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selenakConsidering this prompt by bimo, it did occur to me that Syril Karn’s part of the Ghorman arc in the second season of Star Wars: Andor in a way is the Mirrorverse, twisted version of a rather popular trope.
You’ve heard this story before, most famously in movies like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. (Also Avatar, I guess, though here I’m going with popular osmosis, as I still haven’t watched those movies, and thus I may be wrong.) We have the representative of a somewhat imperial, at any rate militarily superior (to the location the story is set in) power, who is sent by said power in a somewhat undercover way. He observes the locals and starts to interact with them. At some point, he realises that there is a conflict between his mission (and/or he finds out that his mission isn’t what he originally signed up for) and this new community he has become a part of. He has a decision to make, and being the hero of the story, he chooses the locals. He then fights with them. Whether he saves the day (at which point current day audiences growl “white saviour trope”) or whether something more complicated happens (such as, say, our hero going mentally and emotionally to pieces; see also Lawrence of Arabia, and in some ways Dune (Messiah)) is a part of the story that depends on whether the narration wants to go for a happy ending or a tragedy.
All of which, though, depends on the character in question being the hero of the tale.
Syril Karn is an important character in the two seasons of Andor, but the hero, he’s not. (Not even the main villain or main antagonist, though the fact he thinks he’s Inspector Javert to Cassian Andor’s Jean Valjean, and Cassian hardly knows he exists, adds to the dark irony and pathos of his eventual fate.) Syril, who was have a lot of common ground with Javert, is someone whose dislike of chaos and disorder is a main motivation. (Hence his not letting go the deaths of the two imperial officials in the show pilot.) He’s on board with the Empire because the Empire to him embodies the fight against disorder and chaos, the lawful structure allowing for order, for the punishment of miscreants.Since Syril isn’t stud, he must be aware of the death toll, the euphemistically called harsh measures used to maintain “order” within the galaxy, imperial propaganda not withstanding, but early on, there is no indiction this isn’t a bargain he’s willing to make if the result is an orderly state. As Syril (like Javert) has no private life to speak of in s1, no friends, and his relationship with his mother is extremely dysfunctional, (maintaining/restoring) order is clearly his great passion in life. It becomes a bit more complicated when his relationship with Dedra starts because it is a mutually passionate one, but they seem to want the same things in life, so there is no true conflict. Note the “seem”, though. Dedra is ambitious in a way that Syril is not. I mean, Syril wants to be valued for his efforts as well, and very much doesn’t want to have superiors like the one he has as the start of the show anymore, but he’s not as set on making it to the top of the ISS as Dedra is.
Dedra’s decision to a) suggest her boyfriend as the Imperial mole on Ghorman, but b) not tell him anything about what the actual aim of the operation partly stems from this difference, partly, one presumes, because those were her orders (though through the show she does go against orders if she thinks she knows better) - and partly, I suppose, from the suspicion that Syril would not approve of the actual goal. And it’s interesting that she would think that, because it would suggest she sees in Syril someone whose dedication to order above chaos does go along with an idea that said order should preserve life more than it takes.
What Syril initially thinks he’s doing on Ghorman: infiltrating the local Resistance to track down parts of the larger Rebellion/Evil Galaxy Wide Terrorists. Basically, he thinks he’s a Le Carré hero and Dedra as well as her immediate superior in the IFS are Smiley. There is no reason to suppose he’s lying when saying the day he gets officially assigned this mission is the best day of his life. And at first, it all goes really well indeed. He easily finds local contacts. His cover story gets accepted, he socializes with the rebels in a way he didn’t with anyone else in his previous life. Even his cover job is way better and connected to respect than anything previously where he was stuck in Kafkaesque bureaucracy if he wasn’t being ignored or blamed by his superiors. Also, Ghorman is a beautiful planet, rather the opposite of Siberia; Space France instead of a desert world.
Following the above described trope, there comes the day when he realises what the actual goal of the entire operation is: genocide. He doesn’t know why - Ghorman is needed as an energy resource by the Empire -, but it is clear that what is happening is not about tracking down rebels, and that what is happening includes an orchestrated large scale massacre.
Now, if Syril were the hero of this tale, this would be his big turning point. He’d join the Ghor for real, proving his contrition and now genuine good intentions with some grand dramatic gesture, maybe he’d save some key Resistance member (and/or the two Ghor he was most in contact with) at the expense of his own life, or he’d help them escape. But Syril isn’t the hero, and Rebel!Syril is not in the cards. I find this more compelling than if he’d been narratively rewarded by the usual SW way, actually. It’s part of what makes Andor such a great show. There is no doubt Syril is increasingly horrified by what he witnesses in terms of the massacre. At the same time, what he sees as the personal betrayal part of this - the realisation Dedra had kept the truth from him all this time, that just as he had lied to the Ghor, he had been lied to by her - , seems to carry the same dramatic weight for him. Basically, what he sees destroyed are both fundaments of his existence: the idea of the Empire as Lawfully Good (if inclined to a few harsh measures now and then), and the one true personal connection he’s formed.
(Insert the irony here that for Dedra, this also was a true connection.)
I don’t think this is the same as having a lightning bulb “I was part of something evil, and now I must fight it” moment. Also, while the show did present us with scenes of Syril interacting with the Ghor in a friendly way (including some flirtation in one case, and with pseudo son/fatherly mentor overtones in the other), these weren’t given the same dramatic weight as his scenes with Dedra. Now do I think Syril got attached to Ghorman the planet and to the Ghor culture, as per the trope? Yes and no. I think he liked and appreciated Ghorman far, far more than he would have, say, enjoyed staying on a world populated by Wookies. But I also think that had he watched a massacre of Wookies in the exact same circumstances, he’d have been similarly appalled and disoriented. Moreover, what’s missing is the part of the tale where Syril decides that the values as presented by the new culture he’s been with for him outweigh the old ones. Turning his back on Dedra and crossing the barrier is as far as it goes, but to me it came across more as suicidal (subconsciously or not). Note the one thing that jolts Syril out of his horrified stupor isn’t, say, the impulse to save any one of all the Ghor getting massacred right in front of him. It’s the sight of Cassian Andor.
Basically, what’s Syril decides to do here is go back to his first original self from the show, or maybe “decide” is putting it to strongly. But what Cassian symbolizes is someone (other than himself or Dedra or the Empire) to blame for the awfulness he finds himself in, something concrete he can do - go after the culprit who all that time ago killed two Imperial officials, bring him down, arrest and/or kill him.
Like I said: Syril, after that final confrontation with Dedra, could have done any number of things. Not even just heroic ones like trying to rescue someone. He could also simply have decided to run away, get out of the blood bath, leave it behind. What he does do, though, is go after someone who has absolutely nothing to do (as far as he knows) with the current horror but is guilty of offenses he can comprehend. It’s not quite Javert jumping off the bridge, but it’s not that different, either. In both cases, the not-hero of the tale can't continue as he did before after having had an experience shattering the core of his beliefs about the world and his place in it. In both cases, concluding from this that a completely new existence under different parameters has to begin is impossible to him. I mean, the moment before Syril is shot by the elderly Ghor leader whom he doesn't even see coming is ambiguous. He has actually managed to defeat Cassian, he has him at gun point, and he doesn't immediately shoot. Why? It's possible the pointlessness dawns on him, especially since Cassian hasn't recognized him, but it could also be that he has no further plan, not for Cassian nor for himself. Marching a captured Cassian back to Imperial custory is out of the question, but I think throwing his gun away and joining the Rebellion is, too, at least for Syril as we've come to know him through two fantastic seasons.
In conclusion: it's not that he's "gone native" on Ghorman as per the trope; it's that he's only started to discover red lines and things he won't go along with, things he doesn't want, but has not found something he does want to belong to or fight for instead.
The other days
bimo, it did occur to me that Syril Karn’s part of the Ghorman arc in the second season of Star Wars: Andor in a way is the Mirrorverse, twisted version of a rather popular trope.You’ve heard this story before, most famously in movies like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. (Also Avatar, I guess, though here I’m going with popular osmosis, as I still haven’t watched those movies, and thus I may be wrong.) We have the representative of a somewhat imperial, at any rate militarily superior (to the location the story is set in) power, who is sent by said power in a somewhat undercover way. He observes the locals and starts to interact with them. At some point, he realises that there is a conflict between his mission (and/or he finds out that his mission isn’t what he originally signed up for) and this new community he has become a part of. He has a decision to make, and being the hero of the story, he chooses the locals. He then fights with them. Whether he saves the day (at which point current day audiences growl “white saviour trope”) or whether something more complicated happens (such as, say, our hero going mentally and emotionally to pieces; see also Lawrence of Arabia, and in some ways Dune (Messiah)) is a part of the story that depends on whether the narration wants to go for a happy ending or a tragedy.
All of which, though, depends on the character in question being the hero of the tale.
Syril Karn is an important character in the two seasons of Andor, but the hero, he’s not. (Not even the main villain or main antagonist, though the fact he thinks he’s Inspector Javert to Cassian Andor’s Jean Valjean, and Cassian hardly knows he exists, adds to the dark irony and pathos of his eventual fate.) Syril, who was have a lot of common ground with Javert, is someone whose dislike of chaos and disorder is a main motivation. (Hence his not letting go the deaths of the two imperial officials in the show pilot.) He’s on board with the Empire because the Empire to him embodies the fight against disorder and chaos, the lawful structure allowing for order, for the punishment of miscreants.Since Syril isn’t stud, he must be aware of the death toll, the euphemistically called harsh measures used to maintain “order” within the galaxy, imperial propaganda not withstanding, but early on, there is no indiction this isn’t a bargain he’s willing to make if the result is an orderly state. As Syril (like Javert) has no private life to speak of in s1, no friends, and his relationship with his mother is extremely dysfunctional, (maintaining/restoring) order is clearly his great passion in life. It becomes a bit more complicated when his relationship with Dedra starts because it is a mutually passionate one, but they seem to want the same things in life, so there is no true conflict. Note the “seem”, though. Dedra is ambitious in a way that Syril is not. I mean, Syril wants to be valued for his efforts as well, and very much doesn’t want to have superiors like the one he has as the start of the show anymore, but he’s not as set on making it to the top of the ISS as Dedra is.
Dedra’s decision to a) suggest her boyfriend as the Imperial mole on Ghorman, but b) not tell him anything about what the actual aim of the operation partly stems from this difference, partly, one presumes, because those were her orders (though through the show she does go against orders if she thinks she knows better) - and partly, I suppose, from the suspicion that Syril would not approve of the actual goal. And it’s interesting that she would think that, because it would suggest she sees in Syril someone whose dedication to order above chaos does go along with an idea that said order should preserve life more than it takes.
What Syril initially thinks he’s doing on Ghorman: infiltrating the local Resistance to track down parts of the larger Rebellion/Evil Galaxy Wide Terrorists. Basically, he thinks he’s a Le Carré hero and Dedra as well as her immediate superior in the IFS are Smiley. There is no reason to suppose he’s lying when saying the day he gets officially assigned this mission is the best day of his life. And at first, it all goes really well indeed. He easily finds local contacts. His cover story gets accepted, he socializes with the rebels in a way he didn’t with anyone else in his previous life. Even his cover job is way better and connected to respect than anything previously where he was stuck in Kafkaesque bureaucracy if he wasn’t being ignored or blamed by his superiors. Also, Ghorman is a beautiful planet, rather the opposite of Siberia; Space France instead of a desert world.
Following the above described trope, there comes the day when he realises what the actual goal of the entire operation is: genocide. He doesn’t know why - Ghorman is needed as an energy resource by the Empire -, but it is clear that what is happening is not about tracking down rebels, and that what is happening includes an orchestrated large scale massacre.
Now, if Syril were the hero of this tale, this would be his big turning point. He’d join the Ghor for real, proving his contrition and now genuine good intentions with some grand dramatic gesture, maybe he’d save some key Resistance member (and/or the two Ghor he was most in contact with) at the expense of his own life, or he’d help them escape. But Syril isn’t the hero, and Rebel!Syril is not in the cards. I find this more compelling than if he’d been narratively rewarded by the usual SW way, actually. It’s part of what makes Andor such a great show. There is no doubt Syril is increasingly horrified by what he witnesses in terms of the massacre. At the same time, what he sees as the personal betrayal part of this - the realisation Dedra had kept the truth from him all this time, that just as he had lied to the Ghor, he had been lied to by her - , seems to carry the same dramatic weight for him. Basically, what he sees destroyed are both fundaments of his existence: the idea of the Empire as Lawfully Good (if inclined to a few harsh measures now and then), and the one true personal connection he’s formed.
(Insert the irony here that for Dedra, this also was a true connection.)
I don’t think this is the same as having a lightning bulb “I was part of something evil, and now I must fight it” moment. Also, while the show did present us with scenes of Syril interacting with the Ghor in a friendly way (including some flirtation in one case, and with pseudo son/fatherly mentor overtones in the other), these weren’t given the same dramatic weight as his scenes with Dedra. Now do I think Syril got attached to Ghorman the planet and to the Ghor culture, as per the trope? Yes and no. I think he liked and appreciated Ghorman far, far more than he would have, say, enjoyed staying on a world populated by Wookies. But I also think that had he watched a massacre of Wookies in the exact same circumstances, he’d have been similarly appalled and disoriented. Moreover, what’s missing is the part of the tale where Syril decides that the values as presented by the new culture he’s been with for him outweigh the old ones. Turning his back on Dedra and crossing the barrier is as far as it goes, but to me it came across more as suicidal (subconsciously or not). Note the one thing that jolts Syril out of his horrified stupor isn’t, say, the impulse to save any one of all the Ghor getting massacred right in front of him. It’s the sight of Cassian Andor.
Basically, what’s Syril decides to do here is go back to his first original self from the show, or maybe “decide” is putting it to strongly. But what Cassian symbolizes is someone (other than himself or Dedra or the Empire) to blame for the awfulness he finds himself in, something concrete he can do - go after the culprit who all that time ago killed two Imperial officials, bring him down, arrest and/or kill him.
Like I said: Syril, after that final confrontation with Dedra, could have done any number of things. Not even just heroic ones like trying to rescue someone. He could also simply have decided to run away, get out of the blood bath, leave it behind. What he does do, though, is go after someone who has absolutely nothing to do (as far as he knows) with the current horror but is guilty of offenses he can comprehend. It’s not quite Javert jumping off the bridge, but it’s not that different, either. In both cases, the not-hero of the tale can't continue as he did before after having had an experience shattering the core of his beliefs about the world and his place in it. In both cases, concluding from this that a completely new existence under different parameters has to begin is impossible to him. I mean, the moment before Syril is shot by the elderly Ghor leader whom he doesn't even see coming is ambiguous. He has actually managed to defeat Cassian, he has him at gun point, and he doesn't immediately shoot. Why? It's possible the pointlessness dawns on him, especially since Cassian hasn't recognized him, but it could also be that he has no further plan, not for Cassian nor for himself. Marching a captured Cassian back to Imperial custory is out of the question, but I think throwing his gun away and joining the Rebellion is, too, at least for Syril as we've come to know him through two fantastic seasons.
In conclusion: it's not that he's "gone native" on Ghorman as per the trope; it's that he's only started to discover red lines and things he won't go along with, things he doesn't want, but has not found something he does want to belong to or fight for instead.
The other days
