system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[The Clone Wars] Wait, didn't Palpatine go to Mandalore and wreck Maul and his brother? Did he do it just to be a dick? I mean I get it, he's Palpatine, but did he leave Maul as a puppet for the Siege of Mandalore?

It's been a while since I've seen the series, catching up on all this.
gpt
Nah. Palpatine was trying to eliminate his rivals. He was convinced that Mother Talzin was still somehow alive and so imprisoned Maul in a Separatist prison to draw her out.

Maul's Shadow Collective led by Gar Saxon broke him out and Maul managed to summon Talzin's incorporeal soul, only to be ambushed by Palpatine, Dooku, and Grevious. This results in a bad time for Talzin and Maul. So Talzin sacrificed herself to save Maul and she was killed by Grevious.

Maul fled with the Shadow Collective back to Mandalore. And that's how he still was the ruler there until the Siege of Mandalore.