Forgettable.

The Force, its sides and the Dark Times.

The Mon/Luthen dichotomy is because the main character of Andor is really the Rebellion, personified through those two and manifested through Cassian and Kleya. Mon and Luthen are literally Light Side/Dark Side coded in their robes and attitudes (and names: Moth-ma seeks the light, but may get burned by it, while Luthen conjures a similarity to Lucifer aka lightbringer, but ends up trapped in darkness and fire (though I will admit this might be a stretch, but itnwas my first impression of his name, though the code name: Axis does have a sinister-leaning bent in the real world--i.e. Axis of Evil (ugh, GWB) or the Axis Powers of WWII). Luthen isn't evil. His motives are good, but he wants everyone to (and does himself) choose the quicker and easier path of assassination and terror. This does not negate his importance in building the Rebellion, but Mon recognizes that his path is not the organization she wants to be in. She tries to negotiate to the very end, hoping that reason and compassion are enough to turn enough hearts and minds. Cassian walks between these two necessarily. His mother tells him (and everyone) to fight!

Luthen brings everyone together, but then feels like he is losing control, while Mon Mothma stands out through strength of character as the de facto factor leader of the alliance.

In the end, Luthen (and Kleya) prevent the end of the alliance by sacrificing himself (and Kleya risking all to make sure his sacrifice is not in vain--again, coded into their costumes as Kleya throws off her dark hood and literally dons the clothes of a healer/nurse). Cassian also risks all to save Luthen and then her (in direct contrast to the Imperials that throw each other under the bridge to try to save their own skins from being strangled or Force drained or flat-out executed).

The alliance, exactly like Luke, casts the Dark Side away (in a grayish Andor fashion), and a Dark Side minion (K2), who switches sides and makes the choice to save everyone at the last minute.

This isn't a new theme to Star Wars. "We will win not by destroying the things we hate, but by saving the things we love." "Hatred leads to suffering." "Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

It's not perfect, and Andor is still a grayish show, but it peaks when Cassian doesn't carry through with the assassination of Galen Erso, choosing protecting Jyn over assassination. Jyn certainly wouldn't have helped him (and the alliance) after that, and would not only have not garnered as much support, but the Alliance would not have known the code name of the Death Star, never finding the plans, and eventually would have been wiped out at Scarif or after, crushing organized resistance and the galaxy under the Emperor's bootheel.

No path is pure in a remotely realistic world (which Star Wars still is), but if violence is not tempered by compassion, then the results risk all the temptations of power and politics, avoiding corruption and more tyranny only through great luck.,

And, in my experience (and in Star Wars) there's no such thing as luck.

There is the Force.

I've heard replies to this interpretation that "I'm not fond of the black and white morality of Star Wars." But it's not black and white. The Force resides in everyone, and it always has two sides. Everyone has the Light and the Dark in them. What matters each and every time, is what they choose. Obi-Wan gives in to hate and pain and rage and strikes down Maul on Naboo, but then proves a flawed teacher to Anakin. Yoda chooses to 'accept' the 'gift' of the Clone Army, taking an easy path to stopping Dooku, but opening the Jedi for their corruption and fall. Anakin chooses to believe Palpatine and fight the Jedi rather than to save Padme like he really wants. Han chooses to come back and save Luke rather than take his money and run. Luke chooses to try and save Vader. Vader chooses to save Luke and the Rebellion by destroying the Emperor. And, from a certain point of view, the end of the sequel trilogy is the galaxy choosing the path away from hate, fear and tyranny rather than taking the easy way and simply submitting to keep themselves alive.

In the end of Rogue One, in a last brilliant moment, the hero at the heart of the nascent Rebellion and the hero that brings him all the way back to the light and purpose are consumed not in fire or stone as before, but in brilliant WHITE LIGHT.

Name: Cassian Andor, aka: Kassa, Clem, Keef Girgo (plus more to come) Played by: Diego Luna Appearances: it's his show, he's in them all

Happy Friday gang! Alright here we go. One more for all the marbles. Time to think about what we love about the reason we're all here. A reluctant hero who's destined to light the spark of hope in the galaxy.

And we, as the audience, know that there is no such thing as luck in the galaxy far, far away!

They escape by the skin of their teeth from the Imperial Stronghold, and return the treasure to the Rebellion at the moment of its need.

Is Cassian force-sensitive? We never really find out, and truth be told, it DOESN'T MATTER. Is Luthen a Jedi? He wears robes (including being introduced in a similar shot with a robe and hood as Obi Wan). He carries a retracting walking stick that resembles the old special-effects missing lightsaber silver sticks. It's not a lightsaber (that we know of), but it sure looks like one in that respect. He senses in Cassian that the young man is capable of much greater things, and begins to teach him the ways of being a more effective warrior in the cause. He then GIVES HIM A FREAKING (BLUE) LIGHTSABER CRYSTAL!

Heck, Cassian even breaks into another fortress (hotel) to rescue a princess (or at least a bad ass proto rebel that was being tortured while an identical shot of the door closing and boot stamping happens during the torture)! Before separating himself from his friends in order to learn at the feet of his mentor. After being told by a glowing blue former mentor that he needs to fight the Empire!

I LOVE that Cassian's final call to action to set him on the right path was his mother, who did not die of sadness, but instead decided to fight with all of her might until and beyond her dying breath!

I also love that Cassian's heroic tale was more absurd than mythic, and that, like so many of us, he honestly had no idea what to do with his life. No plans to go off to school, no epic destiny foretold by ancient holocrons, and that his arch nemesis seems to be a preppy prick with bad mommy issues and his buddy, a drunken leprechaun of a cop that you know in our world wpuld search too many high school girls for 'weapons' during traffic stops. Cassian's adopted father was killed for being a literal peacemaker. Everyone around him became Rebels, basically, before he did (Bix started that way, Brasso with Maarva's Brick, B2 with his projection of Maarva (who did it before she died), even his buddy the bomb builder, and even Melshi with his call to let people know the prisoner's stories).

And Cassian becomes (with Jyn and Co.) the greatest hero of the Rebellion, without whom Luke wouldn't have even stopped playing with his toy T-47 and complaining about his chores.

Name: B2EMO Played by: himself (voiced by Dave Chapman) Appearances: Kassa, That Would Be Me, Reckoning, Announcement, Narkina 5, Daughter of Ferrix, Rix Road

Happy Friday gang! Another week, another sweetheart in need of our love and appreciation. Today it's everybody's favorite old family dog of a droid, B2EMO!

T-t-tell me what you love and appreciate about Bee in a reblog, comment, or ask!

Where to begin… Okay I mean, first of all it’s my head canon that B2 was Kassa’s first friend after he was dragged away from Kenari and I wrote a whole fic about what that friendship might look like because that’s how much that little vision came to mean to me.

Second, (and gah I can tell I’m gonna struggle to find words through the brain fog today but) there’s just something about Bee that is so special to me. Yes, he is that loyal old dog that follows you even when his limbs are weary—crossing long distances to reach Cassian even when that’s a stretch for his power supply—but I also think that in a way, he is an embodiment of the Ferrix community as a whole.

Maybe in another galaxy (where the Empire doesn’t rise to the same level of power and influence), Ferrix thrives; the Andors are able to keep up with Bee’s maintenance and he ages more like R2 or C-3PO. No one struggles for power, or to give voice to their thoughts and wishes.

But that’s another galaxy. And in Andor, B2EMO does wear down under Imperial occupation, he does struggle, he does stumble over his words from time to time—but in theme with the entirety of the show: he continues to try. He carries messages to Cass from Maarva, from Brasso, from Bix; Cass even trusts him to take care of Maarva when he has to leave and to ensure she finds the money he intends to leave behind. And no matter what, Bee always makes it clear to Cassian that he should stay, or else take him with him wherever he goes.

And in the end? Despite the known fact that he struggles to hold power, Bee is trusted to carry Maarva’s message of rebellion, and that voice carries loud and clear, cutting through that thick layer of rust.

Anyways, this scrappy, determined, protective, fiercely loyal, and resilient little dude is my favorite Star Wars droid and I hope we get to see a lot of him in S2.

Please note, I would also die for B2, and wish my mom had as good of a friend as he is to Maarva. But the Rebellion is going to be big and dangerous, and even droids aren't spared, and if he IS K2SO, then he died helping to strike one of the largest blows for the Rebels that was ever struck, not only fulfilling Maarva's call to action to "Fight the Empire!", but to also literally save the nascent Rebellion and its most important leaders (Leia, Mothma, evdoing it.