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@rahabs / rahabs.tumblr.com

cheyenne, historian, classicist, filthy yorkist. ᒥᔪᑌᐦ ᑲ ᐃᐧᓴᒥᐦᐟ ᐊᐄᐧᔭᐠ miyoteh ka wisamiht awîyak. I have a JD, please free me. musician with an all-encompassing love of and fascination with polar expeditions, dead monarchs, the age of sail, musicals, historical dramas, star wars, et al. research is my drug. sometimes I make edits and write things, mostly about history and the frozen lads of AMC's The Terror.
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finalgirlsakura

One thing that really grinds my gears when it comes to the discussion of Rebels is the consistent misrepresentation of Kallus' redemption for ship purposes.

Kallus' redemption arc is not about Zeb. Yes, Zeb kickstarts it, but he did not make Kallus a rebel. And I find it so irritating when people reduce his arc down to "haha he fell so in love he switched sides" like please.

For Kallus' redemption to work, for it to be worth anything, Zeb cannot effectively be a part of it. The entire point of Zeb telling Kallus to search for the answers to questions he hasn't asked is because Kallus needs to see it for himself. He needs to realize for himself. He needs to realize everything he's been a part of.

And that's why I dislike it when people woobify him and turn him into this character who's constantly asking for forgiveness from Zeb. Because even aside from the fact that it's just weird to put Zeb in the position where he needs to constantly forgive the guy who was complicit in his planet's destruction, that's just not what the arc is about.

Kallus looks for the answers. And in the end he's more aware than anyone what he's done, what he's been a part of, and that it needs to be fixed. He's not a soft character and his redemption doesn't change that, it just means that he's changed his actions to be consistent with his morals. Zeb is not guiding him or teaching him or even present for most of it, and that's important.

#I agree with the body of this post.#I’ve always been a little baffled at the fact that large swaths of people constantly have Kallus asking/begging for forgiveness in fics#Zeb is the catalyst but he was not the agent (ha) of change.  That was Kallus himself#Who took the initiative as OP says in Zeb’s absence.#I really cannot emphasize enough the ‘Zeb was not physically present’ portion as well.#Zeb himself was surprised when Kallus was revealed as Fulcrum#He had no communications with Kallus during that whole process#And this frankly bizarre characterization of Kallus as some poor wooby begging for forgiveness at any turn is…#Like I’m not surprised it became the default in the fandom but I am Disappointed.#As OP said Kallus’ redemption arc isn’t about Zeb—it’s about Kallus himself and the choices he makes and has made.#He made these choices independent of Zeb because even though Zeb prompted Kallus#He was not there to oversee or guide or do anything else.#Kallus made the choice.  Kallus guided his own arc.#And it’s a little frustrating to see that constantly devalued and overlooked by the fandom.#text#Kallus#Aleksandr Kallus#Garazeb Orrelios#Star Wars#SWR