Tony Gilroy’s Ghorman Lyrics In English & What They Really Mean Explained

SPOILERS for Andor season 2, episode 7!Andor season 2 episode 7 ended with the promise of escalation in the conflict on Ghorman and in the fight between the growing Rebellion against the Empire as a whole, which is why it may have been surprising to hear an opera song play over the end credits. It’s a rare choice for any piece of Star Wars media, but the boundary-breaking decision actually speaks directly to the events of the show. With lyrics by Tony Gilroy and music by Andor season 2 composer Brandon Roberts, the piece is a Ghorman-language aria titled “I Knew”.

ScreenRant is able to exclusively reveal the lyrics from the piece thanks to the generosity of Gilroy and Brandon Roberts, the latter of whom spoke extensively about his work on the best Star Wars TV series (according to ScreenRant’s Andor season 2 review) in an interview to be released after the finale. “The piece wound up being called ‘I Knew’, Tony Gilroy wrote the libretto for it, and then it got translated into the Ghorman language by the person that developed the Ghorman language,” Roberts shared, adding, “It’s an aria from Ghorman, so it’s language-accurate.”

Check out Tony Gilroy’s libretto below, and read on to learn how “I Knew” fits into Andor as a whole:

“I Knew”

Libretto by Tony Gilroy, music by Brandon Roberts

How “I Knew” Secretly Sets Up The Rest Of Andor Season 2’s Third Story Arc

Spoilers For Andor Season 2 Episodes 7-9

The Andor season 2 episode 9 ending makes clear that what happened on Ghorman represented a paradigm shift in terms of how would-be rebels perceived the Empire. But for that to work, audiences had to be invested in Ghorman as a planet, and music has been Andor’s secret weapon when it comes to making that happen. Not only does episode 7 feature a Ghorman aria, but episode 8 sees the Ghorman people singing a traditional song in protest of the Empire. This establishment of Ghorman culture and artistic expression makes the impending massacre even more tragic.

Music even establishes Ghorman’s place within the larger Star Wars galaxy to increase its impact, revealed Roberts: “[The piece] rears its head in a few places. It’s played, I believe, when Cassian comes into the Ghorman hotel, on the radio. It’s played in the end credits, and there’s this tiny snippet of it coming from Dedra’s radio from their apartment when she’s looking out over Coruscant.” In an interview with ScreenRant, Tony Gilroy revealed that season 1’s “Niamos!” song became “A galactic hit,” and, in Robert’s words, “‘I Knew’ winds up being the classical hit.”

Despite being sung in Ghorman, “I Knew” is also rife with foreshadowing for Andor’s Ghorman storyline, as well as one of its most personal plot threads. Lyrics like “One more daybreak – one more sunset” can easily be attributed to the Ghorman Massacre, as can “How do I live?” But the piece is also a reflection of the relationship between Cassian Andor and Bix Caleen which, by the end of Andor season 2 episode 9, is seemingly over.

Given Bix’s ultimate choice to leave Cassian, the words “When we said farewell, I knew,” “Trying not to hear the words I knew we had to say,” and “Our time has wandered, no light left on that pathway,” paired with “Oh, farewell,” are even more bittersweet. Although the lyrics weren’t written to be understood by most Andor viewers, they’re a testament to how precise and detailed Gilroy’s artistic vision for the show has been. “I Knew” is also a prime example of how Brandon Roberts has been able to enrich the Star Wars universe through interesting and meaningful musical choices.

Andor

8/10

Release Date

2022 – 2025-00-00

Network

Disney+

Showrunner

Tony Gilroy

Directors

Susanna White

Writers

Dan Gilroy