Yesterday I talked about Rex’s men lost faith in him especially during and after Umbara. In addition they saw Fives as a leader. But the
truth is, I don’t think Fives ever lost faith in Rex. In fact, I think Fives
felt bad for Rex during Umbara—that’s why he took a stand. He knew that Rex
wouldn’t be able to. He knew that Rex was having a mental battle every second on
Umbara. So he wasn’t angry at him, and never held Rex’s actions (or lack of)
against him. I also believe that, Rex was also relieved that Fives took a stand
on Umbara. Of course he didn’t show it nor did he let anyone know but, Fives
gave him strength. Fives was strong where Rex wasn’t and for that, Rex was
grateful. And unbeknownst to Fives, Rex looked up to him and even depended on his
command. Rex saw Fives as a leader. He knew on Umbara everything would fall
apart if it weren’t for Fives, and that mentality carried long after they’d
left the planet.
So Rex telling Fives “don’t go”, when he’s about to die is even
more painful. Because Rex needs Fives. Since Umbara, Fives has been his
strength, he’s turned to Fives for encouragement even if Fives wasn’t aware.
Fives presence, and the fact that Fives held nothing against Rex and still
looked up to him as a leader, was extremely important to Rex. Fives was the one
thing Rex held on to, the one thing that gave him some hope that he was a good leader. After Fives died, so did the little self confidence Rex had left.
Fives and Echo has decals on their armor commemorating Hevy’s sacrifice on the Rishi Moon. It is an illustration of a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon with the words “For Hevy” written in Aurebesh.
You know, I wonder how long it took for Rex’s men to trust
him after Umbara or if they ever did? Fives was basically the commander on
Umbara—let’s be honest. A lot of the men looked toward Fives during and after Umbara
and I can imagine they had certain thoughts about Rex (especially given rex didn’t
stand up to Krell esp when jesse and
fives were gonna be executed.)
Like so his relationship between he and his men had to
dwindle. And after Fives died…I think it completely dissipated? Because the men
already lost so much trust in Rex when he wouldn’t stand up to another Jedi for
Fives. From their perspective, I feel they blamed the Jedi (especially Anakin)
for Fives’ death, and for not helping him. And again, Rex was there and he didn’t
stand up for him. And this time Fives died.
So no, I can’t see his men ever fully trusting him again. In my AUs
where he deserts, that makes things easier for him. He feels like his men won’t
miss him when he’s gone; he feels like a failure. But in canon, it’s painful. And
what’s even more painful is during Order 66, he may have to kill some of his men to save Ahsoka and
damn…that’s gonna be tough for him. I can’t imagine how he’d feel after that.
Made a small Fives drawing on my phone! (Credits: Jedha Alliance on Facebook)
Tup and Fives were so dehumanize toward the end of their
lives. It was so painful and disturbing to watch.
Like even after Tup died, he was still seen as an object
that the Kaminoans could take apart and observe. He was still dehumanized after
death and that’s terrifying to think about.
And Fives was heart breaking. Over and over again, he reinstated
in both words and actions that he was more than a number, that he was a person but he was still invalidated. He stood
there and stated that he wasn’t anyone’s property only for Shaak-Ti and that
Kaminoan to continuously argue over him and regard him as an object, property,
etc. it was like it was meaningless.
And I hated that. Hated how Fives was basically stripped of
his dignity, his credibility, hell he wasn’t even wearing his own armor and I feel
that was supposed to symbolize his identity and free will was being taken
from him right before he died.
And again, the people in power—Anakin in this case, didn’t
listen. They saw him as an object that was broken and that needed to be fixed.
That couldn’t be taken seriously. If Anakin saw Fives as a human in that moment
he would have helped him but he yelled at Fives instead and basically freaked Fives out. Anakin invalidated him just as Shaak
Ti and the Kaminoan did.
Idk, Fives and Tup deserved more and their deaths are the
most painful ones to me.
Ok but like. Fives straight up ignoring Krell’s orders and when questioned about it, he just answers him with a ton of long sentences justifying his actions… in mando’a. Krell doesn’t speak a single word of mando’a. He turns to Kix for help and Kix just shrugs and dumps another truckload of mando words, most of them similar do “shebs”, “di’kut” and so on.
Dumbfounded as the clones just do their stuff, meaning carry on the assault with perfection and ruining his plans of messing with the invasion, Krell turns to Rex as a last resource; after all, Rex did speak to him when he first arrived in the dark planet.
“Clone. What is going on? Your men will not communicate with me.”
“That’s not true” Hardcase says in mando’a as he walks past them carrying a bunch of thermal detonators “we are talking to him alright, not our fault if he’s too dumb to understand it.”
The clones nearby are cackling, and Appo has to sit down he’s laughing so hard. Rex has a wide smile under his helmet.
“Oh, sir, you are new. See, most of these men are shinies pulled from kamino before finishing their lessons in Basic. They can only speak in Mando’a. General Skywalker is perfectly fluent in it, so it’s never been a problem. I guess you’ll have to pass your orders to me, and I’ll pass them on. Hopefully we won’t have any translation issues.”
Krell is beyond pissed now, and he pokes a finger on Rex’s chest plate:
“This is outrageous, captain! Not only your so called shinies are speaking in this savage dialect of yours, but so are sergeant Appo and ARC trooper fifty-five fifty-five! How do you justify this?!”
Rex looks at Appo, who’s being helped back up by Jesse, who is also laughing.
“Appo is…uh… with a sore throat, sir. Can’t speak.”
Krell is puffing up like a an angry toad.
“What about ARC trooper fifty-five fifty-five?!”
Rex looks ahead and Fives is just lifting his kama and twerking behind Krell’s back. Tup dropping down to his knees, laughing so hard he gets a cough fit.
“He’s…. uh. Had a concussion. I’m shocked he’s even able to walk, sir. Are we done here?”
Krell facepalms tiredly.
“Yes. Tell them to sit down and wait for new orders.”
“Copy that, sir.”
While Krell is walking up to his office, Rex turns to his men, speaking in mando’a:
“I need a squad sitting up here to distract the frog-face. Everyone else, move out. Hardcase, give them hell with that z-6. Fives, stop dancing and lead the men. I’ll catch up soon.”
Long after the men are moved out, Krell shows up livid.
“And just where are those men going?!”
Rex scratches his head, clicking his tongue.
“No idea, sir.”
“Did you tell them to wait for my orders?!”
“Oh, I did! Something must’ve… gotten lost in translation. I’ll catch up with them, tell them to come back.”
Krell huffs angrily.
“You do that. And tell those men they’re absolutely forbidden from trying to take the capital!”
“Absolutely forbidden. That would be… Nastaar. Got it. I’ll be back soon, sir.”
Rex puts on his jaig eyed helmet and starts marching ahead. Krell’s voice stops him:
“Before you leave, captain… your men seem to repeat a word quite often at me. Osi’yaim. What does it mean?”
Rex disguises his snort, pretending to be clearing his throat.
“Oh, it means, ‘brave leader’. I’ll be back soon, sir.”
Raf's rants 