Maul was one of the few who knew who Sidious really was. If he had disclosed that fact, it may have allowed the Jedi to defeat Palpatine. Yet, Maul kept his silence. Why didn’t he expose Palpatine? He seemed intent on beating Palpatine, but was also afraid of him.
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Maul Still Wanted to Beat Palpatine
One promising explanation for why Maul didn’t expose Palpatine is that he still wanted to find a
way to beat him. As fans attest to here, Maul tried to “use his knowledge of the Sith Lord’s identity as a bargaining chip.” He believes he can use it to “lure Ahsoka to join him and take out the Sith Lord.”
In this scene from Season 7, Episode 10, of The Clone Wars, Maul tried to convince Ahsoka of just that idea. After Ahsoka pleaded about how the Jedi could “stop Sidious before it’s too late,” Maul indicated that it was already too late, and that the Jedi couldn’t defeat Sidious. “But together, you and I can,” he retorted.
We can see in this moment how Maul still sought a way to come out on top and beat Palpatine. As another Reddit post from above comments, “It’s a very Sith-y, self-centered mindset,” but it “makes sense from his perspective.” The game was not lost yet.
Maul had been so bold as to stand up to Palpatine in the Duel on Mandalore. Maul at first “knelt before Sidious” to try to win by feigning loyalty. When Sidious saw through his “deception”, Maul and his brother Savage Opress dueled Palpatine. So, we could say that Maul continued to hide the secret away to find a way to win out over Sidious.
Maul Still Believed in the Sith Plan and Feared Palpatine
However, we could explain Maul’s secrecy another way. After this video builds up how much Palpatine destroyed Maul, we get an alternate, combined answer to our question. Maul still stood for what he had trained under Palpatine for, or still “shared in the vision that Palpatine had” – disposing of the Jedi. So, that motivated Maul to remain true to that plan and not reveal Sidious’s identity.
Yet, that motivation also combined with his plain fear of Palpatine. The above video also recognizes how Maul knew that Sidious was “way too powerful” to draw his wrath for revealing who he was. If he could help it, Maul would not wish to directly confront Palpatine.
To the first part of his dual motivation (belief in the Sith), fans here stress how Maul wanted to destroy Sidious, but didn’t want “the Jedi to win either.” He tried to destroy Anakin instead to deleverage Palpatine, looping back to our first reason about still trying to beat Sidious.
As for his fear, that was real enough. In this climactic Clone Wars scene with the Duel, we watched Sidious “brutally” defeat Maul and kill Savage Opress. It even appears that Palpatine was “showing off” his power. Maul had already known about this level of power and paid the consequences for challenging Palpatine.
This fear could be more important than Maul’s continued belief in the Sith plan. As the Clone Wars neared its end, we may agree that Maul was “beyond terrified of Palpatine.” He also thought the Jedi wouldn’t trust him, probably confounding his fear and instilling inaction.
Maul Didn’t Expose Palpatine
Maul had several reasons for not revealing Palpatine as the hidden Sith Lord. We could think of it as part of his plan to beat Palpatine, as reflected in the final season of The Clone Wars. That sounds true as everything collapsed. Yet, he seemed to be driven by fear of Palpatine, and only Maul grasped at this last-minute attempt to team with Ahsoka when he was left with few options.