Andor’s Mothers of the Rebellion

Parenting is full of challenges, tough decisions, and mistakes even in a galaxy far, far away.

Being a mother is arguably the only thing that Maarva Andor, Mon Mothma, and Eedy Karn have in common in Andor’s first season. While many Star Wars stories have maternal characters like Shmi Skywalker, Breha Organa, and Padmé Amidala, the mother-child dynamic plays out in three distinct ways throughout Andor’s first twelve episodes. Their stories helped the series personalize the struggles raised by the Galactic Empire and gave audiences a new look into the past of Cassian Andor, the complex double life of Mon Mothma, and added depth to one of Andor’s most memorable new characters, Syril Karn. 

“You can’t stay, and I can’t go”

Up until the series debut, pretty much everything we knew about Cassian Andor’s past  came from one line in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old.” In Andor’s second episode, “That Would Be Me,” audiences meet Maarva Andor — the woman who changed the trajectory of Cassian’s life as a boy. When Maarva first lays eyes on Cassian — then known as Kassa — on Kenari, he is frightened and alone on a crashed Republic ship. Kassa and Maarva don’t speak the same language, but Maarva is immediately focused on his plight. Believing his life is in danger from approaching Republic forces, Maarva intervenes and brings Kassa aboard her ship.

The past still haunts Cassian as he continues to search for his sister, who was left on Kenari, years later, but the love between Cassian and Maarva — now as mother and son — on Ferrix is undeniable. Cassian worries about how cold Maarva’s living quarters are and makes sure the family droid B2EMO keeps a close eye on her. After years of solidifying a new backstory for Cassian to protect him, Maarva panics when a police alert goes out for a man from Kenari and warns her son that one day he won’t be able to talk himself out of trouble. While Maarva worries about her son’s defiance, she clearly set an example for that behavior at home. When Morlana One corp security enters Maarva’s home looking for Cassian, she scorns and shames the guards, hiding her concern and her tears for her son until after the guards leave.

And after Cassian returns home to a now Imperial-occupied Ferrix, Maarva sets the two on different paths. Cassian wants Maarva to leave Ferrix with him so they can go someplace safe, while Maarva, inspired by the rebels from Aldhani, is now more determined than ever to stay and fight with the emerging rebellion at home. Cassian doesn’t tell his mother about his involvement at the rebel heist and he doesn’t understand her decision to stay, but he respects it as he leaves for Niamos. 

Maarva is not only an important figure in Cassian’s life but also the tight-knit Ferrix community where she served as a previous president of the Daughters of Ferrix. Her death, just months after her refusal to leave with Cassian, would ultimately unite her community and spark a local rebellion against the Empire. In a recorded broadcast projected from her droid B2EMO above the crowded Ferrix streets, Maarva talks of the festering wound of Imperial rule at the center of the galaxy and her regret for not standing up and fighting it earlier. Her call for action incites a riot on Rix Road, with the locals coming to blows against Imperial troops. If only Maarva could have known that one of the rebels at Aldhani who inspired her near the end, and who was secretly listening to her words from beyond the grave, was her beloved son.

“That’s so hurtful”

Through movies, TV series, books, and comics, audiences have witnessed Mon Mothma’s valiant fight against the Empire from its birth through the turbulent post-Empire years of the New Republic. But fans only recently realized one of Mothma’s most challenging struggles was much more personal. Andor’s Mon Mothma is not only the influential senator from Chandrila and a central figure of a secret and emerging rebellion — she’s the mother of a teenage daughter who wants nothing to do with her.

Mon Mothma’s introduction to audiences as a mother is a masterclass of mother-teenage daughter conflict. From the dining table, a mother calls for her teenage daughter who is late to leave for school and hasn’t had anything to eat. As C-3PO might say, “How typical.” Mon Mothma and her daughter Leida’s ensuing interaction is cold — bordering on hostile — with Leida accusing her mother of only wanting to take her to school to show off to the public, pretending to be an involved parent. Mothma’s husband, Perrin, does nothing to soften Leida’s words to her mother. A few things become clear during this interaction. Mother and daughter are not close and likely haven’t been for some time, while things are perhaps even more strained with Perrin.

Perhaps Mothma’s time and focus on helping to secretly fund rebel activities has led to a disconnect between Mothma and her child. But should Mothma have acted differently or shared her dangerous activities with Leida to explain her frequent absences and secretive meetings? Or would that disconnect between a mother and her teenage daughter have been there even if Mothma was an Imperial loyalist? Mon Mothma, like all mothers who make hard choices, will never know.

Later on in the series, audiences learn Leida has a growing interest in old Chadrilan customs, which include marrying young, alarming Mothma and her cousin, Vel Sartha. Mon clearly feels uncomfortable with her daughter embracing such traditions, but she also sees that it's one of the only things that seems to make her daughter happy. As Mon continues to struggle to connect with her daughter, activity in her personal bank accounts soon brings unwanted attention from the Empire.

The solution for Mothma’s woes painfully involves her daughter as the corrupt Chandrilan banker Davo Sculdun requires the formal introduction of Mothma’s daughter and his son in exchange for helping Mon hide her recent financial transactions. Whether Leida is trying to follow in her parents’ footsteps, rebel against her mother, or break free from Mon entirely, the sad truth remains that Leida has no idea who her mother really is. 

You can come home again. But do you want to?

Rounding out the trio of mothers in Andor is Eedy Karn. While Eedy’s son, Syril, wants to make a name for himself with Preox-Morlana and later the Empire, Eedy just wants Syril to fit in and make a good impression to protect her standing in the community.

We meet Eedy when Syril comes home to Coruscant after being fired from his job as Deputy Inspector on Morlana One. It’s a jarring reunion. Eedy meets her son at the door with a slap, quickly followed by a tearful embrace, a moment that tells audiences volumes about the unhealthy relationship and history between mother and son.

Over many tense meals at their dining table, where Eedy likely served her son hundreds of bowls of blue-colored cereal in the past, Eedy shows she is overly concerned about her son’s appearance, his slouching, and how he presents himself. Rather than listening to her son or encouraging him during a time when he is clearly struggling, Eedy repeatedly doubts and dismisses him. Who Syril is and what he is interested in do not matter to Eedy. We never hear her ask what happened at his old job. While she lays on the guilt about not seeing him sooner, she doesn’t listen when Syril points out that she could have easily visited him at his posting.

Eedy frets about his future (which is arguably tied to her own) and seeks out the help of Uncle Harlo to set her son back on the right path. The expected path. The safe path. While Syril’s choice to align himself with the Empire may not be relatable to much of Andor’s audience, his struggles to get his mother to take him seriously are painfully relatable. And the lack of acceptance Syril experiences at home helps explain why he is so desperate to gain admiration and a sense of meaning from his work, no matter what choices he has to make to get there

Maarva Andor, Mon Mothma, and Eedy Karn are much more than just mothers in Andor’s first season, but their relationships with their children help to illustrate the multitude of challenges each character faces. And while audiences may agree or disagree with the choices these three women made as parents, it’s hard not to find them relatable.

See what’s next for Cassian, Leida, and Syril in Andor Season 2, now streaming on Disney+.