In this review I am going to discuss four characters and their development in the latest Series 3 episodes as well as how what we see might connect to their backstories. Check it out:

Sabine

Sabine is a very complex character. As we know she was a cadet at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore and is very smart. As said by Henry Gilroy on Rebels Recon Sabine is the smartest of the smart, it’s like she’s been studying at MIT on Mandalore. Apart from possessing great combat skills she is an expert not only in weapons, but in internal military operations of the Empire. And if that wasn’t enough she also expresses herself as an artist revealing some deep personality traits. What we saw in the ‘Antilles Extraction’ episode is Sabine going on a solo mission to recruit top pilots from the Skystrike academy. While flying in a simulator she demonstrated exceptional technical and cooperation skills as well as the knowledge of the Imperial Protocol. Let’s be honest, we got used to Sabine dealing with every task at hand very easily and kind of almost ‘behind the stage’. But in this Episode not only did she infiltrate the Academy alone, she also did not give up when their first attempt to escape had failed. I think it takes a lot of gut to do what Sabine did. I really enjoyed that superb moment when Sabine had shown Governor Pryce who really is in control in a one to one fistfight. The wit with which she carefully approached Wedge and revealed her identity to him (he could have still changed his mind at any point) further shows how capable Sabine is. It was a fantastic way to show her being independent in that comic relief moment where she saved the two ‘knights’ who were still coming up with a plan to save her. She seemed to have inspired Wedge and he felt like they owed her for coming to free them from blindly following unethical Imperial orders. I think this episode made us look into Sabine much more and hopefully we will see more of her personality through her own development in the future as well through relationships with other characters.

Thrawn

I was wowed by seeing more of Thrawn in action in ‘Hera’s Heroes.’ He is another kind of super intelligent and smart, right on the other end of the spectrum to Sabine. We meet him at Hera’s home currently occupied by the Empire. I believe it is no coincidence as he wanted to learn as much as possible about the Rebels. In the Season 3 trailer he is shown studying the artworks that include Hera’s family portrait as well as Sabine’s painting. Thrawn tries to find links between facts with almost maniacal desire. As mentioned by Pablo Hidalgo on Rebels Recon: for Thrawn to get a victory is to acquire a piece of information. Hera’s home was a great way to literally study her and her past and not only that, but since he actually met her to also see what she would do with her past in the name of freedom. We see him very much letting go of the whole situation whilst preying from afar. We know from his own words that he had found the whole experience to be very enlightening, which shows that he sees much more than there is to meet the eye of others. Thrawn appears very much in control of himself. He is even-tempered and talks in a muted and calm but possessive voice always with respect to whomever he addresses. I can’t tell whether it’s really his personality or whether he is so able to control his own behavior so well. Well, almost well. For a moment he lost his temper and grabbed Captain Slavin irritated by his stupidity not to recognize how important the Kalikori is for him. ‘I forgot not everyone is able to appreciate art as I do,’ said Thrawn letting go of Slavin after seconds of irascibility. Was it his arrogance coming through or did we get a brief glance at his true nature? All that remains for us is to wait and see, but in the meantime, I am excited as well as get chills from seeing how carefully he watches the Rebels whilst forming a plan to tear them apart piece by piece.

Hera

We all know Hera Syndulla as a fantastic pilot of the Ghost and a very caring member of the crew. According to Dave Filoni in Rebels Recon Hera’s growing up was very difficult as her father was always away in political battles. This has formed Hera as very resilient and tough as we know her. To put it in Thrawn’s words she was ‘forged by war’. Hera had left her family at a young age to pursue her dream of becoming a pilot. For me personally, Hera’s soft side always came through a lot too. It feels like she cares deeply about everyone in the crew. I could not help but notice that often reoccurring sadness in her eyes as if she carries some sort of a burden. In Episode 4 she, accompanied by Ezra, embarks on to saving her family heirloom Kalikori from her home, which is currently being occupied by the Empire. It very much looks very not Hera-like as she does not usually takes unnecessary risks. However, we are also told that Kalikori is something priceless
to the family and is passed from one generation to the next. I think that the portrayal of Hera’s need to retrieve the Kalikori symbolises the conflict that she was carrying inside her all this time since leaving her home. She might have felt wrong for leaving her family and not fighting alongside her father to regain their home back from the Empire. Hera mentions that she would help her mother to live on through the retrieval of the Kalikori. I think that it again indicated that it is something from the past that Hera keeps holding onto. Later on in this quest we get a large shift in Hera’s views. Not only did she realise that her family are the ones alongside whom she was spending all these days fighting for freedom, but she also let go of that burden that she was carrying, came to terms with her painful past and focused on the present. Not only does it show her great strength of character but also opens some opportunity for her character’s further development which I am excited about and waiting to see more of in Season 3.

Kallus

We encounter Agent Kallus once again when he arrived with Governor Pryce to the Skystrike academy at a distress signal that some cadets were about to defect. From the very beginning we see him being quite displeased with Pryce and her words that she might teach him something that day. He ends up aiding Sabine in her escape with the newly recruited pilots from the Academy. We all must have seen rumors all over the Internet that Kallus might be a new Fulcrum agent and is aiding the Rebels. I think it would be far too fetched to say, at least with what we have seen in the series so far. What we know from Season 2 is a bit of the backstory of Kallus and why he sees Rebels as enemies. He saw two different Lasat in his life: the one who killed his entire fellow unit and the other who helped him to survive. What happened after Kallus and Zeb had formed an unlikely alliance, and maybe even friendship, is that Kallus started doubting the ways of the Empire. Still, my reaction to his facial expressions when helping Sabine is that he seemed uncomfortable with what he was doing at first (at least in what was reflected by the best of the ability of the animation). Kallus seems being able to tell right from wrong, but seems so trapped in the experiences and events he went through, that he seems like a person who would weigh every single move he would take very carefully prior to doing what he deems to be right at that moment. Oftentimes there is not always as much time when it comes to thinking as there was when Zeb and Kallus were trapped on one of the moons of Geonosis. We see Kallus returning his owing to Zeb and tend to think of his improvement, but what if he just took the first opportunity to easily repay his debt? This shows us the deep struggle of the character and makes it very interesting to watch his development and actions further in the series. I don’t think that at the moment he would directly defect to the Rebels, but I expect there to be some moments where he would need to make choices regarding them and thus he will need to decide on what to do at those moments and, hopefully, he will make the right kind of choices.

What are your thoughts on the above discussed characters’ personalities as seen so far in Season 3? Did you notice any other or read any of their traits differently? Did you interpret any of the above scenes in a different way? What do you expect might be revealed in time about the characters? Let us know in the comments below! 🙂