Resistance on Coruscant: Lessons on Setting Fire in Your Own House
Ted Marsden
Coruscant is the centre of the Star Wars universe. It is a science-fiction fantasy come to life. This ecumenopolis, meaning planet-wide city, acts as the undisputed capital of the galaxy. It’s a mind-boggling marvel to behold: a city built over every square inch of a planet–so that there is no question who won in the battle of man vs. nature. In appearance, it’s like New York City built on top of and beside itself a hundred thousand times over.80 Coruscant has appeared multiple times in other Star Wars media, but Andor gives us one of the most intimate portrayals yet. We see the domestic lives of citizens, their tiny worlds starkly contrasted by the grandeur of the monumental city. Here is a planet that housed the centre of galactic government for millennia: home to the Galactic Senate, the Jedi Order (RIP), millions of gleaming towers, and trillions of citizens. It’s no wonder the Emperor has made this his new home. But by the year BBY 5 (five years before The Battle of Yavin, the climactic space battle of A New Hope), all that glitters is not gold. Beneath the shiny exterior of the Emperor's newly minted throneworld, pockets are fomenting. A revolution is coming.
Though Andor takes place all across the galaxy, it consistently returns to and focuses on characters that call Coruscant their home, both those fostering the revolution and those fighting it. While the Imperial Security Bureau work day and night to suss out rebel activity, the real revolution is being formed in secret on the very planet they headquarter on. The forthcoming rebellion is not something that happened spontaneously; it was by precise design, careful planning, and deft leadership. Work that took place right under the Emperor’s nose by agents that are forced to live double lives and sacrifice their selves in order to guide the Rebel Alliance into existence. By focusing on three prominent Coruscanti rebels–Luthen Rael, Vel Sartha, and Mon Mothma–Andor shows us what it takes to build a revolution in secret.
The road to revolution that Andor walks is not as sci-fi as its premise. The show is inspired by our own Earth-based revolutions, as creator of the show Tony Gilroy states: “This is the Russian Revolution. This is the Montagnard. This is the Haitian Revolution. This is the ANC. This is the Irgun Building, Palestine. This is the Continental Congress.”81 These moments in Earth history are examples of when movements worked to overthrow the status quo, where lives were lost and power shifted. But what often gets lost in the mess of history are the people that make them possible and Gilroy designed Andor with these individuals in mind: “Every revolution consumes people and glorifies people, and not always the people that did the thing that mattered.”82
Throughout the series we get to know a variety of characters intimately, including their motivations in risking their lives to stand up to the Empire; from Cinta’s cold-blooded desire for revenge, to Nemik’s intellectually inspired manifesto, to the selfless desire of Kino Loy to see his fellow inmates be free from their prison cells. There’s an emotional vulnerability to each character that helps us understand their motivations. And thus as we watch the series, it’s no wonder you might feel yourself also swept up in the revolutionary fervour. One way out! Down with the Emperor! ¡Viva la Alianza Rebelde! The characters of Andor fictional creations in a fantasy world, but their motivations come from a historically honest place. They were designed to illuminate what makes a political revolution possible. Whether they know it or not, each character in this show is a revolutionary.
Back on Coruscant, the dynamic of developing revolutionaries comes into sharp contrast with the world that surrounds them. The Empire looms large in day-to-day life on Coruscant: stormtroopers walk the hallways, personal drivers spy on private conversations, communication must be done by cypher and chalk marks or deep in the ugly, industrial heart of the city-planet. Not to mention the ISB and their “healthcare” operations. Nowhere in the galaxy is truly safe from the Empire, but housing resistance operations in the heart of Imperial governance and surveillance is one of the boldest moves in the show. The intelligence of Luthen, bravery of Vel, and subterfuge of Mon all reveal much about themselves, but also the real-world tactics that are used to spark a revolution.
Luthen Rael: Author of History
We don’t know much about Luthen Rael. Where is he from? Why is he on Coruscant? Why does he run an antiques shop? And why does he hate the Empire so deeply? We don’t know and I’m guessing he likes it that way. He is enigmatic in his personal history, but his actions tell us all we need to know about who he is now during the events of Andor. His agenda is crystal-clear–as he outlines in one of the greatest speeches in televised history–he has dedicated his life to bringing about the downfall of the Empire at the cost of total personal sacrifice. His assertion that he “burns his life for a sunrise he’ll never see” mirrors the ethos of historical resistance fighters–fighting to create a better future they may never get to experience. Cuban revolutionaries in 1960 used the fatalistic rallying cry “Patria o muerte, venceremos" meaning “Homeland or death, we shall overcome.”83 This slogan acknowledges that the cause they fight for would consume their lives, in either victory or defeat. Like the Cubans in 1960 and countless other fighters from revolutions past, Luthen is committed to sparking a revolution or die trying.
As a political agent, Luthen is the type of revolutionary we might romanticise when we look back and see the moving pieces fall into place. In success, he might even be remembered as a hero. The winners write the history books after all. But who will the winners be? Luthen sees the Empire’s vision of the future and sees nothing but suffering. He knows there’s a better way, because he is a student of history as his covert Coruscant lifestyle shows us. His shop is lined with weapons, coinage, and other remnants of fallen reigns that show us that he is aware of the ephemeral nature of empires. That history can be changed, that empires can be toppled, that history is shaped by actions, not shrugging centrists or passive subjects. He uses his long-view knowledge of the past to fight against an “inevitable” Imperial dominated future.
But how do you topple an empire? And what motivates Luthen to do it? What are his politics? Is he Separatist? Neo-Republican? Human cultist? None seem to fit. For lack of a specific ideology, during the events of Andor, you might call him an accelerationist.84 He has calculated that in order to dismantle the Empire, he can’t fight them head on–no one can–so he needs to create the conditions of universal resistance. He plans actions which will bait the Empire to respond with the harshest penalties and unreasonable cruelty. He is wielding the predictability of the Empire’s ruthlessness to his advantage: “I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them.” He is a bullfighter, taunting the Empire to charge. In his verbal spar with Saw Gerrera he says, “We need the Empire to help, we need them coming down hard. Oppression breeds rebellion.” For Luthen, he believes–to borrow a popular phrase from Narkina-5–there is only “one way out”. That in order to motivate citizens on a galactic scale to fight back, he has to make fighting the Empire both personally motivated and the only option. But, “people will suffer,” Mon Mothma reacts with horror when she learns his intentions. Luthen responds, “That’s the plan.”
Vel Sartha: Strategy vs. Tactics
When we first meet Vel Sartha, she is dressed like an Aldhani native coming down the mountain, appearing like what we might expect an Afghan resistance fighter who doubles as a shepherd to look like. But appearances can be deceiving. Like Luthen and her cousin Mon Mothma, she is living a double life. Vel left her privileged life on Chandrila to bring the fight to the Empire, even if that means sleeping on the ground and eating roots for months on end. She’s resilient, ambitious, and disciplined, as Luthen points out. But within this same conversation we learn she's also stubborn and new to leadership. Luthen has played a mentor role and when she complains of her sacrifices, he snaps at her, “You wanted to lead! This is what it comes to.”
Vel, like Luthen, knows she can’t directly control others and must instead rely on her fellow resistance fighters as comrades rather than underlings. Back at the Aldhani basecamp, she runs a tight ship, maintaining discipline and mission focus, but ultimately understands everyone brings their own motivation to this fight. She runs the mission tactically, and the mission provides the framework for this group of unprofessional soldiers to channel their red-hot hatred of the Empire towards a strategically important action. It is with this understanding of her comrades that Vel represents an important mirror to Luthen. Whereas Luthen is leading from the back, strategizing the next move to make or target to hit; Vel is leading from the front, on the ground, executing orders, leading others, taking the necessary risks to make sure the strategy is a success.
This is how wars are won; as an old maxim goes, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat.”85 Luthen dictates strategy while Vel runs tactics, one can’t succeed without the other. Vel, operating as the sergeant, has to work twice as hard as her comrades, as a go-between the higher-up decisions and the on-the-ground forces at work. She is on the frontlines, a vital part of the mission worried about not only her own personal objectives, but everyone else’s as well.
What sets Vel apart from other resistance fighters is her “first-world” roots. Though she is not originally from Coruscant, she clearly feels at home in the wealth and privilege that Mon Mothma resides in. Her origins add to the impact of her role as a resistance fighter. Her conviction to join the fight against the Empire is so strong that it drives her to leave her station, the class she was born into, behind. The Empire as it exists does not threaten her survival - it ultimately protects her privileged lifestyle. Without much effort she would have a comfortable life but Vel sees the injustice in the galaxy around her and chooses a tougher path. She demonstrates that she is brave not only because she picks up a gun and storms a garrison, but also because she is willing to sacrifice the wealth and safety afforded by polite society and embrace the precarity inherent with being a rebel fighter. Vel isn’t a superhuman however. She has doubts, fears, and at times behaves petulantly. Vel is repeatedly shown to be not quite cutthroat enough for Kleya and Luthen. Especially when contrasted with her sometimes-girlfriend, Cinta. Vel shows a human level of stress about the tasks she's required to do, but does them anyway. Despite her life-or-death responsibilities she shows an understandable level of hesitation about the total sacrifice that a revolution asks of her in this role. Vel shows us that a real revolution asks individuals to leave their world of comfort behind to craft a new uncertain one–one that is hopefully better for all.
Mon Mothma: Locked in the Tower
When we meet Mon Mothma in Andor, she is at the end of her rope. As Senator from Chandrila, Mon Mothma has tirelessly advocated for peace and justice in the galaxy but now the galaxy is slipping further and further under the despotic control of Emperor Palpatine. The Senate is nothing more than a facade; acting as either a rubber stamp or token resistance. Mon Mothma had hoped, maybe still hopes, she can be a voice of reason and stop oppression through compromise and due process. But the system is rigged. The Emperor does what he pleases and changes the rules to suit his whims. Though Mon Mothma fulminates against his power, she understands it. “I have learned from Palpatine… I show you the stone in my hand and you miss the knife at your throat.”
Mon Mothma’s power comes from her ability to present herself in a multitude of ways, as any good politician can. She has to be a powerful orator one day and a charming party host the next. She has to say one thing and then do another, making deals in hallways and backrooms, as well as on those weird floating pod things on the Senate floor. Being diplomatic has always been a part of Mon Mothma’s life (she’s been a senator since she was 16!) so when she loses her levers of power, she doesn’t quit fighting–she finds another way.
Mon Mothma takes her resistance from the halls of power to the backchannels provided by Luthen and the spy network they established, where she plays an important role. Revolutions are messy, but they are also expensive and Mon has become its financier. Coming from a place of privilege and wealth, she has been able to freely provide Luthen with the resources he needs, allowing him to recruit the best and stage missions like the heist at Aldhani. But galactic tensions are flaring and the walls are closing in, so Mon has to resort to the tactics of subterfuge to keep the money flowing and achieve her anti-Imperial goals.
Whether she acknowledges it or not, Mon Mothma is corrupt. But corruption isn't necessarily a bad thing when the government in question is the Empire. Where we might think of corruption as a moustache twirling politician receiving bags of money to build a toxic sewer through an orphanage or some such “evil” idea, I use corruption here meaning to operate in a way counter to one’s stated goal to advance an unstated one. Lying, basically. Mon’s corruption comes from her necessary duplicitousness; her public actions don’t match her private ones. She is a member of the very government she is trying to overthrow. How would her constituents feel if they knew she was knowingly funding a clandestine terrorist network?
Mon’s role as governmental saboteur gives her the edge against the Emperor. Before a revolution solidifies into a mass movement, resistance must form behind the scenes and in secret. Nowhere are those conditions more important than for those who work close to the enemy. When a government is dismantled, hampered, or otherwise thrown into disarray, the resistance within can be as effective as the resistance from the outside. Mon’s insubordination has some historic parallels, most notably that of Wilhelm Canaris from Nazi Germany who was Chief of the Abwehr (the German military-intelligence service). Wilhelm held a prominent position in the Nazi government, until he became disillusioned with Hitler. So he acted on his convictions. During World War II he provided crucial intelligence to the Allies, engaged in diplomacy for potential peace negotiations, and supported anti-Hitler plots, all while maintaining a facade of loyalty to Hitler. He played a role in keeping Spain from allying with Nazi Germany and gave the Allies advance warning of Operation Barbarossa. Eventually he was arrested in connection with the 20 July plot, an attempt to assassinate Hitler, and he was hanged for his disloyalty. Through the powers of trilogical foresight, we know Mon does not meet the same fate, but the stakes for both her and Wilhelm were the highest.
As alluded to before, these two-faced tactics are a double-edged sword, morally speaking. Like the “good Germans” of Nazi Germany (who, like Wilhelm, opposed the Third Reich while still working for it), what other roles does Mon Mothma play in the Imperial government? What harm does she perpetuate by remaining a senator rather than fighting it with a gun or a knife like Vel and others? We see her heart is in the right place, from the speeches she gives and the bills she advocates for, and even in the anti-Imperial spy network that she helps secretly finance, but ultimately she is still a part of the government that oppresses the galaxy.
Mon Mothma shows us that revolution doesn’t just come from outside the palace walls, it comes from within as well. Mon embodies the resistance that Palpatine faces as he tries to erect his autocratic regime. She is alone in a tower fighting on a battlefield that only she can fight on. She is a revolutionary, not from an organisation following orders, but from her own moral compass. By the end of the season, she has come into a new understanding that this private fight is an all-out war. When we see her again in Rogue One and later in the Original Trilogy, she is a full-time wartime leader who understands the costs and weight of the sacrifice she asks of those she leads.
A New Hope
Is it really so hard to believe that Coruscant could be home to the rebellion? That the home of the Emperor would be host to the very players plotting his downfall? Revolutions past have their origins in the centres of power. Paris was the centre of the French Revolution, Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) was the site of the first strikes of the Russian Revolution, the People Power Revolution in Manila, the Velvet Revolution in Prague; the Mexican, Iranian, Cuban Revolutions all took place in their respective capitals. The fictional galactic capital of Coruscant is no different. Capital cities are often the hub for the political elite, but also for all sorts of folks with different ideas of a better future. The melting pot of any metropolis breeds culture, camaraderie, and passion for a safe and democratic life. A government is no better than the citizens who trust in it, and when that trust is broken–the people will ultimately push back. John Locke sums it up best:
The power of government is derived from the consent of the governed. Individuals, in a state of nature, come together to form a political society by mutual agreement. They voluntarily create a government to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and property. If a government violates these rights or acts against the will of the people, it loses its legitimacy, and the people have the right to alter or abolish it.86
Though the revolution was designed on Coruscant, it was not the only place it was fought. The careful planning by Luthen, the hard work of Vel, and righteous subterfuge by Mon all lead towards a more just galaxy. The fantastical setting of Star Wars makes watching the formation of a revolution more exciting and palatable than those in our real world, but Andor was crafted to reflect the very real inspirations that create true rebellion.
Throughout history, rebelling has been an important part of human society and often becomes the only weapon the people have to take the power back from a government that oppresses them. In the words of a former Aldhani rebel, “Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.” The words of Nemik’s manifesto ring true in the final episode, because he points out how each act of rebellion is an individual choice. Each citizen of the Empire becomes a revolutionary when they resist its rule. And that resistance is ultimately what inspires countless brave individuals to tear down the walls of the Empire and spark a revolution for a better world and a new hope.
80. I did the math. It would take approximately 122,707 New York Cities to cover the planet Earth. And even then it wouldn’t be as tall or dense as Coruscant.
81. Quoted in Anthony D’Alessandro, “Andor: Tony Gilroy on Cassian’s Season One Finale Ultimatum”, Deadline, 2022: deadline.com/2022/11/andor-season-one-finale-tony-gilroy-interview-season-two-spoilers-1235181298.
82. D’Alessandro, “Andor”.
83. Quote from Fidel Castro’s 1960 speech given during the funeral honours ceremony for victims of the La Coubre freighter ship explosion: havanatimes.org/diaries/elio/homeland-or-death-the-cuban-revolutions-key-dilemma.
84. I use the term "accelerationist" here in a more general political sense, rather than towards a specific ideology. Accelerationism generally refers to a political theory that suggests that pushing certain processes, such as economic or technological developments, to their extreme limits will destabilise existing systems and lead to significant social changes or outcomes.
85. A famous quote of unknown origin, often misattributed to famous architects of war, most notably Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz. But hey, when a quote is so famous no one knows who said it, then that makes its wisdom all the more potent.
86. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government: gutenberg.org/files/7370/7370-h/7370-h.htm.