- Marketing for Ahsoka series highlights the continuation of stories about Star Wars Rebels characters. But the only character we haven’t seen is clone captain Rex, who shares a deep history with Ahsoka.
- Captain Rex’s loyalty, courage, and selflessness, along with his sarcasm and strategic mind, make him the perfect soldier and Ahsoka’s trusted ally.
- Ahsoka and Rex’s relationship goes beyond the traditional descriptions of friendship and camaraderie, as they are family in every way. Rex’s inclusion in the Ahsoka series would be a fitting acknowledgment of their connection and the depth of Ahsoka’s life.
Marketing for the long awaited Ahsoka the series did not hide its narrative mission: the continuation of the stories of characters from Star Wars Rebels and Rosario Dawsona titled non-Jedi Jedi. It’s all good and good for rebels fans who have waited five long, hard years for a sequel. However, unless his presence is kept secret (which is quite possible), there is one conspicuous omission from Ahsokaimpressive list of actors. Captain RexDee Bradley Baker) and Ahsoka Tano share a deep history. They joined the Star Wars animated universe hand in hand, and Rex stood by Ahsoka’s side through both her brightest and darkest moments. The Jedi Commander and Clone Trooper witnessed bloodshed and beauty, joy and despair on a scale few can imagine. Ahsoka had a Master and mentor in Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter), an emotional fire, perhaps the most important relationship in her life. It’s time to declare that Captain Rex, her truest shadow, is even bigger than that.
Who is Captain Rex in Star Wars?
Captain Rex was featured alongside Ahsoka Tano in the 2008 animated feature film. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a prelude to the television series of the same name. Like his fellow clones who serve as soldiers of the Republic in its war against the Separatists, Rex is a clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). Anakin Skywalker, the prodigy king of reckless swiftness, refers to Rex as his “first in command”; not his second. These words of a high-ranking general and prophetic savior of the Force are as loud as can be on a cosmic scale (before his unfortunate fall to the Dark Side, of course).
What makes Rex the best man for your back isn’t his skill with a blaster. These are his inner qualities: his loyalty, courage, strategic mind, sensitive intellect and impulse of self-sacrifice. Rex values honor and defines selflessness. He is the first to valiantly protect the innocent, throwing himself into danger with his helmet first. He leads rescue teams to save a single person, and his initial reluctance to break the rules becomes pliant when he discovers that war is never black and white. As a bonus, Rex’s dry sarcasm more than matches Anakin and Ahsoka, which is a job requirement in itself. He often radiates that irritated “I’m the only adult in the room” mood. Mix these attributes in a blender and Rex becomes the perfect soldier: a genetically engineered warrior unwaveringly loyal to the Republic.
But what makes a perfect soldier? Is it someone who follows orders without question, or someone who understands when the rules set by a higher authority have been broken from the start? Initially, Rex believes the Republic propaganda: clones were created to die in the service of good (even if Rex treasures every life lost). But the more he watches this seemingly endless and senselessly brutal war drag on, and the more his brothers die on the battlefield, the more he doubts the legitimacy of the war and the morality of his existence and the existence of his fellow soldiers.
For every Anakin and Ahsoka, there is another Jedi who dismisses clones as expendable and therefore undeserving of elemental dignity. Rex knows better than anyone that every soldier is an individual with their own personalities, opinions, desires and hopes. “We are not droids,” he says. “We are not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions.” clone wars the recontextualization of the eponymous soldiers, especially through the eyes of Rex, casts doubt on the righteousness of the Republic. This is not an argument in favor of the Empire, but the production of thousands of people just to send them to the war zone has brought the Republic to its knees. Is victory in the Clone Wars worth so many souls? But who will deny these clones the right to life?
Captain Rex brings nuance to The Clone Wars
Rex’s doubts about the system never make him doubt his countrymen. His connection with Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein), one of those terrible emotional attachments that the Jedi Order likes to stigmatize as a weakness, turns out to be Rex’s greatest strength. Ahsoka only survives Order 66 because Rex resists her inhibitor chip long enough to give her a fighting chance. Emperor Palpatine turns the clones against the Jedi, violating not only the minds of the clones, but also their personality; they are protectors, not killers. In turn, Ahsoka uses a combination of the Force, her connection to Rex, and damn luck to remove his chip and restore her free will.
Which begs the question: who is Rex without his sworn duties? The horrors of war, the slaughter of the Jedi, and the trauma of watching their brothers die could break any man. Few would blame Rex for becoming embittered, selfish, and withdrawn. The Empire Doesn’t Need Clones After They Destroy the Jedi: A Moment in Kenobi the series portrays the former soldier as abandoned, aimless, and close to death.
Instead, fifteen years after the fall of the Republic, Rex remains himself in Star Wars Rebels — just tired, straightening up under a patchwork of scars. The Empire forced Rex to get away from his dual goals (to fight for the Republic or kill a Jedi). When he joins the Rebellion, it’s because he’s a good man, fighting for what’s right, the cause for which he was created and which he ultimately chose. Although all of the soldiers were modeled after Temuera Morrison’s facial features, Rex stood out from the start with his blond hair and custom armor design. Despite being the perfect soldier, Rex proved to be the most unique clone of them all. Without Rex, the clone army and their complex Jedi connections, clone wars“The conflict lacks nuance.
Captain Rex is closely related to Ahsoka
Although Captain Rex is Anakin’s right-hand man, Rex’s most significant relationship - the one that saves his life - is with Ahsoka Tano. He is the older brother of the Togruta in all but name. In his own way, he helps raise her by guiding the Padawan through her combat pace and fighting by her side through certain death and into an unknown, desolate future. There is never any question about Rex’s loyalty; Protecting your Jedi is the right thing to do. Rex hesitates only once, when the pair are forced to fight his mind-controlled clone regiment during Order 66. Having to kill one’s own is a reckoning that devastates the normally competent Rex. With the utmost tenderness, Ahsoka vows to keep her fellow soldiers alive, rather than ruthlessly mow down her former comrades. At the moment, she is Rex’s anchor, and he is hers.
Even though survival requires them to live separate lives, Rex remains Ahsoka’s constant ally and only true friend for decades. The passage of time causes them to reunite in Star Wars Rebels all the more heartbreaking. Ahsoka is a shriveled adult warrior, and Rex is a gray-haired man who ages much faster than the average human (thanks for nothing, Kamino’s geneticists!). Both look into a hidden reflection of their complex past and impending death. Beaming with tender pride, Ahsoka rushes to Rex to hug him. Too soon after, Rex appears, a minor character who mourns Ahsoka’s supposed death more than the main cast. Beneath the armor, lightsabers, and oaths to the Republic, Ahsoka and Rex’s relationship goes beyond traditional descriptions. They are not just blood-forged friends or comrades in arms, but family in every way that the term implies.
Given Rex’s accelerated aging, there’s no guarantee he’s still alive. Ahsoka Series chronology. But people this star Warswhere rules are invented on the fly. If Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano started their journeys together so many years ago, then Rex deserves to be included in the next phase of Ahsoka’s life. Even if his participation amounts to a cameo (and even if said cameo depicts his death, which will plunge the fandom into irreparable suffering), recognition is the least that Rex deserves. Just imagine how much seriousness Temuera Morrison could create in a living Rex! The actor himself deserves proper compensation after Boba Fett book pushed him aside in his own series. Not to mention weaving Rex into Ahsoka ensures that the series prioritizes the breadth of the life of the woman it is named after. Whatever the future may be, Rex must accompany Ahsoka into it with a wry grin and a steady hand. Ahsoka herself said, “The Republic could not wish for a better soldier, and I for a better friend.”
Source: Collider
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