History Series / Andor

--->'''Luthen''': No matter what you'll tell me, or tell yourself, you know you'll ultimately die fighting these bastards. So what I'm asking you is this: Wouldn't you rather give it all at once, to something real, than carve off useless piecess until there's nothing left?
** In "[[Recap/AndorS1E10OneWayOut One Way Out]]", Cassian says "he'd rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want" during his attempt to rally Kino to his prison break. Kino later repeats this during this RousingSpeech.

** When Luthen first recruits Cassian, he says challenged him to take on the Empire head-on instead of his previous stealing and sabotaging.

** Fighting TheEmpire is shown to be '''far''' more dangerous than in most Star Wars media, because when underdog rebels fight against TheEmpire, they are not guaranteed to survive, let alone win. Most of the crew assembled for the heist on Aldhani end up dying, and most of the prisoners in the breakout on Narkina 5 die in the escape. However, the show emphasizes that the EvilWillFail, as the Galactic Empire's tyranny and desire for control will cause more and more enemies to rise up against until it can no longer handle them all.

* CombatPragmatist: Luthen's CrazyPrepared and hyper-pragmatic approach to life extends to how behaves on the rare occasions he ends up on the battlefield personally, as shown by his actions in the shootout on Ferrix (most memorably, preemptively rigging a doorway with explosives then setting them off as the enemy is breaching) and the eclectic weaponry his ship is decked out with (such as a set of cannons that fire metal shrapnel to be used if he's ever caught in a tractor beam; the beam pulls the tiny shrapnel right into the beam array at high speed, mangling it).

* ChekhovsGun: In ''[[Recap/AndorS1E7Announcement Announcement]]'', Maarva has a fall when attempting to pry open the old Rix floodgates to check if the tunnels under the hotel where the ISB were stationed at were still open, "so that Rebellion could sneak in and take them by surprise". In [[Recap/AndorS1E12RixRoad the season finale]], it's this exact passage that Cassian uses to sneak into the hotel to resue Bix.

* BrownNote: Years ago, the Empire wanted to set up a refueling center on the planet Dizon Frey, which was inhabited by a unique species called the Dizonites. When the Dizonites took an especial opposition to the Imperial occupation, Imperial high command gave permission to the regional governors to suppress the uprising by any means necessary… including [[FinalSolution slaughtering all of the Dizonites]]. As they were all butchered by the Imperials, they gave out a unique screech that sounded like a "choral, agonized pleading". When Imperial officers were monitoring the recordings remotely, they were all later founded huddled underneath their ship's bridge. Due to its value as a torture device, the Empire modified it a little and made sure to have the section with the children be the one they now use in torture.

* PoliceBrutality: Demonstrated by the [[LawEnforcementInc Preox-Morlana forces]] who try to capture Cassian on Ferrix. They beat up Bix by slamming her into a wall repeatedly after she tries to escape, and are ''very'' TriggerHappy, [[spoiler: to the point of killing an unarmed civilian (Timm) who confronted a group of ''four'' of them]], especially given that their mission wasn't to ''execute'' their target, which would surely merit the use of nonlethal weapons in normal circumstances.

* PrisonersWork: Cassian and the other prisoners on Narkina 5 are put to work assembling some kind of part. [[spoiler: TheStinger of the final episode reveals that they're components of the Death Star's laser.]]

* ApatheticCitizens: Exhausted by years of civil war and longing for an extended period of peace and order, the populace is content to try to ignore anything just outside their front door. Part of the initial aim of the rebellion is to provoke the empire to overreact and thus awaken to just how badly the people are being repressed.

* MyNaymeIs: Continuing a Franchise/StarWars tradition, the show introduces names like Syril (Cyril), Timm (Tim), Dedra (Deirdre), Xaul (Saul), Ulaf (Olaf), Lonni (Lonnie), Kleya (Cleo), Vel (Velma).

* MeanBoss: Major Partagaz, the head of the ISB, is an interesting example. He doesn't yell or scream or shoot his employees in the head when they displease him -- he simply drives them relentlessly hard, points out flaws in their work or reasoning without mercy and insults them with a quiet and cutting contempt, all in front of their colleagues. What's interesting is that this isn't just pointless cruelty -- he seems to sincerely believe that encouraging cutthroat competition among the staff and cultivating open disagreement results in a productive clash of ideas and better outcomes for the Bureau.

* BittersweetEnding: Season One. [[spoiler:Cassian's family and friends on Ferrix are safe and the Rebellion is picking up steam across the galaxy, in part because of him. But a lot of good people are dead and Cassian realizes he can't be with his family without endangering them, leaving him no choice but to become Luthen's personal agent.]]
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The fledgling Rebellion is much less morally scrupulous than the organization they would end up becoming, with many of its agents being ruthless, unabashed terrorists and scumbags who seem to care more about hurting the Empire in the name of vengeance than helping people. Luthen Rael is a paranoid and cutthroat coordinator for the Rebellion who has no problem killing anybody from Imperial forces to hapless cops to [[spoiler:his own agents if he deems them liabilities]] and [[spoiler:turns out to be actively trying to provoke the Empire into committing atrocities so he can get more people to join the cause]]. Vel's rebel cell is made up of a [[DysfunctionJunction dysfunctional]] RagtagBunchOfMisfits who may or may not be trustworthy and have no problems with threatening the lives of the wife and adolescent son of an Imperial Commandant. They're only classifiable as "good guys" because the totalitarian and dictatorial Empire is even worse, and even then many other Rebels like Mon Mothma find themselves disturbed by the unscrupulousness of people like Luthen or the Partisans.

* AffablyEvil: Dr. Gorst doesn't seem to realize that he's a TortureTechnician. When introduced to Bix, he gives her a cheerful smile as if he were in a social situation. Even when describing his torture technique, he seems to think Bix will find it as intellectually fascinating as he does.

* 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. He then turns this into a creepy, romantic, StalkerWithACrush fixation on Dedra, end even ends up on Ferrix for the finale despite having no plan or ability to act, just wanting to be there to ... something?

** TheEmpire overall gets this treatment. Many deconstructions of their portrayal in ''Star Wars'' focus on the idea that despite their evil, [[WhiteAndGreyMorality there are still some "good people" in their ranks]] who think they're doing the right thing. ''Andor'' plays with this by spending a good deal of time developing and humanizing several of the villains serving the Empire, taking effort to show the audience that they too have sympathetic motivations, insecurities, and goals... only to remind the audience that, relatable and sympathetics as they may be, these are still people ''choosing to support an openly tyrannical regime that regularly commits atrocities.'' Many of them are given WhatYouAreInTheDark moments where their words and actions prove that, deep down, they're [[FauxAffablyEvil just as amoral as the system they support.]]

** TheEmpire overall gets this treatment. Many deconstructions of their portrayal in ''Star Wars'' focus on the idea that despite their evil, [[WhiteAndGreyMorality there are still some "good people" in their ranks]] who believe supporting them is right. ''Andor'' plays with this by spending a good deal of time developing and humanizing several of the villains serving the Empire, taking effort to show the audience that they too have sympathetic motivations, insecurities, and goals... only to remind the audience that, despite any sympathetic traits, these are still people ''choosing to support an openly tyrannical regime that regularly commits atrocities.'' The few Imperials we see that ''truly'' put their morals and ideals above personal ambition (Mon Mothma, Lieutenant Gorn, [[spoiler:Lonni Jung]], etc.) all ultimately wind up working ''against'' the system in cooperation with the Rebellion; the rest prove to be self-interested ladder-climbers who either [[ItsAllAboutMe don't care about]] or ''[[FauxAffablyEvil actively revel in]]'' the suffering that the Empire causes.

** The ethics of killing people who work for the villains. The show spends a good deal of time developing and humanizing several of the villains serving the Empire, taking effort to show the audience that they too have sympathetic motivations, insecurities, and goals... only to remind the audience that, despite any sympathetic traits, these are still people ''choosing to support a tyrannical regime'' in order to achieve those goals, without any regard for the people who suffer as a result. The few Imperials we see that ''truly'' put their morals and ideals above personal ambition (Mon Mothma, Lieutenant Gorn, [[spoiler:Lonni Jung]], etc.) are all ultimately revealed to be working ''against'' the system in cooperation with the Rebellion.

** The ethics of killing people who work for the villains. While the show does humanize villains working for the Galactic Empire, it still emphasizes that the Empire is a system of tyranny and even if someone isn't the typical mustache-twirling Star Wars villain, if they support the Empire, then they are not good people and will do terrible things in support of it. Therefore, one should not feel '''too bad''' when their actions catch up to them.

* NonHeteronormativeSociety: {{Downplayed|Trope}} compared to its contemporaries in the ''Star Wars'' EU. While Cinta and Vel's homosexual relationship raises no eyebrows from the people aware of it, in keeping with the idea that LGBTQ+ people are considered normal in wider galactic society, Perrin's blasé questioning about whether Vel has "finally found a husband" and her reluctance to correct him imply that their native Chandrilan culture is less accepting of her orientation.

* NonHeteronormativeSociety: Nobody aware of it finds lesbian couple Cinta and Vel objectionable nor notable, following the same blasé attitude from the books on LGBT+ people to be the norm for galactic society.

** In a setting where droids and AI are commonplace, Syril Karn still ends up working a SoulCrushingDeskJob in a [[BlackComedy nightmarishly large]] office.
** The Narkina 5 penal facility doubles as a factory, where Cassian and the other inmates are forced to hand-assemble some sort of device that the Empire evidently needs large numbers of. [[spoiler:They're later confirmed to be parts for the Death Star.]] Justified by the fact that, as Cassian himself observes, convicts are cheaper and easier to replace than droids.

** Luthen's cover on Coruscant is a rich, fasionable, and jovial antiquities dealer. In episode 4, he is seen putting on his wig, [[TheDandy suit, multiple rings]], and practicing his gestures and smile in the mirror.

** [[spoiler:After both failing to convince Saw to work with Kreegyr and learning from his ISB mole that Kreegyr is being lured into a trap, Luthen decides to switch tactics and throw Kreegyr's crew under the bus to secure the mole… at which point, Saw gets in touch with Luthen saying he changed his mind and will work with Kreegyr. Suddenly Luthen is put in the position of trying to talk Saw out of joining Kreegyr's raid.]]

* NeutralNoLonger: The recurring theme over the first season is how normalised the Empire's rule has become, and how people can longer notice the slow and suffocating grip of its power. Over the course of the season, people who were vaguely anti-Empire end up fully radicalising into rebellion.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Most of the Imperial officers on Aldhani have nothing but contempt for the natives of the planet, forcing them off their ancestral lands and only allowing them to do their sacred religious ceremonies on ''Imperial'' terms, all the while making nasty comments under their breaths about them. Lieutenant Gorn, who was in love with one of said natives, is more then a tad put-off and it's implied the Empire's casual racism towards aliens and "primitive" human cultures was the big motivator for him becoming TheMole.