Devon in the Cave
In “Sinister Schemes” (Maul – Shadow Lord 1.2), Maul tests Devon Izara by imprisoning her in a cave, from which she escapes in “Whispers in the Unknown” (Maul – Shadow Lord 1.3). The imagery of this sequence, in which Maul seeks to draw Devon away from the teachings of the Jedi and make her his own student, overtly plays on Plato’s allegory of the cave, an extended metaphor for education and enlightenment.
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates describes prisoners in a cave who have been chained facing the wall, watching a procession of shadows cast by objects behind them. To escape the cave, the prisoners must first turn around to see the objects and the fires that cast their shadows. They must then ascend out of the cave into the light of the sun.
In “Sinister Schemes,” Devon – like the prisoners in Plato’s cave – must turn around to see a light source behind her, which indicates the way out of the cave. However, instead of ascending out of the cave, she descends deeper into the darkness, where she meets Maul – the titular “Shadow Lord” – who is lit only by a small torch. Plato’s allegory is, in large part, a story about learning to see: each stage of the prisoner’s ascent requires an adjustment of the eyes from darkness to light. When Devon meets Maul in the depth of the cave, he greets her by saying, “So, you are beginning to see things from a new perspective.”
Devon’s subsequent duel with Maul doubles as an ascent out of the cave. She jumps and climbs from level to level, getting higher and higher, until she finally reaches an opening glowing with white light, to which her eyes must adjust. Maul ultimately allows Devon to leave the cave, but only after she has given into fear, aggression, and anger.
The allegory of the cave is an image of the soul's ascent to dispassionately contemplate the immaterial reality of which the material world is only a shadow. This is the kind of enlightenment that Plato and the Jedi offer their students. Maul, however, seeks to do precisely the opposite, focusing Devon's attention on the material world and the passions it stirs.
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Characters: Darth Maul / Devon Izara
Shows: Maul – Shadow Lord
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Concepts: ascent and descent / caves / light and darkness / passion / sight and blindness / teachers and students
Influences: Plato
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