ok i have some thoughts about andor and some of the themes im seeing (warning its very very long, sorry in advance lol)
ANDOR SPOILERS BELOW
i think the fact that all of the deaths so far being quick and almost meaningless in the grand scheme of things is so interesting because you’d think in a show about rebellion, everyone’s deaths will be in a big moment saving something important, but brasso and cinta’s deaths just… happen.
brasso was just trying to get away from the troopers and ended up dead simply for running away; he didn’t have a big moment of rebellion, he just tried to escape and they killed him for it because they saw it as instigation. he will only be remembered by the people who cared about him; his death didn’t do anything to help the rebels, and the empire didn’t even know who he was so it had zero effect on them.
and cinta… hers was even worse because like vel said, she was doing so many brave things and doing so much to fight against the empire with the rebels. even the heist she and that group were pulling off right before her death was something that was don’t to stick it to the empire, and her death wasn’t big or self-sacrificial or anything like that… it was just because someone made a stupid mistake that could have been easily avoided (“this is a tragedy because it didn’t have to end this way” or however the saying goes). the empire won’t remember her and the rebels will just move on and find someone to replace her; vel will be the only one to truly mourn her. her death was meaningless not because she never did anything for the rebels, but because it happened in such a quick, insignificant way that no one can use it for anything.
that’s why her and brasso’s deaths are “meaningless” to the empire and the rebels; there will be no pushing an agenda, no proving how dangerous rebels are, no turning her into a martyr to inspire people to fight the empire, none of that. they can’t use their deaths for anything so they’ll let them be forgotten.
it’s an interesting contrast to the end of rogue one; cassian and jyn go out in a big moment after giving the rebellion something they desperately needed. they go out heroes, while brasso and cinta will go on to be mourned by their loved ones, but not remembered for their sacrifice because in the grand scheme of things, their deaths meant nothing to the rebels or the empire. so you could argue that them dying “wasn’t worth it” because it didn’t mean anything. the only people who will remember them are their loved ones; history won’t remember them, so what’s the point? right?
wrong!
it made me think back to that girl in ep 1 asking cassian “if i die tonight, was it worth it?”
i think we’re going to keep seeing this trend of “meaningless” deaths and it’s going to feel like they’re killing people for no reason, but i think that’s the point— in war there is always death for no reason.
and in the grand scheme of things their deaths are “meaningless”, but the fact that they were fighting at all does mean something. and a simple death doesn’t make their life any less meaningful; they gave their lives for a cause and they knew the risk. sure, they didn’t expect to go out how they did, but that was always a risk. it’s war, death happens, no one is safe.
it’s like luthen said in s1: “i burn my life for a sunrise i know ill never see”. brasso, cinta, all the unnamed rebels we’ve seen die over the course of the franchise… history doesn’t remember them, but they sacrificed themselves anyway because they believed in their cause. every death for the rebellion is a sacrifice because they hope it’ll account for something someday, and eventually it does.
but even if it didn’t work, even if it took hundreds of years for the rebels to make a dent in the empire, even if the empire won and the rebellion was crushed, their deaths were not meaningless because they died for what they believed in.
their small contributions may not seem important in the grand scheme of things, but i think people don’t realize how important small acts are in a rebellion. they need the small things to keep happening so that no one feels like they’re doing nothing; without the small acts, nothing bigger would be able to happen.
they didn’t give up hope or surrender to the empire just because things felt hopeless; they died knowing people cared for them and that was enough for their deaths to not be meaningless. their deaths will inspire their loved ones to go on and fight to make sure they didn’t die in vain, but that almost doesn’t matter.
without the small acts of rebellion and the small people in the rebellion there would be no rebellion, which i think is what cassian was getting at in ep1. the rebels need everyone they can get, so even quick deaths from “unimportant” people mean something because they were brave enough to rebel and give their lives to the rebellion in the first place.
idk if half of that makes sense bc it’s midnight and i should be asleep, but i had to write this out bc my brain was thinking so many things. i could probably write an essay about this show but for now have my midnight thoughts !
