WARNING WALL OF TEXT (from Reddit). This is from someone who has WAY too much time, but offers some incredible insight/consideration that you do not typically find on the internet.
So, here's a controversial one. I know a lot of people were expecting something very different from this episode but IMO it makes perfect sense.
I've done other breakdowns before and they've always been well-received by the community so I decided to abuse your patience once more and bring you an analysis of this fight.
You'll find my personal definitions of HEMA
here but remember, it's just based on the Liechtenauer system and there are many others that are just as valid and interesting.
I really liked the duel because in works both as a spectacle and also uses the combat styles to reflect many things about the characters and their evolution.
Maul still clinged to his old style, Juyo or form VII (Not to be confused with Vaapad the variant invented by Mace Windu) which is immensely powerful but requires great strength and stamina.
It's a form designed to amplify aggressiveness and negative feelings which makes it perfect for the sith or any other dark side user but at the same time it requires a great deal of energy to reach its full potential and effectively overwhelm an opponent defenses (it's splendor is seen in EP I when Maul and Kenobi duel for the first time)
Kenobi on the other hand had evolved into a more minimalist version of his form III style, which made him even more efficient in defense and attack.
So, Maul still wanted to be the man he was when he first met Kenobi, while the later accepted his best years were behind him and focused on the present and on his current capabilities.
The result? A classic samurai movie duel, short, intense and very precise.
Still, the footwork is undeniably western, the stances are not from kendo (in that style both feet remain together except when in motion) and the double step (which means that the foot that was in the back ends up in front) that maul uses to launch himself is taken straight from HEMA.
His jump into a spinning attack is taken from wushu (the chinese style of gymnastics displayed by Ray Park in ep I) while Kenobi stands his ground, deflects twice and attacks.
At the beginning both use classic hema stances with their leading feet forward (there's a great emphasis on showing those stances very clearly) and Kenobi switches from the classic form 3 defense to a middle defense (common both to HEMA and kendo) and then a Von Tag on the shoulder.
The classic form 3 opening position with the fingers pointing forward and the saber next to the face is a modified ochs guard which makes quite a bit of sense from the SW point of view.
The classic ochs usually requires both hands to hold a heavy sword or also can involve supporting it on the forearm of the non-holding arm.
Than can be seen quite well in game of thrones when Jamie and Brianne retreat from the Stark men in the bridge during season 3.
That variant of the guard is not practical for obvious reasons and since the lightsaber blade has no weight it's perfectly possible to hold it well with one hand next to the face while using the lead hand to channel the power of the force.
The only big issue in my opinion is that Kenobi deflected a low attack by lowering his own blade, a big no no in HEMA and kendo since you can simply retreat and perform a killing blow while the opponent is completely exposed by that low attack.
Those kinds of defenses are very common in Star Wars but in this episode they actually make sense since by stopping the blade low, Kenobi was also stopping the other end of Maul's double saber.
Maul also made a critical mistake by reducing his range while getting too close of Kenobi. He could have turned off one of his blades to sunrise him, but the double blade style has been a part of him for so long that he probably didn't want to give that up.
In the original duel of the fates fight in EP I, maul actually managed to make that work by surprising Qui-Gon with a strike of the saber to his head before stabbing him in the abdomen.
Obi-wan saw all that and remembered it very well in this final duel, where he once again neutralized Maul's weapon while also giving the killing blow at the same time.
Qui-Gon unfortunately depended too much on his form IV style, which focuses on improvisation and adaptability while sometimes lacking a more focused defense.
On the other hand, Kenobi had already begun to display the conservative wisdom of form III during his padawan years while also giving his masters style a respectful acknowledgement (that's why both jedi styles look so similar in EP I but Kenobi's style radically changes in the following eps).
Personally I see Maul's attack as an attempt to finish what he started 30 years ago, killing both master and apprentice using the same style and movements, mending those "Old Wounds" that kenobi mentions later (on a sidenote, Old Wounds is the name of the non-canon comic that inspired this whole confrontation and Kenobi's reference is a clear homage to it).
Maul proved unable to move on and find a new path for his life, unlike Kenobi, that has risen from the loss of his position, his friends and his republic to focus on the moment and the will of the living force, just like Qui-Gon always meant for him.
The strange thing is that Maul had proven to be quite adept at using the single blade saber (Twilight of the apprentice) and had transformed his original Juyo style into one more akin to Shii-Cho (Form V) with some touches of Makashi (Form II).
That allowed him to easily overwhelm the inquisitors and Kanan which showed that he had grown in wisdom and knowledge from the losses suffered in TPM and TCW.
The thing is that he decided to forgo all of that and tried to revert to his old style in his final confrontation with Kenobi, probably as an attempt to prove both Kenobi and himself that he could be what he once was. That could be caused by madness, grief, anger, hate and so many years of loneliness and dedication to the dark side.
No matter the reasons, Maul remained trapped in a gone era while Kenobi didn't and the victor proved to be the one who knew how to live in the shadows of the empire (pun intended since I love that game).
Maul's passing marks the end of his suffering but also rises Kenobi's expectations of Luke, who has become the main focus of his new hopes for a future without the tyranny of the sith.
I hope you liked this analysis and feel free to comment and ask anything you wish.
TL DR: Kenobi had adapted his original form III into a more conservative style to reflect his advancing age while Maul, despite having shown more proficiency with the single bladed saber after his defeat with Kenobi, decided to revert to his original style despite clearly lacking the strength and agility to make it as fully functional as it once was.
