#sabezra kids

[supersaiyanjedi14]

SABEZRA WEEK: Extra Gift

Before Sabezra Week 2022 wraps up, I'd like to present something special to one of our most talented fellow shippers.

@meldy-arts is a fantastically talented artist who drew some spectacular fanart of Rebels during its run. Though she was a little late to the shipping party, Meldy's work included some wonderful Sabezra pics that includes a group of fankids most of us are very familiar with. To commemmorate the end of Sabezra Week, I offer up my renditions of what Meldy dubbed her Bluebean Babies;

Mira, Rona, and Jonah in all their pixilated glory!

Thank you, Meldy, for being a fantastic part of my Rebels Fandom experience!

[meldy-arts]

Welcome home ~

[illuminatedquill]

Hera: Alright, Kanan and I are leaving now. Zeb is in charge until we get back. I left written instructions for all of you.

Ezra: Uh, mine just says, “Ezra, no.”

Sabine: Weird. Mine says the same thing. “Sabine, no.”

Hera: And you can apply that to any situation.

[jessicas-pi]

y'all got me all hyped to do more merfolk AU art so I finished the Love's Lights scene

[aceofstars16]

Reunited and it feels so good 🥰

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Jedi Night"

Right, just going to go ahead and pass around the boxes of tissues.

Live reaction version.

And here we are at last. The entire latter half of the season had already began shifting at "Rebel Assault", but here the shift becomes permanent.

From the promos and synopsis put out before this episode, the genre-savvy among us could kind of already tell what was coming. But it was still devastating.

All right, enough stalling, let's get into it.

Aww man, this is the same spot Ezra sits in the finale isn't it?

Dammit we're barely ten seconds in and I'm already sad.

The Loth-wolf theme is heavy over this scene as Kanan is bombarded with an audio portent and foreshadowing of things to come in the WBW.

"You want a ride?" "The Jedi Temple is in danger." "Kanan, you haven't gotten me a present since we met." "You can learn what it truly means to be a Jedi." "You didn't prepare me for this, Kanan." "There's something I need to tell you." "I know I can always count on you."

Kanan hears mostly himself, and the two most important people in his life--Hera and Ezra. He hears Ezra's despair at losing him, and his resolve in entrusting his life and mission to Sabine. He knows the Jedi Temple is in danger. He's connected deeply with the wolves at this point, and either knows or at least suspects what he and Ezra will be asked to do.

This is probably where those extra episodes explaining Kanan's backstory and connection to Lothal would have come in handy. As it is we get the mysterious voiceover dump and have to piece things together after the fact.

What I think makes the most sense is that the Loth-wolves stopped Kanan from going to rescue Hera last episode precisely because--connected deeply as they are in the Force, associated with the WBW--they could see ahead to the potential futures of that course of action and knew that if he went after her, he would die. No matter what he did, no matter which way he moved, one way or another, it would happen. So they warned him. They showed him why lay ahead.

If you do this, we cannot save you, they told him.

And that's why he spends so much of this episode trying to mentally prepare the others, especially Ezra, for his absence.

Because the wolves still a Jedi to save the Temple from Palpatine's evil intentions.

Kanan is resolved in his purpose: He's going to save Hera. He's resigned to his fate: He will trade his life for the chance. And he's determined in his resilience: "Then I will make it count." He won't just make his death a meaningless sacrifice. He will ensure the completion of her mission, honor her by fulfilling the end goal of her failed attack. He will save Lothal by destroying the fuel pods and bringing the factories to a halt. He will give his life for Hera's dream.

Kanan proves in the end that he understands how to love without attachment. (Also why he makes Ezra formulate the plan, because he knows his feelings are compromised when it comes to Hera.) He will not cling selfishly to her. He will free her and then let her go and then let his own life pass away. He will take his place in Hades, and then teach Ezra how to grieve. Because Ezra won't be able to save him.

Because you can't go back down into Hades to retrieve the ones you lose.

“In mythology, if you go to Hades to get them back you’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it for yourself. You’re doing it because you don’t want to give them up. You’re afraid to be without them. The key to the dark side is fear. You must be clean of fear, and fear of loss is the greatest fear. If you’re set up for fear of loss, you will do anything to keep that loss from happening, and you’re going to end up in the dark side. That’s the basic premise of Star Wars and the Jedi, and how it works."

George Lucas, Mellody Hobson George Lucas - Virtual Speaker Interview, 2021

I love this shot, Ezra entering lightsaber-first, a visual emphasis on the fact that they are Jedi, and the Force requires much of them. Much sacrifice, much compassion, much selflessness. To whom much is given, much is required. With great power comes great responsibility.

All that jazz.

Kanan is preparing Ezra for the greatest responsibility he's going to have, to be asked to do what is right regardless of what it will personally cost him. And he's about to become a very painful object lesson.

He also talks like he's been given multiple visions of the future and is arranging things specifically so that they'll fall out in a specific way. It mirrors how Ezra speaks in the finale--If Thrawn shows up too soon, then this path, if he doesn't, then this one.

Some very painful paralleling that you don't realize the first time through.

Ezra's a bit uncertain at first, but honors Kanan's request, and gets started formulating a plan to get them into the Capital.

OH HEY WOULD YOU LIKE TO DESPISE PRYCE A BIT MORE?

Conducting the interrogation personally in her own office is quite the flex.

Once again paralleling to the Season One finale, another character comes in to start the questioning, and gets awfully personal with the digs, bringing up the interrogated party's painful past and history. In this case, Thrawn has brought Hera's kalikori down from its pedastel in his office on the Chimaera--that "place of honor" he promised her--in order to rub it in how he's deciphered the cultural meaning behind it.

Really leaning in hard on those icky cultural appropriation vibes aren't we, writers? Let's be clear, it's not that Thrawn was curious about Twi'lek culture and researched what meant what on a kalikori that's so gross, it's that he did so in order to learn more about Hera specifically so that he could hurt her more personally, namely by taunting her about her dead brother. It's the context, not the curiosity.

Thrawn is an Imperial warlord and only comes into contact with these cultural relics because he's a member of the tyrannical force currently oppressing those cultures. If he really respected or cared about them as items important to the people the Empire was conquering, he should leave them in their damn place. OR, if destruction of the relics at the hand of the Empire was inevitable, he should save them from that destruction and then be finding a way to give them back to the people they belong to or the closest equivalent. Instead he hoards them in his own art gallery to dissect and study to glean more insight into the cultures, so that the Empire might better defeat them.

Yeah no, the staging parallels to the Grand Inquisitor are super 100% on purpose and deliberate.

Also! Because I like ruining people's days, would you like some more Fridge Horror that you may or may not already have seen if you've been following me?

IT-O droids monitor prisoner vitals. Heartrate, blood pressure, adrenaline, other hormones and physiological markers. Hera's already pregnant at this point. Possibly far enough along that the IT-O was able to detect it.

Thrawn and Pryce might knowingly have tortured a pregnant woman.

~You're weeeeeeeeeelcooooooooome.~

Love Sabine whacking Zeb and shushing him to not interrupt Ezra as he's meditating and sensing out.

Also this look. <3

And also the soft conspiratorial smiles between Ezra and Sabine as they vibe on the same wavelength in regards to this plan.

The Kiners go all out on the music this next scene, as we montage building the gliders and Kanan preparing to shave and cut his hair, fully reclaiming his identity as Caleb Dume, The Last Padawan, again.

Kanan's theme plays, in bright flute, with bouncy string accompaniment. It's ritualistic how he moves. Like a samurai slicing off his topknot. Luke's Theme crossfades in through his to mark the heroism of the moment, as the preparations are finished.

And thus begins a long series of hidden goodbyes.

"This is one of those times I'm glad the Force is with you." Zeb says, about how crazy the plan is, and Kanan just silently puts a hand on his shoulder, the last time the two men would ever speak.

(The animators also go all hell out, making this episode one of the most gorgeous yet put to print.)

Cut to our favorite blue asshole. And he's been summoned to Coruscant for a meeting of heads of state to quibble about budgetary proportions lol. Of all things to yank Thrawn away from Lothal, it's politics and bureaucracy, par the course. Thrawn seems offended and claims Palpatine assured him he supports the Defenders.

And while I'm sure Palpatine has paid a bit of lip service to Thrawn's face... yeah no sorry honey, Palpatine was always going to go with the Death Star thing, it's been in the works since before the Clone War broke out. The only issue is that it's sucking all the funding and resources of everything else dry because of the constant delays and problems (Krennic is apparently mismanaging to hell) so now they are considering ganking money from other various projects to feed it.

And that's just... SO like the government lol.

So exit Thrawn, straight into the Thrawn: Treason novel. And I am still SORELY disappointed that Zahn did not take full advantage of the fact that Treason was basically a Rebels tie-in in order to have Thrawn sloooooooowly losing his mind and patience over things dissolving on Lothal while he's not there so that by the time we get him back in the finale, his irritation and annoyance is peak comedy and perfect characterization follow-through.

"I was gone for ONE HOUR and you blew up my project???!??"

The gliders are telegraphed to us with a very slight sound effect, and the rigid wings. So it's amazingly effective at fooling the Troopers lol. Rukh on the other hand has probably picked up a whiff of Zeb lingering on the others so he's alert.

Aaaaaand hidden goodbye number two, frick my heart this one hurts. There's so much Kanan can't tell Ezra, lest the fear of loss cripple him and make him unable to act, drive him towards the Dark Side. Kanan needs Ezra to be able to function for this mission, so he just praises Ezra for being a good listener--a veiled admonition for him to continue listening to the will of the Force, to his instincts, to the wisdom of others, to the wolves--and tells him and Sabine, "May the Force be with you."

He entrusts their safety to the Force, and tells them to trust in it in turn.

"Ezra and Sabine have each other, they'll find their way home."

Oh boy, on this edition of "Terrible Rebels takes that make zero sense except to the perpetually offended", there were actually multiple people who complained about Hera's confession coming about as a result of the truth serum, and they were mad that her loopy state because of the truth serum was played for laughs.

To which all I will say is, shut up, Hera drunk on truth serum is hilarious. Maybe quit having such a stick up your butt about bad things happening to female characters and let them get in on the jokes and slapstick occasionally.

Heroic Main Theme here as Kanan makes his entrance.

About 90% certain the thing Hera wanted to tell Kanan here was that she was pregnant. I refuse to accept that time on the fuel pod as the first time she told Kanan she loved him. Does not make sense, rejected.

Not gonna comment much on the Kanan/Hera scenes, they're adorable and sweet and heartwarming and heartbreaking in hindsight but I will say this soft romantic cue that accompanies them is very lovely.

Pryce sounds more than a bit pissy that Hera got rescued right from under her nose. This leads directly into her recklessness later with the fuel pods.

Love Ezra and Sabine casually commandeering a gunship. "I'm the backup pilot, so I'm in the back." And the Troopers just accept that logic lol.

And the "something" Kanan needs to tell Hera is either that he knows she's pregnant (but maybe doesn't know she knows?) OR about his upcoming expiration. Too bad Rukh interferes.

Oh hey, another sad parallel, neither Jedi have their lightsaber for their moment of ultimate sacrifice.

Hgngnh watching all the pieces move into place for what I already know is coming is awful.

Still cannot get over just how polluted the streets are, look at that rust colored smog.

Lol Ezra's little fist pump, completely forgetting where he is a moment. He's so cute I love him.

Their teamwork in taking out the other Imperials is great too.

*watches the kiss, sighs with sadness*

You did not have to dig so hard into the mood whiplash guys. You really didn't.

All right, let's just... pull off the bandaid.

The animation, the music full of mournful male chorus and high siren wail, the muted soundtrack, the emphasis on Hera and Ezra, that Kanan is so deeply utterly in tune with the Force that his blindness doesn't even matter (which is what his eyes clearing up was, clumsily, attempting to convey) he can see them...

And then he's gone.

And how awful it was for Ezra, who literally just felt his bond with Kanan snap inside his head, to have to be the competent leader and shout at Sabine to, "Go! Go!". For him to have to be the one thinking clearly, because Hera is completely numb and in shock.

Sabine wiping her eyes as she flies them out of there, somehow still able to see through her tears.

And then a stark white and gray titlecard as ashen dust flickers down around the text.

:((((((((

Frick man it still hits hard. Looking back though, it was inevitable. The death flags were all there, the pieces all set up and in place. This wasn't done on a whim, this was meticulously thought out, to devastating effect.

I was never quite as emotionally attached to Kanan as a lot of other people in the fandom, and I'm also a grown adult, so Kanan's death, while incredibly saddening, was not nearly as emotionally devastating to me as it was to quite a few younger viewers. For a lot of fandom this was their first time experiencing a fictitious loss like that, of having a character, a person they had as a staple in their lives, suddenly leaving it. Leaving behind an empty hole.

And that's one of the reasons I have to respect the writers for doing it. They had a story they needed to tell--about loss, about dealing with grief, about how to pick yourself back up and continue doing the right thing, as a Jedi specifically for Ezra, and as a person for everyone else--and they knew they needed to give it the weight and gravitas it merited.

You can't cling to things forever. It's one of the core staple lessons of Star Wars, the "point of the prequels" to borrow a common if oft-misused phrase.

Loss will happen. Death will happen. Do not give into fear about it. Do not let your fear of loss drive you into darkness.

Give yourself time to process the loss. Let yourself grieve.

And then let go.

So I appreciate that the next few episodes are spent almost as if in a funk, the cloud of grief hanging over us as we process through our loss with the characters and then pick ourselves back up and return to the mission. Because the war isn't won yet, and there are still things left to do.

It is darkest before the dawn.

[jedi-nurse]

Ok so I was inspired by this post to write a angsty and fluffy little one-shot featuring @better-call-mau1 's Wren-Bridger triplets

Story under the cut. Enjoy!

Ezra Bridger was no stranger to Force visions. Typically, they showed more of something that would occur in the future, but on the rare occasion, one would be of the past. Which is what happened on a typical sunny Lothal day while he was out shopping in the market.

Well, it wasn’t an entirely typical day because he had his triplets, Caleb, Mira, and Ursa, in tow. His wife, Sabine Wren, was just about to have their fourth child any day, and he knew she needed a quiet afternoon, so he took the rambunctious 4 year olds to do some shopping. 

He told them they were going shopping so they could each get a gift for their new baby sibling. The triplets were excitedly looking around the stalls of the Lothal market, each trying to find the perfect gift. Ursa, being the most mischievous of the three, decided she liked a wooden loth-cat and since it was too high for her to reach she just used her Force powers to bring it down to her. Ezra caught her in the act and before he knew it he was transported back in time to when he was not much older than the triplets.

His mother, Mira Bridger, had taken him along to get some produce in the market. Ezra, who was particularly fond of jogans, wanted one but it was just out of reach. He reached his little hand up and using all his concentration he started to pull the purple fruit towards him. As the fruit was dangling in the air he heard his mother gasp before grabbing him up and quickly exiting the market. Young Ezra didn’t understand what was wrong or why his mom didn’t let him get the fruit. It wasn’t until years later he realized she was protecting her Force sensitive son. 

Shaking his head to clear his mind he heard his daughter’s voice, 

“Buir, I found a present for the baby!” Ursa said, jumping up and down with the wooden figure in her tiny hands. Ezra smiled at her and paid the shopkeeper. He smiled at the thought that because of what his parents had started all those years ago it eventually led to him joining the Spectres, becoming a Jedi, and fighting in the Rebellion with Sabine. And all those things lead to him being married to the love of his life and getting to raise their Force-sensitive children without fear.

[better-call-mau1]

Sabine: I spent five years fighting alongside someone who called himself “Jabba the Hutt.” But just when I realized that I’d fallen in love with him, he was taken from me...and I haven’t seen him since.

Leia:

Leia:

Leia: Uhhh...yeah. That’s a real shame. Huge bummer. The galaxy is definitely worse off without Jabba in it. They should totally lock up whoever was responsible for...ya know...putting an end to him.

Sabine, sobbing: Someday we’ll be together again...I just know it...

Leia: I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

[incorrectpizza]

"I think the Skywalker side of the family is the tamer side."

- my little sister about our insanely chaotic happy post Rebels AU

[belong2human-kind]

Yo guys! Remember when I created Lotie? My Sabezra kid? I also created a brother for her (and I thought about a 3rd kid too, but still deciding)

Well, Lotie's brother is Archer! I hadn't made his design when I first posted about Lotie but now I finally did it!! Here he is:

This is my first sketch, so I will probably change more things later. I always pictured Archie like a copy of his dad (just like Ezra is a copy of his own dad) but with Sabine's eyes and also: he has body marks / freckles like his sister (and no, in live action Sabine too with her adorable mole). I hope you guys enjoy! I'll try coloring him soon 💙

[supersaiyanjedi14]

Did I watch the Ahsoka premier? Yes.

Did I love it? Yes.

Have I been a diehard Sabezra shipper since Rebels was first airing? Yes.

Did I hear what Ezra said? Yes.

Do I care? No.

[meldy-arts]

After all these years they're together again ~

[illuminatedquill]

And in the end I’d do it all again I think you’re my best friend Don’t you know the kids aren’t alright?

*Art done by my fantastic friend, Scragon

Untitled Dark-Side Sabezra AU (coming soon)

Sabine Wren & Ezra Bridger

Family’s End - And Beginning

What if the events of Ahsoka had turned out differently?

What if Sabine had made darker choices in her quest to find Ezra?

What if the Ezra she found waiting on Peridea was no longer the heroic young Jedi from her youth?

The return of Ezra Bridger should have been a cause for celebration.

But, instead, it heralded war . . .

[jessicas-pi]

Sabezra in a fantasy au for the ask game?

I have no idea if this was what you were looking for but it's what my brain invented, so ta-da!

--

Mother had forbidden---Forbidden, actually with a capital F---Sabine from leaving the Seelie realm to look for trouble.

So the next time she got restless, she made sure she'd already found trouble before she left.

Today, trouble looked like a grungy teenage boy, in ratty jeans and a faded orange sweatshirt, stomping through the woods. He seemed like the type she could mess with. Bored with life, discontent, easily fooled. Maybe she could even trick him into following her home for a while and see how he fared there.

(She'd ask him for his name, first, of course. She always did. It was an old trick, and rather overdone, but that was why she did it. If a human was stupid enough to ignore all the old stories and warnings and just tell her that right off the bat, she didn't feel bad about causing them further trouble. They earned it.)

She waited, unseen, until he had passed her by. Then, with a last glance over her shoulder to make sure no one of her mother's Court had noticed her, Sabine slipped through the dark mists that parted one world from the other.

"Hey, there!" Sabine called out at his back. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at her in curiosity, but with far too little suspicion.

Sabine smiled.

This boy may not know what she was---not yet---but if Sabine had her way, he would find out.

Oh, he would find out.

[loreensdarling]

If y'all homophobic sabezra fans don't stop harassing my kids, I'll find you and y'all will be in trouble 😚😚

Came home from a church event to hear that me and my girlfriend (@simply-shin) are still being harassed by some ezrabine shippers.

If they were only talking about me, I wouldn't be responding. But they're also being complete jerks to my girlfriend, so here I am.

I and my girlfriend are being called bullies for stating our opinions.

I'm saying this right now. I do not care what people ship. But I draw the line at ships like Ezrabine. If you ship Ezrabine and aren't bullying people in the process, IDGAF.

The only reason this is happening is because I commented "wolfwren" on a ezrabine post. That's literally all I said.

I'm also wondering, why are you still posting about me after you blocked me? Makes absolutely no freaking sense.

He's also saying that we're trying to push our 'gay agenda' on people, but we're not. We're minding our own damn business while a bunch of grown men who probably live in their mom's basement are crying over the possibility of a gay couple in star wars. (oh no! how terrible! it must be the end of the world!)

Us crying over you? you fucking wish.

[tarisilmarwen]

Well I actually have the day off from work, turns out, but I still can't get anything done.