People have already said it I know, but just to say it again: Cassian’s story is one that is steeped in death. Everyone who he deeply cares for he loses. And it’s there from the very beginning. Right off the bat, Cassian loses his sister when Maarva takes him off Kenari. He’s lost her from the start. Their relationship is severed, they’ll likely never see each other ever again. It should be hopeless. It is hopeless.

But that doesn’t stop Cassian from trying, does it?

Going back and rewatching that very first scene in the brothel, when he’s talking to the woman about his missing sister, it hit me— he asks for her name. It’s an odd question to ask about your sister, who you should know the name of very well. The woman even looks at him funny when he asks. “None of us use real names.” There are only two reasons you would ask something like that: you’re lying about being her brother, or you don’t remember it.

Cassian doesn’t remember his sister’s name.

And maybe he was asking for her fake name, yeah, but look at his face. That’s not the face of a man who’s curious about a fake name. That’s the face of a man who is desperate for any kind of information he can hold on to, anything that will help him remember.

He’s clinging to the barest memory he has of a little girl he left behind, and he’s still looking. Cassian is desperate to find her, to keep that small sliver of hope that she’s not dead, that he hasn’t lost everyone he loves, alive. Against all odds, he still fights for her, even if he doesn’t realize it.

And, to me, the biggest reason why she needs to make it is this: because we know that he doesn’t.