By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
As a general rule, TV lovers don’t take Easter eggs all that seriously. After all, these are usually nothing more than little in-jokes inserted into an episode by someone trying to keep themselves amused. Every now and then, though, an Easter egg introduces some absolutely game-changing ramifications for a fictional universe. That’s exactly what happened in the Andor episode “Announcement,” but most Star Wars fans didn’t notice because the Easter Egg is almost impossible to read.
By the end of this episode, Cassian Andor is arrested by a Stormtrooper and sentenced to six years in prison despite having committed no crime other than trying to reason with a space cop. Like much of the show, this episode emphasizes the banality of evil and demonstrates how the cogs of fascism are oiled by bureaucracy as much as blood. Look closely at some data plates in this episode, and you can see what various inmates have been arrested for. One hapless prisoner was arrested for “suspected Force sensitivity,” which secretly explains how the Empire kept a stranglehold on the galaxy without firing a single shot.
Hope You Brought Your Decoder Ring
In “Announcement,” the prisoner arrested for suspected Force activity is not an actual character. The name given is Keith Seymoure, which is an homage to an Andor set decoration concept artist of the same name. Of course, you can’t easily read any of this because the data plate in question is written in Aurabesh, the fake language that characters in Star Wars used to communicate in Galactic Basic. If you know how to read Aurabesh (there are a frightening number of guides online), it’s quite easy to translate what the data plates say.
Keith’s plate has two charges listed on it. First, he was charged with assaulting an Imperial officer, which makes sense. The Empire would obviously want to discourage violence against Stormtroopers or other Imperial agents, especially as the influence of the Rebellion grows. The second charge, though, is more intriguing. According to the data plate, Keith was also arrested because authorities suspected he could use the Force.
An Intergalactic Witchhunt
Now, it would theoretically be possible to scan samples of prisoners’ blood for midichlorians to determine whether they were Force-sensitive or not. This is exactly what Qui-Gon Jinn does to verify that Anakin Skywalker is strong in the Force. But we never see Imperials in Andor make an attempt to do so. Given the show’s extremely bleak portrayal of Imperial justice, it seems likely that most officers don’t care if the charge is true or whether or not they can prove it. Instead, this becomes the Star Wars equivalent of an ongoing witch hunt, allowing the Empire to track, arrest, and execute anyone they dislike.
It’s a brilliant strategy, really. In addition to giving the Empire a reason to casually arrest innocent people, a law outlawing Force-sensitives helps keep people scared of the Jedi. This law paints Jedi as criminals and makes people scared of even associating with someone who can use the Force. At the same time, it effectively encourages citizens to report any unusual activity from their friends, family, and neighbors. Over time, this would likely lead to the arrest, interrogation, and execution of more than a few actual Force-sensitives. Mostly, though, this law does what the Empire does best: keeps everyone in line through fear.
When Revenge of the Sith came out, many of us were shocked that all of these powerful Jedi were taken out by Clone Troopers. As it turns out, magic powers and a laser sword can only do so much when enough people are shooting at you. Now, Andor has revealed that Jedi can be defeated by something far more insidious than military might: nosy neighbors. Thanks to this law, anyone can be arrested at any time and held indefinitely for “crimes” they didn’t even commit. Is this terrifying stuff? Absolutely. But what else were you expecting from an Empire led by a lightning-shooting monster and his asthmatic robot gimp?
