Debunking the most common misconceptions about Arihnda Pryce's backstory
[UPDATED]
Seeing the amount of people misunderstanding Pryce, I decided to debunk the most common misconceptions.
(Explaining why she DIDN'T betray her friends, why she isn't morally black, Batonn crisis, why Azadi isn't better, the issue with comics..)
I believe a lot of people miss or simply don't understand why exactly she did certain things, which is why I made this post, I want to address them and offer a clearer understanding of her character.
"She is and always was a horrible person."
This is simply not true. Arihnda was trusting and naive with good nature, which were the qualities that ultimately led to her downfall.
Her naivety is further evidence that she didn't fully understand what she was getting into when she arrived on Coruscant. Having spent her entire life on Lothal, a place clearly lagging behind, how could she have known?
She naively trusted Renking and assisted him, only to be caught in a poorly planned trap for Moff Ghadi that he never disclosed to her. This led to the plan backfiring, her being threatened with imprisonment, and being forced to plant fake information in Renking's office, which resulted in her losing her job.
She believed she had genuine friends, but they all turned out to be using her for their own gain, putting her in danger and abusing power.
The only way for her to avoid such threats was to gain more political power, which only fueled her desire to climb the social ladder. It was clearly hinted that she was uncomfortable relying on anyone after all her experiences, relying solely on herself became the only safe option.
Actions that show she wasn’t morally black like people make her out to be:
When she was new on Coruscant, she compelled an arrogant landlady to repair a leaking pipe in a tenant’s apartment block by leveraging legal authority.
She befriended Juahir, then a waitress, and her friend Driller, there was nothing to gain here from these people. Pryce helped Juahir find an apartment in her building, and as Renking’s assistant, she got the chance to attend a high-ranking officers’ ball, helping her friends who didn’t have that chance to get in as well, again expecting nothing in return.
As mentioned before, when she turned in Juahir to the ISB for her crimes, she gave her advice that ultimately helped her avoid execution.
When she became the governor of Lothal (after spending over a year on Coruscant training for the role), she closed her family’s company. Despite her allegiance to the Empire, she ensured that the oldest employees, who had worked for the company since it was owned by her family, were prioritized in securing new positions. She cared.
Again, despite her allegiance to the Empire, she genuinely cared for her parents and was even willing to kill other Imperials to keep them out of harm’s way. Instead of sending someone else to Batonn, she went there herself, putting herself in danger to save them, which further shows how strong her loyalty is.
"She betrayed her friends."
Ah yes, the most misunderstood part of her entire story.
First, it’s important to clarify that Juahir and Driller were not her friends, definitely not at the end. They were using her as a tool to gather information about the Empire for Nightswan, effectively making her an innocent agent in their treasonous activities. They intentionally never told her because they knew she would never agree to such actions.
Juahir was sending her students, whom she had trained as bodyguards, to spy on members of the Imperial Senate. One of these students even attempted murder. Juahir was also the one to introduce agent Ottlis to Arihnda.
Driller was fully aware of Ottlis working for Moff Ghadi, who not only sprayed Arihnda with an illegal drug but also threatened her with imprisonment and got her fired from her job. Despite knowing about Ottlis' ties, Driller never told Arihnda.
Ottlis was specifically assigned to her since the very beginning as a spy, as stated by Ghadi himself.
By turning them in to the ISB, Arihnda gained protection from Colonel Yularen. Had she not done so, she would have become an accomplice and faced arrest along with them, or worse, they could have shifted all the blame onto her.
Arihnda’s choice was about protecting herself, not out of malice.
Being opportunistic, she also managed to turn this threat to her advantage, securing the governorship.
It’s worth noting that despite this, Pryce helped Juahir avoid execution.
People also tend to ignore the amount of political manipulation she was both under and had to perform herself. She had to eliminate another threat of imprisonment from Moff Ghadi by aligning with Moff Tarkin, all while trying to resolve the problem with Higherskies.
"She killed innocent civilians."
I could write entire paragraphs about how weak this argument is, as people cherry-pick which equally horrible (or most of the time even worse) criminal character is to be shamed and which glorified for their crimes, very obviously biased. But that’s not the topic of this post, so I’ll just explain the situation since many people ignore a very important part of it.
When Arihnda set off the explosion, she did so under the impression that she was hiding the body of an agent who had threatened her with a gun and intended to leave her parents to die on Batonn, along with the rest of the civilians. Hearing that the crew was already on their way to her parents’ house, and with the risk of the dead body being discovered increasing by the second, she acted quickly, failing to realize the massive impact the explosion would have since the shield was still up. The result shocked her as well.
Does that excuse it or make it any better? Absolutely not.
Does it tell you anything about her character other than that she acts impulsively under pressure?
Also not.
The result was unintentional, but at this point in her life, she would risk anything for her own and her loved ones’ survival. She had become fully capable of eliminating anything or anyone who dared to endanger her, which left her feeling no guilt for the impact of her actions, further showing how corrupted she had become along the way.
Arihnda Pryce vs. Ryder Azadi
People put Azadi on a pedestal and make Pryce seem like the spawn of the devil, which is neither entirely true.
When it comes to Azadi, we don’t know much about his character, but we can still make assumptions based on what little we do know. When he discovered that a vein of doonium had been uncovered in the Pryce Mine, he wanted to buy a controlling interest from the company’s owner, who was Arihnda Pryce. It was clear that Azadi had been bothering her about this in the past, and when Pryce refused, Azadi acted shockingly. He attempted a complete takeover by falsifying embezzlement charges, leading to the arrest of Pryce’s mother and denying Arihnda the chance to bail her out or even visit her.
When Pryce went to Renking’s office to appeal for her mother’s release, he confirmed that her mother would be held by Azadi until proven innocent, and he could not be convinced otherwise. This was a very strange thing for Azadi to do and raises questions about the actual goodness of his character. First, he wanted to slowly but surely take over someone else’s company, and then he resorted to extremes when he was refused.
When it comes to Arihnda, I never see people talking about the other things she did for Lothal.
Before becoming governor, she spent over a year on Coruscant training for the position, putting in effort to bolster Lothal’s standing among other Imperial planets.
Pryce’s main issue with Lothal was how behind it was, her primary goal to modernize the planet.
She constructed factories and mining posts, planning to increase industry, mining, commerce, and new workers. She also aimed to establish military academies and a powerful naval presence to maintain it all.
While many decried the increased Imperial presence, the new development increased employment opportunities and prosperity, benefiting the planet.
She also thwarted Governor Sanz of Kintoni’s plan to expand military-grade facilities on a neighboring planet, which threatened Lothal
The issue with comics
Now, a bone I have to pick with the comic.
Since the books are long, the comics are forced to simplify the story, often leaving out information or adding things that didn’t happen at all.
This is one of the reasons I always recommend reading the books before reading the comics, as the comics are supposed to be based ON the books, but obviously can't contain everything.
My main issue is with this specific panel:
The whole prison situation is very complex and generally misunderstood in itself, and this comic portrayal didn’t help it at all. Arihnda didn’t say the highlighted part, which I think is worth mentioning since it gives you false implications.
Original in the book:
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Then this:
The fact that Arihnda was genuinely devastated by Juahir’s betrayal, tearing up, was completely erased, and the comic falsely portrayed her as unaffected, even malicious, with the whole situation.
My input:
Arihnda's whole character is about being opportunistic and cunning, the shots shot at her tearing her down and her standing right back up and shooting back. She's a someone who was initially a good person with a dream, fighting evil, and getting corrupted in the process of survival, turning into the very thing she originally fought against.
She doesn't forgive and takes revenge on anyone who ever did her or her loved ones wrong. She's extremely intelligent when it comes to politics and seeing her in action, coming up with a solution for any problem thrown at her, no matter how complicated, and often managing to turn it to her advantage aswell, was genuinely thrilling.
The hate she gets is EXTREME and unecessary, and that's a hill I'll die on.
You are a great complex female character, Arihnda Pryce, with strengths and flaws that make you feel like a real person.
I wish people were capable of enjoying your story without demonizing your every single move and hating you for reasons they love their iconic male antagonists for.
