Would Cassian Andor Have Been Justified In Assassinating Galen Erso In 'Rogue One'?
"The Force moves darkly near a creature that is about to kill."
When Cassian Andor left the crashed U-Wing of the Rebel Alliance on Eadu, his intention was clear. Although General Draven had told Jyn Erso that the mission was to extract her father from the clutches of the Empire before the Rebel crew left for Jedha, he also gave Andor explicit order to kill the scientist. He reiterated this plan after Andor reported that the ancient city had been destroyed by the Empire’s new “planet killer.” Cassian Andor was no man to disobey orders. He had already shown at the beginning of Rogue One that he did not hesitate to take the life of a comrade for the greater good. On the other hand, would the assassination of Galen Erso really serve this “greater good?”
First of all, the events of the first Star Wars stand-alone film would probably have played out quite differently had Andor actually carried out Daven’s order. True, Galen Erso died on Eadu anyway, but if Jyn had witnessed her father’s assassination at the hands of the man who she was just beginning to trust, there would not have been a mission to Scarif and the Rebel Alliance would probably not have acquired the plans to Death Star. Furthermore, Andor was just following orders. He was merely the pawn who would pull the trigger. The question if Andor was justified in killing Erso is probably not the right one to ask. A better person to look at should be General Draven.
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Davits Draven was a hard-boiled, no-nonsense soldier who did not care at all about rebellions that were built on hope. He and his team of soldiers often carried out dirty sabotage works that he saw as a necessary and rightful response to the cruelty of the Empire. His appearance in the Star Wars comic line in 2018 also showed him as a man with a sense of cruelty and vengefulness.
When Draven gave Andor the order to kill Galen Erso, he justified this with the latter’s important role in the Imperial weapons program. What is strange about this reasoning is that the Rebel Alliance had already known about the weapon test that the Empire was about to carry out. Taking out Erso then would have been too late anyway.
After the destruction of Jedha City Draven still followed this train of thought by ordering Andor to stick to the original plan, because they had “no idea what he is building for the Empire,” and thus they had to kill Erso while they had the chance. Again, this seems odd. While it is possible that the scientist could have been working on other projects of mass destruction, taking him out after it was confirmed what he had already done so seems more like an act of vengeance than preventing future catastrophes from happening.
Still, Draven’s decisions were, aside from his hatred towards the Empire, at least to some extent based on the information that was available to him and this information said that Galen Erso was essential for the completion of the Death Star. Draven probably didn’t know that the man had fled the Empire in the past and was forced to join it again after the murder of his wife. He did not know that Erso had intentionally built a weakness in the structure of the battle station. He also had not seen the message that Erso had prepared for his daughter. It is hard to tell if he would have revised his orders to Cassian Andor if he had known all this, especially after what had happened over Jedha.
In the end, the question of whether Draven was justified in having Galen Erso assassinated by Cassian Andor is a subjective one. From his point of view, it definitely was justified, but would it have been for Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, or his daughter Leia?
Probably not. After all, for them, rebellions are built on hope, not revenge.
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