Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episodes 1-10 of Andor.Throughout theAndorseries, senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) has disguised her rebellious movements behind an immaculately poised facade full of gentle smiles and expensive clothing. Mon’s spent many arduous years watching and listening to the master of deceit himself; Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), so there’s no doubt that she has picked up some tips and tricks from him. But in the most recent episode ofAndorentitled “One Way Out” directed byToby Haynes, we see Mon suffer under the increasing pressures of secrecy that test the limits of her perfected charade and force her into a corner, where she must choose between the future of her daughter and the future of the Rebellion.
In “One Way Out,” shady Chandrilan banker Davo Sculdun (Richard Dillane) pays Mon a visit on Coruscant. Mon does not bother to conceal her loathing of him, as she is well aware of his crooked existence. In the matter of disguising the funds she has fed the Rebellion, Mon really hoped that it wouldn’t have had to come to this. So when she and Davo sit down and test the waters of business, the tension between them is as hot as it is awkward. But nevertheless, Mon is aware that herneed to hide her “charitable” transactionsoutweighs her dislike of Davo, and she lets him assert that the Empire have “made a game of it and we play.” The “it” being a game of deception and oppression, and the “play” meaning that the people must adapt themselves to the Empire’s rule books if they have any chance of beating it.
“A Drop of Discomfort May Be the Price of Doing Business.”
Mon listens to Davo with a noticeable air of annoyance. She’s already been lectured about this reality by Rael Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård), who declared to her that “if you’re not willing to risk your conscience, then surrender and be done with it.” So they cut to the chase and Davo offers Mon a proposition: he will hide the evidence of her illicit funds in exchange for a meeting between his son and Mon’s daughter, Leida (Bronte Carmichael), with the clear intent that this meeting will be an introduction to marriage. And to put it plainly: Mon is outraged. The idea of subjecting her daughter to the corruption of Davo’s family wouldn’t just risk Mon’s conscience, but her sanity all together.
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But why? Why is this such a problem for Mon? When other rebels likeRael are willing to sacrifice “kindness, kinship, love, inner peace,”all in the name of the greater good. When rebels like Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) are willing to “target civilians” and “kill those who surrender” if it means seeing the Empire fall and the Rebellion rise. Well… Mon has proven herself to be a different kind of rebel. She is not a soldier. She is a politician who fights with smokescreen weapons and deceit and those are tools that not everybody can yield. Because amidst all the deception, one always runs the risk of losing themselves. But not Mon. She stays true to herself, and she doesn’t believe that the fight against the Empire is worth winning at the expense of losing her values, her virtues and her morality.
In the very few years that followAndor, we see Mon in the 2014 animated seriesStar Wars Rebels,where she breaks away from politics and openly opposes the Emperor, and works toward banding together the many networks of Rebellion. Even despite the raging war and the relentless suffering, Mon’s commitment to justice endures, and she refuses to stoop to the extremist measures of Saw Gerrera, asking him, “If we degrade ourselves to the Empire’s level, what will we become?” Mon knows that it was never going to be a fair fight, and many would view her ethics as a useless commitment to nobility. But it is much more than that: it is a commitment to family. A family made up of rebels whose odds of success depend on the “kindness, kinship and love” they have for each other. Saw may fight alone and Rael may care more for heroes than for friendships, but rebel victories are founded in trust. And although sacrifice is inevitable, Mon understands that the Rebellion cannot afford to be divisive, and they need all the friends and allies they can get.
So her outage in response to Davo’s proposition which could potentially pin herself and Leida against each other — is entirely justifiable. Because the investments that Mon puts into the Rebellion are not only motivated by a desire to make a better future for the galaxy, but also for her daughter. InStar Wars Rebels,Mon tells a young Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray): “this is a time of difficult choices, sometimes impossible ones.” It will be interesting to see how Mon applies her unwavering morality toward her most difficult choice yet: the fate of her daughter, or the fate of the Rebellion?
