Why These 4 Monologues From 'Star Wars: Andor' Are So Important To The Show
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Andor season 1 left us with an incredible ending, but lots of questions and things to discuss. One of the latter was how four key characters gave impressive speeches that left us with our mouths open, and quite possibly tears falling from our eyes. Nemik, Kino Loy, Maarva and Luthen were (and are) important both to Cassian and to the plot, in one way or another. They added meaning to Cassian’s life, which was previously just surviving. Even though he could be considered a “B-type” character in the Skywalker Saga, his participation in the Battle of Scarif was essential in stealing the Death Star plans, and these four people heavily impacted his journey towards that crucial point. Let’s look at what they said.
Nemik’s Manifesto
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First seen during the heist/Aldhani arc, Karis Nemik was an interesting person, to say the least. Different than the other members of the crew, Nemik seemed like the one who was most involved with the Rebellion on an ideological basis. His death in Episode 6: The Eye was highly tragic. After robbing the Aldhani garrison of millions of credits, Cassian, Vel, Nemik, and Skeen were able to make it out of the hangar after things went south. Nemik gets crushed by the credits during the ship’s sudden launch, which leads him, hours afterward, to his death. Despite not being present in his physical form, he and his ideas lived on through his manifesto, carefully given to Cassian, who was interested in his ideas from the start. One section from his audiobook-style manifesto is really interesting:
“The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this: the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance, will flood the banks of the Empire’s authority, and then there will be so many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this.”
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Kino Loy and the prison escape
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Kino Loy, manager of Unit 52D, just wanted to keep his head down and wait for the end of his sentence. Cassian’s arrival at the prison changed everything; even though Kino first saw Cassian as a threat to his goal, he was not that. Cassian ultimately became the best thing that happened to Kino. After Olaf’s death, which led to their discovery of the truth behind the rumors, a switch was turned on Kino’s head. He shifted from obeying to planning a prison break, one that Cassian had been working towards for a while. At the same time the inmates were escaping from their levels, both Cassian and Kino went to level 8 (closer to the surface), where the prison’s control room was located. Kino gives a really passionate speech after Cassian pushes him to do it. He gave his best, and it was wonderful. Cassian is able to escape Narkina 5 with Melshi, but Kino’s fate is left uncertain; since he didn’t know how to swim, he stayed behind. Even though we don’t know what happened to him, his words were certainly powerful:
“Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out! One way out! One way out!”
Maarva’s post-mortem speech
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Maarva was Cassian’s adoptive mother and a prominent member of the Daughters of Ferrix. She was well known in the city they lived in, but few knew where Cassian was originally from. Even at her somewhat advanced age, she made a difference in her community, and probably also in the rebellion’s efforts throughout the galaxy. Her post-mortem speech, shown in hologram form by her companion droid, B2EMO, was emotional and moved the city to confront the Empire’s oppression. Although she didn’t know Nemik and Kino, their speeches connect perfectly; Nemik tells us that “one thing will break the siege”; Kino, on the other hand, reinforces the community element of Ferrix, saying that “you need to help each other.” That is what Cassian and Brasso, the closest people to her, ultimately did. Maarva’s speech was the move that lit a fire under the Empire’s seat. Here’s a section from it:
“But we were sleeping. I’ve been sleeping. And I’ve been turning away from the truth I wanted not to face. There is a wound that won’t heal at the center of the galaxy. There is darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it’s here. It’s here, and it’s not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness. it is never more alive than when sleep. It’s easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it’s true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it’s too late. But I’ll tell you this: if I could do it again, I’d wake up early and be fighting these bastards from the start. Fight the Empire!”
Luthen’s selflessness monologue
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Since the start of the series, Luthen has been a mysterious character. He was the buyer of the stolen Imperial navigation equipment and recruited Cassian into the rebellion. He put together the heist crew in Aldhani, with Andor being the last piece of the puzzle. Luthen was not just some interplanetary arms dealer. He was one of the minds behind the Rebellion’s efforts throughout the galaxy to make Imperial lives a living hell. But he also poses as an antique seller in Coruscant, and he is good friends with no other than Mon Mothma herself. Luthen has all sorts of cards in his hand; besides his insanely well-equipped ship, he had a spy inside the all-mighty ISB. Lonni Jung, who had been groomed for a long time to reach that position, questioned Luthen’s efforts and his devotion to the cause. Luthen’s response explaining his side of the situation was particularly memorable, and could be interpreted as a nod to one of the most memorable scenes from the Original Trilogy, where Luke is looking at the two suns setting in Tatooine. The following is a passage from this speech:
“Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts...What is my sacrifice? I’m condemned to use the tools of the enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror of an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!”
Through a brief analysis of what these four people said in their speeches, we can see that they showed everything they had within themselves. Nemik’s manifesto lives on through Cassian’s actions, and ideas are bulletproof. It doesn’t matter if a body is not there; they will live on. This also works for Kino and Maarva. They represent more than themselves and moved Cassian to be the best he could possibly be. Luthen, who wanted to get Cassian killed through basically the whole second half of the season, showed his true colors. He is selfless, and compromised his own personal life to fight for something bigger. This is what all of them did, and this is what gave the Rebellion its strength.
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