At the beginning of S1 Cassian Andor and Perrin Fertha actually have similar philosophical views on life.
Circumstances give Cassian the opportunity to make the right choices to grow into the hero we love in Rogue One.
I find it so odd there seems to be a lack of sympathy for Perrin's character (and for Leida too! but that's a separate post). He is essentially the gender-swapped role of the high powered politician's wife. He showed promise as an individual in his youth which he presumably had to give up completely to support Mon's senatorial career.
I do wonder if he was conscripted into serving the Republic Army during the Clone Wars.
Mon doesn't trust him and doesn't share any of her secrets with him so everything he knows he had to glean on his own.
After Mon escapes, I think the ISB probably cut him loose after a few of months interrogation with the hope that someone from the rebellion would eventually come for him or Leida. The final insult being that no one was coming either of them.
With such emphasis on Chandrilian culture on family and duty - how the hell does Mon politically win back her fellow Chandrilans after the war? She would be a hero to the rest of the galaxy but in Chandrila? All politics is local.
I love the realism in my space show so fucking much because you see this in real world politicians all the time. Huge international profile but unpopular in their own country.
