Disney+The new episodes of Andor Season 2 reintroduce us to Saw Gerrera, the infamous resistance fighter – and in Episode 5, we discover how his lungs were damaged.
Gerrera made his debut in The Clone Wars, before Forrest Whittaker brought him to life in live-action in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
He uses more… hostile tactics than other members of the Rebellion, including Luthen Rael, with many branding him an extremist. “I’m not a terrorist. I’m a patriot. And resistance is not terrorism,” he once said.
He also has a distinct appearance and sound, wearing a pressurized suit, kitted out with a cybernetic leg and an oxygen respirator, and he speaks in strained breaths due to his reinforced lungs. In Episode 5, it’s revealed that rhydonium is to blame.
What is Rhydo in Star Wars?
LucasfilmRhydo is short for rhydonium, a highly combustible starship fuel that’s extremely harmful to humans. Inhaling its fumes can damage your vocal chords, and exposure can damage your skin and even cause brain damage.
As explained in the Star Wars databank, it’s “found on select worlds, notably Abafar. Highly combustible, it was used in large quantities as part of a Separatist plot during the Clone Wars that backfired on the droid army.”
“Later, rebels Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren [who appeared in Rebels and Ashoka] used rhydonium barrels on the abandoned Fort Anaxes asteroid to kill attacking fyrnocks,” the website adds.
What did Rhydo do to Saw Gerrera?
Disney+Saw Gerrera exposed himself to Rhydo so much that it permanently damaged his lungs and burned the inside of his body. However, it’s since become a comfort to him – his “sister”, as he calls it.
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In Andor Episode 5, Wilmon helps mine rhydonium on a distant planet while Gerrera tells everyone about when he was enslaved in a work camp in the “hot, wet, blistering jungle” of Onderon.
“Old men died fast, just dropped where they stood. We came back the next day, there’d be nothing but a bone or two where they went down,” he recalls.
“Our clothes just… melted away. So they worked us naked… back and forth until the only thing you could remember was back and forth.
“Then, one day, everyone started to itch. Everyone, all at once, even the guards. You could feel your skin coming alive. It was the rhydo. They had a leak. You could feel it before you could smell it. So they all panicked and ran away. But it was new to me.”
When the rhydonium deposit opens, Gerrera breathes it in, horrifying Wilmon. “She’s my sister rhydo, and she loves me. That itch, that burn… you feel how badly she wants to explode?” Gerrera says.
“Remember this. Remember this moment. This perfect night. You think I’m crazy? Yes, I am. Revolution is not for the sane. Look at us: unloved, hunted, cannon fodder. We’ll all be dead before the Republic is back and yet… here we are.”
For more on Andor and Star Wars, you can check out exactly when it takes place in the timeline, the full release schedule, and all of the upcoming movies and shows.
You can also find out what happened to Tay Kolma, why Yavin 4 is so important, and how to watch Andor for free.