I was disappointed that Neelix left Voyager

[DonIago]

Your leola root will be assimilated. Indigestion is futile. Your biological and gastronomical distinctiveness will be added to our own.

 

[William5401]

I hate to be an ass, but that whole DS9 prophet thing was nauseating. I couldn’t stand the Jake character and the Grandpa in New Orleans made me lose my appetite. I’m not big on the “family back home on Earth” stuff, including Janeway’s great grandmother fighting the shopping mall in Indiana. Truly cringeworthy. As to Neelix, the poster who said he got a better send off than most had a point. Endgame was kind of just one more episode for everyone except Janeway and the Borg Queen (who I just love).

 

[Voth commando1]

With regards to Neelix, it makes a great deal of sense in my opinion he would leave before Voyager arrived home.

Given his backstory, he had no nothing really to look forward to in terms of a life on earth(at least not in any social sense, or professional probably), but instead he found a colony of Talaxians and was able to find a relationship, as well as maintain ties with Starfleet-in my head canon he’d be a diplomatic liaison and source of intelligence for the federation in the DQ(which is what the show implied).

 

[Qonundrum]

If he had gone all the way to earth, he would've been stranded on the other side of the galaxy, 70000 ly from home. I guess 7 years will make anyone kinda homesick, and when you then find a colony of 'your' people, and it's the last chance before your get lost in a new place where you're the only one of your kind, maybe you'd choose to join them as well.

Neelix must have been popular with his species. Is it plausible or possible that those who didn't fit in with their own species but with another might opt to stay? One example is Alexander wanting to escape his fellow Platonians, got along with The Big Three and Kirk readily allowed him to come aboard. while not an arc, one wonders if there was any follow-up? If so, what directions might they take?

 

[Anna Yolei]

If he had gone all the way to earth, he would've been stranded on the other side of the galaxy, 70000 ly from home. I guess 7 years will make anyone kinda homesick, and when you then find a colony of 'your' people, and it's the last chance before your get lost in a new place where you're the only one of your kind, maybe you'd choose to join them as well.

That's how I feel about it.

I'm also a black woman and throughout my life I've had racists people say things like "but what if there'd never been slavery? You would've been stuck in Africa where they're so backwards and war-torn!" Putting aside all that baggage to unpack and colonialism's effects on both these things, there's a LOT of things lost to the African diapora in the West. Most of don't know which specific tribes or countries we come from, nor our culture. Many of us grow up thinking the culture we did create for ourselves in America is something to divorce ourself from to be successful. I know I did for ages, and I grew up in California of all places (this is not uncommon on the West Coast, but that's far too long to get into here)

So despite how kind the Voyager crew is and how much Neelix does care for them, it absolutely makes all the sense in the world that he'd disembark there to be with his people. His homeplanet was destroyed by genocide IIRC Death Star-style and no amount of kindly humans could make up for that or share the same history he had. As others have said, it's a far better conclusion than most of the crew got.

 

[PatB1974]

Neelix was a really kindhearted character. I hated his hairstyle and clothes, but really loved him as a character. He was good people.

 

[jmidnight_99]

That's how I feel about it.

I'm also a black woman and throughout my life I've had racists people say things like "but what if there'd never been slavery? You would've been stuck in Africa where they're so backwards and war-torn!" Putting aside all that baggage to unpack and colonialism's effects on both these things, there's a LOT of things lost to the African diapora in the West. Most of don't know which specific tribes or countries we come from, nor our culture. Many of us grow up thinking the culture we did create for ourselves in America is something to divorce ourself from to be successful. I know I did for ages, and I grew up in California of all places (this is not uncommon on the West Coast, but that's far too long to get into here)

So despite how kind the Voyager crew is and how much Neelix does care for them, it absolutely makes all the sense in the world that he'd disembark there to be with his people. His homeplanet was destroyed by genocide IIRC Death Star-style and no amount of kindly humans could make up for that or share the same history he had. As others have said, it's a far better conclusion than most of the crew got.

I think you're overlooking the nature of the character. Neelix and Kes were together because Kes needed him. Neelix joined Voyager because Voyager needed him. As the series progressed, Neelix grew more and more uncomfortable because he was needed less and less. Certain episodes show this. I think the character decided to leave because he found himself in a situation where he was needed again. He was needed by the settlers in general to defend their home, and he was needed by Dexa and Brax.

I think this is a core trait of the character. I don't think he would have left if the crew still needed him.

From the real-life perspective, I think the writers intent was to bring the character full circle. The crew of Voyager was closer than ever to home, they didn't really need him any more, so Neelix moved on as easily as he moved in, to help others in need