| “ | What is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life, to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror, or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? EVERYTHING! | „ |
| ~ Luthen Rael to Lonni Jung, discussing his motives. |
Luthen Rael is the deuteragonist of the 2022 Disney+ Star Wars series Andor. An antiques dealer in Coruscant and a covert Rebel leader, Luthen Rael was instrumental in the early days of the Rebellion to procure funds and recruits to overthrow the increasingly tyrannical Galactic Empire. He is also Cassian Andor's superior after he joined the Rebellion.
He is played by Stellan Skarsgard.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He is one of the pioneers of the Rebel Alliance.
- Due to his job as an antiques dealer, Luthen operated the early Rebellion at the very heart of the Empire, Coruscant, despite the ISB and other Imperial officials constantly searching for him.
- He allied with Bix Caleen to procure precious Imperial equipment to strengthen the Rebellion.
- Due to the Empire's crackdown on even the slightest token of resistance, Luthen kept his movements secret from the other Rebel cells in case some leader got captured and spilled everything on him.
- He successfully had Lonni Jung infiltrate the imperial security bureau itself, leading to him always being up to date about the ISBs inner workings while occasionally feeding Jung intel to benefit his rise.
- His paranoia is justified for many reasons:
- As he is based on Coruscant itself, if anyone tells the ISB about him, he would have limited time to pack up his resources to flee.
- Due to Mon Mothma being his major financier as well as one of the dwindling voices of reason in the Senate by 5 BBY, Luthen's secretive measures also protect her and her family from the Empire's retribution.
- Despite being wary of Skeen and later wanting to kill Cassian, he only wanted to do so, so that Cassian could not tell anything about him. As the Empire has perfected a brutal torture device to cower dissidents into revealing everything to stop the pain, Luthen's paranoia regarding Cassian himself is actually justified.
- Despite Luthen himself becoming more and more ruthless when operating the Rebellion, like sacrificing Anto Kreegyr's entire cell to protect Lonni Jung, it was because Lonni is right among the officers reporting directly to Partagaz, the head of the ISB, so keeping him safe is a way to prevent the ISB from committing greater atrocities in the name of peace.
- He is also immensely regretful for it and knows he has no place in the New Republic which will be formed due to his cruelty.
- Saved Cassian from the crackdown on Ferrix by the Pre-Mor forces, even anticipating this despite Karn's single-minded drive for justice throwing a wrench onto his plans.
- Knowing that Cassian loathes the Empire due to killing his adoptive father Clem, Luthen sincerely requested him to join the Rebellion to give him a chance of retribution.
- Despite wanting to overthrow the Empire, Luthen is polite towards the Imperial Senators, maintaining his cover.
- Only allowed Vel to be aware of his identity, even hiding from the other Rebel cell members like Nemik and Gorn despite their complete commitment to the rebel cause due to being paranoid for his safety, which was justified as Skeen was only for himself and would have likely told the Empire everything if he got captured.
- Masterminded the heist on Aldhani, which is a tactical and financial success, with the Aldhani Cell stealing more than 80 million credits from the Empire.
- Luthen later revealed to Mon Mothma he would have won even if the heist would have failed: while they succeeded, they would have gotten the money, even though they all failed, the publicity of the heist would have led to the Empire stepping up its repressive methods to show its power and thus driving recruitment to the Rebellion as well as its funding anyways.
- Luthen's gambit proved to be right, as Palpatine later ordered Yularen to flush out the Rebels, PORD was enacted which led to massive repression across the galaxy, thus leading to Cassian and Ruescott Melshi joining the Rebellion.
- When Saw correctly suspected him of masterminding the Aldhani Heist, Luthen pretended to know nothing about it and even told Saw he suspected him for the heist, diverting Saw's suspicions.
- Outfitted his starship with various security measures in order to obfuscate his true identity and destination whenever necessary, as he constantly travels the galaxy to meet with fellow rebel leaders, he has to hide his ship details from the Empire.
- When Saw was getting paranoid over Luthen's ruthlessness and vast network, he lies to him about one of his men being his contact and then uses the distraction to hold Saw at gunpoint and convince him they're on the same side.
- Despite everything, he still wanted Saw to choose between saving Kreegyr and sacrificing his cell, and honestly assured him he would follow whatever Saw decided. After Saw realized the importance of protecting the high-ranked mole in the ISB and reluctantly accepted Luthen's idea, he assured him they were doing the best thing to defeat the ISB in the future.
- When the Empire's routine patrol nearly caught him due to ordering a "surprise" check for practice, Luthen tricked the officials by letting them use their tractor beam on his ship, and then shredding their ship using countermeasures, thus making his escape and none of the Empire having any idea about him.
- Ultimately welcomes Cassian into the rebel alliance with a warm smile after being impressed by his newfound commitment.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- Luthen's entire modus operandi is to shake the status quo of the complacent populace and to open their eyes to the cruelty of the Empire, which he does by provoking the Empire into committing greater atrocities, thus causing a great loss of lives.
- Tried to kill Cassian despite all his help, so that Cassian could not say anything to the ISB.
- When Lonni Jung wanted out from the Rebellion, he implicitly threatened his newborn daughter to get him to stay.
- When Luthen learned about the Empire knowing about an upcoming rebel raid by separatist Anto Kreegyr he refused to warn Kreegyr, letting his entire cell die to protect his forces and lull the ISB into a false sense of security.
External Links[]
- Luthen Rael at the Heroes wiki
- Luthen Rael at the Star Wars wiki
[]
 Magnificent Baddies
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Bounty Hunters Confederacy of Independent Systems Galactic Empire Other Sith and Dark Side Force-Users Others | ||