Mon Mothma knew more about Warfare than we realized… 

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Mon Mothma is a complex character, because so many writers have reimagined her as different things. One writer makes her a simple idealist, another a good administrator, another a short-sighted over trusting simpleton, another a tactical genius. We, as fans, then try to synthesize these disparate caricatures into a single coherent individual character. She is at once naive and seasoned, idealist yet pragmatic, foolish and wise. And somehow… it’s kind of worked. She’s developed into an interesting character. I personally don’t like some of the writing, especially how she kind of let the First Order become powerful, but then again, the sequels as a whole were written just awful anyway.

"This was never Luke or Leia or even Han Solo's rebellion..." This was an uprising of the Loyalists of the Republic!

I'm still wondering how Allan transformed from a British White guy to an American-Asian

In Andor Season 2, I hope we get to see more of Mon Mothma The Idealist where she interacts with Saw Guerrera The Radicalist and Luthen Rael The Pragmatist. And Bail Organa will mediate between the three in the growing Rebel Alliance.

Mothma doesnt strike me as an idealist. She strikes me as a hopeful realist. During the clone wars she put together a network of senators seeing palpatines building power would need strong counter forces in what ever form the senate could raise. Throughout the interwar period you see a figure that seems fully aware that it will take war to defeat the empire but as a powerful senator knows the full capability of the empires military capabilities. Thus you get a women who is doing everything she can to build a restoration movement without the empire or one of the many cells forcing her hand early before theyre ready. Then Palpatine blew up one of the most important worlds in the galaxy and the rest is history.

Mothma might be the single-most underrated character in the entire Rebellion era. I was thrilled they showed her some love in Andor and Rebels.

Idealist Machiavellian mothma. Thing is we do see this with her rise to power. She was smart about how things were handled - yes Disney mothma reduced the fleet by 90%, however this was in a post-endor vicotry. A ton of worlds and individuals flocked to the rebellion after that to bask in the glory, but that also meant gaining a massive influx of "would be hero pilots" or "armchair commandos" who couldn't hit the side of a barn whilst being inside the barn. She reduced the fleet to get rid of the unnecessary baggage - as she noted, the cobbled fleet of the rebel alliance required a lot of maintenance and cross-working and cross-training to work. It also had the political benefit of making her look less tyrannical than palpatine (so politically a good move from worlds who didn't want to swap one tyrant for another). The disarmament also had the secret benefit of letting the new republic have a large professional military force that could rappidly respond without officially saying that they had a large military force. Many of the decommissioned vehicles, equipment and personnel (that weren't the useless late comers) would be re-designated as sector security forces or planetary defence forces - forces which could rappidly deal with local problems without republic red tape, but also forces which could be called up to fight as a cohesive and well maintained righting force with the republic fleet a.k.a the republic "core" fleet, as these sector fleets would undertake excersises with the "core fleet", maintaining a large fleet in actuality but having a reduced one in paper. Mothma was a political and know how to have cake and eat it. She even re-used imperial resources (equipment, oersonell etc). The main problem the new republic had, which would lead to the rise of the first order, was a brain drain in the new political classes. The new republics new senator's were imeithet old imperial senetors who hadn't done a real day's work in over 2 decades and who had all the political skills of a Whomp rat, pimped up populists or royals who could talk the talk, but stumbled as they tried to walk or ideal purists who couldn't comprehend the idea of surrendering part of their integrity to make their ideals a reality. Case and point - mothma maintains the fleet through her "republic fleet" and "sector fleet" system, and makes all parties undertake joint excersises. The chancellor who followed her couldn't comprehend this and thinks that the reduced fleet is the real fleet = no joint excersises = a fleet that can no longer work together. As chancellor she surrendered the emergency powers given to the chancellor lshio by the republic senate, so she used her political acclument, her Witt's and charisma to get senetors to vote her way. Her replacement had none of this. One of her closest advices was a former Imperial loyalty officer who'd been in the shield compound on endor when the rebels and GRAND EWOK ARMY blew it up. Her replacements just shelved all imperial tech and folk into an "over there" problem and ignored them. Mothma wanted the senate to move from world to world so that Different viewpoints could be encouraged, and worlds on the periphery that may fall Into backing imperial warlord states were given a moral boost and made to be included. Mothma's replacement "Hosnian prime is nice. Let's stay here". Having said this, mothma was flawed - some naivete in believing that the imperial remnant wouldn't risk the life of their leader Grand Admiral Rae Sloan during the peace accords, and issues dealing with criminal syndicates in the outer rim. However, in her defence no power has truly delt with the outer rim syndicates, and no sane person would contemplate the idea of Galius Rax ordering the assassination of Rae Sloan to further the goals of the insane operation cinder. But yeh, the emperor's greatest victory was in crippling the political classes of the galaxy for over 2 decades, producing a new ruling class mostly made up of political idiots, imperial loyalists and a small group of competent leaders slowly reducing in numbers (due to age, assassination and/or false imprisonments).

Mon Mothma could not rely on Jedi leaders but nonetheless it was the son of one the Jedi's greatest Clone Wars commanders and the wisdom of another such Jedi leader in hiding that son that provided the young man who could quite literally take the crucial shot for the rebel Alliance. When she learned who Luke Skywalker was, I wonder if Mon Mothma saw the hand of Providence in that.

I’m a major fan of the Clone Troopers. They’re my favorite characters in all of Fiction and I’m an Anime fan. However, I find it partially disturbing that Mon Mothma of all people takes note of the unique effectiveness of the Jedi Order and the Clone Troopers. Even if she led an insurgency against an empire for years, she always comes off as a soft person. Maybe fierce and passionate in her political idealism since she’s an ally to Padme in the Clone Wars, but still for an anti-war senator to address how good the GAR and Republic Navy was, something about it just sounds so wrong. It makes me wonder how miserable Mon Mothma was leading the Rebellion. She had to lead a small military against a massive one, meaning she had to witness brutality and harsh defeats. Seems like a horrible thing for a pacifist to undergo. It honestly makes her more impressive. And it also makes her demilitarization effort more reasonable. Yes, there still were plenty of Imperial Remnants to go after as well as large criminal organizations, but I can understand her wanting to quickly leave the life of a wartime leader behind. Maybe by the end of the Galactic Civil War, she was just so desperate to cross the finish line, on the edge to finally cracking after being in what she saw as an unnatural position for so long.

Everyone talks about the hero that gives the final blow. But hardy anyone talks about the years of preparation of bold and courageous leaders and individuals that risk everything to make it happen in the first place

Mon have ever been my favorite character in the Star Wars universe, and my friends always made fun of me because of that. Well, Star Wars tells the story of some wars, and war is politics by other means. It always made sense to me that the most impactful person in the rebel movement was the ideologist behind it, and not the soldiers fighting the battles (without denying the importance of their sacrifice, of course). When we have a fast think about the history of WW2, we mentalize people like Stálin, FDR, Churchill, maybe Monty and Eisenhower at best. They're the real architects of the conflict. It takes a lot of courage (and sacrifice, as we saw with Luthen and Mon) to lead. Another perfect video, Alan! Thank you for that!

I kinda want to see Garm Bel-Iblis returning at some point too, and his clashes with Mon Mothma where both do misunderstand each other, like it was in the Thrawn Trilogy. But until that happens, Legends exist!

Mon Mothma was eesential in forming the Rebel Alliance. However her trauma from Palpatine and the Clone Wars led her to demilitarize the New Republic too early which led to the rise of the First Order. She won the war against the Empire but lost the peace.

Mon Mothma in Legends: A competent administrator who often outmaneuvers the Empire. Mon Monthma in Canon: Too scared of centralized military and runs towards the other extreme.

"War is not a state of being. It is meant to be a temporary chaos between periods of peace. Some want it to be the course of things: a default fact of existence. But I will not let that be so." -- Mon Mothma, shortly after the death of Emperor Palpatine

Love this content, man. Mon Mothma is such an interesting and amazing character

her disarmament is a very convenient was to justify the existence of the first order, which is subsequently just a lazy concept. Its almost as though she did not learn from the lessons when the Republic was disarmed by the Ruusan reformations and allowing indepenedent and private interests the opportunity to build up military power, due in no small part to the inability to enforce whatever laws that existed to prevent such

Love this sort of content. Allan. Please keep up the good work

Awesome video! I love how Mon Mothma was smart enough to takes into account things like logistics for their wacky hodgepodge fleet. Great video!

How about a future video on the military mind of Padme? After all, at the arena on Geonosis where over 100 Jedi died she somehow miraculously survived the battle with nothing but a blaster, she clearly is a not a mere girl but an elite commando who hid her martial prowess from even her own lover who has mind reading powers. Perhaps she is secretly a Mandalorian Deathwatch infiltrator who killed the real Padme as a young child and replaced her.

I wonder how the Rebels had the X-Wings from the beginning. Like they have their own industrial facilities or they illegally bought them from others?

Thank you for making this interesting video!!

Love the Mon Mcauliffe thumbnail.

5:36 I wonder if Mon Mothma will appear in Bad Batch Season 3 where she set up the beginning stages of the Rebel Alliance and work with Captain Rex and his growing cell of unchipped Clone Troopers.

She stacked the enemy on the early separatist battlefields and charged their positions with nothing but a vibroknife and thermal detonators. Don’t let the poise fool you. She never forgot how to be violent.

Very good summery and analyse! Thanks!

this is what a true strong female lead should be. well she is not the main protag of the story just a strong willed individual with everyone supporting each other, she's no fighter, she's no strong woman amongst men, just a person who truly wants the future generation to experience freedom

Great video ! Thanks

Shame that Disney Mon Mothma would go on to disarm 90% of the New Republic military power and brought back everything wrong of the Old Republic. Compared to her EU Legends counterpart who kept the military strength and ensured the New Republic is not a rehash of its predecessor.

Alan damn good analysis and I understand Mon Mothma in ways i have never seen. I hope Disney does a season 2 of Andor so that we will see some of her strategy play out.

I just finished reading the book Lords of the Sith. It's really good. I think you should do a video on Lyleks. There's very little about them on the internet.

Still hoping for podcast, you are the best man

I remember at the National Museum of African American Music, Prince showed up a lot more in their interactive tool. This tool showed how who influenced who. Prince was THAT dude.

She also had an appearance of "bland" or unimportance. I believe she didn't attract any undo attention to herself by appearing ostentatious or "over the top" as many senators did. I don't believe pacifism to the point where it becomes a liability. I think you have to be prepared (always) because sometimes to fight is not your choice, but thrust in your face. I've found a whole new life in Star Wars thru the novels and am only getting to know M.M.

Mon Mothma never specified how those Bothans died. And she speaks about the incident as if reminiscing and distancing simultaneously.

Hey Generation Tech the next video you should make is: The Evolution of Anakin Skywalker vs Asajj Ventress Lightsaber Duel from both Canon and Legends TV Shows, Microseries and Comics.

In the EU she had balls!!!

Guys, did we learn nothing from Duchess Satine and how decentralizing the military immediately after you come to power isn’t such a great idea?

I hope the Ahsoka show and other projects moving forward show a new development for Mon Mothma. I don’t think or hope she would see Thrawn’s defeat and say “time to completely demilitarize” but maybe she realizes she was wrong and wants to find a balance between rearming and being peaceful but then something happens to her and she can’t put her new ideas into place leading to the New Republic further falling into incompetence and the rise of the First Order.

I wish george wouldve kept the deleted scene of padme meeting with mon mothma and the other senators in revenge of the sith.

Trully a master mind and a person of good heart as well because she didn't have to form a rebellion because she was rich and had all the comfort she wanted, she did it for the people.

I think I liked the "Clone wars" better than the "Galactic Civil war" because it was more creative and both sides could afford to lose and learn from their mistakes *coughs beacause of Palpatine* and steamroll each other and while the the GCW a david and goliath scenario I prefer war of attrition than guerilla warfare.

Basically in disney cannon. Mon Mothma, takes the role of Garn Bel Ibis had in legends, when it came to growing and turning the rebellion into a military fighting force capable of taking on the empire and winning over period of many years.

Filoni made me appreciate Mon a lot more, and Gilroy made me admire her.

Hey Alan, would you recommend Star Wars novels? Are they hit-or-miss in terms of quality, or is it mostly worth diving into them? I like reading, but time is limited, so I was just wondering...

Greatest thumbnail ever omg

Thanks Allen! The answer to the question of how you deep dive into Star Wars lore is how you relate it to the trials and tribulations of Earth’s lore. To me that is the very essence of how George Lucas created Star Wars. I find Mon Mothma to be one of the most interesting characters in modern Star Wars media and greatly enjoyed the notes of her thoughts pertaining to the rebellion.

I would love a rewrite of the sequel trilogy to give Mon Mothma justice

The only reason Sa Gorara was such an ass is because he still blames the republic for the loss of his sister. The way he acts proves that if he acts aggressively w/o planning will get people killed (clones or not). Guess losing his sister wasn’t enough to teach him to learn patience.

What a fascinating character, my god.

" those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat the same mistakes"

Mon: Hug them! Rebels: Erm...maam theyre shooting at u- Mon: Hug them *HARD*.

Day 145 PLEASE DO MORE TACTICS VIDEOS AND STRUCTURES LIKE THE CIS NAVY STRUCTURE AND RANKS

Andor really made me appreciate the character of mon mothma.

I think Mon Mothma came up with her military ideas by combining what she witnessed in The Clone Wars and the advice of Dondona,Raddus, Ackbar and Madine.

What is the name of the music in the background at 12:05 ?

Don't forget how stylish she is. Everyone of her outfits popped

I feel like people saying the new Disney stories ruined Mon Mothma might be missing the point. History is filled with rebels who, in victory, failed to uphold what they fought so hard to win, or worse, became that they overthrew. Mothma's rapid demilitarization after being such a successful rebel leader just makes her more interesting to me. Leia and Mothma were in lockstep during the rebellion, but took opposite paths in peace. Good characters have flaws and make mistakes. And the lesson that fascism must be actively fought every day, no matter what, is one too few people, with good hearts, in this Galaxy remember.

Today, August 11, it's Ian McDiamird birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

The thing about "Genius" characters is they are only as smart as the people who write them.

How did the Rebels avoid feds and did group who hated the empire Go to places like yavin but didn't go fight the empire

The true unsung hero of Star Wars 🙂

Saw, short sighted and hot headed boy that's the understatement of the century

What's the song at 9:40?

She's even better in Legends. Like most things.

But with the sequel trilogy and the Solo movie made so many novels none Canon

The Empire already knew for years the Organas were traitors . maybe the Kenobi series was just a dream

It's said very clearly... She's not much for combat an warfare she's ALWAYS been about providing the Political pull, leadership, authority and/or expertise as needed. If she WAS anything of a general or Admiral she'd been shown at doing something of it by now on even the latest shows an movies. An was always shown shying away from such things. While more combat comfortable an able leaders did their things too. They'd not been there an woulda been useless or redundant an mostly unnecessary if SHE coulda do those things too.

Interesting female characters like Mon Mothma and Mara Jade exist... Disney Lucasfilm: "we need some Holdo maneuvers!" . 😂😂😂

How do you make such deep lore videos? I read a book try it.its healthy for you!

The quick answer: No. For every Rebel victory they suffered a ton of defeats. The long answer: Hell no. If her side didn't have the child of destiny, or have the enemy second in command turn traitor at the last minute, her rebellion would've been crushed like the pitiful bugs that they are.

If they bring thrawn use some of the legends material and instead of the first order being this powerful force have it similar to rebel cells thrawn would then use these cells to cause organized chaos within the new republic he also assuming he played it smart would learn more about the political system and would challenge them using hearts and minds as well as quality over quantity this also has the interesting side effect of testing the new republic as a democracy as systems might not want to stay in the new republic as they might see it as a return to a corrupt system of that caused the empire in the first place thus insisting rebellions and here’s where the Jedi order comes in is that Luke in my case is more like his legends counterpart and stays out of politics for a while and focuses on rebuilding and learning only intervening if it became dire enough The new republic would of corse have to keep its military around and increase its spending and numbers all the while thrawn slowly grinds them down thus causing the first order to them be known not as a separate faction but as a controlled resistance directed by thrawn in this time line now the question is if we include the far outsiders(aka the vong) in this and Would thrawn win because the way palpatine came back was stupid in both legends and canon so I think thrawn wins in this timeline not as in total victory but a win in the sense everyone survives this new threat

Sawgrer is a radicalist towards But Blind and cold-hearted by heart and soul due to pain and loss endlessly.

She played it smart during the galactic civil war.

she's playing 4th dimension chess while we're all playing checkers

Mon Mothma was the cory aquino of star wars. She would've done better if she was the golda meir of star wars

What if mon motma Great grandparents had lost family members had been military in the last war

No she was a politician and stateswoman. Very good at what she was but unlike most politicians she had enough brains to let the military minds handle the fighting. I am not surprised to hear Disney is now trying to pretend she is the key to everything. It’s the Disney modern hollywood way.

Mon Mothma is perhaps the most influential and longest-living minor character in the Skywalker Saga. Arguably more influential than some main characters

Why does Mon Mothma suddenly sound like Gertrude Robinson?

If you sekunder peace prepare for war.

It's so frustrating that Disney made her take stupid pills and demilitarize. In Legends, she maintains a strong military and backs Ackbar. That makes more sense.

Wow

NUTS!, Heh love that reference

shes the reason i'm team thrawn/chiss.....

Is it right to called Mon Mothma being selfish because from the certain point of view, she is just doing this for herself? And by that, I mean she wanted to restore the old status quo that is the Republic after the Ruusan Reformation.

Imagine star wars have kind system to control invasive species

Aw man, I’m not even British and I could tell you that accent is rough 😂 good video though, always a fan of SW lore

Why does Aristocrat Mothma have a lower class British accent sometimes?

Allen

Then this women would just disarm the whole new republic, without clearing the imperial threats, to the point where a measly First order with several ships could rise to power, even built a death star. -- disney

👍

Sorry, 1st order is not a part of any Star Wars universe. 😅

I always respected Mon & she was such an effective leader. It just baffles my mind how they butchered her in the new canon like why, why do this

She was a great person and I bet you in season two of Asoka she will die. A bad person will take over his chancellor and the first order Will take over

Why did u make non mothma sound like that?

This was one of the greatest flaw in the new Canon, no nation could exist, also the more democratic ones, without a standing army and security force. The old republic collapsed bcz couldn't affirm its laws, the Jedis were too few and sparse for being an effective police force, at least a sort of "Swiss Guard" would've been useful for helping them as support force. So in the Mandalorian 3 we see that the New Republic can't project its forces in the Outer RIM, without a strong navy. Perhaps they would've needed someone as Teddy Roosevelt, that saved the US Navy from oblivion in the last decade of 19th century.

Mon Mothma has always been a very complex and interesting character in Star Wars, especially in the EU. Frankly, I am surprised Disney hasn't butchered her character, and sullied her legacy, like they did with Leia Organa-Solo!

Bruh