Hi my name’s Bun and I’m still not over how Stakar never forgave Yondu during his lifetime so Yondu died thinking his old fam hated him
In that case, now is probably not the time to chime in and add: not just Stakar but every SINGLE member of his old crew also would not talk to him. They either wouldnt because of Stakar or they also would not forgive him. Either way, Yondu died thinking every single person he ever cared about (except Peter and Kraglin) was either dead or hated him. All of them. Everyone he ever met either learned to hated him or lived long enough to die horribly because of him
Hi we’re Bun and Ravager-Tears and we’re here to fuck you up this morning
Also note that Kraglin gets to survive all this with a) literally every single person he ever cared about dead for sure [because he isn’t the one with a soft vulnerable spot about Yondu’s old buddies] with the possible exception of Quill, who he threatens with death pretty much every time Quill pops up in his life again, and almost never (with the exception of the one moment before he found out Quill stole the orb) engages in the private delight over Quill that Yondu does. Which makes you wonder about how close they really were.
And also b) the knowledge that he is personally responsible for those deaths in a way that Yondu doesn’t have to grapple with–Yondu watched them die tied to a chair, stunned and half-conscious, arrowless and stripped of all power and authority while the head of the mutiny spat in his face and slapped him. Kraglin watched them unfettered, theoretically free, with nothing (in theory–in practice of course he would have certainly died himself) preventing him from stepping in. Kraglin watched them die while they watched him live.
And c) again, Kraglin gets to survive. Dying is easy. Living and rebuilding relationships and starting over, especially for someone with that much grey hair, is fucking hard. Grieving and learning to adjust and forgive yourself–because we see that Kraglin takes on more responsibility for issues than he should and especially the deaths, not less–that’s a far harder thing.
I have horrible sad feelings for Yondu but I would much rather slink off into a heroic death and not have to deal with my feels than be in Kraglin’s position and alive and going on alone. I’m actually fairly impressed on his behalf that he didn’t do that upon finding out that Yondu was in so much danger–he never abandoned his post, he never even turned a hair knowing that literally his last friend in the world was probably, but not certainly, dead. He never flinched in his duty to seeing that the crew on the Quadrant made it off safe, and I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that he also blames himself for holding to that duty and not getting to Yondu in time.