Man, I can’t stand when people start talking shit about Neelix over his relationship with Kes. You don’t have to like him, and he’s definitely not a character to everyone’s taste, but some of the claims people make about him are just wild.

First, Neelix is not a pedophile. That’s an incredibly strong word that fandom likes to throw around far too readily. Yes, Kes is only a year old at the start of the show – but her species has a much shorter life span than humans, and she therefore ages differently. Ocampa are considered adults at age one, and she is older than that in season one. People act like Neelix is dating a literal toddler, but she is well-established to be an adult by her people’s standards, and she is clearly meant to be a young adult based on her characterization and her role in the series. There is an age gap between her and Neelix, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

Second, Neelix’s jealousy over Tom is a character arc, and a fairly short one – it lasts for about three episodes in season two. In “Elogium” he overreacts to Tom’s relationship with Kes, claiming that she’s too innocent and can’t recognize how Tom is treating her, but later apologizes for it. In “Twisted” it’s strongly implied that he’s still feeling jealous, but is actively trying to push it down, telling Kes directly that she’s seen the last of his jealousy and asking Chakotay for advice on how to deal with it. And in “Parturition” Neelix and Tom finally figure out their little rivalry over Kes’ affections, with Neelix admitting that he overreacted, became jealous, and now realizes that he was wrong. The jealousy arc then never comes up again (as far as I recall). It’s a bit of an annoying arc, but it is definitely an arc – a character working through a flaw and becoming a better person for it. And it feels ridiculous to hold that against him.

And third, you know why Neelix works through that jealousy in the first place? Because Kes calls him out on it. In all of those episodes, Kes tells him that he’s massively overreacting, he’s not showing enough trust in her, and he needs to knock it off. And then he does. Fandom tends to act like Kes is this naive child who’s completely incapable of standing up for herself, and therefore extremely susceptible to Neelix’s manipulations, but that’s far from the truth. She’s an extremely competent character with a mind of her own. She’s incredibly intelligent, capable, and a valued member of the crew – and she isn’t afraid to speak up for herself, as seen by how she is always the first person to call out Neelix when he’s out of line, and is clearly unwilling to put up with someone who doesn’t treat her well. Quite frankly, the fandom infantilizes Kes more than Neelix ever has.

“Do No Harm”

My favourite thing about Voyager has to be the father-daughter relationship between The Doctor and Kes (which only lasted for about 3 seasons sadly :( )

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💛💛💛 GQ. Fashion. Vibes of... them.

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Voyager AU where Kes stayed longer and officially became The Doctor's apprentice (and she gets a Starfleet uniform cause if y'all are gonna give Seven of Nine a Science Uniform, I can give Kes one as well >:3)