I may be wrong, but on the version I'm watching @ ~ 43:32, the camera cuts to Luthen in a Ferrix alley. He is hearing blaster fire and screams, but I'm reading it as not a product of his current environment but a memory of past horrors. His body language is indicating increasing anxiety/uncertainty and then he scurries off to flee to the Fondor, his primary mission and only reason for coming to Ferrix incomplete.

Another event that leads in this direction is when boarding the Fondor, he tells the ship to "prepare for evac" not for departure. An entirely different tone from his normal unruffled demeanor.

As someone who has thought far too much about this show, I'll attempt to go even further. On a moment to moment level, Luthen is trusting his life and the Rebellion to his instincts, his feel of each situation.

Whenever in a conversation, most of the time when Luthen receives a new piece of information or a 90 degree turn in the situation, he pauses, then answers. Rather than thinking or remembering, I perceive that he is focused on how he feels in that moment, what that feeling is telling him. Then he responds and/or acts.

I firmly do not think Luthen is a Jedi. However he does, I believe, have an aspect of Chirrut (Rogue One - kung fu) to him. I think he believes in the Force and understands it in a similar way to the Jedi, while having no heightened "connection" that a Force sensitive individual would have. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me."

This ties back into one of my first posts here, how Luthen giving Andor the khyber crystal on the Fondor before Aldhani was example of the Force exerting its will in Andor. I still 100% believe this to be true. As he is walking away from Andor ready to drop him off on the surface of Aldhani, all explanations, terms, and encouragements already given a premonition strikes him and his hands began snaking upwards almost undefinably. He then gives the khyber crystal as a "down payment" advising Andor that before selling it, it would always be worth more to Luthen.

The Force in that moment induced Luthen to give the khyber crystal to Andor, and everything Luthen said afterwards was a backwards rationalization to explain to Andor and himself why he was doing it. How do I know this? Luthen explains the crystal is a down payment worth 50k credits. You know what would be a fantastic down payment and infinitely more useful in a rational sense? The 40k credits you have in your other pocket, that you didn't give Andor because the NS9 Starpath unit was left on Ferrix.

I can explain the 2 primary purposes the khyber crystal served to ensure Aldhani was a success and that Andor and Vel survived it (I think explained in the comments of my khyber crystal post), but back to Luthen and informed feelings.

So Luthen is going through an episode of PTSD and prematurely flees Ferrix. He was rock solid in his previous visit to Ferrix, rock solid through the firefight and explosive extraction of Andor. Yet the Empire opening up on an unarmed crowd severely triggered something. Something he hadn't felt or thought about in a long time. Discombobulated, no longer able to trust in his feelings, (similar to a Jedi being unable to manipulate the Force due to distraction, fear, overwhelming emotions) he seeked to remove himself from the equation knowing until this cleared his system he was a potential liability. Unable to trust himself.

Again, PTSD flashback drives him to the Fondor, upon boarding he's still shook (evac) and what happens? He finds his trusted ship unresponsive, Andor laying in wait. He asks him what game is this, Andor tells him what's what and the season ends him looking down and smiling in .... relief? Satisfaction? Understanding? I think a bit of everything but his dominant feeling is "Yes". The same feeling he had about Cassian when he met him. This is my guy, the man meant to inherit my craft (recall the explosion killing ~ 2 stormtroopers as Cassian is dragging Bix out of the hotel "Build your exit on your way in" he wasn't setting charges with Bix in tow), this man is marked by destiny and every iota of my being is informing me to trust and believe in him.

And my feelings led me here. To him.

The primary thing disproving/ counteracting everything here is can people actually write this? Are the actors and directors capable of operating on this level? Are they cognizantly layering the story, the acting choices, the knowledge of the mechanics of the Force? I would entirely buy into I'm making this all up out of vague and infinitely interpretable acting and dialogue "I don't remember ever owning a droid" except this show doesn't seem vague in that way at all. Luthen's (Skarsgaard's) acting, body language, vocal mannerisms etc. seems highly directed and intentioned. Maybe I'm going crazy and my subconcious has nothing better to grind away at.

Anyways, Vel and Kleia are Luthens daughters, Vel is the estranged/neglected daughter of his arranged Chandrilan marriage, Kleia the daughter of the woman he loved, "the vow" is a familial blood oath made at the funeral pyres of his two wives to destroy the Empire, the Chandrilan wife probably betrayed/compromised the wife he loved (think Chani/Irulan). Lonnie is some sort of family relation to the Rael/Mothma clan.

Notes/Feedback?