Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Andor.Star Warsloves the Jedi. And it makes sense why space wizards from ancient orders of good and evil who fight with laser swords are a super cool concept. Over the past half-century we’ve gotten countless tales of the Sith and the Jedi, the Skywalkers and the Palpatines, and with it the story of the Empire and the Rebellion. But in these stories we’ve mostly seen the war between the Empire and the Rebellion through the eyes of starry-eyed orphans turned disillusioned warriors. All threeStar Warstrilogies follow the stories of special Jedi fulfilling their destiny, solidifying all these battles as something waged by the masses but won by specific people ordained by fate.
Star Warsloves a good chosen one, so it sticks with stories about the likes of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and other Jedi who come from great and terrible space wizard lineages like Rey (Daisy Ridley). Chosen ones with fancy backgrounds who can save the day against the big bad have beenStar Wars’bread and butter, but newer additions to the canon are giving fans an opportunity to see how much the victories of these heroes relied on the work of many, many ordinary people.
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Chosen Ones Don’t Win a War Alone
In the past few years, we’ve been able to see a new side of theStar Warsuniverse — stories that aren’t just about the strongest space wizards in the galaxy and the people closest to them, but characters who exist on a more relatable level.Rogue OneandAndorhave done wonders in showing us a side of the Rebellion we’ve never seen before: the minutiae of the movement, the different motivations of the common people, and the struggle all these people face not because they are special but specifically because they are ordinary. By pulling the camera away from the ordained chosen ones we usually spend time with, we receive a different side of the Rebellion and are painted a realistic picture of the Empire’s occupation. The focus on ordinary people shows that the heart of the Rebellion isn’t Luke or the Jedi but the people who’ve crawled out from under the Empire’s boot to fight back.
Chosen ones alone do not win a war.Rogue Oneuses its whole runtime to impart that message, showing us how each individual contributes to the mission and how their contributions continue to matter even when they’re gone. The Death Star plans are the very thing that makes Luke’s charge against the Empire possible, and the film shows he weight of that. Luke is arriving late to a party that’s been going on for years, and it’s only thanks to the contributions of countless nameless rebels that he’s able to achieve so much.Rogue Oneshows the human face of war, not just its heroes but its soldiers. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) and Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) band together reluctantly and not at the call of destiny but because of a shared purpose. InRogue Onethere isn’t a sense of destiny, just real people doing what they can, where they can as desperately as they can in the hopes that one day, things will change. The characters won’t gain glory from this, their names like so many others will be forgotten, but the point is not to remember these nameless heroes but to recognize that even those whose names aren’t rememberedareheroes.
Being a Rebel Isn’t Like Being a Jedi
People aren’t born rebels; they choose to be based on circumstance, necessity, or belief. We see this clearly through the disparate backgrounds of the Rogue One crew, but it’s expounded upon inAndor.Everyone is drawn to the Rebellion for different reasons. Cinta (Varada Sethu) watched her whole family get slaughtered by Stormtroopers, Lieutenant Gorn (Sule Rimi) is a disillusioned Imperial officer, Taramyn (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) is a defected Stormtrooper; their backgrounds all clash but their mutual disdain for the Empire unites them. Each of them decided to band together against impossible odds to try and take down the garrison on Aldhani, not because of their own special connection or proclivities but because they wanted to strike a blow against the institution that took so much from all of them. None of them are chosen, they chose to take up arms themselves, deciding to band together against their oppressor.
We see these conscious choices to endanger oneself in other rebels inAndoras well. Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) uses her position as Senator to provide aid despite her own position in the Empire’s good graces. She chooses to risk her life to help a cause she believes in, not because she is called to but because it isright. Maarva (Fiona Shaw) chooses to stay and fight rather than flee with Cassian. She knows that she alone stands little chance against the Empire, but her knowledge of the Rebellion gives her the courage to fight back. The Empire thrives on control, but the Rebellion spreads through acts of aid and an awareness of a common goal. When one is not chosen by the hands of fate you’re left in a precarious position of having to choose for yourself whether it’s worth risking your life for a cause and that’s what makes the individuals in these stories so remarkable. Even against impossible odds and with nothing to be gained or won through their perseverance, they endeavor on because their belief in the justness of their cause supersedes their desire for safety.
The focus on so many individuals and their contributions to the Rebellion creates a greater sense of humanism. We see the value and drive of all these different people calling upon themselves to face great and terrible powers. It makes their efforts feel less futile. Even though we know so many of these characters will die we understand how important each of their contributions is. It creates the sense that wars are won through a collective effort.
Nowhere is this displayed more prominently than in the iconic final scene ofRogue One. Our heroes have already met their end, but dozens of Rebels struggle to complete their mission, nameless masses cut down in the face of the immense power the chosen ones in this universe possess–and yet they succeed. Faced down with Lord Vader himself we witness the power of individual drive and collective effort. Though their deaths were inglorious their impact is remarkable. Alone they’d be powerless against such a force, but the collective conviction of the Rebels allows them to, even briefly, usurp the power of the galaxy’s chosen few.
Rogue OneandAndorpaint a different portrait of heroism. The characters in these stories have nothing propelling them through the narrative but their own determination. Each action they take is a deliberate choice, and it paints a bleaker yet more cohesive portrait of what the Rebellion really is. Through these stories of average people fighting for their lives against the Empire, we see how these movements grow and empower others. Cassian is drawn into the fight through others and later inspires Jyn to take up arms as well. We see this not just as a movement against a massive, tyrannical government but as a movement of individuals helping other individuals. Maarva saves Cassian, so Cassian goes on to save Jyn, who by proxy helps to save the whole galaxy. These stories show us thatStar Warsas we know it may be dominated by mythic heroes and villains, yet their victories and failures are rendered meaningless without the influence of the people at large. We’re all made of the same stardust, and bothRogue OneandAndorseek to show that even those not ordained by fate are capable of changing the galaxy.
