Andor Luthen Rael

And in the very next episode, he doubts his decision to sacrifice Kreeger.

 

Luthen turned his ship into the Batmobile in space.

 

I think it was more bond-esque, but that batmobil comparison works too.

 

Could the side lasers on his ship indicate that he's had some past experience with...kyber crystals?

 

Right. Though I was wondering if he'd perhaps had prior experience using kyber crystals as the power source for a specific kind of weapon...

For some reason, I am cryptically not saying lightsaber.

 

Because it celebrates the toppling of an empire.

 

Luthien Rael sure has some ktver crystalls in his Fondor ship. He has so mutch history of the force and jedi in his museum. Maybe he was friends with a Jedi, and when the Jedi order got purged he chose to fight.

 

But with laser being red, they couldn't be Jedi crystals. They'd surely have to be Sith Kyber Crystals as it would of have to be a Sith Lord (or other Darksiders) who bled those Kyber Crystals. And I would highly doubt Vader or Palpatine will turn over theirs. Maybe an Inquisitor?

But I hope it's further back in the timeline (somehow). Might make for an interesting small story comic run in how Luthen got Sith Crystals.

 

What is the thing he's very conspicuously holding when Saw's men search him in episode 11? Is that the stick that he sometimes carries? Does it telescope out, kind of like an elegant weapon from a more civilised age?

 

It's a back scratcher.

 

.....and it's a marshmallow roasting stick.
But wait! There's more!!!

 

Is there a possibility that Saw will tell Kreegyr that Luthen is letting him walk into a trap and that Kreegyr will go after Luthen?

 

Ha! Despite all my theories I actually do hope he lives. Such a great character!

 

He need to be put down like a rapid dog.

 

Cassian and him definitely need to remeet. I don't know if that will happen in Ep12. I kind of feel like everyone will align with Mon at some point, and Luthen will be more lone-wolf / isolated.

I still feel there is something up with him and his past. I think a Jedi connection could def be there. Not even necessarily that he's a force user. But someone who knew the Jedi closely, maybe worked with them. He's got the knowledge, the toys, the relics. Maybe he was a Jedi baby scout in a former life. lol.

 

But he's not Mothma.

More seriously, Luthen is a tool. Yes, yes, get the jokes out the way. But he said it himself. He has a role, he's doing his best to fulfill that role, and has no intention of outlasting it- or rather, doesn't see himself as likely to.

Everything he does is calculated and in pursuit of the goal of the rebellion as he considers most likely to work/accounting for changing circumstances- and no further. In his own words, he's not driven by ego. Wanting him dead prematurely is just...pointless since we know it probably happens?

 

That’s understandable really. He’s duplicitous, disingenuous, manipulative, dude’s hard to pin down. I’m not sure what his real motivations are. He’s manipulating us (the audience) as well with his impassioned monologues and grandstanding. I can smell a twist.

Not in the classic sense, no grand revelation, more a case of his philosophy, when it’s explicitly revealed, will be seen to be at odds with the lofty ideals of the fledgling Rebel Alliance. I don’t think he really cares about liberty, democracy, or the ‘Vow’. I wonder whether revenge, or one-upmanship or a combination of the two are his motivating factors. He simply enjoys giving the Empire a bloody nose regardless of the cost.

My hot take is likely to be well off course, but given the deliberate shifty nature of the character it’s understandable.

 

Honestly I don't think there is a "twist" as such- other than "ex-Jedi" or something as his original motivation.

The guy thinks the Empire has to go and is going to die for that cause and will do what he thinks will make that happen, having laid the foundations for others to pick up his torch. We've seen him go mask off before- in the conversations about Andor being a loose end- and while he's manipulating almost everyone in every conversation, there's enough consistency between his half-truths and goal oriented conversations to piece together what he wants.

 

Stick nonsense aside, I don't know exactly how to articulate it but "ex-Jedi" doesn't feel right to me as an origin for Luthen.

Maybe it's because I'm not sure we need or will get a clear "origin" for Luthen. The idea of his character is that he has replaced his entire identity with the spirit of violent rebellion. Who he once was is irrelevant - there is nothing left of that person. If he allowed himself to believe that there was, then he's already lost. He has made his mind a sunless place with no future and no past that could be exploited by his enemies.

He is a walking ghost, the phantom of revolution, and when he's gone no one will know he was even there apart from the few individuals who he chose to appear to.

Maybe I'll be wrong, I often am, but to me the idea of Luthen's past remaining a total mystery is very appealing and in keeping with what we know about him currently.

If I had to guess an actual origin - perhaps he really was just an antiques dealer, or something adjacent to that. Historian, archivist, archaeologist. His interest in and knowledge of antiquities certainly seems genuine. His own past may not matter to him, but the past of others and the galaxy at large certainly does. Perhaps he studied history and was then recruited into Republic intelligence before it became the ISB.

 

It seemed to me like his anti tractor beam weapon was a bunch of shrapnel, and he used a clever trick, maxing out his engines as if attempting to escape, causing to imps to crank up the tractor beam to full power to keep him there, and then releasing the mass of shrapnel, which was then pulled back into the tractor beam dish like bullets because the tractor beam was pulling at such high power.

 

Yes. We see him "de-telescope" (probably a better word for it) it when he is on Ferrix the first time to meet Cassian.

I think we are heading for a situation where Bix fingers Kreegyr as the buyer, he is killed in the ambush before they can follow up on it, and everyone at ISB except Dedra believes that axis is off the table. I think the finale will actually put Luthen in a better position, not worse.