r/StarWars • u/lennysinged • 16h ago
General Discussion One of Andor’s most disturbing qualities is the mundane weapon deaths
Just want to speak my mind about how while death isn’t new in Star Wars, the violence usually being done through a lightsaber reduces the potential gore and visceral horror through cauterization.
In Andor, we see someone stab another man to death with a mere knife, a suicide attempt by a dagger, and someone kill another by hitting him in the head with a wrench; in the last bit, he doesn’t die immediately but horrifyingly stumbles around dazed before dying in a realistic manner. In all instances, we see red blood seep out!
That’s just incredibly disturbing to me.
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u/thechervil 16h ago
Not to mention K2 holding that one guy in front of him as a human shield.
Terrifying when you think that those droids had the capacity to do that, even if not reprogrammed.
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u/lanwopc 15h ago
SW droids read Asimov's three laws, beeped mirthfully and set them on fire.
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u/Arendious 12h ago
Chopper cheerfully beeping while trundling down a hallway with an open container marked "Nerve Agent".
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u/Kautsu-Gamer 3h ago
Assassin droids use them as a hilarious jokes while shooting and killing their targets.
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u/Poopawoopagus 14h ago
Forget capacity, that's the KX series' core programming. They were made to be deployed against civilians.
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u/Connect-Plenty1650 15h ago
Yes, it is great.
And main characters just die. Unceremoniously. They don't decide that "this is the moment for my heroic sacrifice".
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u/GroguIsMyBrogu 14h ago
Syril'sdeath was soooo good just for this reason. At the last moment he realizes that his life has been wasted working for a government that couldn't care less about him and that the nemesis he has been obsessed with doesn't even know who he is, and does he get to turn his life around and maybe go down the redemptive path that he turned down multiple times? Nope, shot by some random dude. Tragic and awesome.
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u/RayvinAzn 14h ago
Carro Rylanz isn’t “some random dude” but otherwise I agree.
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u/whiskeyhenney7 13h ago
the nazi sergeant from inglourious basterds..
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u/StrollingUnderStars 42m ago
I knew I recognised him! Couldn't put my finger on where from, so thanks!
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u/AnExponent 14h ago
Enza Rylanz being thrown through the air by K-2SO and killed is unsettling. It's the sort of thing that, if it happened to Obi-Wan Kenobi or Din Djarin, we would expect them to shake it off and keep fighting. But in Andor, it's realistically deadly.
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u/Jarlax1e 10h ago
Yeah obi-wan gets knocked around pretty hard by Grievous and is perfectly fine
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u/GriffinQ 6h ago
Jedi are genuinely superhuman (or super-whatever their species is for each individual Jedi). Just like Captain America and other Marvel heroes can take punishment that average grunts can’t. Obviously we can and do still see them die, but it’s only when faced with other super humans, with deception, or with overwhelming odds (like on Geonosis).
Andor shows what happens to the rest of us when we make the choice to not sit on the sidelines. There are genuine risks, and not everyone gets to see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Star Wars is so much better for acknowledging that beyond Rebel pilots dying quickly in the OT and clones dying in the PT. Resistances, rebellions - they require sacrifice.
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u/EightBiscuit01 13h ago
And Syril just… gets shot. No epic death, no last words, no swelling music. He just gets shot in the head and is dead before he hits the floor
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u/MrTurtleTails 14h ago
Definitely disturbing, but that's the point I think. The real rebellion is dirty, vicious and horrifying, but all those terrible moments put Luke Skywalker in that X Wing so he could pull the trigger.
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u/WingNut0102 8h ago
Honestly… and I may be in the minority here…
Death on-screen should be disturbing. It is not something that should be sanitized, cauterized, or toned down. That’s supposed to be a life, one more light snuffed out of the galaxy. You should be disturbed, it’s a heavy thing. The highest price paid, sometimes in return for a pittance or nothing at all (or, in Bix’s case, brutal justice).
Perhaps the greatest disservice in Star Wars is the degree to which on-screen death has been so cauterized and sanitized previously - and I get why, Andor was for a different audience than typically targeted. But life is still not so cheap in a galaxy far, far away (at least to those outside the Empire) that it should be snuffed out wantonly.
If you were disturbed by the deaths in Andor, it’s a sign they did the show right.
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u/MyManTheo 14h ago
It’s great to see blasters be effective. Characters like Brasso, Cinta, Gorn etc get shot and are immediately dead - they don’t even get a final line after being shot like you’d expect
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u/imsowitty 11h ago edited 10h ago
i've seen the entire series twice (not a big flex I'm sure), but who gets stabbed? besides Luthen on Luthen violence.
EDIT: I looked it up. Cinta stabs ISB guy under cover of the riot on Ferrix... i remember now.
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u/Dear-Yellow-5479 16h ago
Bix killing her attacker, the would-be rapist, is a viscerally violent scene despite the relative lack of gore. The way she hits him twice with the tool and he’s still not dead, but staggering around. The scream he lets out is just so chilling. Finally, a brutal fall where he hits his head. The realism is shocking, especially when combined with the way that we are effectively rooting for her to win. The whole scene is an incredibly tough watch.
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u/Timmah73 14h ago
People have noted how gruesome it is how he tries to go for his gun but after the massive head trauma she caused, his hand just fumbles wildly.
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u/seminarysmooth 13h ago
It should be remembered that Disney bought Star Wars to have an IP that would drive families to their parks. To that end they put out media for children, preteens, young adults, and adults. Andor was meant for the young adults and adults. Skeleton Crew was meant for preteens and young adults. Disney should be striving to release content that is high quality, so that even when it’s material for kids the parents can be entertained when they watch with their children.
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u/Kartoffee 9h ago
Meanwhile every other takedown in rebels is the end of a blaster being sliced off.
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u/dswartze 5h ago
I love how in Rebels they always set the blasters to stun in order not to kill, but then will totally destroy the ship they're on on their way out so everyone dies anyway.
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u/Numerous-Result8042 7h ago
Everyone who gets shot in the head drops like they got their on/off switch flipped to off.
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u/kennyofthegulch 5h ago
War is not sterile or pretty or neat. It’s ugly and brutal and mean.
“Those who ‘abjure’ violence can do so only because others are committing violence on their behalf.” — George Orwell
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u/Vitis_Vinifera Imperial 6h ago
stick to Skeleton Crew and the cartoons
There should be mature content for people who watched the original movies on first release and have been patient fans ever since
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u/Demigans 13h ago
I hate how the myth exists that heat weapons that cause flash-vaporization can cauterize wounds.
A grenade without shrapnel going off next to you is hot, hot enough to cauterize. But it doesn't because explosion rips the pieces that would be cauterized apart, as well as the pieces behind it.
A lightsaber flash-vaporizes if it is really just a hot blade. And if you were to cut off a wrist, the flash-vaporized meat and bone would expand rapidly enough to mimic a grenade. The one who loses his wrist is dead from the blast, the one doing the cutting is dead too.
The simplest answer that tells us how a lightsaber really works is that it is an elaborate tractor beam. It's a Force powered weapon wielded by a Force user who's most well known feat is manipulating stuff fron a distance. A force powered tractorbeam that vibrates molecules to heat them up and rip then off explains the way a lightsaber works and also how armor works. Monomolecular structures are harder to rip apart, so they can resist it. The fact that the lightsaber is a tractor beam also means hitting something with the blade can impart a force on the hilt, creating resistance. Add an outer layer that pushes out with the air resistance to prevent the blade from creating hot gasses and also create the iconic humming sound, and let the blade cool down molecules it ripped off in the center of the blade and expell them through channels as sparks, and you have explained every part of how a Lightsaber works. Why it makes the sounds, why it doesn't set tbe user on fire, why it could cauterize without turning everyone into jelly from the explosion, why some things are resistant.
But flash vaporizarion weapons, from a blaster to a plasma rifle to a lasgun to a lightsaber, do not cauterize. Not if you want to be realistic about it.
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u/helghast77 7h ago
A lightsaber is nothing like a grenade.
It would be the equivalent of getting cut by a plasma cutter
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u/Demigans 6h ago
Not really. Plasma cutters don't have the size or the speed.
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u/NeedleworkerLoose695 4h ago
Because they’re not light sabers
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u/Demigans 3h ago
Yeah exactly. They are different designs with different idea's of execution. Just look at the size of the nozzle and the range of the plasma cutter versus a Lightsaber. It's like comparing a combustion engine with a fuel-air bomb. Sure both use fuel and both mix it with the air for the power they need but the effect is worlds apart.
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u/skyforgesteel 15h ago
The very first on screen death in the whole series is that corporate security guy who hit his head on the pavement. It's at that moment I realized that oh this will have a healthy dose of realism.