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WARNING: Spoilers for all present here. Leave now if you don't want this.

Fan-theories were a mistake...

At least that's what I would've said years ago. Now I only think this every so often because nowadays? I do like me a good fan-theory. The idea of engaging with media in ways like this with ideas and subjects the original creators have likely never intended is fun, it gets the brain working and in some ways due to the research we might put into it grant us a deeper understanding of what we love or even lead us to meeting fans we otherwise wouldn't have talked to which can build into friendships. Theorizing and speculating are not inherently bad actions, they are as neutral as one can get when it comes to topics dealing with media. In fact, I've always had respect for theories and the people make them. That being said, there needs to be an asterisk at the end of that for a particular reason. I have respect for them when the people who craft or present these theories make it very clear that they never are to be taken as fact and are just a fun exercise since then it seems for the most part they get the point of a theory which is that it's speculation and exploration of an idea but that there is no guarantee that this is what was intended or in the case of media that's ongoing that this is what's going to happen and that what the show or film series goes with will be judged for its own merits.

When it gets to the point where it's clear the person invested so much time into the theory that they just can't decouple themselves from it and as a result, what started as a theory becomes basically a headcanon that has run insanely wild and they break out the "They wasted this character." or whatever quote? I stop having respect because frankly, it's ridiculous and now that we've gotten to this point? I feel like talking a bit about it with three characters that embody this. Two of which embody sort of a similar idea while the third embodies something we've seen very commonly. But before we begin with this we should clarify this at the very least. This is not a screed against people who genuinely dislike the developments for these characters for legit reasons and by that I mean you watched the media and sat back and just went "Well, that sucked." because hopefully you judged it for its own merits. Same goes for people who made theories and didn't let them dominate their thoughts or hell, people who maybe in retrospect looked at theories compared to canon and said they found the theory might've been more interesting which can happen. Now then, let's continue on.

Let's start with the first show and let me explain how I get how the discussion came to this point. RWBY is one of those rare instances where for as much time as people invested in every volume, it felt like the show engaged just as much with the fandom and the wider discussion. The late Monty Oum, its creator, commonly expressed how he loved receiving fanart of his characters, mentioned that he was intentionally designing costumes with the idea of making them somewhat easy to cosplay, shipping names ended up being featured in a gag, fan nicknames and memes and so on have gotten acknowledgment and then there is the fact that the man who's featured here, Adam Taurus, was one of the first characters ever seen all the way back in the Black trailer which unlike other trailers for various shows was basically a short film about an original plot that's not covered in the series proper. Since that point, he's been in so much other media and is one of the key parts of the backstory of Blake who makes up the "B" in Team RWBY. Because of this, he has been referenced multiple times and that's not even getting into how it is once you get into the expanded material where one of the first RWBY manga featured a story that expanded on the Black trailer and elaborated more on Adam's relationship with Blake. This is a series and team that pushes for engagement to a level that you don't see so often especially with such high-profile releases like what RWBY has become so when towards the end of Volume 6 he eventually perished? I understood why there was this feeling that he was "wasted".

Everyone is gonna have that instance where they feel a character is wasted based on their own definition of what it means to do that which is alright, it comes with the territory of subjective opinions. I'm no different and for the most part what I'd classify as wasted is the same as what quite a few others may explain... except for one aspect. See for the most part, when people are saying that a story wasted a character, they're referring to the potential they had as in what they saw in them for future stories and events that they thought up in their head and that it's when the story doesn't explore it that a character is counted as wasted. Now granted, that's normal, especially if the wasting in question revolves around a character who didn't get much in the first place and seemingly was going to be so much more. However, while that's still true for me, there are aspects I look at that I feel often gets ignored when it comes to discussions like this and it's two simple questions I ask myself whenever a character I hear is "wasted".

Did the character serve the purpose that the writers intended for them in a satisfying way? Was there anything to indicate that the character was intended for anything more than what the show and movie had shown off beforehand?

And when that question comes up? Honestly thinking about a character like Adam? I feel it's clear to me that after looking through every piece of canon and even non-canon content as long as it was officially licensed that quite frankly? I feel Adam is a case of a character where a combination of mismanaged hype, irresponsible speculation and more led to this character's story being blown way out of proportion to the point where the creators have been unfairly blamed when they themselves were just carrying out the story the way they best saw fit and in that story... he really did not have a place in this as a main villain that stretched through all the Volumes.

Oh sure, he's a main antagonist certainly, he definitely has some pedigree to him and he's certainly not a nobody but you look at ideas people talk about for him and it's split down the middle between being the ultimate bad guy or basically just edgy Blake which I hate to say it but he just was not meant to be that. From the way he was written, how his appearances were and so on, he was only the main villain in Blake's journey as a symbol of her ties to the White Fang and a representation of what it was that she wanted to leave behind. He is the classic case of someone who started out believing in a good cause and was forced into violence because of circumstances but was never able to catch how he was slowly turning more and more radicalized because of his rage and fear which pushed him down a much darker path that he later became consumed by and as a result, he quickly became no better than the oppressors he fought against. He's a depiction of the life Blake escaped and what she could've become. He's a representation of how far the White Fang had fallen and a cautionary tale for how one's dark side if left unchecked can lead to you falling down horrible rabbit holes even if you are fighting a good cause. Him dying is Blake finally confronting that and when paired up with her storyline in volumes 2 and 3 where she tries to do so much alone because of her fear which leads to her losing that fight with Adam in V3? It's a hard punch beautifully emphasized by how Blake is joined by Yang during that fight who at that point has a robot arm which means she is literally wearing what Adam would call the symbol of her failure and Blake breaking down because even if this man was so horrible and basically going down the worst path possible as a controlling abuser? He's also a part of a huge chapter of her life and not a man who was evil all the time and bear in mind, he didn't die to someone unconnected to him or anything like that, he died to the very people he wronged which works very well at least to me.

Now does this mean a potential redemption arc or him continuing on would've just led to garbage? No, in fact it could've led to fantastic stories, hell there's nothing wrong with the idea on its own but the thing is? That's not what the creators chose to go for, it's not something they had any obligation to go for. As far as this story was concerned, he was an obstacle in Blake's personal journey. Moreover, he serves a tragic purpose of showcasing that sometimes while everyone has the capacity to be redeemed? That is still a choice the person in question has to make themselves and commit to which means that sometimes as sad as it is? Some people don't see the error of their ways until it's way too late. I maybe can totally see a version of RWBY happening where Adam ends up redeemed and that ends up an emotionally fulfilling arc for the dude but I also say in a series that has made it very clear that one of its themes is that despite being based on classic fairy tales, life in general is not at all like one of those? Him getting a far more tragic ending makes sense. Not only that but if he was redeemed? It would mean that narratively we'd have another Blake not in the sense they'd be the same character but he would serve the same purpose as one of our main characters. I mean she went through an arc already where she struggled with what she did for the White Fang and her connection to them so we'd likely be seeing some of the same beats repeated just with Adam and Blake potentially going "If I can do it, then you can do it.". To me, it's more appropriate to have Blake's defection and interactions inspire other White Fang members to turn sides or question their purpose.

And just so we're clear, I also think this conclusion works even without the knowledge that was provided later about how Adam abused Blake during their partnership because for one thing that information is something one can definitely glean from the series if they watch their interactions and next, it's really not necessary for this plot to work since all you truly need to know is that he and Blake were partners and that where the latter zigged and became a much better person for it, the other zagged and went down a dark and terrible path that ultimately led to his demise and all because he couldn't stop for a moment to see that he was becoming no better than the very people he claimed he was fighting against. The point is to be a tragedy. While in the moment the fight is portrayed as being exciting and tense, the aftermath is portrayed as equal parts relieving and tragic for a reason because while indeed Blake and Yang have taken down a figure responsible for so much pain, so much of their trauma who was going to cause more damage if allowed to, it's also the tragic end of a youth who was robbed of the good life due to unnecessary and ugly prejudice that is now losing it because they simply did not know when to quit. As far as I'm concerned, Adam served his purpose in this story.

Now speaking of characters who died to serve a purpose in a story? Let's talk Gollum the Palpati-I mean Snoke.

For the record we're not discussing TROS here, we're just focusing on the first two ST films though I will say right now that TROS really dropped the ball with this. Now to start off, let's make one thing clear, it's totally understandable to be disappointed in what was done with the guy. He did have a ton of potential as a villain and had he stuck around? Colin Trevorrow or J.J. Abrams could've found something cool and interesting for him to do and I do think it's a bit unfair to say he was guaranteed to just be a Palpatine clone in order to counter some of those criticisms since he really didn't have to be one. I also don't fault people who at the very least wanted just a simple explanation on who or what he was. In fact, he is the most perfect example of how utilizing a mystery box to set up the trilogy is a double-edged sword because while it meant creative teams could go anywhere in how they answered the mystery? It also means effectively you're leaving the set-up in the hands of a person who will stop at nothing to build up said mysteries to the point where if you get a twist like this? No matter how well-executed it is I can totally see being disappointed or in some cases even angry with the development and I can concede that maybe either TFA or this movie could've had a simple line by Luke or whoever that said something like "Blinded by my hubris, I failed to even consider the possibility that in this near infinite galaxy there was bound to be another vessel of darkness who would try to pick up where Palpatine left off." to try and smooth things over. It's one of the issues the ST has in general. It overcorrects so much in trying to avoid being like the prequels that it really glosses over how the state of the galaxy came to be in these films and as a result? It feels like it could use more dialogue and set-up.

That being said? I do not vibe with or get this idea that Snoke was being built up to be this big villain in TFA and that there is just so much going on with him that TLJ somehow threw out. Now I get it, the pre-release hype and marketing for TFA and TLJ had J.J. making various comments about the character that built up this mystique that made it to where people were guaranteed to overhype what was to come for a trilogy that already had an extreme amount of speculation and hype surrounding even the idea of it. That being said, TFA... really doesn't do much with Snoke. Really think about it, in that film his role in the story is to establish Kylo has a master and that like Palpatine, he's a very menacing scarred guy who really has it out for the Jedi and Luke Skywalker. His most important bits of dialogue are him giving out who Kylo is related to and him ordering Hux to bring Kylo to him as it is time to complete his training which is really only there to spell out that unlike the prequels? There will be one consistent threat throughout this trilogy. Otherwise? There's nothing that alludes to some elaborate backstory or him being more important to this saga and while we're on that note? While I criticize Abrams' "mystery box" obsession and how it in some ways contributed to how a good chunk of the reactions to this movie and this scene in particular turned out? I also would be foolish to not bring up that people were also doing this themselves with every character.

Seriously, I know it's kind of tricky to do so but I'd recommend looking back at when TFA was still coming out and the comments that came out. Before we even got names for these people, folks were already doing things like saying "OH MY GOD! WE'RE GETTING DARTH REVAN!" or "OH MY GOD! MAYBE WE'LL GET DARTH PLAGUEIS!" among other things and that was exacerbated when we got names. For months and months building up to the TFA's release, people were putting up Snoke theories, Kylo theories, you name it and a good chunk of them built up stories that were much more elaborate and crazy, the kinds of tales that to be honest even if you had a three hour movie you wouldn't be able to cover it all and would need a whole series of novels to fill it out. Hell the crux of the Darth Jar Jar theory suggested, even if it was more intended to be a joke, that Jar Jar would be Snoke and fans ran with that as an actual serious possibility with there being quite a few people who basically married themselves to these theories as being the absolute best routes for his story or that at least something on that level had to happen otherwise Snoke was basically just a sham. It's this in particular why "Your Snoke Theory Sucks" merch became a thing to me because on the one hand with the Kenner font? It's playfully taking a jab at the absurdity of Snoke theories but also in a way it kind of comments on just how ridiculously prevalent and overblown these things were getting, making it to where to be honest? I don't even think Snoke being Darth Plagueis would've been enough to satisfy people.

And for the record? This is not even getting into expanded material. While people talked about how the novels and comics alluded to a mysterious dark force far off in the Unknown Regions? It's really not made to be Snoke. It's intended to be vague enough to where it can be Snoke if that was the route gone for but as far as it being exactly what was intended? That really is not the case. And if you go off the movie and what it leads to here without all that? The concept of him being a red herring makes sense and whatever disappointment you feel is at least more reasonable and since I've brought up him being a red herring and how the theories were sometimes so detailed they really required a novel, that brings me to my last point on this.

The form Star Wars took back before the ST was one that completely relied on its expanded material and the thing is about that expanded material is that it was primarily comics, novels and video games, mediums that by default are allowed a lot more leeway than movies. They're made with the knowledge that they're the kind of content that people can pick up and put down at any time when they first get them, that everyone has their own pace when consuming these things and of course the fact that they can be run through multiple times very easily from the moment you get them. Movies do not have that same luxury more often than not. Aside from 2020 leaving most major releases to being released direct-to-streaming first for a time, new films commonly come out in theaters first which are limited by a great many factors with the most important ones being the fact they can't be paused or rewound and they're also a commitment. There's also the matter of the medium which provides a single continuous story that lasts for usually a maximum of two hours, sometimes more. Unless you're willing to miss potentially vital parts of the movie in theaters? Breaks aren't really an option for your first viewing and you are likely not gonna return to the theaters every time you want to rewatch a film that's still there. Granted some of these issues get mitigated with home media and streaming but not only are a good chunk of people already aware of probably how bothersome it is to break up a movie into chunks and how that can disrupt the flow of it but also everyone knows that feeling where rather than pausing for a break since you just feel the need to? You pause because you realize you've been sitting through a full two hour movie and you are just feeling its length in all the worst ways and need that moment away or movies that spend their time with all the minutiae and thinking it can be as detailed as a book without realizing that it's lacking in what makes those details work for it. Aside from extended cuts which really are usually only made as incentives to get people to pick up another release or for fans of the filmmaker who are willing to endure it or experimental and arthouse flicks? Films generally try to maintain a certain length with editing and story choices often being made to accommodate them. A novel can give us a direct look at a character's internal thoughts. A film can do that but depending on the genre it can be very clumsy with them.

As such, if TLJ wanted to tackle Snoke's story to the level people were asking for? The film would have to stop dead in its tracks for a character that isn't even the most important to the main story. Now if it was a novel? Sure, it could absolutely if it wanted to carve out a space to cover this story in-detail but that is not the medium TLJ was designed for and in this instance? This isn't Snoke's story, it's Kylo and Rey's with Poe and Finn being our B-plot. If this was designed to be Snoke's story, we would certainly be getting more and hell, maybe Abrams would've done more with him in TFA in the first place and interviews on TLJ would've covered the bigger role Snoke would have... but he's not that, Rian Johnson in an interview and the behind the scenes features on the Blu-Ray even explained that after he watched TFA multiple times to prepare for this movie, he created a chart of everyone Snoke could be and what history he could have and found that in almost every instance? Aside from throwing a bone to people who were invested in the wider story of the EU and satisfying a fan-theory? It didn't have any importance to the main story, citing that both Rey and Kylo are so divorced from those characters and eras that it wouldn't matter to them and that it would likely just steal the story away from those characters. So instead he decided the best purpose for him was to play with the theme of things not going the way one would expect and to serve Kylo's story by having him be a red herring stand-in for the Emperor, echoing the events of ROTJ but with a whole new twist to it that furthers his descent into darkness while pushing Rey more towards the light.

Now I know the argument against this is to point out how Snoke's a new character in an established universe and he is the guy who turned Kylo which basically serves as the main focus of the trilogy and I'll grant them that's fair. The thing is that doesn't mean he's required to do more nor does it mean Rian Johnson's at fault. If anything, it's on J.J. for hyping up the mystery like he always does and us not getting the simple explanation earlier. However, there's also the fact that his rise to power's not important to this story. It doesn't mean there isn't a story there but this is a personal story about Kylo and Rey and their place in this galaxy, not him much like how Vader's fall was not the focus of the OT despite being such a big deal in Obi-Wan's history. Not only that but the idea of the mysterious old guy who manipulates a younger person into doing their bidding while they command things from the shadows is so common in Star Wars and was especially so common prior to the release of the ST that I think it's easy to rationalize that's just what happened. If you still disagree with it then personally all I can say is that I'm sorry that it didn't work for you because really that's all it is. The ST wasn't ruined by Snoke dying or anything like that, it's just a development you disagreed with which is gonna happen from time-to-time. But that is a film which as I said has a lot of limitations. RWBY is a web-series that doesn't but it's more relevant to talk about this next one because it does a good job of highlighting the big point.

Streaming shows by default have a lot more benefits than films in terms of their structure. While TV is a medium that can come close to having the level of detail of novels and comics with mainstream audiences being down for them? It's more fair to say that's better applied to streaming shows which unlike regular scheduled TV can be watched at any time just as long as you know the service it's on and have it or have a helpful little VPN to see another region's selection which is infinitely more convenient. Not only is the combined length of a season capable of well exceeding the length of most blockbusters, streaming episodes are not bound by rigid length restrictions meaning they can be as long or as short as they're needed to be. Also depending on the show they can be designed for us to be delivered the story in chunks. Ahsoka for example has a combined length of over 6 hours with episodes often being in the 40-to-50 minute range. That is more than enough time to tell a long compelling story. Thing is that's only a part of the equation with TV shows, especially ones born from massive multi-media franchises like Star Wars and it affects all media to an extent which is the purpose it serves.

Ahsoka naturally by its title is centered on Ahsoka Tano, a character first introduced in the animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars who has since then gone on to appear in many other pieces of Star Wars media with the most notable and relevant ones being Star Wars: Rebels and The Mandalorian, the latter of which has been stated to be a part of a plan for an event that is going to conclude with a film. This series has by and large three purposes. The first is that it is Ahsoka's personal story that is focusing on her from this point in time as well as how she is dealing with certain baggage from the past, the second is that it is in spirit a Rebels sequel since it is continuing from the end of that finale for Ahsoka's goal of finding Thrawn naturally falls in line with Sabine's goal of finding Ezra who in Rebels due to his own actions basically sent Thrawn and himself on a course towards this other galaxy and the third is to plant the seeds for what we're likely going to see in the film that will spawn from this with what Ahsoka's journey will entail in season two being more personal in nature judging from the ending which we will not discuss here except for certain parts because this is about the armored dude you see here named Marrok.

Marrok is intriguing as a concept. When people first saw him in trailers, naturally they wondered about this armored dude who's working with the named dark warriors who are clearly framed as some of the major villains here. Also considering the influences Filoni likes to pull from, when people did further research they found how in Arthurian legend, Marrok is the name of a knight who was turned into a werewolf by his wife who could only do so thanks to learning magic from the witch Morgan Le Fay. Seeing as how in Ahsoka, the name of the employer is Morgan, a character first seen in The Mandalorian? That got people thinking along with his name Marrok which led people down a particular path based on an abandoned concept. When Rebels was in production, they had a few ideas for the Inquisitors that would fight our heroes and one of them was to bring in Galen Marek AKA Starkiller from the ever-popular Force Unleashed duology. The idea was pretty sound, Ahsoka was involved in the show and was a former apprentice of Anakin, Starkiller was the apprentice of Vader who was brought into the fold at relatively the same time as Ahsoka. Ultimately it fell through because it didn't quite fit in with the story Filoni was telling. But this is Star Wars where unused concepts don't often go unused for long whether it's the TK Troopers in Bad Batch using the prototype designs Ralph McQuarrie drew for Stormtroopers to something as recent as characters in Rebels being dressed in ultimately unused concept armor for Kylo Ren, eventually old ideas find ways to be repurposed and when considering there was no voice listed for Marrok and his name is Marrok which is pronounced exactly like Galen Marek's last name and Sam Witwer was listed as doing an additional voice for the episode in which he spoke? Many people got to speculating on who he is... and it was to the level of what was seen for Snoke except this time it was done in a week. To be fair, there were reasons for this, not the least of which being that Dave Filoni is a dude who if he's on a Star Wars project has a tendency to throw in connections back to older works as well as nods to longtime fans since he himself is one.

That being said, he is also someone who learned a lot from George Lucas, a man who to be frank could not give the slightest hint of a fuck about what fans wanted and only cared about the stories he wanted to tell and that also Filoni is a man who has done his fair share of subverting and he also learned quite a bit from Rian Johnson. In fact, he had a pretty good quote on Luke's character from that film. Also, one needs to look at extra details, mainly that Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, two of the main villains, are named after wolves in Norse mythology. In other words, Marrok's name is made to fit into a motif ala how everyone who works under Freeza in Dragon Ball is named after fruits and other items that go into a refrigerator and is not in fact a hint towards an identity though people should hopefully know that now. During episode 4 of Ahsoka, Marrok is struck down by our title character though unlike others? He dies in a very strange way. He drops his saber and then for lack of a better word, he deflates with green smoke pouring out of him which leaves him looking sickly thin which for people who saw The Clone Wars may call to mind the character of Savage Oppress, the brother of Phantom Menace villain Darth Maul who starts out looking normal in terms of size before being bulked up tremendously with freaky Dathomirian witch magic. When that character eventually met his end at the hands of Palpatine, he deflated very similarly. However, Ahsoka has to primarily operate under the assumption that not everyone has seen The Clone Wars except for maybe at best the Siege of Mandalore like any TV series, especially since unlike previous live-action SW shows? It's animated which as sad as it might be means it's separated from the live-action material. Simply put, not everyone is a completionist for SW content and thus we have to operate under the assumption not everyone knows this so for some viewers, what was considered a clue considering they already revealed that Morgan is a surviving Nightsister early on was just viewed as a weird moment that would eventually be explained with the final episode and in a wordless fashion. Earlier we get introduced to the Nighttroopers which are Thrawn's Stormtrooper army that much like his Star Destroyer certainly look like they've seen better days with armor that has clearly been repaired multiple times over. However, there's the name that's interesting because at this point? We've seen the Nightmothers who are working with Thrawn and these guys have red markings which while not bizarre for Stormtroopers at this point can be seen as a hint towards the involvement of these Nightmothers due to the names. People who know their animated SW material also might've realized this is another clue because in TCW? We've seen the Nightsisters reanimate corpses before which brings into question what the possible nature of these Nighttroopers is. Then the finale airs and we get the reveal.

The Nighttroopers are indeed zombies powered by the magic of the Nightmothers and we see this mysterious green energy go into the trooper corpses after they're cut down by the trio of Ahsoka, Ezra and Sabine and right there we wordlessly get the explanation for Marrok. With just a little bit of thought and especially when you know the story of the Arthurian Marrok, it's clear that Marrok was a guy who was empowered by either Morgan or the Nightmothers. Now I'll say right now that this is not explicitly said in the series proper but considering all that is presented especially with who's in charge of the series who has named characters things like a Jedi who dies in their one appearance "Ima-Gun Di" which is pronounced like "I'mma gon' die."? I feel more confident than ever in stating unless Filoni for some reason doesn't state this is the explanation that this is very likely what was being gone for and honestly? When viewed with that lens it works very well, acting as sort of an early teaser for who's involved with this plot for those who know the animated material but still works as a reveal. That being said? There are people out there who have gone to say that Marrok should've been given an explanation because he's named and green smoke pours out of him when he dies which is weird and he was a part of the marketing. Thing is, none of those elements actually mean anything and I'll explain.

I mentioned Freeza earlier so I'm gonna use one of his soldiers as an example. He has a soldier named Appule who outright has his name said to him by a more important villain named Zarbon. He's the one put in charge of watching over Vegeta as he's healing up in a tank very much like one Luke was put in during ESB. Moments later, Appule dies off-screen to Vegeta despite being named. I'll do you one better, minions of characters have gotten on posters before and have been given their own cards and promotional material. Thing is, those are promotional materials and are there for the purpose of advertising the media. If the character is in said media, unless they are the most background of background players? They're gonna get promotion. In the case of Star Wars, we've seen Stormtroopers take up promotional posters and material and they're basically just mooks unless stated otherwise. We also need to keep in mind the nature of Star Wars from its inception which was that when ANH was made, it was made to replicate the feeling of basically watching an old film serial during some random episode, meaning characters have history they're privy to, they will talk about past events but we don't see it because that's not the story. Marrok is named... because that's all there is to it. He fits a naming motif with our characters and has an extra layer to it because of the nature of him and his purpose which is to be an obstacle and tease the involvement of the Nightmothers. Also much like Snoke? This is not Marrok's story and even the marketing shows this. In the teaser, it is Baylan's narration that we hear at the beginning and it's him and Shin we see primarily. In the next trailer, we get only two shots of Marrok, one as just a slight extension to a shot we got in the teaser of Ahsoka at a shipyard getting ready to square off and the full trailer is quick action shots that really just show an Inquisitor-looking dude that many thought was another Inquisitor entirely shown during Rebels' season 2 finale. Baylan and Shin though? Still the main focuses and they're the ones that were talked about in interviews with hints to their characterization. Marrok did not have any of that and while one could say that they maybe did it to not spoil surprises? Considering they didn't even do a cute "Oh you'll learn soon enough about who that guy is." type deal? I think it's clear there was nothing planned for him.

And that brings me to the big point about all three characters. I feel more and more, especially as it becomes easier for people to say their immediate thoughts and just see scores of comments that agree with them that quite a few fans have a tendency to not really consider what the story itself may have actually been going for and instead have put so much more attention into stuff they've been cooking up such as fan-theories, speculation and maybe even whatever fanfiction they've written that basically what starts as "Oh this could be a cool idea." becomes by the end of it "Oh this is so what has to happen.". They got so locked into theory-crafting and these ideas that they dream up this false version of the media they're consuming. It's pushed even further with those that do engage in the expanded universe and they develop a connection to certain characters far beyond than what the show demonstrated which I should stress is not bad, EUs are great ways to expand on characters and keep the fun going. However, that's the EU's primary purpose. It's supplemental material ultimately, there so that stories can keep being made without the need of waiting on new films or shows or whatever and is often judged separately from the main source of media because otherwise the moment you start expecting people to have to read five novels before they watch a movie is the day that basically films become video games where you get a stripped down shell and tons of DLC to fill it out.

As a result, when the official product inevitably does something that differs from those ideas? It's seen as the crew wasting the potential they had... without even considering that their idea is still only their idea and was probably not even what they were consuming was going to go for in the first place. Now granted like I said before, I'm aware this doesn't go for every person who engages with a franchise, there are plenty of people out there who still come up with fan-theories and speculation who will put that aside when consuming media and will either enjoy what the writers came up with or they just don't like it. Same goes for people who engage with EU material, there are plenty of people who will be EU fans but will still acknowledge that it's only there for those who want more stories and will enhance the experience but that it's not a requirement for it to be held in the same regard as whatever the main source of media is.

But there are still plenty of cases I find where people put so much stock into what they were thinking was going to happen and their preconceptions that when the writers don't go for it it's a case of the series wasting a character or a potential concept... while forgetting that they're basically judging something for what they wanted it to be and not what it actually is and then think they're owed an explanation for certain points even though the only thing they need to accept is that they got it wrong. This is one of the reasons why I so often speak about making it a common practice to kill all expectations we may have going into any anticipated media the moment it comes out and simply judging what we consume for what it is is because we as fans have a tendency now to get so wrapped up in our speculation and living in basically our fanfiction worlds that cover what hasn't been made yet that we run the risk of leaving ourselves unable to judge the media fairly as we are now holding this content to a contract that the creators never signed and while we're on this? I feel this should be addressed because at the risk of sounding like an asshat? This really needs to be said.

Ideas birthed from the mind of a fan are almost universally going to be more accepted by a fanbase or by you because it came from your heads. It's something you've spent time thinking about and have passion for, something you can call your own and thus it's a no-brainer that you would wind up looking at those ideas with more reverence than anything official. I am not saying those stories are bad nor am I insulting your creativity, I'm just pointing out the inherent bias towards creations of the community that's present in every fandom. It's why fanfilms and fanfiction that get a notable amount of attention are almost always gonna be flooded with comments that state how it's better than official material or even that the creator should be hired because aside from just general adoration, it's also something made usually by a member of the community out of pure unfiltered love for the material and not by a business and that in of itself is awesome. That being said? We need to remember that we don't own these series.

We need to accept that when it comes to the official material, ideas and concepts are likely going to be different, that story options we may want or consider cool are not set to happen and that no matter how much potential an idea may have? It is not our place to say what creators should and shouldn't have done and if we're judging the series? We should be able to judge it based on the parameters of what it actually did. If you want to explore that alternate possibility? Then by all means look up a fanfiction or write one yourself, I'm sure there is a load of potential in your ideas. But the creators shouldn't be beholden to that way and sometimes what they do has a very clear purpose to it that you are letting this frustration cloud your mind on whether it's not seeing the cautionary tale like Adam, a way of remixing story beats for the sake of furthering another story like Snoke or a teaser for what's to come with Marrok.

Now then, thank you all for reading, please share thoughts below and hopefully you all have a great day.

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WARNING: Spoilers for all present here. Leave now if you don't want this.

Fan-theories were a mistake...

At least that's what I would've said years ago. Now I only think this every so often because nowadays? I do like me a good fan-theory. The idea of engaging with media in ways like this with ideas and subjects the original creators have likely never intended is fun, it gets the brain working and in some ways due to the research we might put into it grant us a deeper understanding of what we love or even lead us to meeting fans we otherwise wouldn't have talked to which can build into friendships. Theorizing and speculating are not inherently bad actions, they are as neutral as one can get when it comes to topics dealing with media. In fact, I've always had respect for theories and the people make them. That being said, there needs to be an asterisk at the end of that for a particular reason. I have respect for them when the people who craft or present these theories make it very clear that they never are to be taken as fact and are just a fun exercise since then it seems for the most part they get the point of a theory which is that it's speculation and exploration of an idea but that there is no guarantee that this is what was intended or in the case of media that's ongoing that this is what's going to happen and that what the show or film series goes with will be judged for its own merits.

When it gets to the point where it's clear the person invested so much time into the theory that they just can't decouple themselves from it and as a result, what started as a theory becomes basically a headcanon that has run insanely wild and they break out the "They wasted this character." or whatever quote? I stop having respect because frankly, it's ridiculous and now that we've gotten to this point? I feel like talking a bit about it with three characters that embody this. Two of which embody sort of a similar idea while the third embodies something we've seen very commonly. But before we begin with this we should clarify this at the very least. This is not a screed against people who genuinely dislike the developments for these characters for legit reasons and by that I mean you watched the media and sat back and just went "Well, that sucked." because hopefully you judged it for its own merits. Same goes for people who made theories and didn't let them dominate their thoughts or hell, people who maybe in retrospect looked at theories compared to canon and said they found the theory might've been more interesting which can happen. Now then, let's continue on.

Let's start with the first show and let me explain how I get how the discussion came to this point. RWBY is one of those rare instances where for as much time as people invested in every volume, it felt like the show engaged just as much with the fandom and the wider discussion. The late Monty Oum, its creator, commonly expressed how he loved receiving fanart of his characters, mentioned that he was intentionally designing costumes with the idea of making them somewhat easy to cosplay, shipping names ended up being featured in a gag, fan nicknames and memes and so on have gotten acknowledgment and then there is the fact that the man who's featured here, Adam Taurus, was one of the first characters ever seen all the way back in the Black trailer which unlike other trailers for various shows was basically a short film about an original plot that's not covered in the series proper. Since that point, he's been in so much other media and is one of the key parts of the backstory of Blake who makes up the "B" in Team RWBY. Because of this, he has been referenced multiple times and that's not even getting into how it is once you get into the expanded material where one of the first RWBY manga featured a story that expanded on the Black trailer and elaborated more on Adam's relationship with Blake. This is a series and team that pushes for engagement to a level that you don't see so often especially with such high-profile releases like what RWBY has become so when towards the end of Volume 6 he eventually perished? I understood why there was this feeling that he was "wasted".

Everyone is gonna have that instance where they feel a character is wasted based on their own definition of what it means to do that which is alright, it comes with the territory of subjective opinions. I'm no different and for the most part what I'd classify as wasted is the same as what quite a few others may explain... except for one aspect. See for the most part, when people are saying that a story wasted a character, they're referring to the potential they had as in what they saw in them for future stories and events that they thought up in their head and that it's when the story doesn't explore it that a character is counted as wasted. Now granted, that's normal, especially if the wasting in question revolves around a character who didn't get much in the first place and seemingly was going to be so much more. However, while that's still true for me, there are aspects I look at that I feel often gets ignored when it comes to discussions like this and it's two simple questions I ask myself whenever a character I hear is "wasted".

Did the character serve the purpose that the writers intended for them in a satisfying way? Was there anything to indicate that the character was intended for anything more than what the show and movie had shown off beforehand?

And when that question comes up? Honestly thinking about a character like Adam? I feel it's clear to me that after looking through every piece of canon and even non-canon content as long as it was officially licensed that quite frankly? I feel Adam is a case of a character where a combination of mismanaged hype, irresponsible speculation and more led to this character's story being blown way out of proportion to the point where the creators have been unfairly blamed when they themselves were just carrying out the story the way they best saw fit and in that story... he really did not have a place in this as a main villain that stretched through all the Volumes.

Oh sure, he's a main antagonist certainly, he definitely has some pedigree to him and he's certainly not a nobody but you look at ideas people talk about for him and it's split down the middle between being the ultimate bad guy or basically just edgy Blake which I hate to say it but he just was not meant to be that. From the way he was written, how his appearances were and so on, he was only the main villain in Blake's journey as a symbol of her ties to the White Fang and a representation of what it was that she wanted to leave behind. He is the classic case of someone who started out believing in a good cause and was forced into violence because of circumstances but was never able to catch how he was slowly turning more and more radicalized because of his rage and fear which pushed him down a much darker path that he later became consumed by and as a result, he quickly became no better than the oppressors he fought against. He's a depiction of the life Blake escaped and what she could've become. He's a representation of how far the White Fang had fallen and a cautionary tale for how one's dark side if left unchecked can lead to you falling down horrible rabbit holes even if you are fighting a good cause. Him dying is Blake finally confronting that and when paired up with her storyline in volumes 2 and 3 where she tries to do so much alone because of her fear which leads to her losing that fight with Adam in V3? It's a hard punch beautifully emphasized by how Blake is joined by Yang during that fight who at that point has a robot arm which means she is literally wearing what Adam would call the symbol of her failure and Blake breaking down because even if this man was so horrible and basically going down the worst path possible as a controlling abuser? He's also a part of a huge chapter of her life and not a man who was evil all the time and bear in mind, he didn't die to someone unconnected to him or anything like that, he died to the very people he wronged which works very well at least to me.

Now does this mean a potential redemption arc or him continuing on would've just led to garbage? No, in fact it could've led to fantastic stories, hell there's nothing wrong with the idea on its own but the thing is? That's not what the creators chose to go for, it's not something they had any obligation to go for. As far as this story was concerned, he was an obstacle in Blake's personal journey. Moreover, he serves a tragic purpose of showcasing that sometimes while everyone has the capacity to be redeemed? That is still a choice the person in question has to make themselves and commit to which means that sometimes as sad as it is? Some people don't see the error of their ways until it's way too late. I maybe can totally see a version of RWBY happening where Adam ends up redeemed and that ends up an emotionally fulfilling arc for the dude but I also say in a series that has made it very clear that one of its themes is that despite being based on classic fairy tales, life in general is not at all like one of those? Him getting a far more tragic ending makes sense. Not only that but if he was redeemed? It would mean that narratively we'd have another Blake not in the sense they'd be the same character but he would serve the same purpose as one of our main characters. I mean she went through an arc already where she struggled with what she did for the White Fang and her connection to them so we'd likely be seeing some of the same beats repeated just with Adam and Blake potentially going "If I can do it, then you can do it.". To me, it's more appropriate to have Blake's defection and interactions inspire other White Fang members to turn sides or question their purpose.

And just so we're clear, I also think this conclusion works even without the knowledge that was provided later about how Adam abused Blake during their partnership because for one thing that information is something one can definitely glean from the series if they watch their interactions and next, it's really not necessary for this plot to work since all you truly need to know is that he and Blake were partners and that where the latter zigged and became a much better person for it, the other zagged and went down a dark and terrible path that ultimately led to his demise and all because he couldn't stop for a moment to see that he was becoming no better than the very people he claimed he was fighting against. The point is to be a tragedy. While in the moment the fight is portrayed as being exciting and tense, the aftermath is portrayed as equal parts relieving and tragic for a reason because while indeed Blake and Yang have taken down a figure responsible for so much pain, so much of their trauma who was going to cause more damage if allowed to, it's also the tragic end of a youth who was robbed of the good life due to unnecessary and ugly prejudice that is now losing it because they simply did not know when to quit. As far as I'm concerned, Adam served his purpose in this story.

Now speaking of characters who died to serve a purpose in a story? Let's talk Gollum the Palpati-I mean Snoke.

For the record we're not discussing TROS here, we're just focusing on the first two ST films though I will say right now that TROS really dropped the ball with this. Now to start off, let's make one thing clear, it's totally understandable to be disappointed in what was done with the guy. He did have a ton of potential as a villain and had he stuck around? Colin Trevorrow or J.J. Abrams could've found something cool and interesting for him to do and I do think it's a bit unfair to say he was guaranteed to just be a Palpatine clone in order to counter some of those criticisms since he really didn't have to be one. I also don't fault people who at the very least wanted just a simple explanation on who or what he was. In fact, he is the most perfect example of how utilizing a mystery box to set up the trilogy is a double-edged sword because while it meant creative teams could go anywhere in how they answered the mystery? It also means effectively you're leaving the set-up in the hands of a person who will stop at nothing to build up said mysteries to the point where if you get a twist like this? No matter how well-executed it is I can totally see being disappointed or in some cases even angry with the development and I can concede that maybe either TFA or this movie could've had a simple line by Luke or whoever that said something like "Blinded by my hubris, I failed to even consider the possibility that in this near infinite galaxy there was bound to be another vessel of darkness who would try to pick up where Palpatine left off." to try and smooth things over. It's one of the issues the ST has in general. It overcorrects so much in trying to avoid being like the prequels that it really glosses over how the state of the galaxy came to be in these films and as a result? It feels like it could use more dialogue and set-up.

That being said? I do not vibe with or get this idea that Snoke was being built up to be this big villain in TFA and that there is just so much going on with him that TLJ somehow threw out. Now I get it, the pre-release hype and marketing for TFA and TLJ had J.J. making various comments about the character that built up this mystique that made it to where people were guaranteed to overhype what was to come for a trilogy that already had an extreme amount of speculation and hype surrounding even the idea of it. That being said, TFA... really doesn't do much with Snoke. Really think about it, in that film his role in the story is to establish Kylo has a master and that like Palpatine, he's a very menacing scarred guy who really has it out for the Jedi and Luke Skywalker. His most important bits of dialogue are him giving out who Kylo is related to and him ordering Hux to bring Kylo to him as it is time to complete his training which is really only there to spell out that unlike the prequels? There will be one consistent threat throughout this trilogy. Otherwise? There's nothing that alludes to some elaborate backstory or him being more important to this saga and while we're on that note? While I criticize Abrams' "mystery box" obsession and how it in some ways contributed to how a good chunk of the reactions to this movie and this scene in particular turned out? I also would be foolish to not bring up that people were also doing this themselves with every character.

Seriously, I know it's kind of tricky to do so but I'd recommend looking back at when TFA was still coming out and the comments that came out. Before we even got names for these people, folks were already doing things like saying "OH MY GOD! WE'RE GETTING DARTH REVAN!" or "OH MY GOD! MAYBE WE'LL GET DARTH PLAGUEIS!" among other things and that was exacerbated when we got names. For months and months building up to the TFA's release, people were putting up Snoke theories, Kylo theories, you name it and a good chunk of them built up stories that were much more elaborate and crazy, the kinds of tales that to be honest even if you had a three hour movie you wouldn't be able to cover it all and would need a whole series of novels to fill it out. Hell the crux of the Darth Jar Jar theory suggested, even if it was more intended to be a joke, that Jar Jar would be Snoke and fans ran with that as an actual serious possibility with there being quite a few people who basically married themselves to these theories as being the absolute best routes for his story or that at least something on that level had to happen otherwise Snoke was basically just a sham. It's this in particular why "Your Snoke Theory Sucks" merch became a thing to me because on the one hand with the Kenner font? It's playfully taking a jab at the absurdity of Snoke theories but also in a way it kind of comments on just how ridiculously prevalent and overblown these things were getting, making it to where to be honest? I don't even think Snoke being Darth Plagueis would've been enough to satisfy people.

And for the record? This is not even getting into expanded material. While people talked about how the novels and comics alluded to a mysterious dark force far off in the Unknown Regions? It's really not made to be Snoke. It's intended to be vague enough to where it can be Snoke if that was the route gone for but as far as it being exactly what was intended? That really is not the case. And if you go off the movie and what it leads to here without all that? The concept of him being a red herring makes sense and whatever disappointment you feel is at least more reasonable and since I've brought up him being a red herring and how the theories were sometimes so detailed they really required a novel, that brings me to my last point on this.

The form Star Wars took back before the ST was one that completely relied on its expanded material and the thing is about that expanded material is that it was primarily comics, novels and video games, mediums that by default are allowed a lot more leeway than movies. They're made with the knowledge that they're the kind of content that people can pick up and put down at any time when they first get them, that everyone has their own pace when consuming these things and of course the fact that they can be run through multiple times very easily from the moment you get them. Movies do not have that same luxury more often than not. Aside from 2020 leaving most major releases to being released direct-to-streaming first for a time, new films commonly come out in theaters first which are limited by a great many factors with the most important ones being the fact they can't be paused or rewound and they're also a commitment. There's also the matter of the medium which provides a single continuous story that lasts for usually a maximum of two hours, sometimes more. Unless you're willing to miss potentially vital parts of the movie in theaters? Breaks aren't really an option for your first viewing and you are likely not gonna return to the theaters every time you want to rewatch a film that's still there. Granted some of these issues get mitigated with home media and streaming but not only are a good chunk of people already aware of probably how bothersome it is to break up a movie into chunks and how that can disrupt the flow of it but also everyone knows that feeling where rather than pausing for a break since you just feel the need to? You pause because you realize you've been sitting through a full two hour movie and you are just feeling its length in all the worst ways and need that moment away or movies that spend their time with all the minutiae and thinking it can be as detailed as a book without realizing that it's lacking in what makes those details work for it. Aside from extended cuts which really are usually only made as incentives to get people to pick up another release or for fans of the filmmaker who are willing to endure it or experimental and arthouse flicks? Films generally try to maintain a certain length with editing and story choices often being made to accommodate them. A novel can give us a direct look at a character's internal thoughts. A film can do that but depending on the genre it can be very clumsy with them.

As such, if TLJ wanted to tackle Snoke's story to the level people were asking for? The film would have to stop dead in its tracks for a character that isn't even the most important to the main story. Now if it was a novel? Sure, it could absolutely if it wanted to carve out a space to cover this story in-detail but that is not the medium TLJ was designed for and in this instance? This isn't Snoke's story, it's Kylo and Rey's with Poe and Finn being our B-plot. If this was designed to be Snoke's story, we would certainly be getting more and hell, maybe Abrams would've done more with him in TFA in the first place and interviews on TLJ would've covered the bigger role Snoke would have... but he's not that, Rian Johnson in an interview and the behind the scenes features on the Blu-Ray even explained that after he watched TFA multiple times to prepare for this movie, he created a chart of everyone Snoke could be and what history he could have and found that in almost every instance? Aside from throwing a bone to people who were invested in the wider story of the EU and satisfying a fan-theory? It didn't have any importance to the main story, citing that both Rey and Kylo are so divorced from those characters and eras that it wouldn't matter to them and that it would likely just steal the story away from those characters. So instead he decided the best purpose for him was to play with the theme of things not going the way one would expect and to serve Kylo's story by having him be a red herring stand-in for the Emperor, echoing the events of ROTJ but with a whole new twist to it that furthers his descent into darkness while pushing Rey more towards the light.

Now I know the argument against this is to point out how Snoke's a new character in an established universe and he is the guy who turned Kylo which basically serves as the main focus of the trilogy and I'll grant them that's fair. The thing is that doesn't mean he's required to do more nor does it mean Rian Johnson's at fault. If anything, it's on J.J. for hyping up the mystery like he always does and us not getting the simple explanation earlier. However, there's also the fact that his rise to power's not important to this story. It doesn't mean there isn't a story there but this is a personal story about Kylo and Rey and their place in this galaxy, not him much like how Vader's fall was not the focus of the OT despite being such a big deal in Obi-Wan's history. Not only that but the idea of the mysterious old guy who manipulates a younger person into doing their bidding while they command things from the shadows is so common in Star Wars and was especially so common prior to the release of the ST that I think it's easy to rationalize that's just what happened. If you still disagree with it then personally all I can say is that I'm sorry that it didn't work for you because really that's all it is. The ST wasn't ruined by Snoke dying or anything like that, it's just a development you disagreed with which is gonna happen from time-to-time. But that is a film which as I said has a lot of limitations. RWBY is a web-series that doesn't but it's more relevant to talk about this next one because it does a good job of highlighting the big point.

Streaming shows by default have a lot more benefits than films in terms of their structure. While TV is a medium that can come close to having the level of detail of novels and comics with mainstream audiences being down for them? It's more fair to say that's better applied to streaming shows which unlike regular scheduled TV can be watched at any time just as long as you know the service it's on and have it or have a helpful little VPN to see another region's selection which is infinitely more convenient. Not only is the combined length of a season capable of well exceeding the length of most blockbusters, streaming episodes are not bound by rigid length restrictions meaning they can be as long or as short as they're needed to be. Also depending on the show they can be designed for us to be delivered the story in chunks. Ahsoka for example has a combined length of over 6 hours with episodes often being in the 40-to-50 minute range. That is more than enough time to tell a long compelling story. Thing is that's only a part of the equation with TV shows, especially ones born from massive multi-media franchises like Star Wars and it affects all media to an extent which is the purpose it serves.

Ahsoka naturally by its title is centered on Ahsoka Tano, a character first introduced in the animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars who has since then gone on to appear in many other pieces of Star Wars media with the most notable and relevant ones being Star Wars: Rebels and The Mandalorian, the latter of which has been stated to be a part of a plan for an event that is going to conclude with a film. This series has by and large three purposes. The first is that it is Ahsoka's personal story that is focusing on her from this point in time as well as how she is dealing with certain baggage from the past, the second is that it is in spirit a Rebels sequel since it is continuing from the end of that finale for Ahsoka's goal of finding Thrawn naturally falls in line with Sabine's goal of finding Ezra who in Rebels due to his own actions basically sent Thrawn and himself on a course towards this other galaxy and the third is to plant the seeds for what we're likely going to see in the film that will spawn from this with what Ahsoka's journey will entail in season two being more personal in nature judging from the ending which we will not discuss here except for certain parts because this is about the armored dude you see here named Marrok.

Marrok is intriguing as a concept. When people first saw him in trailers, naturally they wondered about this armored dude who's working with the named dark warriors who are clearly framed as some of the major villains here. Also considering the influences Filoni likes to pull from, when people did further research they found how in Arthurian legend, Marrok is the name of a knight who was turned into a werewolf by his wife who could only do so thanks to learning magic from the witch Morgan Le Fay. Seeing as how in Ahsoka, the name of the employer is Morgan, a character first seen in The Mandalorian? That got people thinking along with his name Marrok which led people down a particular path based on an abandoned concept. When Rebels was in production, they had a few ideas for the Inquisitors that would fight our heroes and one of them was to bring in Galen Marek AKA Starkiller from the ever-popular Force Unleashed duology. The idea was pretty sound, Ahsoka was involved in the show and was a former apprentice of Anakin, Starkiller was the apprentice of Vader who was brought into the fold at relatively the same time as Ahsoka. Ultimately it fell through because it didn't quite fit in with the story Filoni was telling. But this is Star Wars where unused concepts don't often go unused for long whether it's the TK Troopers in Bad Batch using the prototype designs Ralph McQuarrie drew for Stormtroopers to something as recent as characters in Rebels being dressed in ultimately unused concept armor for Kylo Ren, eventually old ideas find ways to be repurposed and when considering there was no voice listed for Marrok and his name is Marrok which is pronounced exactly like Galen Marek's last name and Sam Witwer was listed as doing an additional voice for the episode in which he spoke? Many people got to speculating on who he is... and it was to the level of what was seen for Snoke except this time it was done in a week. To be fair, there were reasons for this, not the least of which being that Dave Filoni is a dude who if he's on a Star Wars project has a tendency to throw in connections back to older works as well as nods to longtime fans since he himself is one.

That being said, he is also someone who learned a lot from George Lucas, a man who to be frank could not give the slightest hint of a fuck about what fans wanted and only cared about the stories he wanted to tell and that also Filoni is a man who has done his fair share of subverting and he also learned quite a bit from Rian Johnson. In fact, he had a pretty good quote on Luke's character from that film. Also, one needs to look at extra details, mainly that Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, two of the main villains, are named after wolves in Norse mythology. In other words, Marrok's name is made to fit into a motif ala how everyone who works under Freeza in Dragon Ball is named after fruits and other items that go into a refrigerator and is not in fact a hint towards an identity though people should hopefully know that now. During episode 4 of Ahsoka, Marrok is struck down by our title character though unlike others? He dies in a very strange way. He drops his saber and then for lack of a better word, he deflates with green smoke pouring out of him which leaves him looking sickly thin which for people who saw The Clone Wars may call to mind the character of Savage Oppress, the brother of Phantom Menace villain Darth Maul who starts out looking normal in terms of size before being bulked up tremendously with freaky Dathomirian witch magic. When that character eventually met his end at the hands of Palpatine, he deflated very similarly. However, Ahsoka has to primarily operate under the assumption that not everyone has seen The Clone Wars except for maybe at best the Siege of Mandalore like any TV series, especially since unlike previous live-action SW shows? It's animated which as sad as it might be means it's separated from the live-action material. Simply put, not everyone is a completionist for SW content and thus we have to operate under the assumption not everyone knows this so for some viewers, what was considered a clue considering they already revealed that Morgan is a surviving Nightsister early on was just viewed as a weird moment that would eventually be explained with the final episode and in a wordless fashion. Earlier we get introduced to the Nighttroopers which are Thrawn's Stormtrooper army that much like his Star Destroyer certainly look like they've seen better days with armor that has clearly been repaired multiple times over. However, there's the name that's interesting because at this point? We've seen the Nightmothers who are working with Thrawn and these guys have red markings which while not bizarre for Stormtroopers at this point can be seen as a hint towards the involvement of these Nightmothers due to the names. People who know their animated SW material also might've realized this is another clue because in TCW? We've seen the Nightsisters reanimate corpses before which brings into question what the possible nature of these Nighttroopers is. Then the finale airs and we get the reveal.

The Nighttroopers are indeed zombies powered by the magic of the Nightmothers and we see this mysterious green energy go into the trooper corpses after they're cut down by the trio of Ahsoka, Ezra and Sabine and right there we wordlessly get the explanation for Marrok. With just a little bit of thought and especially when you know the story of the Arthurian Marrok, it's clear that Marrok was a guy who was empowered by either Morgan or the Nightmothers. Now I'll say right now that this is not explicitly said in the series proper but considering all that is presented especially with who's in charge of the series who has named characters things like a Jedi who dies in their one appearance "Ima-Gun Di" which is pronounced like "I'mma gon' die."? I feel more confident than ever in stating unless Filoni for some reason doesn't state this is the explanation that this is very likely what was being gone for and honestly? When viewed with that lens it works very well, acting as sort of an early teaser for who's involved with this plot for those who know the animated material but still works as a reveal. That being said? There are people out there who have gone to say that Marrok should've been given an explanation because he's named and green smoke pours out of him when he dies which is weird and he was a part of the marketing. Thing is, none of those elements actually mean anything and I'll explain.

I mentioned Freeza earlier so I'm gonna use one of his soldiers as an example. He has a soldier named Appule who outright has his name said to him by a more important villain named Zarbon. He's the one put in charge of watching over Vegeta as he's healing up in a tank very much like one Luke was put in during ESB. Moments later, Appule dies off-screen to Vegeta despite being named. I'll do you one better, minions of characters have gotten on posters before and have been given their own cards and promotional material. Thing is, those are promotional materials and are there for the purpose of advertising the media. If the character is in said media, unless they are the most background of background players? They're gonna get promotion. In the case of Star Wars, we've seen Stormtroopers take up promotional posters and material and they're basically just mooks unless stated otherwise. We also need to keep in mind the nature of Star Wars from its inception which was that when ANH was made, it was made to replicate the feeling of basically watching an old film serial during some random episode, meaning characters have history they're privy to, they will talk about past events but we don't see it because that's not the story. Marrok is named... because that's all there is to it. He fits a naming motif with our characters and has an extra layer to it because of the nature of him and his purpose which is to be an obstacle and tease the involvement of the Nightmothers. Also much like Snoke? This is not Marrok's story and even the marketing shows this. In the teaser, it is Baylan's narration that we hear at the beginning and it's him and Shin we see primarily. In the next trailer, we get only two shots of Marrok, one as just a slight extension to a shot we got in the teaser of Ahsoka at a shipyard getting ready to square off and the full trailer is quick action shots that really just show an Inquisitor-looking dude that many thought was another Inquisitor entirely shown during Rebels' season 2 finale. Baylan and Shin though? Still the main focuses and they're the ones that were talked about in interviews with hints to their characterization. Marrok did not have any of that and while one could say that they maybe did it to not spoil surprises? Considering they didn't even do a cute "Oh you'll learn soon enough about who that guy is." type deal? I think it's clear there was nothing planned for him.

And that brings me to the big point about all three characters. I feel more and more, especially as it becomes easier for people to say their immediate thoughts and just see scores of comments that agree with them that quite a few fans have a tendency to not really consider what the story itself may have actually been going for and instead have put so much more attention into stuff they've been cooking up such as fan-theories, speculation and maybe even whatever fanfiction they've written that basically what starts as "Oh this could be a cool idea." becomes by the end of it "Oh this is so what has to happen.". They got so locked into theory-crafting and these ideas that they dream up this false version of the media they're consuming. It's pushed even further with those that do engage in the expanded universe and they develop a connection to certain characters far beyond than what the show demonstrated which I should stress is not bad, EUs are great ways to expand on characters and keep the fun going. However, that's the EU's primary purpose. It's supplemental material ultimately, there so that stories can keep being made without the need of waiting on new films or shows or whatever and is often judged separately from the main source of media because otherwise the moment you start expecting people to have to read five novels before they watch a movie is the day that basically films become video games where you get a stripped down shell and tons of DLC to fill it out.

As a result, when the official product inevitably does something that differs from those ideas? It's seen as the crew wasting the potential they had... without even considering that their idea is still only their idea and was probably not even what they were consuming was going to go for in the first place. Now granted like I said before, I'm aware this doesn't go for every person who engages with a franchise, there are plenty of people out there who still come up with fan-theories and speculation who will put that aside when consuming media and will either enjoy what the writers came up with or they just don't like it. Same goes for people who engage with EU material, there are plenty of people who will be EU fans but will still acknowledge that it's only there for those who want more stories and will enhance the experience but that it's not a requirement for it to be held in the same regard as whatever the main source of media is.

But there are still plenty of cases I find where people put so much stock into what they were thinking was going to happen and their preconceptions that when the writers don't go for it it's a case of the series wasting a character or a potential concept... while forgetting that they're basically judging something for what they wanted it to be and not what it actually is and then think they're owed an explanation for certain points even though the only thing they need to accept is that they got it wrong. This is one of the reasons why I so often speak about making it a common practice to kill all expectations we may have going into any anticipated media the moment it comes out and simply judging what we consume for what it is is because we as fans have a tendency now to get so wrapped up in our speculation and living in basically our fanfiction worlds that cover what hasn't been made yet that we run the risk of leaving ourselves unable to judge the media fairly as we are now holding this content to a contract that the creators never signed and while we're on this? I feel this should be addressed because at the risk of sounding like an asshat? This really needs to be said.

Ideas birthed from the mind of a fan are almost universally going to be more accepted by a fanbase or by you because it came from your heads. It's something you've spent time thinking about and have passion for, something you can call your own and thus it's a no-brainer that you would wind up looking at those ideas with more reverence than anything official. I am not saying those stories are bad nor am I insulting your creativity, I'm just pointing out the inherent bias towards creations of the community that's present in every fandom. It's why fanfilms and fanfiction that get a notable amount of attention are almost always gonna be flooded with comments that state how it's better than official material or even that the creator should be hired because aside from just general adoration, it's also something made usually by a member of the community out of pure unfiltered love for the material and not by a business and that in of itself is awesome. That being said? We need to remember that we don't own these series.

We need to accept that when it comes to the official material, ideas and concepts are likely going to be different, that story options we may want or consider cool are not set to happen and that no matter how much potential an idea may have? It is not our place to say what creators should and shouldn't have done and if we're judging the series? We should be able to judge it based on the parameters of what it actually did. If you want to explore that alternate possibility? Then by all means look up a fanfiction or write one yourself, I'm sure there is a load of potential in your ideas. But the creators shouldn't be beholden to that way and sometimes what they do has a very clear purpose to it that you are letting this frustration cloud your mind on whether it's not seeing the cautionary tale like Adam, a way of remixing story beats for the sake of furthering another story like Snoke or a teaser for what's to come with Marrok.

Now then, thank you all for reading, please share thoughts below and hopefully you all have a great day.