“There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
And then remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that.
And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.
Remember this. Try.”
“It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.”
“It’s better to live. Better to eat, sleep, do what you want.“
I AM FERAL FOR THIS PARALLEL, that it’s not just Cassian and Jyn’s arcs paralleling each other, but that this is what Star Wars as a whole is about, that every era has said, “Neutrality in the face of evil is not just.” It’s not without sympathy for those who are just trying to live, just trying to put food in their bellies, but that the galaxy must still stand up against oppression when a regime is committing this level of atrocities.
When a regime is strip-mining planets and killing not just the planet but the people in the way of it, when a regime is kidnapping and torturing people for their resources, when a government is starving people deliberately to get what they want, it is not just to put your head down and ignore it, not when there’s something you can fight back against.
This isn’t new, this has always been what Star Wars is about, from the originals to the prequels to Rogue One to Andor now, it’s about how active evil is not something you can just be neutral about, how oppression and injustice are not something you can just be neutral about, how no government is ever perfect, but the ones that are actively killing people because they want those resources, you cannot just look away from that.
“His first day was on location with Kylie Minogue, but all eyes, even Kylie’s, were on Bernard. He’d turned up with a suitcase full of props, just in case, including a rubber chicken. And what an actor. Oh, really though, what a wonderful actor. We once took him to the TV Choice Awards and sent him up on his own to collect the award, and the entire room stood up and cheered him. That’s a lovely memory. He’d phone up and say, ‘I’ve got an idea! What if I attack a Dalek with a paintball gun?!’ Okay, Bernard, in it went! He loved Gill with all his heart; he mentioned her in every conversation we ever had. A love story for the ages. I’m so lucky to have known him. Thanks for everything, my old soldier. A legend has left the world.” — Russell T. Davies
BERNARD JOSEPH CRIBBINS, OBE (29th December 1928—28th July 2022)