Alliances can stall true intentions.
Maul's criminal alliance allows Death Watch to conquer Mandalore and imprison the Duchess Satine, but Pre Vizsla turns on Maul.
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Pre Vizsla, although arguably a lesser evil compared to Maul, was still a terrorist leader and a killer of innocents and children.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In accordance with Mandalorian tradition, Darth Maul's victory over Pre Vizsla gives him the right to assume leadership of Death Watch.Maul: [raising the Darksaber] I claim this sword, and my rightful place as leader of Death Watch!
- The Bad Guy Wins: When you have Villain Protagonists fighting each other, this is the obvious outcome; Maul defeats and kills Vizsla, seizing leadership of Death Watch and control over Mandalore, maintaining a front of legitimacy through Almec, with only Bo-Katan in opposition to him.
- Batman Gambit: The only reason Maul's gambit to seize Death Watch from Pre Vizsla works is because Maul knows what kind of person Vizsla is: A narrow-minded, stubborn traditionalist who lacks the imagination to even take over Mandalore without outside help. He tricks Vizsla into legitimatizing Maul's claim for the throne because he knows Vizsla wouldn't back down from a challenge, even if it could prevent an outsider from hijacking Mandalore and sending the planet to further ruins.
- Battle Trophy: Maul claims Vizsla's Darksaber for himself after killing him with it.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The whole point of Death Watch was to take Mandalore back to its traditional roots as a warrior nation. Maul exploited those traditional roots to usurp power from Pre Vizsla, challenging him into a traditional duel for control over Death Watch knowing that Vizsla couldn't refuse lest he be called a hypocrite and a coward. When Maul won the duel, Death Watch broke into two factions: Mandalorians who pledge their allegiance to Maul as part of their oath, and Mandalorians under Bo-Katan who refuse to acknowledge Maul as their new leader.
- Blatant Lies: Bo-Katan publicly claims that Satine and the other New Mandalorians "fled in cowardice". Satine was thrown in prison, and according to her, any government officials who didn't side with Vizsla were killed.
- Blood Knight: After Vizsla manages to land a hit (scratching Maul's face with projectile saws), Maul lets out an amused chuckle, clearly enjoying the fight.
- Bond Villain Stupidity:
- Pre Vizsla earns this trope in this episode. He betrays Darth Maul, but doesn't kill him (despite saying that he would to Bo-Katan) and sends him to prison instead. Maul predictably breaks out, challenges Vizsla to a duel, and kills him.
- Towards the end of their fight, Vizsla shoots Maul's lightsaber out of his hand from a distance. Rather than shoot him down on the spot, he wildly charges at him with his saber screaming. Maul's response is to simply put Viszla into an armlock and disarm him.
- Call-Back: Count Dooku previously told Vizsla that without outside help or support from the people, Death Watch had no hope of holding Mandalore. Maul's plan here follows the same principle, and unlike Vizsla's alliance with Dooku, it works (albeit more in Maul's favor than Vizsla's).
- Cardboard Prison: Downplayed. While effective at holding powerless humans like Satine and Almec, the Mandalorian prison is laughably ineffective at containing Maul and Savage, who treat the imprisonment as a minor inconvenience and escape with casual ease.
- Challenging the Chief: Maul preys on Vizsla's honor, challenging him to see who's the most worthy of leading Death Watch and Mandalore.
- The Chessmaster: Maul plays Vizsla like a fiddle throughout this story arc, plotting first to unite the syndicates to form an underworld under his control, with Vizsla providing the muscle in exchange for the throne of Mandalore (considering Mandalore leads 2000 neutral systems, handing one over is chump change to Maul). When Vizsla betrays him and imprisons him, he sees it coming a mile off and incorporates it into his plans, requiring a visit to prison to break out Almec. Lastly, Maul fights Viszla directly in single combat and uses Mandalorian culture against him so that Vizsla is screwed no matter what.
- Combat Pragmatist: Pre Vizsla rivals Cad Bane in this regard. During his fight with Maul, Vizsla uses every weapon available to him: the Darksaber, blasters, flamethrowers, jetpacks, grenades, rope, and all manner of projectiles. It still doesn't help him.
- Continuity Nod: Vizsla's status as (the former) governor of Concordia is brought up for the first time since his debut.
- Demonisation: Vizsla's new regime wastes no time smearing Satine's good name, publicly criticising her philosophies and claiming that she "fled in cowardice" and "abandoned her duty to protect Mandalore" (Vizsla had her thrown in prison). Maul, through Almec, keeps it going, framing Satine for Vizsla's death to cover up Maul's involvement.
- Downer Ending: Duchess Satine's government has fallen, Darth Maul kills Pre Vizsla, Bo-Katan is forced to retreat with some of her comrades who don't side with Darth Maul, and Darth Maul becomes the new ruler of Mandalore with Almec reinstated as a puppet Prime Minister of Mandalore.
- Dramatic Irony: For all their talks about restoring Mandalore back to their warrior traditions, many members of Death Watch end up breaking those said-traditions when Maul becomes the new ruler of Mandalore via the traditional way. As Mayfeld will say far in the future during The Mandalorian, everybody got their lines they don't cross until things get messy.
- Engineered Heroics: Maul has his new minions attack Sundari to sow chaos and allow Death Watch to swoop in, solve the crisis, and be hailed as heroes.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Bo-Katan refuses to side with Darth Maul after he kills Pre Vizsla, claiming she does not see an outsider as the ruler of Mandalore.
- Evil Gloating: After winning some popular support, Vizsla takes a moment to rub it in Satine's face before addressing the crowd.
- Evil Is Petty:
- After overthrowing her, Vizsla imprisons Satine and demonizes her, claiming that she fled in cowardice.
- It's implied that Vizsla's decision to imprison Maul rather than execute him is out of spite for Maul condescending to him in the previous episode.
- Evil Versus Evil: Other than Duchess Satine, who is quickly deposed and imprisoned without much of a fight, the main characters in this episode are Villain Protagonists who betray each other and battle for control of their underlings. Maul comes out on top.
- Eviler than Thou: Maul outplays and kills Pre Vizsla, proving himself the superior of the two villains.
- Face Death with Dignity: Vizsla calmly embraces his fate, having accepted Maul as his superior by his own social Darwinist philosophy.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Maul's plan to get the people of Mandalore on Vizsla's side: the criminals under Maul's command attack Mandalore and are then "defeated" by Death Watch, who can then claim credit as heroes of Mandalore.
- Fights Like a Normal: Despite being a Force user, Maul demonstrates that he doesn't need to use the Force against Pre Vizsla, despite Vizsla using Combat Pragmatism throughout the duel.note
- Foreshadowing: When Satine asks what Maul wants from her, he replies that he doesn't need anything from her yet.
- Gory Discretion Shot: As Maul beheads Vizsla, the camera pans behind Bo-Katan so that the act is hidden from view. There is a brief shot of Vizsla's headless body, with the neck hidden by his armor.
- Graceful Loser: After his decisive defeat, Vizsla calmly accepts his fate, offering no resistance before Maul executes him.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Vizsla falls victim to his own warrior culture, and, adding insult to injury, is executed with his own sword.
- Honour Before Reason: Maul preys on this aspect of Mandalorian culture to force Vizsla into a duel for the crown. Should Vizsla refuse, he would be seen as weak by his underlings and unfit to be their leader. If he accepts and loses, trying to double-cross Maul would be seen as dishonorable and he would suffer an even worse fate than refusing outright.
- Insult Backfire: Satine's comparing of Almec's moral bankruptcy to Maul's ends up handing him just the Puppet King he was searching for.Maul: Where are the other leaders of your people?Satine: You should already know. They either sided with Vizsla or have been killed. There's no one left but Almec and I, but he's as corrupt and vile as you are.Maul: Really? Hm. Thank you for being so cooperative.
- Kick the Dog:
- Savage throws an innocent bystander over a ledge when she gets in the way of him fleeing a robbery.
- Vizsla imprisons and demonizes Satine, and it's stated that he executed any officials who wouldn't side with him.
- Killed Off for Real: Pre Vizsla is executed by Maul after losing the duel.
- Master Swordsman: Darth Maul, obviously, but Vizsla's prowess with the Darksaber is considerable. Note that he fought Obi-Wan Kenobi (a Master of Form III) and won only due to having his soldiers as backup and later fought Ahsoka (a Padawan half his age with Jar'Kai training) to a stalemate in a one-on-one duel. Vizsla is good, but he's nowhere near Maul's caliber, even with pragmatism on his side.
- New Era Speech: Vizsla delivers one after betraying Maul.Vizsla: The violence is over! The last of the parasites infecting Mandalore has been caught. The Duchess has abandoned her duty to protect Mandalore. Her political dream only encourages aggression against our planet! We have learned from this beast the consequences of pacifist principles. It's now time to restore the traditions of Mandalore! No one will ever threaten us again!
- Off with His Head!: Following the climactic fight, Maul takes the Darksaber and executes Pre Vizsla in this fashion.
- Pet the Dog: During Death Watch's "defeat" of the Shadow Collective, Bo-Katan takes a moment to comfort two frightened children.
- Play-Along Prisoner: Maul and Savage. Having predicted that Vizsla would betray them, they allow themselves to be imprisoned by him so that they can find a new Puppet King to replace him with, and once they find said puppet king, they escape with minimal effort. It's a wonder that the Death Watch didn't even expect that prison doesn't make the brothers helpless.
- Puppet King: Almec acts as the public face of Maul's new rule of Mandalore.Maul: Go. Rule my people.
- The Scapegoat: Almec covers up Pre Vizsla's death by claiming he was murdered by Satine, which serves the dual purpose of keeping Maul in the shadows and giving him sufficient cause to keep Satine imprisoned until he needs her.
- Slouch of Villainy: Maul, sitting on Satine's throne at the end of this episode.
- Underestimating Badassery: Vizsla is used to dealing with Jedi and doesn't really understand that Sith are different (a common problem in the canon). He thinks he can imprison Maul as easily as Obi-Wan, not realizing that Jedi deliberately restrain themselves if they and others aren't in immediate danger.
- Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: After savagely beating Vizsla down, Maul telekinetically grabs his Darksaber and decollates him with it before claiming said sword for himself.
- Vertigo Effect: On Bo-Katan, when she sees Darth Maul right before he executes Pre Vizsla.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Vizsla, courtesy of Maul's manipulations, becomes the renowned hero of the Mandalorian people. After killing Vizsla, Maul exploits this by having Almec claim that Vizsla was murdered by Satine, allowing him to maintain control of Mandalore through Almec while avoiding exposing himself or having questions asked about Vizsla's death.
- Villainous Valor: Vizsla shows an impressive amount of courage in engaging a powerful Sith Lord like Maul one-on-one, and when beaten, accepts his fate with dignity. For his part, Maul fights mostly on Vizsla's terms, restraining his use of Force powers, making for what's as close to a fair fight as one can expect from the likes of Vizsla and Maul.
- Xanatos Gambit: Maul pulls a truly epic one on Vizsla. First, he challenges him in front of his inner circle; Mandalorian culture states they must honor the challenge, even if it would not benefit them. Second, he knows that should Vizsla decline to fight and just execute him on the spot, he defies culture and loses the respect of his soldiers while Maul is safe due to having Savage as backup. Third, during the fight proper, he knows that Vizsla will do anything necessary to take him out, potentially even resorting to "non-warrior" methods such as his rockets and flamethrower, while Maul just continually fights with his lightsaber and agility. Fourth and finally, when the pair lose their swords, Maul opts to beat Vizsla senseless with martial arts rather than using the Force, as it would mean he "honored" the fight by fighting as a warrior right to the end. For the Mandalorians, honor is a major contributing factor to their loyalty. By doing so, he ensures they will accept him, as he wins the challenge and follows all the resulting rules. The one thing that doesn't go his way is Bo-Katan's loyalty is to Vizsla, not Death Watch as a whole.
