(Spoiler Warning for Umbara and the first arc of Season 6 of TCW)
Sometimes, I think about how Tup's very first campaign was Umbara. This shiny had just graduated from his cadet class, maybe stood at an outpost for a small second, and then was added to the Torrent Company. He was probably still excited to finally join his brothers out on the field. And his first experience was Umbara. With Krell. LIke before Anakin leaves, Umbara still sucks. It's a terrible battlefield, the Umbarans have dangerous technology, it's dark, unknown, and all around sucky. Once Krell is in charge, there is an unending slaughter of clones. Tup is seeing just pure carnage of his dead brothers all around, and as far as he knows, his older brothers are certain that all of the casualties were unneeded and avoidable. If Krell hadn't ignored Rex's advice, his brothers could still be alive.
Fast forward to Five's and Jesse's court marshaling. Fives kind of took Tup under his wing (his new buddy after he lost Echo), he's been everywhere with Tup so far during the arc. So for Tup to have to line up and point his blaster at the brother he looks up the most must have been sickening. And then to have to imprison the other shiny he joined with (Dogma), this kid has been through it.
All of this to end up in a firefight with other clones. At the order of Krell. He probably killed at least one of his brothers. Thats horrific. Yes, Krell gets what's coming to him in the end (thanks Dogma), but he caused so much trauma before his death, that the end of Krell doesn't feel like a victory, not a breath of fresh air, not a sigh of relief. It's a stalemate of horror and fear. How could someone hate clones so much, that he caused the senseless slaughter of so many brothers without any remorse? Yes, he's gone now, but that doesn't fix everything that happened.
And to talk about my final point, Tup's death. Tup has been with the 501st for a little bit, and by this point he's pretty used to what goes on in the war. This was a relatively simple campaign, but Tup has this terrible headache. Who cares? It's just a headache. I'm sure the clones got headaches every once in awhile due to the conditions of war: stress, dehydration, lack of nutrients, etc. But for Tup, he suddenly has no control over his actions, "Good soldiers follow orders"
What's the most heartbreaking part for me, is that Tup is not a very "important" character. He's not an ARC trooper, he isn't the most experienced, he doesn't have knowledge that no one else has, he is simply your "run of the mill" clone. He's a kid that is fighting in a war with the best of his abilities. He doesn't have any out of the ordinary skills, which I think is what makes him so extraordinary. He has managed to stay alive. In war that has claimed half a million lives at least, Tup has managed to keeping living. This is why Tup's death is so gut wrenching for me. After everything he lived through, his end was due to a technological malfunction. A fluke. His only solace in the end being that he was with Fives, and he knew the nightmare was over. He was free to rest peacefully.
I just think about him a lot
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