#echo v hemlock in the style of fingolfin's duel at angband!!!

[redbean-nom]

tbb finale predictions/thoughts

sadly i do not have a drawing for bad batch eve (but will probably do something afterwards depending on who dies and how)

anyways i hope echo gets to personally free the prisoners and shoot hemlock in the face as a reversal of skako minor

(thoughts on possible deaths below)

I hope echo gets to confront hemlock before he dies - it's implied that echo's situation inspired a lot of the experimental empire projects (like the one with tseebo) and it would be so fitting to force hemlock to face what he's actually doing - he seems to keep himself very distanced from the actual subjects of his experiments (refusing to acknowledge the "specimens" of the vault, "overseeing" the lab work but leaving the prisoner-interacting mostly to emerie/nala se). also this would work really well with how weirdly corpsey echo still looks - although he does look healthier than when he was first rescued, the effects of the techno union's torture & experimentation are clearly evident just by looking at him (scomp hand and head outlets being the most obvious).

and then for echo to die after leading omega/jedi kids/the prisoners to freedom would be such a cool parallel to his citadel death! he's dying for a greater cause (clone rebellion vs gar) but this time it's the one he chose himself. this also ties into his whole arc in s1 (or s2? idk) about him wanting to do more than the scope the batch was operating at, and how that led to him separating from the batch.

and the shadow clones!! tantiss is literally corrupting clones into working against their brothers, same as echo's whole situation in the techno union. so for him to confront hemlock about the prisoners would be so powerful! and then he gets to die saving the not-fully-corrupted clones, like he's paying forward his own survival and rescue and granting that same relief to so many other clones.

it would also be really fitting for his name and the rest of domino - the last Domino falls while setting in motion a grander plan for the future with the liberation of the prisoners and the destruction of tantiss, and the echoes of his legacy would be felt for decades. and if he blows the base up himself - Hevy made the first conscious sacrifice of Domino, and Echo might make the last.

I think the rest of the batch would be more fitting for a sadder death - something contrasting hope/hopelessness themes nirnaeth-style. maybe they all die in an explosion, and as they see it heading their way (like in rogue one) they know their time is up - they were created as CF99 to serve a very specific function in the gar, and now that that structure's gone they've spent 3 episodes drifting. tipoca city was destroyed. they almost settled on ord mantell, but then cid sold them out. then they tried to settle on pabu, but the empire showed up and burned the place down. the Marauder, the first and last of their homes, was destroyed. it's clear they have no place in the imperial-era galaxy, and i'm guessing they'll come to realize this pretty soon.

but! there's still hope. not for them, but the destruction of tantiss (even if it means their deaths) would herald a slightly brighter future. rex and the proto-rebellion are still alive. they've served their place well, and galaxy will go on without them. omega will take their training (crosshair's sniper lesson, echo's marksmanship training when she first got the bow, wrecker teaching her explosives, tech's driving lessons, hunter's role model figure) and the emotional development she's gotten with each of them and use it to serve her own role in the new galaxy, presumably as a fighter in the fledgling rebellion. there's no hope for them now, but there's hope for the future.