Mon Mothma deserved a spot among the galaxy far, far away’s most revered rebels long before Andor. Her importance to the Rebellion was clear when she made her brief Star Wars debut in Return of the Jedi as a leader of the movement. Other movies and series, like Rebels, Rogue One, and Ahsoka, have since shown why Mon Mothma was vital to both bringing down the Empire and to rebuilding the Republic. But Andor is doing more than just expanding the Chandrila senator’s story. The show, with the help of a truly incredible performance from Genevieve O’Reilly, is making the case Mon Mothma is Star Wars greatest hero.
Many of the most powerful, politically connected, and wealthy among us don’t use their enormous resources to make society better or more equitable. They use their status to enrich themselves further. They use it to entrench their place above us all, even if that means allowing evil empires to thrive. Some help tyranny flourish with passive silence. Others eagerly take a place beside their emperor, believing their very support makes oppression righteous.
In the real world, Mon Mothma—a wealthy, beautiful politician from a planet of opulence, secure in her position—probably wouldn’t even oppose Palpatine. She’d be far more likely to join his cabinet. But the galaxy far, far away is a place of heroes, and there, Mon Mothma personifies one of our own world’s most principled ideals. It’s an idea found in ancient religious texts and modern superhero stories alike. Mon Mothma is the living embodiment of “to whom much is given, much shall be required,” because “with great power comes great responsibility.”
She has always used her position and clout to call out injustice. Mon Mothma stands for freedom. She stands for good. Mon Mothma has a voice and uses it to speak for those who cannot in Star Wars‘ world. Her sole cause is the cause of the countless anonymous people suffering under a fascist Imperial boot.
Mon Mothma is not special because she is a singular hero in Star Wars, though. Others showed the same kind of bravery in the face of pure evil. Her late friend Padmé Amidala and a handful of other Senators also began fighting back against Palpatine even before Order 66. What Andor has revealed, especially in the first three episodes of season two, is Mon Mothma took on more responsibility than any of them. She fought the Empire on two fronts. She was the public face of opposition in the Senate while also secretly fighting a covert battle in the shadows. And she did both while sacrificing her own happiness in ways many never will.
Star Wars‘ Senator Mothma, who had everything to lose, was the hero the galaxy needed when it needed it most. And the fact that she was willing and able to rise to the occasion is even more heroic now that we know what it meant. It meant losing her daughter’s love. Not even her cohort Bail Organa had to do that. His daughter Leia got to join him in the fight against the Empire. Mon Mothma’s daughter detested her mother.
It was an unimaginable price Mon Mothma was willing to pay, because no matter the pain it caused she knew building a world free of tyranny for her child was more important than being loved by that child. She knew she was doing right by both her daughter and everyone else, even if Leida would never know why. But knowing what you’re doing is right doesn’t make actually doing so any easier. Your convictions are no comfort when you taste your own child’s hatred on their wedding day. There is no solace in virtue when you watch your daughter enter a loveless marriage, a joyless life that Mon Mothma continues to suffer through because it also serves her true purpose. And not when you allowed your daughter’s wedding to happen because it also helped the Rebellion.
And as if that wasn’t enough for one woman to handle, for dessert Mon had to also serve the Rebellion a piece of her soul. She pretended she didn’t know what Luthen meant about “handling” Tay Kolma. But in her heart, Mon Mothma knew what would happen to him. Mon knew her childhood friend would pay with his life for her actions, for helping her.
Giving up all that makes you happy? Giving up all that makes life worth living? Sacrificing your child’s affection? Letting your child suffer for others? Allowing your friend who helped you die? It’s too much to ask of any one person. It’s too much to expect from most, because it would be too much for most to bear even if willing. And it’s certainly not what we’d expect from someone in Mon Mothma’s position in Star Wars. Most of her peers lose empathy and concern for others amid their riches. Most of those people, at best, chose to do nothing.
Even many who do chose to act don’t have the stomach to stay in the fight. It’s simply a cross they cannot carry for long. For a brief moment in Andor season two’s third episode, that was true for Mon Mothma. Isolated and alone and weighed down by responsibility and guilt, she let herself go on the dance floor. All of the pain, fear, worry, hope, responsibility, shame, and sacrifice Mon Mothma carries poured out in a truly stunning, sad, powerful performance by Genevieve O’Reilly on the Star Wars show.
In that moment of raw human expression, it seemed like Mon Mothma might spin out of control; like she might lose herself to the moment she’s so desperate to rise to. Seeing firsthand everything she’s done and the sacrifice she has made already, no one would fault her if she did falter. But we know she won’t. We know she will stay in the fight long after her daughter’s wedding day. She will once again rise to the occasion. Then she will do it again. And again. And again. Like the very select best among us, Mon Mothma will gather herself once more and move forward despite the heavy burden she will take with her for the rest of her life.
One day soon in the galaxy far, far away a gentle, soft-spoken, ethereal figure will sadly tell us about many Bothans who died for the Rebellion. Thanks to Andor, when she does, we will know something many in that room never fully appreciate. We will know Mon Mothma—a rich Chandrila senator who had every excuse to do nothing, who sacrificed everything she had to be there that day, who could have hid away from the evil Empire without anyone noticing—was a brave hero who gave up her happiness, her peace, her easy life, and ever her child’s love, in service to the greatest cause of all. She gave everything of herself for everyone else.
Because while she never flew a mission against the Empire, nor fired a weapon on a field of battle, nor weilded a lightsaber, she fought the only war that mattered. She fought it every way she could, including against herself.
Is that enough to make Mon Mothma the Rebellion’s greatest hero ever? The very show that has us asking that question doesn’t think so. One of the best, most enduring ideas of Andor is that rebellions require countless unnamed heroes. No one person is coming to save us. We must save ourselves. To do that we need both people with nothing to lose and powerful people with everything to lose alike to come together. But Andor has shown Mon Mothma is as worthy as anyone in the Star Wars universe of being discussed among its very best heroes.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He thinks Genevieve O’Reilly is giving an all-time great performance on Andor. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
Content shared from nerdist.com.