Luthen's Big Decision in the 'Andor' Finale Speaks to Who He's Always Been

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for the events of Andor Season 2.

From the second we were first introduced to Luthen Rael on Andor, we always knew that his character was doomed. After all, we've met all the great rebel heroes, and Luthen is not one of them. Episode 10 of the show's second season gives us Luthen's fate and also shows us exactly what he gave his life for.

After learning about the Death Star from Lonni Jung, his sources inside the ISB, he makes the fateful decision to kill Lonni and flee. Now, many want to know why he did that. Here's what we know.

In much of Star Wars, we're meant to think of the rebels as the good guys and the Empire as evil, but Luthen exists to complicate that dynamic. He's a rebel who believes that the Empire needs to be overthrown, but he's also a terrorist and a murderer who is willing to sacrifice people to achieve that end. Earlier in Season 2, he encourages the rebels on Ghorman to activate themselves, even though he understands that it will push them into a massacre at the hands of the Empire.

Luthen kills Lonni for the same morally complex reasons he does everything else. What he needs from Lonni is information, and once Lonni has given it, and Luthen understands that Lonni is going to be hunted by the Empire, he's faced with a choice. He can spend his time trying to get Lonni and his family to safety, or he can kill Lonni and make sure that the information he just received gets into the right hands.

Luthen decides that spending time trying to keep Lonni safe is not worth it and kills him so that he can focus on communicating about the Death Star plans. He sees Lonni as just one more piece on his chessboard, and doesn't see him as one worth saving or expending any more energy on. If he had more time, he might have gotten Lonni to safety. As it is, he gave him a quick death instead of letting him get tortured by the ISB.

Through both seasons of Andor, Luthen has existed to remind us of all the ways rebellions are built on the backs of people who do dirty, sometimes terrible things. Luthen is not a good person, and even his fellow rebels sometimes see him as too willing to sacrifice people in pursuit of his ends.

What this show is always reminding us, though, is that the rest of the rebellion would not be possible without someone like Luthen pulling the strings. He understands his role, and at the end of everything, he was the one who gave the rebellion the head start they needed on the Death Star. Luke Skywalker gets to blow that thing up, but only because Luthen made the ruthless decision to kill Lonni and give him the chance.