Andor is the rebel manifesto of Star Wars
Rebellions are based on hope. With this statement, the Rebel Alliance was unofficially born in Rogue One, the war movie in which Gareth Edwards recounted the suicide mission carried out by a team of ordinary people to take possession of the plans for the first Death Star. Before this atypical adventure for Star Wars canons, the ideological opposition between the Galactic Empire and the Rebels was based on the granite dichotomy of good and evil, light and shadow, failing to give a real connotation to the transition towards the heart of the franchise. Although briefly mentioned in this passage of Rogue One , the true essence of the Rebellion is contained in the rebel manifesto of Andor , a trait apparently passed on the sly.
Subscribe now to Disney+ for €8.99 a month or €89. €90 a year Yet, the Rebel Manifesto also appeared in Rogue One, only we weren't aware of its existence at the time. It happens when a narrative context like that of Star Wars has the opportunity to develop on different media, moving freely in the chronology of events known as the Canon. Andor, as we know, is the prequel series of Rogue One, a status that allows it to be able to tell the birth of elements and characteristics of what for us is now the future of Cassian Andor. A return to the past of one of the most fascinating characters in the saga, which by its nature deviates from the tradition of the heroes of the franchise, revealing itself as a more concrete and realistic character. And this particular human condition of his makes Cassian Andor a perfect bearer of the Rebel Manifesto.
Andor is the true rebel manifesto, the emotional center on which the Rebel Alliance is held
Andor: Star Wars politics Andor's Rebel Manifesto is an immortal ideal Cassian Andor is the guardian of the Rebel ManifestoAndor: Star Wars Politics
There could be no better time than Andor to introduce this foundational element of the Rebellion. If the films in the cinema, including the two spin-offs Rogue One and Solo, have had central events in the Star Wars chronology as their focus, the TV series have tried to expand this universe by showing hitherto obscure situations, guiding fans through the meshes of the story mainline. The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett were careful to focus on the period between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, while Obi-Wan Kenobi focused on the Rise of the Empire, showing Kenobi's years in exile after the fall of the Republic as seen in Revenge of the Sith. All these series have in common that they have placed heroic figures at the center of the scene, whether it was one of the most beloved Jedi or Mandalorian culture, thus allowing Andor to present itself as the first product of the franchise based on an ordinary man.Cassian Andor And from this perspective, seeing the change that occurred during the Rise of the Empire was an asset that, in the hands of Tony Gilroy, proved to be perfectly exploited. Shifting attention to ordinary citizens, victims of the new imperial order, allows us to perceive Star Wars and its ideas founded on a hitherto unprecedented level, even more so if we have the initial moments of the Rebellion at the center of the story. This is because Andor is a political story, where action gives way to a social connotation that best portrays the consequences of this social transition.
Looking back on the events of A New Hope, it seems incredible that galactic society had forgotten the existence of the Jedi twenty years after the Imperial Purge, after they defended the Galactic Republic for millennia. Through the cross-media narrative system of Star Wars, which includes novels and comics, an attempt has been made to clarify how the imperial diktat was to completely cancel any reference to the Jedi, but the fulcrum of this devastating operation is quoted perfectly by Andor, at the moment to which young Nemik offers a true pearl of wisdom:
Axes forget, but trees remember.
To paraphrase, every dictatorial regime knows well how history and an aware people are the real danger to its power. The erasure of memory seen in the Star Wars cross-media universe is an echo of the real story that has always inspired Star Wars. Memory loss, whether historical or technological, is a key element of despotic power, so much so that in Andor these lost awarenesses (such as the navigation device mentioned by Karis Nemik) are considered objects of great power, as their understanding it can prove to be a weapon.
The Rebel Manifesto of Andor is an immortal ideal
It is no coincidence that the Empire imposes a false peace, based not on equity but on oppression . Where it cannot complete its work of subjugation, it destroys, stripping entire planets of resources. And better fate doesn't even await the citizens, just think of the ruthless slavery of the inmates of Nakina 5, forced to build components for the future Death Star. An oppressive dynamic that does not only extend to those who are directly under the imperial yoke, but also to interconnected social realities in Coruscant, as happened for the Corporate Zone .Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ..2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. It is therefore not surprising that in Andor , where the pressure exerted on citizens by Palpatine's tyranny is extolled, there appears a greater awareness of the political machine of the Empire , especially when it is explained how the speed with which the Empire is imposing radical changes is too rapid because the galactic population understands the danger this poses. The events of Andor are the demonstration of how the tacit acceptance of this dynamic leads to a point of no return, which on the one hand allows the Empire to have a firm hand on the galaxy, but at the same time animates a rebellious spirit who, despite knowing of not being able to count on equal resources, is based on an iron will, born of sacrifice and preservation of a better social reality.
A challenge that is represented so much by the clash in the political arena, as demonstrated by Mon Mothma, who in the darkest dimension of espionage and the clandestine struggle pursued by Luthen, aware of how there are different ways of making the birth of a rebel identity possible, even accepting the personal cost:
And what do you sacrifice? Calm. Kindness. Affect. Love. I gave up inner peace to make my mind a place full of shadows. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up in the morning thinking about the choice I made 15 years ago for which there is only one conclusion: I am damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to submit, and my lust to fight have set me on a path from which there is no escape. I wanted to be a savior against injustice regardless of the cost and when I looked down there was no ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I am doomed to use my enemy's methods to defeat him. I burn my integrity for someone else's future, I burn my life to raise a dawn I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this battle will never have a mirror, an audience, or a glimmer of gratitude. So you ask me what do I sacrifice? Everything. You'll stay with me Lonni. I need every hero possible.
These passages of suffering and hope ideally compose the Rebel Manifesto of Andor, an ideological conception that also has a physical form, represented by Nerik's thoughts, collected in his notebook. A symbol that also becomes a talisman for Cassian Andor .
Cassian Andor is the guardian of the Rebel Manifesto
Although born as an agent moved by personal motivations, Cassian Andor becomes a symbol of the Rebellion at the equal to more noble figures. In Rogue One we see him represent the less noble side of the Rebel Alliance, charged with performing actions that are anything but heroic and that only in the last part of the film does he seem to seek his own redemption. Andor has the task of showing how Cassian has become a ruthless operative and totally faithful to the rebel ideal, but we cannot ignore how the events of the first season of the series have already brought him closer to his future self.(L-R): Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm's ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ..2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. In Rogue One, Cassian always has Nerik's notebook with him, although at the time of the film's release, we didn't know what it was. Now that we have witnessed the birth of this object, we can understand how important it is for Cassian to devote himself to the Rebellion, even by doing what we morally consider unbecoming, but which is absolutely necessary to defeat the Empire. Her motivation is in Nerik's ideas, it is made even more solid by the boy's death, which becomes a formative moment for Cassian. Rebellions can be born of hope, but they take shape through sacrifice and renunciation.
