#chandrila

Because here's what we know about Leida: she resents and rebels against her mother. And from Leida's perspective? Her mother is the Empire personified.

We, the viewers, know that Mon is opposed to the Empire. We know she's on the eve of launching an open rebellion. But Leida doesn't know that. Mon's path to power has been forged by working within the system, by making ripples but never so many waves as to get tossed out of office. Mon is a part of the Empire, and her commitment to working long hours in her Imperial office is part of what keeps her away from her family.

Leida doesn't rebel against her mom by signing up for Junior Imperial Academy; she rebels by embracing Chandrilan traditions. They're conservative traditions, regressive traditions, painfully gender normative traditions--but they're not Imperial traditions. They're a reminder of what Chandrila was like before the Empire (an Empire that famously favors galaxy-wide homogeneity and disdains local customs) came to power.

in Mon's speech in Secret Cargo she mentions wanting, as part of toppling the Empire, to restore the Republic. which makes sense to her; she's from the Core, the Republic only ever served her. She only ever reaped the benefits of the Outer Rim's exploitation. But her message reaches Lothal, whose experience with the Republic vastly contrasts her own. Prior and during TCW Lothal was suffering severely. they had a livestock plague and severe drought that devastated their only source of income, and they had reached out to the Republic multiple times for aid. and the Republic didn't help them. they couldn't spare the resources to help a small, backwater planet on the edge of the wild space. and this culminates in one final plea, which the newly formed Empire finally answers. to the people of Lothal, restoring the Republic doesn't mean anything positive. to Mon, restoring the Republic means going back to a system that she can flourish under; to the Outer Rim, it means going back to a time where the people there are deemed less important than the issues of the Core and Inner Rim.

in In the Name of the Rebellion: Part 1, Ezra brings up following through with a promise they made to help Lothal. Mon replies that Chandrila is also suffering under Empire - except we can see the huge discrepancy in how the Empire engages with the two planets. in Andor, we see Chandrila; we see that they are still allowed to engage in traditional cultural practices (like weddings), and that the nature and history of their planet is allowed to continue on despite the Empire. there are no garrisons. Mon is not oppressed for being Chandrilan. her planet is not seen for what can be exploited from it, her people not on the edge of destruction if they so much as step out of line. contrast this to Lothal: the Empire engages in wide-scale environmental destruction, forcing mass displacement and causing a serious refugee crisis. the Empire bans any artistic expression that shows any kind of nostalgia for a pre-Imperial era, effectively suppressing pre-Imperial Lothali culture. there is no regard for the people of the planet beyond what they can provide the Empire; in fact, the occupying forces explicitly oppress the native population. things might not be pleasant on Chandrila, but the worry on Lothal is that the planet might not survive any longer.

Mon Mothma is a rebel who stands against the Empire. she gives aid and support to the rebellion and she is hugely instrumental to their success.

Look, I know the situation was awful for the characters. But this made me happy in a way I cannot properly express.

This is Montserrat:

Anyway, time to yap about it under the cut.

Happy May the Fourth!

Listen, I know this could never happen in canon because they’re way too recognizable and wanted across the galaxy, but imagine Cal and Merrin wearing fancy disguises to infiltrate a fancy party and get some vital Rebellion information whilst looking all fancy 👀 And it was just fun to draw them in fancy outfits!

Stekan Sculdun: I will not return this knife.

Perrin Fertha: Do with it as you wish.

Perrin is handing over a tool that can be used for violence and control, symbolically handing his daughter out of his protection and into whatever kind of life Stekan is offering her. And, more importantly here, giving Stekan permission to treat Leida however he wants without interference.

Of course, this is an ancient ceremony (hundreds or possibly thousands of years old) so the actual feeling behind the words will have shifted, but they can still speak volumes about how Chandrilan society USED to work. Clearly, if a girl is being given from one man to another, it was a patriarchal society with some degree of the idea that women are property. I don't think that that is still the case, or else Mon wouldn't have been elected to represent the whole planet in intergalactic politics, but there's clearly some holdover traditions. The USA actually has a similar situation, where a woman can now live entirely independent of men, but it's still custom for a woman to take her husband's name upon marriage (which I've heard is much more rarely the case in Europe) and for her father to symbolically give her away to her new husband.

Another thing that caught my attention was the possibilities of how this ceremony might... go awry.

The ceremony involves the groom using the knife given to him by the father-in-law to cut the bride's braid. It involves a knife coming VERY close to her neck. How many times in the past do you think a boy was forced into one of these marriages and used this moment to cut his bride's throat and escape the wedding? It seems like this was a common ceremony at one point in history, so it must have happened at least a handful of times.

Mon Mothma Dance Loop Fan Animation!

Animated (a happier) Mon Mothma dancing to Niamos Remix in Andor S2's wedding scene!