History Series / Andor

* GasLeakCoverUp: Kenari is said to have been rendered uninhabitable by a mining disaster. Given the lengths taken to hide Cassian's Kenari origins, the nature of his departure from the planet, and the obvious nod to the "mining disaster" used in ''Rogue One'' to cover up the Death Star's superlaser firing, it seems likely something more sinister occurred on the planet.[[note]]Also, the incident was said to be a ''Imperial'' mining disaster, but when Cassian was taken from the planet the Republic was yet to fall but the mines were already abandoned, making it clear that ''something'' doesn't check out.[[/note]]

* DisasterDominoes: The first three episodes are a gradual series of ones that reach a boiling point. Cassian goes to a seedy bar to find information about his sister. Two of the patrons are thugs who try to shake him down - he has to fight them off, but then [[spoiler: one dies accidentally - leading him to have to kill the other. Then it turns out they were corporate cops. This, combined with an overeager officer who becomes hellbent on hunting down the killer and a coworker whose jealousy of Cassian's relationship with a friend reaches a boiling point, leads to a complete disaster as the cops bring a veritable army down on his hometown which results in many deaths, Cassian having to leave the planet, and tragedy all around.]] This also leads to him fully attracting the attention of Luthen, who recruits him for the Aldhani heist, which causes the Imperial crackdown that gets Cassian sent to prison and then leads to the riot on

* DetrimentalDetermination: Syril Karn's FatalFlaw. The man is simply incapable of taking "no" for an answer or stopping something once he's started it, which leads to him relentlessly pursuing Cassian despite being told by his every single superior to let the case go, even as he continuously gets people killed and destroys his own life with the pursuit.
* DisasterDominoes: The first three episodes are a gradual series of ones that reach a boiling point. Cassian goes to a seedy bar to find information about his sister. Two of the patrons are thugs who try to shake him down - he has to fight them off, but then [[spoiler: one dies accidentally - leading him to have to kill the other. Then it turns out they were corporate cops. This, combined with an overeager officer who becomes hellbent on hunting down the killer and a coworker whose jealousy of Cassian's relationship with a friend reaches a boiling point, leads to a complete disaster as the cops bring a veritable army down on his hometown which results in many deaths, Cassian having to leave the planet, and tragedy all around.]]

** [[spoiler:Luthen struggles and ultimately fails to convince Saw to work with another Rebel cell on a job because they're former Separatists, which Saw hates with a passion. The reason for his hatred isn't stated here, but longtime fans will remember that [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Saw Gerrera's first appearance]] was as a Republic-aligned resistance fighter battling a CIS military occupation of his homeworld, Onderon. Said occupation ended shortly after a battle in which Saw's beloved sister Steela Gerrera was killed by the Separatist forces; he's still nursing a major grudge.]]

* CloseKnitCommunity: The close community of Ferrix is quickly established by showing how the workers keep their gloves on a wall outside of their workplace with no worries about them being stolen or sabotaged by members of the community. As the series progresses this is built up further, with outsiders very much being on the outside when they're there despite tensions between locals and locals all being interconnected and well informed.

** Luthen fronts as a jovial, fashionable antiques dealer for the rich and powerful on Coruscant, but his business hides his actual work as a spymaster co-ordinating rebel activity. We actually meet his mask second; in [[Recap/AndorS1E4Aldhani Episode 4]], we see him put on the wig, suit, rings and practise his smile and body language.

* ShowDontTell: Wonderfully averted with Nemik's manifesto, played over Maarva's funeral, demonstrating that TropesAreTool and every rule can be broken. Part of what inspires Cassian to devote himself to the Empire is that manifesto, which spells out the CentralTheme of the show: fascism is bad and self-defeating precisely because it will create the rebellion that will destroy it; rise up and fight the Empire.

** A FanDisservice version occurs in "Narkina 5", when a despondent Cassian plus the 49 other men in his block in prison are standing naked in a giant decontamination chamber that strongly resembles a futuristic version of a gas chamber at a Nazi concentration camp.

* ElementalMotifs: Water is a recurring motif in events that further Cassian's radicalization into a committed Rebel. Before the cop killing that kicks everything else off, he's introduced walking through a downpour. The Aldhani heist where he participates in his first operation for the Rebellion takes place at a dam. Niamos, where he's arrested for no reason due to the Imperial crackdown, seems to be one big beach resort, and Narkina 5 where he's transported is a SeaSinkhole that he escapes by swimming. Finally, when he reads Nemik's manifesto, symbolically embracing his anti-Imperial ideals, it's raining once again.

* ArtImitatesArt: The series has several shots which allude to ''Art/WandererAboveTheSeaOfFog''. Some specific examples include child Andor overlooking the open mine on his home planet, and Luthen Rael walking towards the town on Ferrix.

* PrecisionFStrike: The franchise up until this point has been clean with only the occasional uses of "Damn", "Hell", and/or "Ass", but to fit in with the series' DarkerAndEdgier tone, this is the first piece of official ''Star Wars'' media to use strong profanity in its dialogue, with the third episode containing an utterance of the word "Shit" which definitely fulfills this trope to a degree.
** In the twelfth episode, Maarva calls the Empire "bastards" in a very vicious way [[spoiler:during her posthumous speech at her funeral]]. [[https://www.empireonline.com/tv/features/andor-denise-gough-interview-building-star-wars-villain-dedra-meero/ Interviews with the cast and crew]]
*** The speech also ends with what was supposed to be the first usage of "Fuck" in the franchise as well when Maarva utters "'''Fuck''' the Empire!", [[{{Bowdlerise}} but it was overdubbed to "'''Fight''' the Empire!"]]. However, you can still make out what she was originally meant to say if you look closely at her mouth movements.

* PrecisionFStrike: The franchise up until this point has been clean with only the occasional uses of "Damn", "Hell", and/or "Ass", but to fit in with the series' DarkerAndEdgier tone, this is the first piece of official ''Star Wars'' media to use strong profanity in its dialogue, with the third episode containing an utterance of the word "Shit!" in an official ''Star Wars'' story, which definitely fulfills this trope to a degree.

*** The speech also ends with what was supposed to be the first usage of "Fuck" in the franchise as well when Maarva utters "'''Fuck''' the Empire!", [[{{Bowdlerise}} but it was overdubbed]]. although you can make out what she was originally meant to say if you look closely at her mouth movements.

* PrecisionFStrike:
** The third episode features the first utterance of the word "Shit!" in an official ''Star Wars'' story, befitting the series' DarkerAndEdgier nature.
** In the twelfth episode, Maarva calls the Empire "bastards" in a very vicious way [[spoiler:during her posthumous speech at her funeral]]. [[https://www.empireonline.com/tv/features/andor-denise-gough-interview-building-star-wars-villain-dedra-meero/ Interviews with the cast and crew]] also note that the speech also ended with the line "'''Fuck''' the Empire!" [[{{Bowdlerise}} before it was overdubbed]], although you can tell what Maarva was originally meant to say if you look closely at her mouth movements.

* SavedByCanon: We know from the outset that Cassian will survive whatever he goes through in this series because it's set before ''Rogue One'', where he is a main character [[DoomedByCanon who meets his ultimate end there]]. The same goes for Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, and Ruescott Melshi (who turns up in episode 8).

* HellholePrison: The Imperial prison that Cassian ends up in on the moon Narkina 5 is an interesting example. It's clean and hygienic (seriously, there's not a speck of dirt anywhere in the place), prisoners have relatively limited interactions with the guards after going through the intake process, each prisoner's cell is thoroughly cleaned every day and prisoners even get as much (flavorless, to be sure) food as they want. All of that said, while the day-to-day reality of life in Narkina 5 isn't nearly as bad as it is in other Imperial prisons, the prison ends up being a fundamentally soul-crushing place where the prisoners are kept in line with brutal electric torture and threats of death while being used as slave labor by the Empire to build parts for military vehicles. One prisoner kills himself by deliberately stepping onto the electrified floor, and the [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror reactions]] of the other inmates suggest this is far from a rare occurrence. [[spoiler:Oh, and you never get to leave. All imprisonments are indefinite -- when a prisoner's sentence ends, they're simply shifted to different level or facility to maintain the illusion they'll be allowed to leave. When the prisoners on level two figure this out, the entire floor is instantly killed]].

* SimultaneousArcs: ''Andor'' being set in 5 BBY places it concurrently with the first season of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', which is significant in that both are about the fledgling rebellion rising up against the Empire for the first time despite rather different tones. In particular, ''Star Wars''-specific reviewers and commentators like to point out that while Cassian Andor was getting sent to a horrific prison in this show on trumped-up charges, Ezra and Zeb were off stealing fruit for Hera.

* SourceMusic

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Starting with episode 3, the show generally bounces between Cassian Andor getting caught up in the early Rebellion and Mon Mothma's attempts to finance these rebel factions. There's very little direct overlap between the two plot threads, Cassian and Mon don't meet in the first season, and is instead loosely connected via Luthen and Val bouncing between them.

** When she meets with Luthen, Mon Mothma talks about enemies being everywhere and watching her - the bank staff have all been replaced with people she doesn't know, she was given a new driver against her wishes, and spies appear at the Senate every day. Owing to who's ruling the galaxy and their fearsome forces deployed to prowl around for any form of rebellion, she's right about being watched. [[spoiler: The driver is revealed to really be an ISB spy and he regularly eavesesdrops on her conversations.]]