there's a heavier note in his voice than he would like. Maul remembers once asking Obi-Wan if he could do that and Obi-Wan telling him truthfully he wasn't sure if he could. But time has passed and both have changed, so he wonders if the answer is different now.]
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[ but he gets what maul is asking. it is easier now than it was then. obi-wan has shed a great deal of the past recently. his soul is lighter. ]
But I suppose I can.
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[And while he and Obi-Wan are still enemies sometimes, they have also inched closer to becoming friends as well. Warily, on Maul's part, but he no longer views the man as an opponent to be faced.]
And thank you. That means a lot.
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[ self-improvement for other people alone is tenuous. as history has well shown. ]
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[He knows he's on the right track now because things have turned around for him since he learned the changes he sought had to come from within.]
It just helps to have people still occasionally give me encouragement.
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[ there's only so much anyone can do alone. ]