It’s not uncommon in Star Wars fandom to hear some say that Omega is an annoying character. This is a common descriptor given to most kids in Star Wars, from Anakin Skywalker’s first introduction in The Phantom Menace, to Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels. Even Ahsoka was labeled “annoying” when she first appeared as Anakin’s padawan in the Clone Wars.
However, it seems that these same fans forget that these characters are children. And that these children are in a process of learning by trial and error. People also forget that these characters are intended to be multi-faceted. Not simplistic Pollyannas, but characters with both virtues and vices.
Omega is one of many in a long line of fictional young Star Wars characters that are experiencing a coming of age in their story’s presentation. Here is why Omega is not merely annoying, but rather a nuanced, fictional character.
Omega has a complicated mother-daughter relationship
The first season of the Bad Batch has made it clear that Omega led a sheltered life until very recently. While much of her life is still a mystery, it seems she lived in Nala Se’s private laboratory.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Stormtrooper Clone Force Omega T-Shirt
$22.99 (as of April 20, 2024 13:02 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)We don’t see too much of Nala Se and Omega’s relationship, but it’s clear that the Kaminoan researcher cared for Omega. In fact, she cared enough to give her daughter-figure the jewelry that Kaminoan women wear.
However, Nala Se also experimented on Omega. We don’t know the extent of those studies, but it was not pleasant for the child. We see Omega’s fear and painful emotions when returning to Kamino in season 1.
We also see Omega sadly put away her Kaminoan jewelry. What little of the relationship is show to us, indicates a complicated mother/daughter relationship. I hope to see it revisited.
I’ve written before that Omega is a Snow White figure. These particular stories begin with both a mother that wishes a daughter into creation (and Nala Se is certainly a creator), and a malevolent mother figure from which the maiden must flee into the woods [the unknown] with several outcasts [portrayed as robbers, knight-brothers, or dwarves, and usually male].
Omega’s mother is both benevolent, and yet part of a malevolent system. Omega has both a cruel and sheltered life, but it’s also clear that she was cared for. This has led to a girl that is desirous of adventure, but also one that desires family that understands her and her experiences.
This is why her life with the Bad Batch is what she needs.
Omega is not annoying for wanting stability with her family
When Omega joins her younger brothers, it provides Omega with a chance at stability with her own biological family.
We already know from some of Lama Su and Nala Se’s conversations that the Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter are considered products of some of Nala Se’s more recent experiments.
Again, we don’t know the scope of these experiments, but at the very least the Bad Batch were created in a shorter amount of time than the other clones. Omega also saw the creation of these younger brothers and became attached to them, even if they don’t quite remember her.
Omega identifies with them, in part because they are different from the other clones as she is, and in part because they seem to be part of the same unspecified experiment.
I’ve written before that Omega is possibly the donor or “mother” of the Bad Batch, in addition to being their older sister.
As a girl between 10 to 12 years old, she is undergoing change not just on a physical and emotional level as most children do, the entire galaxy is undergoing change.
Omega has been cast out of one negative life, into another negative world of turbulence and fast-incoming oppression. Any child would need stability. Omega is not wrong or annoying for wanting and needing stability. She’s literally just a kid who needs her family.
When Echo leaves in the Bad Batch episode Truth and Consequences, Omega is seeing her world upended again. Though Echo is a reg, he is one of her brothers and she loves him as much as the others.
Omega is desperately trying to hold on to her family in the whirlwind of upheaval in the galaxy around her.
Omega doesn’t understand that the clones created to be soldiers have been modified to compartmentalize upheavals and tragedies.
One of the most insightful reveals in the episode The Crossing, is Tech’s comments that he does feel for the loss of Echo. None of the brothers are emotionless regarding Echo’s leaving. It does bother them. But they have been trained and modified to carry on with change.
Omega has none of this compartmentalization, she sees the loss of Echo as her world becoming unmoored. It’s entirely normal for her to act out. This doesn’t make her annoying, it makes her human.
Omega is not annoying for being a flawed character with vices
Last year, I wrote a post comparing and contrasting Omega and her brother Boba Fett. In summary, whatever virtues are in Omega, have been shown in Boba Fett.
For example, Boba Fett was shown in one episode of the Clone Wars impulsively reacting to protect a girl. In later years, he has become fond of animals.
Boba was always a complex character, and much that is good about him was always there from the start. His impulse to protect others was there early on. The recent love of animals in his 40s was likely there as well, but was not allowed to flourish.
Omega has never had any push back from her family in regards to protecting animals. And so, Omega’s love for animals is allowed to flourish early on.
I had written at the time that Omega likely has some of the vices of her father Jango Fett and Boba too. That perhaps we’d finally see some of that in later episodes.
Thankfully, that time has come with season 2. While we aren’t seeing Omega be vengeful for any reason just yet (that might take a death to bring that out), we do see her anger coming out.
We learn in Truth and Consequences that Omega is angry about the destruction of Kamino. Despite her conflicted feelings towards her life there, Kamino was her home. It’s where all the clones originated and many still lived. The Kaminoan people lived there.
Omega is Kaminoan, and she feels justified anger at the loss of the world’s people. She may also believe that Nala Se, her mother figure died there.
However, at this point, Omega’s anger fits into the trope of righteous anger. What is more interesting is Omega’s growing obsession with riches and treasure.
This single-minded interest of Omega is shown at first in the 2 part season premiere. The old Serennian man reminds Omega to be a child and appreciate the simple beauty of a toy. But Omega’s initial response is to think of jewels.
And this singular preoccupation with money doesn’t end there. I’m glad it doesn’t. Because in two later episodes, Omega’s fixation with getting treasure comes back again. It also gets her in trouble, twice.
Boba Fett spent a large part of his life pursuing credits. He does this in part because it’s the only life he knows, taught to him by his father. However, I also think it may be a way for him to feel a sense of security. Boba loses his father at the age of 10. Aurra Sing betrays him.
Boba will go through a major part of his life, not being able to trust anyone to be his family, and filling his grief over his father with the brief adrenaline rush his bounties bring.
But while cash provides financial security, and a sort of tangible physical security, it does not provide emotional security.
I don’t think it’s an accident that Omega is becoming more obsessed with getting credits and treasure. Like Boba, she recognizes that it provides a form of security, but that is not the same kind of security that family provides. Omega is existing in a turbulent world, and I think the Fetts have a problem with treating money as a stand-in for the stability that family provides (though both forms of security are needed for emotional well-being).
There are finally some fans cottoning on to the fact Omega is developing a bit of a vice. Some find this to be, you guessed it — annoying. But it is much more interesting for Omega to be a complex girl with strengths and flaws, than a one dimensional virtuous sweet girl.
Omega is not annoying. She’s simply a girl in a changing world, learning how to adapt and change herself, with her own talents and her own foibles.