Andor’s Twin Ghorman Massacres Are a Excellent Technique to Re-Canonize Legends

Ever because it was first teased that Andor‘s second season was getting ready to indicate the tragedy that set the stage for the formal formation of the Rebel Alliance, there’s equally been dialogue of the truth that there are two Ghorman Massacres. The one we’re about to be taught a lot extra about on this week’s batch of episodes, and the very totally different model of occasions that passed off in Star Wars‘ previous Expanded Universe. Would we be getting one thing new, or one thing impressed by the story that had come earlier than? Andor merely responded: why not each?

Though this week’s episodes are primed to ignite the simmering tensions for what is going to turn out to be the Ghorman Bloodbath—the one which sparks Mon Mothma to publicly rail towards Palpatine’s authoritarianism, flee the Senate, and name for the Alliance to Restore the Republic—last week’s act of Andor season two took us to Ghorman early to discover the planet’s resistance to the Empire. We be taught fairly rapidly throughout that exploration that whereas tensions between the Ghor and the Empire are at an all time excessive for the time being (due to a marketing campaign the Empire’s enacting to satisfy its secret want to mine the world for assets it must construct the Demise Star), disdain for the regime is not only up to date feeling on the world.

There has already been a bloodbath on Ghorman as soon as. The Tarkin one.

This Tarkin bloodbath matches lots of the particulars of what was the first Ghorman Bloodbath in Star Wars‘ previous EU: it passed off comparatively early on in reign of the Empire, it concerned a younger Tarkin slaughtering a whole bunch of unarmed Ghorman protestors by touchdown a cruiser on them, it sparked wider public blowback to the Imperial regime. It’s, for all intents and function, the EU’s Ghorman Bloodbath reconstituted into present Star Wars continuity. However crucially, it’s not the incident that takes that identify. The brand new story doesn’t erase the EU one, it weaves it into historical past, and creates thematic and narrative depth by selecting to say that it was not one or the opposite, however each.

Now, Ghorman’s historical past of resistance holds up a mirror to the cyclical battle echoed all through the broader Star Wars saga—and crucially, the Empire’s cruelty, the Tarkin Doctrine of worry crushing dissent, is given a deadly flaw. Ghorman didn’t break within the wake of this primary Imperial atrocity, it remembered its previous and fought regardless, and though we’re solely on the cusp of studying the complete particulars of this newest one, we all know the planet’s resistance will encourage larger pushback towards the Empire within the wake of it, laying the groundwork for open galactic civil warfare and the Empire’s fall in its wake. It’s an excellent parallel to the primary season’s classes with Nemik, the concept that fascist management by means of energy will be damaged if solely folks attempt, and hold attempting, to not bend within the face of it.

And most significantly, it’s texture that issues extra than simply checking off a recognized identify or occasion. Andor doesn’t nudge and level when it makes notice of the Tarkin bloodbath; for those who weren’t already acquainted that this was a recognized factor from the EU it would as effectively simply have been an natural piece of background info. It’s woven into the narrative within the second, to not disrupt the present story, however additional enrich it. It’s one thing the collection has executed a stunning quantity of, from offhand mentions of the Rakatans to the oodles of Easter eggs in Luthen’s antiques collections: it treats Star Wars‘ “legends” as historical past, one thing to offer colour and context however to not essentially dictate the story it’s telling within the right here and now.

The purpose of evoking the Tarkin bloodbath isn’t merely to say “right here is that factor from that different time” and name it a day, however to acknowledge the storytelling potential of recognizing these twinned variations of this similar occasion, and realizing it’s extra attention-grabbing to have each co-exist somewhat than cancel out one or the opposite. In spite of everything, there ought to at all times be a little bit fact in legends.

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