No, seriously. I just finished the series for the first time. Seriously, WTF.

No matter what affection Cassian ended up having for K2SO, he had to have always remembered the genocide of the Ghor every single time he looked at him. The absolute brutality and terror he and the other droids caused…how could he not have? How could he ever get over what happened?

I doubt it’s an original thought, but it really struck me tonight. Idk, I’ve always loved K2SO since Rogue One so I guess it took me a while to realize just how fucking terrified everyone in the Rebel Alliance had to have been when they saw him, probably even years later.

"And the People's Front of Judea, splitters!"

I hadn't made the connection before, but Richard Dillane is the MI6 chief in The Diplomat. Several top-shelf shows these days have an Andor connection. The casting was about as good as the writing.

In Jedi: Survivor, we meet an Namaran named Wini Eres on Koboh and can recruit her to come work at Greez's bar. She used to be an interior designer on Coruscant, and she leaves Koboh at the end of the game.

I know it's probably not her, but it'd be cool if she was. Went back to her passion of interior decorating on Coruscant!

Im just a tourist!

In novels like lost stars or a comic about tarkin, they focus on people who were on the death star who were from alderaan and try to rationalize their actions or defect after seeing what happened, so with that in mind do you think any ghormans were part of the empire when the massacre happened? Not on the planet necessarily but in some far off bureaucracy role or military post they joined out of survival or maybe hoping to appease the empire to leave them alone-how do you think they reacted when they heard about the massacre? And would the empire also work to arrest any off world ghormans to suppress dissent or do you think they would just be satisfied with mining the planet and not bother with catching a few stragglers?

A (Somewhat) comprehensive list of Andor concepts that already existed in SW for decades:

1. Senators financing the Rebellion. Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and their allies secretly use their wealth, political connections, and access to resources to support resistance movements. This was established in the 1990 Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, not invented for Andor.
2. Mon Mothma as an architect of the Alliance. (Established in 1990 RAS)
3. Bail Organa's clandestine resistance network. The idea of an influential senator secretly supplying and coordinating resistance groups. (1990 RAS)
4. Mon Mothma and Bail Organa concealing their cooperation to a degree(1990 RAS)
5. The Ghorman Massacre. One of the strongest examples. The event originated in the 1990 Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, where Tarkin kills peaceful demonstrators by landing his cruiser on them. Andor keeps this bit of lore while adding to it with a secondd massacre, but the concept of Ghorman becoming a turning point for the antiimperial movement is decades old.
6. The Senate as an institution of increasingly hollow political authority. The Imperial Senate still exists, but its ability to restrain Palpatine has been systematically undermined (1990 RAS).
7. The Rebellion beginning as separate, decentralized resistance movements. Rather than emerging fully formed as a unified army, the Alliance develops from independent planetary and regional movements (1990 RAS)
8. The Alliance as a civil government, not merely a military organization. The 1990 RAS establishes that the Alliance has an executive cabinet with Ministers of Education, Finance, etc. Were shown this with Senators Pamlo and Jebel.
9. Rebel cells operating under different degrees of secrecy and autonomy. The early EU established the need for compartmentalization and independent operations to prevent the ISB from dismantling the entire movement.
10. Rebel Infighting: In Dark Force Rising, we learn that Garm Bel Iblis disagreed with how Mon Mothma was running the Alliance and broke with the Rebellion. In Andor, were shown something similar between Mon and Saw Guerrera.
11. The Imperial Security Bureau and surveillance state. The original WEG 1989 Imperial sourcebook developed the Empire as a sprawling political, military, and bureaucratic system rather than simply an army of stormtroopers commanded by Darth Vader.
12. The Imperial Security Bureau as a distinct Imperial security organization responsible for political security, loyalty enforcement, and internal surveillance.
13. The ISB's internal organizational structure. The 1989 Imperial Sourcebook (ISB(funny coincidence)) described the ISB as having 6 divisions: surveillance, investigations, enforcement, interrogation, re-eeducation and internal affairs. Andor's particular hierarchy and meetings are its own interpretation but we learn that the ISB Board that is heavily featured in the show is part of the Investigations branch.
14. Imperial Intelligence as a separate organization from the ISB. WEG 1989 ISB established multiple intelligence agencies with different jurisdictions and responsibilities.
15. Rivalries between the ISB and Imperial Intelliegence. Were shown this in S2E6 when Partagaz tells Lonni and Heert to "keep watch on those idiots.".
16. The Empire using fear, punishment, and exemplary repression to deter dissent. The EU established this as a fundamental part of Imperial policy.
17. Imperial officers pursuing personal advancement within a politicized hierarchy. Careerism, loyalty, and bureaucratic competition were all part of these institutional depiction.
18. The Empire as a system rather than simply a collection of villains. WEG explained how sector governors, military commanders, intelligence organizations, political institutions, and bureaucrats collectively maintained Imperial power.
19. The Imperial Army as distinct from the Stormtrooper Corps. The Imperial Army's regular ground forces were explicitly established in the 1989 ISB as well ad the Thrawn Triology. Andor's use of Army Troopers on Ferrix and Ghorman is consistent with this older distinction
20. Imperial Army garrisons on occupied worlds.

21The Han Solo Adventures and later sourcebooks like the Han Solo and the Corprate Sector sourcebook explored authoritarian corporate government, exploited workers, and the relationship between business interests and political power. in those books were shown corporations exercising governmental authority. The Corporate Sector Authority was an established example of corporate interests administering territory and maintaining their own coercive institutions.

1. The Empire's dependence on industrial conglomerates like Sienar. Were shown in S2E1 that Cassian steels a TIE Avenger from a Sienar facility.

(sorry at this point I got tired of listing sources for every single one)

1. The exploitation of planets for strategic resources. Imperial control of resources, industrial production, and strategic infrastructure was well established in the lore

2. Imperial taxation and economic repression. Taxes and economic grievances were already part of the EU's explanation for antiImperial resistance, including the original Ghorman incident.

3. The use of prisoners and forced labor. The EU established extensive Imperial use of penal labor, most notably the enslavement of Wookiees. Narkina 5's electrified factory floor is new, but the larger concept is not.

4. Imperial political prisoners. Dissidents, suspected rebels, and other perceived threats were imprisoned by the Empire long before Andor.

5. Imperial prison complexes and detention facilities. The EU established numerous detention centers, penal installations, and prison worlds.

6. Arbitrary detention and abuse of judicial authority. Imperial institutions frequently operated without meaningful safeguards for individual rights.

7. Prisoner interrogation and torture. Both the OT and EU featured coercive interrogation by Imperial security personnel

8. Rebel espionage and intelligence networks. The Alliance possessed intelligence operatives, informants, and clandestine networks long before Andor.

9. Rebel sabotage operations. Destroying Imperial facilities, infrastructure, and military equipment was an established part of the Alliance's activities.

10. Covert infiltration of Imperial installations. The 1998 Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook repeatedly depicted rebels penetrating secure Imperial facilities to steal information or carry out missions.

11. The Alliance relying on smugglers and criminal networks. The Rebels' dependence on unconventional contacts and illegal supply channels was already well established. We see this in Andor with Davo Sculden

12. The theft of Imperial weapons and equipment. Rebel forces frequently obtained supplies through raids, theft, and the capture of Imperial materiel.

13. The theft of Imperial funds and resources. Financially undermining the Empire and appropriating its resources fit established EU rebel operations, although Aldhani's particular payroll heist is new.

14. Rebel intelligence operatives maintaining false identities. Undercover work, forged identities, and clandestine travel were already part of a ton of espionage short stories in WEG manuals.

15. The use of safehouses, covert communications, and secret rendezvous. The EU had already developed the practical logistics of underground resistance.

16. Rebel networks being vulnerable to informants and infiltration. Counterintelligence was a recurring concern in older Star Wars material.

17. The Alliance conducting operations before it possessed a conventional military. Early resistance depended heavily on covert operations and local insurgencies rather than open battles between fleets.

18. Chandrila as Mon Mothma's homeworld. Established in the 1987 Star Wars Sourebook by WEG before Andor

19. Leida being Mon Mothma daughter was established in the 1993 Dark Empire Sourcebook. There, its spelled Lieda lol.

20. The Death Star project as an enormous secret bureaucratic and industrial undertaking. in Legends, the cover they used for its contruction was an advanced piece of mining equipment. New lore tells us that they used Palpatine's energy program (Project Celestial Power) as cover for its funding and construction.

21. Imperial officers with ordinary professional lives. Novels such as Allegiance by Timothy Zahn and Death Star explore Imperial personnel as individuals operating within a larger system.

22. The ISB having its own tactical agents was also established In Allegiance (2007).

23. The Empire's occupation of civilian communities. The Star Wars: Empire and Dark Times comics portray the everyday effects of Imperial domination.

24. The political radicalization of ordinary civilians. Numerous EU stories depict individuals becoming involved in resistance after experiencing Imperial oppression.

25. A military conflict told primarily through ordinary people rather than Jedi. The X-Wing novels, Rogue Squadron comics, and numerous other stories established that Star Wars could support stories about professional soldiers, pilots, and military organizations.

26. Female imperial officers being a small minority and treated unfairly among the ranks of the Empire was for the most part consistent across most EU media.

ANDOR IS NOT JUST STAR WARS. ITS PEAK STAR WARS

It's been nice to see Syril in another project :p although I don't wanna spoil anything here so I'll leave it at that

For the purposes of this analysis I’m keeping strictly to Andor, as of course Mon is not only a major character in this series but also a prominent figure in the wider Star Wars universe. So some of what I conclude here might contradict her appearances elsewhere.

In this scene Luthen is trying to establish whether Mon is still willing and able to provide funding. She tells him that the money is available but that moving it around is increasingly risky. She then suggests that she has a solution, someone who can help; in retrospect, we realise she’s talking about Tay Kolma.

The clip posted with the Kleya essay shows Mon in her outward appearance identity but this clip starts when the mask is lifted, as it were, and the viewer is given the experience of witnessing the transformation. The same goes for Luthen, and as the camera moves behind Mon he disappears as his gallery identity and emerges as the rebel persona. When we cut back to Mon, we can see the same thing has happened. The tone, the content, the expressions on their faces have all changed in a split second. There’s a delicious irony in that the piece they are supposedly inspecting as a possible gift for Perrin is “a two-faced divinity, a serpent from the overworld and a sun goddess, sharing the same mouth”.

What a fantastic metaphor that is for Luthen and Mon, as well as for the rebellion as a whole. It needs both Luthen and Mon to survive and thrive, the darkness and the light. But of course there’s no easy division into morally good or bad with that, and Mon will have to do deeds as dark as Luthen’s in service of her convictions. It’s more, I think, to do with the appearance of the rebellion as it evolves over time. Mon is more than a political puppet and a source of income, at least by the time of her later interactions with Luthen. There’s huge respect between them despite the frequent antagonism, as both reveal truths about the other. Yet his usual rebel appearance is as a figure clothed in dark robes; Mon’s most iconic robes are white. I also think of her flaming orange dress though in season 2, where she really does seem something like that sun goddess: dancing in flames of destruction and sacrifice, burning “very brighly”.

Mon is here quickly established as in conflict with Luthen. He gets straight to the nitty gritty and immediately establishes for the viewer that this is another long established existing relationship. The secrecy that binds them is at the forefront: this clandestine conversation in the backroom and the sense that this is one of many previous similar conversations. He’s not merely checking that she is still able to provide money, he’s putting a kind of intense pressure on her. “If you can’t deliver I need to know” is loaded with psychological manipulation - guilt-tripping at its most obvious. Mon is very much used to Luthen’s methods though, as is clear when he suggests that everyone is vulnerable and she snaps “Don’t lecture me on vulnerability. No-one is more at risk than I am.”

This might sound strange in the context of what, for example, the Aldhani team are currently planning, an operation led by her own cousin. But of course Mon is vulnerable in a very unique way: she is a respected politician with a uniquely rigidly structured lifestyle, and she is very much on the Empire’s radar already as a “nuisance”. What strikes me very much on rewatching this scene is the potency of the word “new”. New faces at the bank; a new driver. Feeling “under siege” because she simply cannot trust anyone, even within her own family, and certainly not all these strangers. “I have friends everywhere” is particularly ironic as a code phrase when it comes to Mon because she simply cannot afford to have genuine friends. Strangely, Luthen is in some ways a person she can be open with, because they have “taken a vow” and have a “circle” of close rebel comrades (the marriage imagery is particularly poignant). Luthen’s immediate distrust of bringing anyone new into that circle is interesting in terms of his own struggle between wanting the rebellion to go loud and wanting to protect it by secrecy. It’s an innate paradox at the heart of the series.

The other main theme first raised here is the question of how far someone is ready to go in pursuit of their ideals, and the value placed on that. When they emerge back into the main part of the gallery Luthen speaks in a kind of code about the gift: that Mon can return it “If it should be a bit much”. The tone is slightly threatening there. They both know that, just like Lonni later, there really is no going back now. “I’d be the first one to fall,” says Mon, and she’s not just thinking of the danger to herself there but the simple fact that she has been having dealings with the rebellion at all. Funding it for years. The crisis now with the financial inspections is being caused by rebel activity increasing and the Emperor wanting more and more power. Soon, the PORD legislation will tighten the chokehold even further.

So much has been said already about Genevieve O’Reilly’s magnificent performance as the woman who is at the centre of the rebellion: complex and conflicted and yet driven by an urge to bring down a regime she believes is truly evil, at huge personal cost. Gilroy named her as the character with perhaps the hardest path of all as every painful choice and event she goes through is in the public gaze. Even in the back seat of her limo the only slight gesture of relief available to her is to loosen the stiff collar of her outfit. Her costumes are of course beautiful creations but the motifs of collars and chains are there in many of them, and this attempt at loosening them is a repeated gesture. She is suffering alone and in public. Even her home is an Embassy and a family dinner so often a formal affair with dangerous political enemies literally welcomed under her roof. It’s intensely claustrophobic and suffocating.

In this context, Mon’s final scene in the series is immensely bittersweet. She is glimpsed in the final montage, silently staring into the distance, next to Vel who is chatting away. Mon’s expression is wisftul, content and contemplative all at once. She’s wearing a loose and relatively simple outfit, her hair is simply cut and she’s drinking from a camping mug rather than the expensive cup she was so used to previously. She has sacrificed her daughter, her husband, her previous life. She can never go back. There’s hope here but also tragedy, as for so many of the other characters, but Mon’s was a uniquely lonely journey. She has found a new family, at least: the rebellion itself.

Tldr: The mother of the rebellion made the choice to give up being a real mother, and her journey to becoming its leader involved personal sacrifice under the public gaze.

Next time: Lieutenant Gorn

What a great choice

It reminds me a lot of these two themes in particular

Andor (Main Title Theme) - Episode 5

Star Wars ANDOR Episode 8 End Credits Music Theme

For some reason it uploaded as a picture the first time

Vel tells Cassian he “should reconnect with Bix”. He says “it’s too late for that”, and her response is… “she might disagree”.

So, I think it’s implied that Vel knows about the child. If you think that’s not the case, everything below doesn’t matter and she's only reflecting on her experience with Cinta, which is fine.

If it is the case though, we have two possibilities:

1. Vel decided to intervene of her own volition. In which case, what the fuck? Seems like a huge breach of trust and risks rendering whatever Bix was trying to do null.
2. Bix explicitly asked Vel to nudge Cassian. In which case, again, what the fuck? What happened to “When it’s done, when it’s over…”? It’s nowhere near done and is only getting worse. And what’s the expectation here? He comes to find out he’s apparently had a child all this time, they have some tea, and he goes back to the war? Like, girl, don't make it even harder...

What’s your reading on this?

Cassian is the all black one and Bix is the tuxedo