#lothwolfwalkers

So you know the other thing that made me want to chew my fur out about the show? The fact they set up the whole choose between your loved one or the world trope with Sabine and then didn't deliver on it emotionally at all, and as a plot point it just felt completely brushed over and it was so frustrating to watch.

Like. That decision should have been torture for Sabine. It should have fucked her up. She's already held so much guilt in her life and you want to add more?? Drives me insane that they went that direction and then after episode 4 it felt like she was totally cool and chill with risking the peace that she fought for, that her family died for that Ezra sacrificed himself for, and in the end the outcome was literally just uno-reversing Ezra's sacrifice and everyone was fine with it like come on 💀💀💀

Now I could go into an angry rant tearing it apart in detail, however that is NOT the reason I brought it up. I brought it up to keep talking about Lothwolfwalkers :3

tbh when I watched the show I kinda rolled my eyes when they went for this trope; it was a pretty obvious and uncreative direction to take. But at the same time it was the one point in the show that got me genuinely invested in what happened next (when I tell you I suffered through ep 5 bc I only gave a shit about Sabine and Ezra. And then then the outcome was laaame). But the potential was there and I'm running with it.

Anyway,

My reasoning is that obviously Sabine was always going to choose to surrender the map. Not because she was willing to throw away everything they fought for, but because as long as she got on that ship, there was always a chance at stopping Thrawn once they got there. A small chance yes, but if there's one thing a rebel is accustomed to dealing with it's insurmountable odds. Whereas if she destroyed the map, there was no second chance to get to Ezra. Even if the map didn't matter in the end, Baylan would have killed her if she tried to destroy it. She chose to live and fight another day, and justified that deal to herself with every intent of doing whatever it takes to keep Thrawn in exile. As long she finds Ezra? Together they can accomplish anything.

However, several weeks as prisoner aboard the Sion is enough to wear down her resolve and the looming guilt about what might happen due to her decision tears her apart even though she knows she would make the same choice over and over.

Sabine knows damn well she's risking undoing everything Ezra fought for and while that's bad enough, she's also terrified he's going to hate her for it. Especially when the only plan she has to get out of this is in fact 100% dependent on finding him (the only way to detonate her kyber bomb is to use the Force). How can she finally show up after so long only to ask him to fight again, to fix her mess? She had the strength to let him go all those years ago, but she couldn't do it again. What would he think of her?

But the truth is that Ezra has never stopped fighting Thrawn and Thrawn has never stopped hunting Ezra. He's been fighting alone to wear Thrawn down all these years and it's slowly killing him. And he's suspected Thrawn would find a way back for a long time, with or without the Sion. If it weren't for Sabine coming when she did, he probably wouldn't be around much longer to slow down the enemy...

So when Sabine does find him and, prepared for him to never forgive her, she's like. Hey so. I uh. I fucked up.

Ezra could not give a damn about the thrawn-go-home-machine. If anything it will be the best chance to defeat him for good that Ezra was ever going to get, and now that they're together? Anything is possible.

Sabine still made the gamble not knowing any of that, and she will still hold herself responsible for whatever happens next, is still half convinced Ezra is disappointed in her. But Ezra's just like look man you can beat yourself up as much as you want, I'm just happy you’re here, I missed you so much, I don’t care what it took to get you here, what matters now is that we have a chance.

Maybe you should have left me. But I'm sure as hell glad you didn't.