There Are Many Warriors, Fools And Children, Captain. The Child In You Can't See How Things Are, But

There are many warriors, fools and children, Captain. The child in you can't see how things are, but how they can be. The fool denies his destiny, but it is the warrior you are who will create one. You are never one of these. In time, you become all of them.

This is the moment Kallus finally realizes that he's never going to catch the Spectres. And it's the moment that his redemption begins.

Every single episode Kallus is in this season he's met with failure after failure, and we witness his frustration grow every single time. He tries everything, has all of the odds in his favor countless times and yet every single time the rebels slip through his fingers.

And it all leads to this. This has to be it. He has the Spectres cornered against an exploded star cluster, they have no where to go, this time he's going to win. He has the laws of physics as his ally for force sake!

... but he still loses.

The rebels fly into the star cluster, completely unharmed. Meanwhile his Tie Fighters and light cruiser are being torn apart right in front of him.

I've seen so much talk about how Zeb sparing Kallus's life on Bahyrn was the prophesy of the Child saving the Warrior being fulfilled. I'm not arguing with that, because the prophesy was fulfilled time and time again in Rebels. But this was the first spark of the flame that saved Kallus.

This was the Child saving the Warrior for the first time.

Had this episode happened sooner than it did, I think Kallus would have continued to fly in after them and died - or at the very least gotten very close to it, with all of his men dead and him hanging on for dear life in a barely functioning escape pod.

He wouldn't have had the mounting pile of failures to humble him, wouldn't have had the miracles he'd witnessed the Spectres pull off as warnings to not take them lightly. When we first met Kallus he was an extremely prideful man (still is, even when he defects, but he gains some humility to balance it out), so certain of himself that he quite literally threw himself into danger numerous times with the expectation that he'd win, because he'd never been challenged like he had been with the Spectres. If he was still that same unchallenged man all would have been lost.

But Kallus lets them go, crawling away with a damaged but still mostly working ship after witnessing the laws and forces of nature itself bend to the rebels will.

And it destroys his pride, and his hope. He's been thoroughly devastated by his failures... though he is still in denial about why he's failing, and why he'll continue to fail. He still isn't seeing the bigger picture about the shortcomings of the Empire, he still doesn't think to ask the questions he should. Much like the Fool, in denial of what is destiny.

The next time we see Kallus is above Geonosis - with like 30 storm troopers, a handful of walkers, and... what? 3 tie fighters for an ambush against enemies that fought gravity and won?

He went into this knowing there wasn't a point. And the entire time his ambush party is distracting the rest of the Spectres he's fighting Zeb - and only Zeb. He follows him all the way into an escape pod, with the goal seemingly to take Zeb down with him, because he knows that he can't take them all. But if he can get one, the one who he's obsessed with the most, then it will be enough.

A very foolish plan, much befitting the Fool.

This plan inevitably fails, and Kallus is injured and stranded with his mortal enemy. Unable to fight anymore he submits himself to his failure, so certain that he's going to either be murdered by Zeb or freeze to death. He sits there, shivering and terrified, muttering about the monsters in the dark.

Much like a Child.

There are many warriors, fools and children. In time, you become all of them.

When Zeb spares Kallus's life, giving him the meteorite to keep warm, moving to fight the Bonzami alone, mending Kallus's hurt leg, taking his advice on how to get out of the cave, all before carrying him up the pillar and throwing him out of harms way - the child completely and undoubtedly saving the warrior - Kallus shoots the Bonzami instead of Zeb.

The Child saves the Warrior, and in turn the Warrior saves the Child. Time and time again. Kallus asks questions, he becomes fulcrum, he risks his life and safety over and over again to save Zeb and his family. And as Zeb found Lira San by saving Kallus, Kallus finds a home on Lira San by saving Zeb.

And it all started here.