#siege of lothal

[swrepisodebracket]

Star Wars Rebels Episode Bracket: Round 3

Which is the best Rebels episode?

Season 2, Episode 1/2: Siege of Lothal

Season 2, Episode 15: The Call

Voting ended onAug 3, 2024

[softpadawan]

Ezra, we were lucky to survive. ✦

[anakinisvaderisanakin]

Vader: There is a refugee camp the rebels have provided aid to in the past. 

Kallus: Yes, Tarkintown they call it. You suspect the rebels are in hiding there?

Vader: No, but I want you to burn it. The compassion of the rebels is a weakness, one we will exploit.

This is honestly a very underrated little tidbit from Vader, taken from the Siege of Lothal arc. Despite the more child friendly tone Rebels was going for, especially in its earlier seasons, you can see Vader’s ruthlessness clearly on display here. He’s not above burning an entire innocent, unsuspecting town simply for personal gain. He knows the rebels are compassionate, and thinks destroying the town will draw them out - rightfully so.

It’s just jarring in all the best ways, to see Anakin willing to help and save every last person in TCW whenever the war comes knocking on civilian doorsteps - only to do a complete 180, and pay little to no heed for humanoid life. It goes to show just how far Anakin has fallen, and how he (despite of course not being overtly sadistic like Palpatine) sees no issue in violent or dishonest actions, in order to further his own interests.

Vader doesn’t care for himself, and with no one whom he loves left alive or in his direct circle to benefit from his being kindhearted and compassionate - he throws it completely out the window. Goodness landed him where he is now, he doesn’t realize that his self centered way of suffocating his dear ones with love is not kindness, as much as a toxic sort of codependency. He doesn’t realize that he was never really selfless as much as self serving, and this is why Anakin’s relationships to Padmé, Obi Wan and Ahsoka were all doomed to fail - he expected them to give all of themselves unto him, as he did for them. This is bound go south, as people can never live up to expectations from their peers when placed up on a pedestal.

The typical mindset of Anakin falls back on, “if I give everything I have to you, you’re going to give me everything right back. What do you mean you can’t? That must mean I’m not enough, I’m never enough for you to give me all you’ve got! How dare you think of yourself when you should be thinking of me, because I put you before myself.”

Vader in a sense believes that if no one can be what or who he expected them to be, he might as well surrender that strategy. Anakin being just and good, and a hero, got him nowhere. It failed to produce him the results he desperately wanted. It failed to save Shmi and Padmé. He listened to the Jedi Order, and his mother died for it. He listened to Obi Wan and Yoda, and to a larger degree that he won’t admit to Palpatine - only for Padmé to abandon him anyway. For Padmé, Obi Wan, and eventually also Ahsoka, to turn him down.

Vader is jaded at this point, and he has the Empire to show for the fact that his new heartless, cruel tactics are bearing fruit. The Imperial persecution of naysayers and Jedi sympathizers has been working, they have successfully scared their people into silence. Killing them with kindness didn’t work out, and thus, Vader goes in the opposite direction. By intimidation tactics, by dirty tricks and schemes, he makes sure that he is not respected but feared. Because if people are afraid of you, they won’t dare to take a stand. If people are afraid of you, they won’t turn down your presumed authority. If they fear for their lives, or even more important the lives of those whom they love - you can bend them to your will every which way.

This is what Vader has picked up from Palpatine - although he was always leaning a bit in that direction - and it may be a skewed and distorted world view, but it has proven itself to be working. Hence, Anakin who was never a truly compassionate man to begin with as much as he stuck up for those he loved, for fear of being abandoned or betrayed, has shed his skin. He has abandoned the pretense and the attempts to please everyone, to always be subservient to others. Of course, he is in every sense of the word still a slave to Palpatine’s whims - but that comes down to his disregard for his own person, as well as the underlying guilt that has him thinking continuously that he deserves nothing less.

Whatever you may say, or think, of Rebels - it did do Vader justice.

The developers made him frightening, reiterated the fact that he is a villain - something that has been expanded upon by the comics, Rogue One and Fallen Order. Vader cares for no one and nothing except serving his master, as Palpatine is the sole surviving person he has left in this world to attach himself to. Anakin, and thus Vader, cannot exist without a person to be obsessed with, or to depend entirely upon. This is why he allows himself to be manipulated by Palpatine, and used as a pawn. He has no one else, and he doesn’t trust himself to know what to do if he were to be entirely free.

Vader is a tragedy, but he is also a menace. And this is one of the brilliant little moments in which Rebels manages to remind us of that fact.

(Repost from old acc)

[barissoffee]

Endless Star Wars Rebels ✰ 12/??

[lessattitudemorealtitude]

Time for another installment of Jabba’s Star Wars Rebels Reactions!

Call to Action

Kanan: “What’s up with you?”

Ezra, unconvincingly: “Nothing.”

Kanan: “Let’s have a talk.”

Jabba: “Literally a dad. Let's have a father son moment!”

-

Hera shoots down one of the Imperial ships with the Phantom

Jabba: “Yas, Hera! Slay!”

-

Ezra: "That's what my new family helped me remember!" 

Jabba: “Space family confirmed.”

Rebel Resolve

Hera: "[Kanan] would want us to honor the sacrifice he made." 

Jabba, speaking on Ezra’s behalf: “I hate you, mom!”

-

About the droid courier: “Aww, it's kinda cute. It's like a good dog, while Choppers just an asshole”

Fire Across the Galaxy

Jabba: “So... Sabine’s like the distraction person, and Zeb is the one the bashes people's heads in, huh?”

-

Kanan dual-wielding the lightsabers: “I have nothing left to fear.” 

Jabba: “Oh shit!”

-

Ahsoka’s reveal: “It's so weird seeing Ahsoka all grown up...”

Siege of Lothal

Shocked and horrified that they killed Tua. "They blew her up?!"

-

Kanan after seeing Tarkintown: "They're prisoners of the Empire now." 

Jabba: “Um, no... I'm pretty sure they're a bit on the crispy side now.”

[commandervisor]

who did it better

[xxreachingforthestarsxx]

oh my god 😱

[gkingoffez]

Keep Your Faith In Your Blade

Fandom: Star Wars Rebels

Words: 1,255

Summary:  Ezra finds himself doubting his lightsaber. Kanan helps. / S02E01 Siege of Lothal Episode Coda

AO3 | FFN.Net

Kanan glanced up for what felt like the hundredth time, and sighed.

“Tell me what’s on your mind, kid,” he said, lowering his holopad and turning to face Ezra across the checked surface of the dejarik table.

“What? Nothing’s on my mind,” his Padawan replied a bit too hurriedly.

“Really?” Kanan raised an eyebrow in mock disbelief. ”You sure? Because you’ve been passing your lightsaber between your hands for ten minutes now, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves.”

“Oh, sorry,” Ezra said, immediately plonking the ‘saber down onto the table.

Kanan waited a few moments to see if he would talk again, but it quickly became apparent that Ezra wouldn’t do so without further prompting. Deciding to give him a little time and space, Kanan returned to the report he’d been reading on a potential upcoming mission for the Ghost from Ahsoka herself. He only got a few paragraphs in before his attention was once again drawn away.

Ezra had now begun tapping his fingers rhythmically against the tabletop and staring down his lightsaber with almost the same look he wore when going after enemies in a combat situation- like he was assessing the danger and calculating the risks and rewards of a particular move.

Sensing that this wasn’t, in fact, ‘nothing’, Kanan this time turned off his holopad completely and put it down to the side, before folding his arms across his chest in an authoritative manner and turning to face his Padawan once more.

“Ezra, you look like you’re expecting the lightsaber to grow teeth and attack you. If something’s bothering, you know you can talk to me. Come on, tell me what’s up?”

Ezra fidgeted in place for a few seconds, before his hands curled into fists and he met Kanan’s eye.

“It’s about… Vader,” said Ezra.

Even the very name made Kanan’s back tense and a spike of fear drip into his hands and feet. He unfolded his arms and leant forward, looking over Ezra’s lightsaber for himself with a frown.

Immediately, he understood.

“You’re thinking about the landing platform on Lothal, aren’t you?” asked Kanan.

Ezra nodded, his shoulder-length hair bouncing at the movement. “It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before from the Force. The hate and fear and cold, it was all so overwhelming and I couldn’t move, Kanan. It took everything I had try to stop him and it wouldn’t have been enough if you hadn’t helped when you did. I would be dead right now.” Ezra bowed his head and stared daggers at the lightsaber before him. “And this would have done it.”

Kanan swallowed back, processing Ezra’s words. The memory of the kid pinned against a beam with the familiar blue lightsaber blade inching closer to his throat was only the latest in a string of horrifying images that pervaded his dreams. Kanan had saved Ezra yet again, but as always it had come far too close for comfort.

If Vader had thrown him a little harder across the landing platform, or if he’d lingered on the ground only a few more seconds more they might have escaped Lothal with one less Spectre (or perhaps they wouldn’t have escaped at all).

But that was all speculative- what if, what if, what if? Kanan had been taught in the Jedi Temple not to dwell on the nebulous ‘could-have-beens’, but sometimes he just couldn’t help it. It was the burden of most sentient beings in the galaxy to wonder such things, and on occasion Kanan envied the cool and certain logic of a droid.

“Kanan, how am we supposed to fight an enemy that can turn our own weapons against us?” Ezra  said pleadingly from across the table. “You said that my lightsaber is my life, but how can I trust it when Vader can take control of it so easily?”

“Kid, look…” sighed Kanan, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I’m not sure I have the right answers for you. But no one likes to feel helpless, and I’m sure that goes triple for you with your experience. But just remember, there was no way any of us could have accounted for Vader’s presence or power. He’s not infallible, but he is a Sith Lord, and that’s something that you as a beginner had little chance against. Hell,” he added with a humourless chuckle, “you saw me there, I had no chance against him and I’ve got a couple of years on you.”

Kanan looked again to Ezra’s lightsaber, sitting innocently on the table. He leant forward and picked it up, running his fingers across the unique hilt.

“But just because he almost got the best of us doesn’t mean we should give up, nor does it mean we should lose faith in ourselves or our weapons. Your lightsaber is still yours, Ezra, believe me. Your kyber crystal found its way to you despite incredible odds, and besides, distrusting it will only give Vader a foothold in your head. We have to be stronger than that, better than him if we ever want to defeat the Empire.”

It was really all he could give, and he hoped it would be enough.

Kanan carefully stretched out his hand and offered the ‘saber back to its owner. After a moment of consideration, Ezra gave a small smile and took it.

“I think you’re right,” said Ezra. “It’s just… hard to think about these things. I know I gotta keep moving forward and not dwell if I want to survive, but some things take more time than others.”

Kanan nodded and returned a reassuring smile. Sometimes he was reminded just how young Ezra was and how unfair it was for him to be fighting in a war. As much as he would like to shield his Padawan from the atrocities of the galaxy, he understood it simply wasn’t an option.

Perhaps there would come a day when would get to his feet too late to save Ezra, and perhaps there would come a day when Vader was dead and the was Empire destroyed, but Kanan filed both of those options away. After all, there was no use in dwelling on possibilities, past or future.

He looked again to his holopad before changing his mind.

“Hey kid, how about we go do some lightsaber training? We’ve probably missed a few sessions with the excitement of the last few days, and I’m getting tired of reading reports.”

As expected, Ezra lit up with excitement and jumped out of his seat with a bounding energy only a child could harness. “Sure thing, I’ll go get changed! Oh, and master?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime,” said Kanan.

Heyo, guess who’s alive.

Sorry for the blackout guys. I started on medication that a) took ages to take effect b) made me really sleepy for a while there and c) gave me an excuse not to write. I also lost that drive that fuelled me for a while there, which is a bummer, but what can you do. On the plus side, I am doing so much better at the moment, it’s amazing!

For those waiting for ‘you’ll watch them all bleed’ chapter 2, it is coming. I had hoped to get it out before I leave for Melbourne on Monday, but that may not happen because I’m not feeling well and I have other more important things to do. It’ll come out eventually, though. Probably.

This one was just a small idea I had a while back. Hope you liked it. :)