- "We made the story. We shaped it. We blew it up. We decided when it was over. With the right ideas planted in the right markets, in the right sequence, we can now weaponize this galactic opinion."
- ―Dee Shambo
The Ministry of Enlightenment was a ministry of the Galactic Empire responsible for managing and influencing galactic public opinion. They accomplished this through planting stories, disseminating propaganda, and releasing information in a strategic sequence so as to build a narrative favorable to Imperial interests.[1]
In 4 BBY, two Ministry of Enlightenment officials, Dee Shambo and Nisus Osar, boasted that they had control of the public image of the planet Ghorman. The public perceived the Ghor as troublesome, arrogant, and selfish after an Imperial naval inspector was killed on the planet; Shambo and Osar took credit for that. As Director Orson Krennic prepared to greatly increase the Imperial presence on Ghorman in a risky project to gouge-mine the core for kalkite, the Empire was preparing to respond to even more intense local resistance. The Ministry of Enlightenment prepared an anti-Ghorman whispering campaign to link the Ghor to the unpleasant local spiders whose silk was a famous local export.[1] Eventually, journalists, officials, and civilians were all repeating the Ministry-spun narrative that the aggressive Ghor were "resisting Imperial norms".[2]
Behind the scenes
The Ministry of Enlightenment first appeared in the Star Wars: Andor episode "One Year Later,"[1] the first episode of Andor Season 2, which premiered on April 22, 2025, on Disney+.[3] The organization appeared through the characters of Dee Shambo and Nisus Osar,[1] who series creator Tony Gilroy would describe as "mad men." To Gilroy, their appearance showcased how far back the Empire had been planning the takedown of Ghorman and how much effort needed to go into it ahead of the Ghorman Massacre[4] of 2 BBY.[5]
Released before the premiere of Andor Season 2,[6] the 2024 in-universe history book Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, which is framed as a historical piece covering the Empire and many of its departments, did not contain references to the Ministry of Enlightenment.[7] When asked by a fan if there was a possible in-universe explanation for in-universe author Beaumont Kin not mentioning it, Kempshall reflected on how Kin would never have been able to mention everything about the Empire, even if a department like the Ministry of Enlightenment came up in his research. Furthermore, Kempshall theorized that information about the ministry was "lost" from the Imperial Archives or had been destroyed by his time.[8]
In an interview with the website Mashable, Gilroy stated that the news reporters[9] seen during the build up to and execution of the Ghorman Massacre in the episodes "Messenger"[10] and "Who Are You?"[2]—which both premiered on May 6, 2025, as the seventh and eighth episodes of Andor Season 2, respectively[3]—were secretly agents of the Ministry of Enlightenment.[9] However, writer Dan Gilroy suggested in another interview that the reporters were profit-driven corporate news actors, even if the Empire was controlling what could be said to a degree.[4]
Appearances
Star Wars: Andor — "One Year Later" (First appearance)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Star Wars: Andor — "One Year Later"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: Andor — "Who Are You?"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1
"Andor Season 2 Companion" — Star Wars Insider 233
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Andor S2 Emmys Q&A - Tony Gilroy - Dan Gilroy on the Backstory Magazine YouTube channel (August 24, 2025) (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ Chris Kempshall (@chriskempshall.bsky.social) on Bluesky (post on May 9, 2025): "Yes but nothing more than I needed to know at the time. Which is less than you might think but enough for me to get the right sense and feel of things. (In response to: "Did they tell you anything about season 2 while you were writing?")" (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
- ↑ Chris Kempshall (@chriskempshall.bsky.social) on Bluesky (post on September 11, 2025): "It’s entirely possible any number of things have been lost from the archives or destroyed before they got there which could prevent Beaumont from drawing on them. But, similarly, he can’t mention everything. There’s probably lots of Imperial departments etc from his research that didn’t make it in. (In response to: "Perhaps a bit of a canonwelding question heh, but do you think the reason the Ministry of Enlightenment wasn’t mentioned in rise and fall was that it was a lesser known, more secretive agency? Their deal seems to be COVERT propaganda and it’s telling their only overt scene is an offthebooks meeting")" (backup link)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 'The galaxy is watching!' How 'Andor' connects to a history of protest by Chris Taylor Lambie on Mashable (May 7, 2025) (backup link archived on May 8, 2025)
- ↑ Star Wars: Andor — "Messenger"
