A Profile Of Luthen Rael
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Andor Season 2 gave us a good deal more information about the background of Luthen Rael, though it did not answer every question. Even so, with the character’s story having reached a definitive end date, CultureSlate wanted to look back over the character’s life, explore this new information, suggest some theories on the open areas of his life, and finally assess the philosophy that drove the spymaster in life.
Luthen And Kleya
We know that likely early into the reign of the Empire, Luthen was a member of the Imperial military. Whether he joined up during the Clone Wars, perhaps as part of a planetary army and was grandfathered into the Imperial system, or joined shortly after the Wars is unknown at this time. A small detail on a StarWars.com article suggests he first met Kleya at around 17 BBY, meaning he could have been part of the army for several years.
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It would seem that by the time Luthen met Kleya though, he was thoroughly done serving in the military. It is also possible that the slaughter of the inhabitants of a muddy or rainy world, in which he had participated, finally broke him. It was in that moment that he found Kleya hiding aboard an Imperial shuttle. This one event properly changed his life, as it would seem he left the military and resolved to look out for Kleya, with the two soon entering the world of antiques and artifacts. We don’t know if Luthen already had an interest in the field, but it would seem they quickly generated revenue and soon found themselves on Naboo.
It was here that Luthen gave Kleya a choice. Having attached charges to Imperial troop transport vehicles, he gave her the detonator and let her take the step that would make both of them true rebels. Kleya chose the detonator, and the two then walked away, confirmed in their new path in life. Over the coming years, Luthen and Kleya would become notable in the antiquities world, their trip to Naboo probably the source for the many Naboo artifacts that would populate the shop they eventually began running on Coruscant. He mastered the art of deception during this time as well, presenting as an affable antiquities dealer catering to an upper-crust clientele, when in reality he was so much more.
Luthen And Mon Mothma
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It is currently unclear when and how Luthen and Kleya’s operations encountered those of Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and the fledgling Rebel Alliance. The Mask of Fear showed us the first meeting between Bail, Mon, and Saw Gerrera, with no indication of a character like Luthen, which makes sense given Luthen would have still been in the military or yet to join by the time the book ends. It is likely that over the coming decade, with Luthen’s profile growing as an antiques dealer, and his reach expanded, operations he and Kleya quietly ushered along could have resulted in an encounter with the Fulcrum network, or other agents serving Mothma or the Organas. It may even be that Mothma herself was briefly pulled into an operation that required her status as a Senator for some element of cover or access, only to go awry or encounter Luthen’s organization.
Whatever the origin of this relationship, it seems likely that Luthen proposed he serve as a middleman between Mothma and figures like Saw Gerrera, helping funnel money and maintain a line of indirect communication as the Empire reached the peak of its power. This position does not seem to have been offered to Bail Organa, though perhaps he and Breha also visited the shop in tense, metaphor-wrapped scenes we have yet to view in current storytelling. It does seem doubtful, though, as Bail took many more risks himself, as seen in Rebels, where he sends his own droids to spy on the Empire and shows himself to the Spectres openly as helping them in the fight against the Empire. Bail often got very involved himself, even if he could always operate with a degree of secrecy. It is an ironic situation that he is the one who stays in the Senate at the end of the 19 years building up to A New Hope, whereas Mon, who had layers between herself and figures like Saw, fled despite no immediate threats to her person.
Luthen In The Field
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An important detail about the relationship between Luthen and Kleya that was stated by Tony Gilroy is the great significance of Kleya in their operation. While she plays the part of assistant at the antique shop, Gilroy holds that she was the real driving force behind the operations the two organized. This makes sense, as Luthen had a military background, and set the stage to help Kleya achieve her goals as her guardian figure. They were a true partnership, but likely to conceal the nature of their operation, Luthen was the one doing all of the legwork. He traveled across the galaxy, recruiting agents, forging connections with various resistance organizations, and likely doling out Mon Mothma’s money to figures like Saw Gerrera. He also gave out copies of Kleya’s special fractal radios, a form of communication she mastered, which allowed their vast network of informants to keep the two in the know about various topics.
It was through these meetings that he made links with people like Bix on Ferrix and Kellen on Mina-Rau, but another question we are left with is just how he was able to make a connection with Lonni Jung, a Supervisor within the ISB. It is possible he connected with Lonni when he was in a lower post, or he was inserted from the very start as Luthen’s man, though whatever their relationship, it was not an easy one. Luthen pushed his agents hard, though he never lacked empathy, given the whole reason he turned against the Empire was because of what happened on Kleya’s world. It was the straw that broke the dewback’s hump.
Luthen And The Sunrise
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But let’s spend our final moments of this article devoted to Luthen’s ideology, which also crosses into the above discussion of Lonni Jung. In his infamous speech held in the underbelly of Coruscant to the wavering ISB Supervisor, Luthen speaks of the sunrise he will never see as he burns away his own soul and conscience for the cause of freedom. He passionately believes in sacrifices for the greater good, and also believes in forcing a conflict to happen by pushing the Empire to make moves they would have done anyway, but to do so quicker and harsher than is to be expected.
This position is controversial in universe, with Mon Mothma having objections to Luthen’s ideas and missions, but it is also controversial out of universe. He is not just poking the bear, he is hitting it with a stick, and then hiding in a bush as it mauls someone else, only for that person’s friends and family to react to the event. His mindset follows similar lines of thought to Saw Gerrera, where the galaxy is at war, but people don’t yet realize it. Making them realize it, by any means necessary, is Luthen’s mission. Kleya already knows because of what happened to her and her people, aliens like the Twi’leks of Ryloth and Wookiees know it too, but the rest of the galaxy ignores these groups to focus on their day-to-day. Of course, Luthen does not know that his actions, to foster the Rebellion by any means necessary, are perhaps one of the few things that end up saving the galaxy in A New Hope. If he and Kleya had not been in operation, poking the bear and driving the Empire to extremes, the Rebel Alliance might have been smaller, and less organized when the Death Star was finally revealed.
Such a weapon also makes “smaller” concerns like morality and justice hard to quantify when faced with a power that willingly kills billions in an instant. That is not any kind of justice or rule of law, yet Luthen engineering events that get good people killed, that allow people to walk into traps for torture and death even when he could save them or better help them, isn’t just either. To him, it is simply necessary, and he might be right. But we still see a Rebellion in A New Hope, and beyond that does not follow Luthen’s mindset. Like many revolutionaries, his original methods and ideas were ultimately abandoned by the group he helped to found. His and Kleya’s ways for triggering an uprising are both of the past and off the books. He does not get to see his sunrise, and maybe Kleya does if she survives long enough, but many billions after the rise of the Empire do. Even the brief eclipse of the First Order cannot stop this sun, and it ultimately shines bright over the galaxy.
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Source(s): Andor, StarWars.com, Nerdist
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