Andor Shoots First
When Cassian Andor is first introduced, in both Rogue One and in Andor, he is shown killing an unarmed man to save himself when two men trap him in an alleyway in a commercial district.
In the first scene of “Kassa” (Andor 1.1), Andor goes to the Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone, on the planet Morlana One, to learn about the whereabouts of his long-lost sister. When he is accosted in an alleyway by two Preox-Morlana Corporation security guards, Andor gets into a brawl with them and accidentally kills one. When the other begs for his life, suggesting they can lie to the authorities about what happened, Andor shoots him with his own blaster. Seconds later, it is clear from Andor’s panicked reaction that this was an impulsive decision made out of fear of being arrested for the first death.
In his first scene in Rogue One, Andor goes to the Ring of Kafrene, a trading outpost, to meet with a Rebel informant, who gives him intel about what the Empire is doing on the planet Jedha. When they are cornered in an alleyway by two Stormtroopers, Andor shoots the troopers and then shoots the informant as well. Because the man’s arm is broken so that he can’t climb up the walls to escape, Andor makes the split-second calculation that it would be better to kill the informant than to let either or both of them be arrested by the Empire for interrogation. He lies to him, “Calm down! We’ll be alright,” before shooting him in the back. Seconds later, it is clear from Andor’s expression that he is remorseful for shooting a helpless ally to save his own skin.
Both scenes effectively reveal the kind of person Cassian Andor is. He is a man driven by fear and haunted by the evil he has done in the name of survival. The difference between these two scenes is that in the first one Andor serves no cause but his own interests, while in the second one he is committed to the cause of the Rebellion and can use that to justify the killing as a necessary evil. But this newfound idealism has not cured Andor of fear or cleansed his guilty conscience. His only consolation is the possibility that the evil he has done for the Rebellion will somehow turn out for the greater good. As he tells Jyn Erso later in Rogue One, “[I’ve] done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion. … And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself that it was for a cause that I believed in… Without that, we’re lost.”
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Cassian Andor
Films: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Shows: Andor
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: fear / good and evil / guilt / idealism
READ MORE ABOUT…
Follow The Jedi Archives on…