Both Kleya and Dedra are orphans. They had their families and innocence ripped away from them as children at the hands of the Empire, or, if we want to be more specific taking into consideration Dedra's age, at the ends of a government that rules via violence and repression.

Kleya's family and people are massacred and she is raised by one of the men responsible for said massacre. Dedra's parents are arrested and she is raised in a kinder block, an apparatus that works in tandem with the one that took her family away from her.

Dedra is 3 years old when she is taken away from her parents. At such a tender age, she has no recollection of her prior life, which means she completely interiorizes the Empire's values she's exposed to. Kleya is 11-12, old enough to remember exactly what was taken from her, to know it was an atrocity, and to hate who did it.

Dedra has no sense of self outside of the system that phagocytized her. She becomes the Empire. Its rules and structure are home to her. She finds affirmation in becoming the oppressive force that tears families apart, so she dedicates her life to enforcing that chokehold.

Kleya, too, was shaped by what was done to her, but she becomes the Cause. Her life is in service of freeing the galaxy from the Evil that took everything from her, of making sure no one else will ever have to experience what she did. Most importantly, it's her own choice.

The Empire wants the homogenization of its subjects, and Dedra embodies the Empire, but here is the hypocrisy and brilliance of her character: she is selfish. She is ambitious, ignores orders to seek personal glory. Dedra works in service to the system, cannot imagine anything outside it, but within the system she exists in, she wants to emerge as DEDRA.

Kleya fights for the freedom and individuality of every being in the galaxy but she has stripped herself of any individual hopes/desires. Her own self does not matter to her, to the point that in 211 she doesn't get why Cassian wants to save HER instead of just caring about the intel. 

Even the fact that Dedra dates Syril shows this Selfish/Selfless dichotomy. Having a partner is, broadly speaking, a self-indulgent choice. It's an exclusive bond between yourself as an individual and another person, and Dedra gets herself a boyfriend who is like a pet that will do everything she wants. Kleya instead sacrifices everything to the altar of the Cause. She deprives herself of love or friendship or meaningful connections, she doesn't even entertain the possibility of seeking something for herself. 

And speaking about that, both Kleya and Dedra are extremely controlled, contained, emotionally guarded characters. The rigidity in their physicality reflects the need they both have to maintain control at all times, because vulnerability scares them.

They both grew up without tenderness or affection. Dedra understands love only through a lens of control and power. Kleya wills herself not to feel love at all.

It's very boring to me when people interpret Dedra and Syril's relationship as "she never cared about him, she only ever manipulated him because she is EVIL". That is so two-dimensional and not at all accurate. Yes, she is evil, she is a fucking monster. But also, from her perspective, Dedra does love Syril. We see it in the way she steps up to Eedy to defend him, when his happiness after the meeting with Partagaz causes her happiness. But that's the beauty and tragedy of it, and why she is such an amazing villain. Her understanding of love is completely warped. To her, love is all about ownership and control. But love is the opposite of ownership. True love is selfless, and it is freeing, and Dedra is terrified of freedom. She is someone who wants to love, but never can. Not really. Because control isn't love.

On the other hand, Kleya is someone who very much does not want to love. She wants to be as cold and unfeeling as she can because that will make her free from any vulnerability and she will better serve the Cause. But underneath that armor, she loves immensely. Kleya wants to be heartless, but love spills out of her.

They both have nervous tics that manifest when the control they desperately need is slipping from them. By definition, a nervous tic is something that can't be controlled. This crack in their armor reveals itself literally through a betrayal by their bodies.

Dedra in particular literally needs the dark to be vulnerable. She needs Syril to turn out the lights to have sex. She lets herself sob in Narkina only after the lights go off. Everything that reminds her that she is human is something to hide, something to be ashamed of.

Both have a mentor in Luthen and Partagaz. Dedra spends years trying to impress Partagaz only for him to make no qualms about casting her aside after the Axis fiasco. Kleya wants to hate Luthen, she refuses to consider him a father, yet she cannot help but love him, and when the time comes, Luthen gives up his life to save her. One is a bond of opportunism, the other is a bond of love.

And this is where it shows why they're such perfect mirrors as villain and hero. Dedra spends her whole life in service of a system that rejects her and spits her out. Kleya is ready to be tossed aside, but is instead offered love and kindness, by people she oftentimes had a hand in hurting. She is reminded that her life matters.

This show is SO intentional when it comes to its transitions. In the final montage of the show, Dedra and Kleya's ends are shown back to back, and I don't think it's a coincidence at all. 

Dedra ends up in prison bc of a chain reaction that started with her inability to let go of Axis. She disregarded all protocol in her obsession to catch him. And once she found Luthen, her arrogance led her to face him. She didn't just want to neutralize a threat to the Empire. She NEEDED him to know that SHE beat him. Except, she didn't.

Because Luthen wasn't Axis. Or at the very least, it wasn't just him. Kleya is the Axis Dedra never found, the one she never even knew existed until it was too late. Back in season 1, she tortured Salman Paak and he revealed that a woman had approached him and convinced him to hide the fractal radio in his backyard. That woman was most definitely Kleya. But Dedra, so meticulous with every other bit of information, didn't focus much on it. Her obsession with Axis blinded her. In her hubris, she let the most important piece slip through her fingers. She destroyed her own life for nothing.

Look at their final scenes. Kleya steps into the sunrise, sees the community she doesn't quite feel part of but that she helped create, a community that welcomes her. And she smiles. Dedra, alone and forgotten in the dark, is consumed by misery and despair, in a place that values its prisoners less than droids.

They both essentially started out in a box. Kleya in the metal compartment on Luthen's ship, Dedra in the kinder block. Kleya ends her journey out in the open, surrounded by light and life. Dedra ends her journey back where she started - in a sterile, lifeless box.

kay was liberated from the empire’s control all because cassian decided on a whim to take the k-x that tried to kill him on ghorman back to yavin with him, and melshi was liberated from prison just a month after cass got there after being there for so long it had completely crushed his spirit.

if it hadn’t been for cassian, kay would have never known what it feels like to Feel things, to know what it’s like to say No. melshi very likely would have never seen the sun again, never been reborn in the waters of narkina 5 and on the shores of niamos into the man who would be a sergeant within a year of joining the alliance.

they never would have known what it’s like to play 863 games of rianza in the jungle yurt they’ve lived in for a year, with the man who freed them and someone else he freed along the way.

Then there’s Luthen. Telling Lonni that he’s “worth more” than Kreegyr and his 30 or 50 (!) men and that his career has “profited greatly” from the Rebellion; the opposite is true of Tay Kolma in s2. Cassian, told right at the beginning “You pay at the end”, his early life built on cost and borrowing, scamming and paying back… until this becomes something much more literal. From the salyards of Ferrix to Luthen and Kleya’s antiquities business, this is a world of transactions and negotiations. Trying to find the value. Revolutions are expensive, but so is every day life. But the theme becomes increasingly metaphorical. Being in debt, weighing up the cost, paying the price.

Then there’s the related theme of gambling. “They make a game of it, so we play”; “ we can be the winners here”; “ we can split up the winnings”; “ we will never have a better chance than this”… all with Cassian trying to “win and walk away”. Mon realises that if she wants to win, she can’t walk away. We know now that Luthen’s entire life is effectively about repaying his debt to Kleya.

All culminating in one of the most repeated lines in season 2. “If I die tonight, was it worth it?” asks Niya, the frightened young mechanic. “This – this makes it worth it,” Cassian persuades her. The moment of commitment makes it worth it. The act of sacrifice itself. Yes, there’s some manipulation there, but it’s also something he believes. Because in a way, he has no choice. You have to believe this kind of commitment is worth it. You have to hope that your sacrifices might make a difference. Rebellions are built on hope. 

“Make it worth it,” Cassian tells Mon when she asks how she could ever thank him. When Cassian tells Wilmon of Luthen’s death, he tells him “He made it worth it”.

Is there any price too high when it comes to defeating a tyranny? The theme evolves through the series as the stakes become higher and the sacrifices ever more painful.

Not because it's bordering toxicity or beautifully healthy, but because is realistic.

talking as a person who believes that marriage should be based in mutual love, shared values and ideas, and making each other better, i know most of the marriages in our reality are far more complicated than that, and i'm not talking about abussive or toxic relationships, i'm talking about difficult ones.

Relationships were they have to navigate their differences and stick together regardless the circunstances, that even when there is no romantic love between the partners they still remain faithful. And i know, ik a lot of people like to paint Perrin as a cheater, but I don't think he is, not because I think he's this great husband "who took bail organa classes on how to be a great partner", but because I think even when I don't see Perrin and Mon romantically in love I see care, real care.

we see it in The Mask of Fear when Mon was so afraid that Perrin was the one death on their floor, and see it when Perrin ran towards her after the same fear cross his mind, we see it through Andor season 2.

Same goes to Mon, I don't think she had an affair with Tay (or anyone else) going on in Andor nor before, not because she is that in love with Perrin and he gives her what she needs but because I think that messy and complex relationship with Perrin meant something to her, even if it wasnt romantic love, other feelings came to replace the one missing.

"Kenari- Mid Rim. Abandoned after Imperial mining disaster. Mining. Everyone died" -ep 1.02, That Would Be Me

The Empire destroyed both the Kenari and Ghorman people over mining. The first massacre was probably quite- nobody seemed to have heard of Kenari, being obscure in the Mid Rim. Early on in the Galactic Empire's takeover these tragedies were already occurring, but most people/communities kept their head down and stayed blissfully ignorant, because surely they would be safe. But then the Empire was left to kept spreading, and fascism continued to dig its dirty fingers into every corner of the galaxy. After years of turning heads and cover-ups, things only got worse. The casualties and the price of inaction only got higher. Then the Ghorman were massacred.

Another post out of left field from my account, but I don’t think anyone really expects me to stick to one thing anymore. To the people who followed me for criminal minds analysis, I’m so sorry I will get back to that I just have a lot going on right now. I want to write a little something about Andor. My brother and I just finished the show, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites of all time. Star Wars has always been a huge part of my life and one of my top fixations, and this show is, imo, the best thing to come out of the franchise since the OG trilogy. There’s so much to talk about with this show, and I probably will eventually, but for this little essay I want to focus on Luthen.

Out of all the characters in this show, Luthen fascinates me the most, and that’s probably because he is so against the archetype of a typical Star Wars character. I love the franchise, even a lot of the parts of it that most people don’t like, but I really don’t think it’s known for morally grey characters. Sure, maybe Luke is at some point, but in the end he chooses light. That’s the theme of the franchise: light vs darkness. A character like Luthen goes completely against that theme, and the show is so much better for it. The truth is, a real rebellion could not exist if it were only made up of Leias, Hans, and Lukes. Even Cassians and Mon Mothmas can’t build real change. To create a rebellion strong enough to change a galaxy, someone has to get blood on their hands. Someone has to do the dirty work. That someone is Luthen.

Everything I’m saying so far is obvious to anyone who has seen the show, but whatever I’m talking about it anyway. To me, Luthen is the Erwin Smith (any AOT fans out there?) character type of true selflessness. Not the type of selfless that makes someone give things away to the homeless or donate all their money to charity. Luthen is selfless to the point where he is okay with complete character assassination. He does not care that he is cruel, he does not care that almost everyone scorns him, and he certainly doesn’t care about any of the lives he could potentially be putting in danger. To him, it is the cause above all else. He would kill a thousand to save a million. He proves that when talking to Cassian about Ghorman and their eventual doom. “They will burn brightly.”

Obviously, none of this can absolve him of guilt, and a lot of his actions are not forgivable. There’s a middle ground in terms of a person’s morality when it comes to rebelling. But the harsh truth of it is, you cannot rebel without losing people. You cannot rebel without putting people in harm’s way. There is no reward without cost. Luthen, out of everyone, understands that the most. Cassian is noble, genuine, a caring person who wants to save the people of Ghorman. Luthen knows that it’s already too late. The people of that planet were doomed from the start. Luthen can see the big picture.

I guess what I wanted to write this about, really, was how he’s treated toward the end of the show. It’s intentional, almost everything in this show is, but it still angered me. Almost everyone on Yavin detests Luthen. And why shouldn’t they? He ruined their lives, took them from their families, separated them from loved ones, and devoted them to a cause that requires sacrificing all other aspects of life. The most successful rebels are the ones who gave up everything. Mon loses her family, her status, her livelihood, her safety. Cassian loses almost every friend, all his family, and the love of his life. Even later, Luke loses his family, Leia her home. Luthen is, in a way, responsible for all of this loss. They hate him because he is cruel, he is unkind, he asked too much and burned every bridge. But in that scene where all the leaders are gathered around, Cassian is right. Luthen built this place. He built the alliance from the ground up and didn’t care who he’d become on the other side of it. He dies as he lived: almost completely alone, with no satisfaction, no home, no future. He is a man who has nothing to give the people of the future a chance.

I used to be a fan of the Star Wars sequels. I know, sue me. There was something about the chemistry between the actors, the richness of the characters, the beautiful production of the movies that drew me in. But this show has, in a large way, changed my mind. Look at what Luthen did, look at what he created. He gave the rebellion a chance, and they were able to take it. Cassian and Jyn pave the way forward, Leia, Han, and Luke stand on the ashes of the fire Luthen set. He burns his decency, his humanity, and gives himself to the cause entirely. You’re telling me all these people did all of this work, and then all the sudden the First Order just rises up? And it starts over again? I get that in real life, that’s how it may work. Kings rise, kings fall, kings rise again. But it feels…hollow. A fault of storytelling. Those sequels existing means Luthen sort of lived and died for nothing. Sure, the bones of the rebellion are still his, and it wouldn’t exist without him, but the characters who save the day in those movies are barely tied to the alliance. Okay, Poe and Leia are, but the rebellion feels like a subset of the story in those films. They refuse to acknowledge how it takes an army, how it takes a monster like Luthen, how it takes a martyr like Cassian, how it takes foot soldiers and lying and stealing to give the world a chance.

I get that Andor as a show retcons a lot of the original story. The OG trilogy is nowhere near the tone of Andor. Sure, the themes are there, but the OG Star Wars movies are fun. They’re for a younger audience, they’re about action and space and cool lightsabers, and so maybe I can’t get mad at the sequels for betraying the darker tone of rebellion when that tone was never there in the first place. In fact, it’s Luke who saves the day on his own, the hero’s journey, but in the end, his story is about sacrifice, too. Sacrificing his father, his innocence, all of who he is. And then he just has to end up on an island alone, away from the friends he saved the galaxy with? Groveling because despite all that hard work, despite everything, he still lost? Maybe that’s a good story. But after Andor…it just feels wrong.

This was supposed to be about Luthen, but it ended up being about a lot of other things, too. I guess my main point is, I think Luthen is one of the best, well written characters of not just Andor, but the entire Star Wars universe. I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts on him and the show in general. My brother and I are planning to do a Star Wars movie marathon starting with Rogue One, even if that means having to watch Attack of the Clones (worst Star Wars movie, fight me).

I guess if there’s one lesson this show wants to teach about rebellion, it’s that not everyone can be a Luke or a Cassian. Without a Luthen, you have a room full of wonderful, kind, genuine people who will achieve absolutely nothing at all.