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“Sarah started writing new Andromeda stories a few years into her imprisonment. Most of them were just short vignettes, but she also made an outline for a new trilogy of movies that was pretty comprehensive. They’re good- hard to say if they’re as good as the original, because tonally they’re, uh. Well, they’re different. Not necessarily darker but… wearier is the best way to describe them.
It starts off nearly a decade from the last installment- the last she wrote, I mean. Some of the new elements introduced after her initial plans are acknowledged, but what’s not ignored is re-worked pretty heavily. Anyways, it starts off with a very tired Andromeda who’s on the brink of giving up on getting home- her recent attempt has just failed, leaving her on one of the hundreds of tiny moons of a gas giant that’s in the middle of a war with several of the other hundred tiny moons, all of whom claim they have a way to send her home if she’ll side with them.
I’m not gonna go through the whole thing- it’s good, like I said, but it’s a little dense. Like, Andromeda was always good at not spoon-feeding things to people, but this cranks it up a notch. There’s a lot of different plotlines weaving together to make this big, intricate drama that’s a lot more fraught than the usual chainmail warrior stuff. Also a lot more than you should really try to stuff into three two hour movies, though if you split it up into a series…
Nevermind- there’s one plotline that, in light of, y’know, everything, really jumps out.
One of the moons is ruled by a pair of twins- Ariadne and Arachne.
The moon of Delos is technically neutral in the war, but a more powerful moon, Crete, is pressuring Arachne to weave them weapons with her magic loom. Andromeda helps get them off the twins' backs by the end of the first movie, and she and Ariadne become kind of a duo in the second, traveling around to all the different moons, trying to sort through the lies and the chaos.
In the third movie things with the twins' past start coming into the forefront. Arachne is under a curse, sort of- for the first few movies it’s treated like kind of a running gag where she claims she’s cursed to weave non-stop, but it’s implied she’s really just a workaholic. At least that’s what Ariadne says- but by the third movie, she starts locking herself in her tower for days at a time, working until her fingers bleed.
Partway through they find out the twins' mother, Athena, is working for Crete, and Arachne is livid. She tells Andromeda that her mother was the one who cursed her. She blamed Arachne for the death of her pet spider, which produced magic silk that Athena used with the loom to make the most incredible magical artifacts in the galaxy. When the spider disappeared, Athena flew into a rage and nearly killed Arachne in her anger.
Thankfully, Ariadne had taken Arachne’s side, and together they overthrew their mother- but Arachne couldn’t get her to lift the curse, or even admit that she’d cast one in the first place. Eventually, they exiled Athena from Delos, but even years later Arachne still found herself compelled to weave strange and disturbing tapestries with little to no respite.
Arachne claims she doesn’t know what really happened to the spider, only that a single spool is all that remains of its thread. She offers to use it to weave a doorway that will take Andromeda back to Polaris, but only if she agrees to kill Athena. And at this point, Andromeda is so tired- of being lost, of this complicated war, of fighting in general- that she actually considers it.
Andromeda travels to Crete, still unsure of what to do. When she gets there, she finds not an evil sorceress selling her children and homeworld out for power as she’d hoped, but a sad, blind old woman weaving charms for the war effort in exchange for a safe place to spend her banishment.
Athena claims that she never cursed Arachne, but that Arachne cursed her. Jealous of her mother’s skill, she stole the spider and spread its venom on her spinning wheel, which eventually poisoned and blinded her. Then she tricked Ariadne into taking her side and overthrowing their mother- or so she thought. It turns out, Ariadne had been helping Athena behind Arachne’s back and had been making deals with Crete’s government behind the scenes back when Andromeda thought she’d been the one to save them.
Thoroughly confused and distraught, Andromeda leaves Crete to track down Ariadne and demand an explanation. Ariadne claims that neither of them is lying- they both believe that the other cursed them, and they’re both wrong. The spider simply ran away, and Athena’s overreaction damaged her relationship with Arachne to such a point that they no longer could trust each other.
Ariadne apologizes for keeping this from Andromeda but insists that her mother and twin can still make amends, and begs Andromeda to help her.
But Andromeda refuses. After feeling used and worn by so many people demanding her help, her friend's duplicity is the final straw. She leaves Ariadne and attempts to abandon the system altogether, only for a huge inter-moon battle to break out just as she takes off, making it impossible to leave the gas giant’s orbit safely.
The battle takes up about half of the end of the movie, and a lot of plot threads converge and wrap up, it’s… dense. Again, won’t go into all the details- one of the important parts is a pair of glasses that Arachne had woven earlier in the story. Andromeda ends up with them during the battle, and when she puts them on she sees that everything and everyone around her is covered in thin strands of webbing that seem to be pulling them along. Following the threads, she realizes they all lead back to Delos.
Andromeda arrives at the capitol of Delos just as Athena is confronting her children at their keep. The battle rages around them, all the forces being pulled inexorably to the center of a web where Athena and Arachne are locked in combat, Ariadne pleading desperately for them to lay down their weapons.
As Andromeda watches, she realizes that despite what she’s actually saying, Ariadne’s words seem to be egging them on- reminding them of all the pain and dismissal they’ve faced over their conflict. As she gets closer she realizes that all of the strings are coming from Ariadne- Ariadne, who traveled with Andromeda to all those moons, entangling herself with every facet of the conflict. But she doesn’t even seem to realize the effect she has.
Andromeda rushes towards her to stop the fighting, but she’s too late; Athena’s thrusts her sword forward, intending to bury it in Arachne’s chest, only for Ariadne to jump in the way. The blade plunges into her, and she falls to the floor. As Athena and Arachne stare in horror, a golden spider crawls out of Ariadne’s mouth.
Andromeda brings her ax down on the spider, cutting it in two. All of the ethereal threads start to dissipate as it crumbles to ash. Ariadne has just enough life left to explain the truth- she had let the spider out all those years ago because she had felt bad for it in its little cage. In return, the spider had overtaken her- manipulated her heart and mind to help push the turmoil in their family and their system to chaos.
Frantically, Arachne pulls out the spool of spiders silk she’d saved, hoping its magic can save her twin, but her hands have become unsteady and gnarled from the constant overwork. Her mother places her own hands over her child's, and together they sew the wound in Ariadne’s chest closed.
Ariadne is healed, and together she, her mother, her twin, and Andromeda take up arms to end the battle of a hundred moons once and for all- and fail. Sort of.
They realize that while they can help fix some of the problems that led to the conflict, they can’t fix those who aren’t willing to change- so they leave. The entire moon of Delos. The three queens weave a spell that frees the moon from its orbit and sends it sailing into the galaxy beyond- and maybe, if they’re lucky, to Polaris.
and that’s how it ends.
…
So, uh…
… Mr. Steel? Ma’am…?
“This supposed to be some kind of revelation?”
“I mean, you have to admit it’s, it’s certainly-”
“It’s us, yeah. Mom’s Athena, Ben’s Ariadne, I’m Arachne, and the spider is… I dunno, Jack, or her pills, or whoever and whatever she felt like scapegoating when she wrote this.
You realize that’s all this really is, right? It’s an excuse. Another version of the story where she was the victim being manipulated instead of a grown woman who knew damn well that murder is generally frowned upon.
What, d’you expect me to get all emotional about how she didn’t really mean it or whatever? Did you think you were bringing me some kind of catharsis? I’ve already found my own, thanks. I don’t need the brand name.”
“We’re not- You don’t think it’s important, that she regretted it? That she looked for some kind of forgiveness, even if it wasn’t enough?”
“She didn’t want forgiveness; that would have been too much work. She just wanted to be forgiven. Believe me when I say, there is a big difference.”
“Fine. Fine, you’re right, I- Look, I apologize for being short. I know this is… all very difficult.”
“Pff, for me or you? You’re the ones in hot water. It would have been one thing if it was just the Theia stuff that leaked, you could have feigned ignorance-”
“We were ignorant, we-”
“ - Sure you were. But who’s going to believe it? Jack was the face of North Star when he was around, and you guys backed him his whole campaign. The plagiarism coming out might have actually given you a ticket out if Ma had just lain down and died like a good little martyr. You could have made an op-ed about her tragic story, given her some kind of statue, or thrown money at some charity and said it was Sarah Steel finally getting what she deserved, a triumph of truth and justice!
You know, I think she might have actually liked that? Making everyone at North Star swallow their pride and admit she was right all along. Hell, you might have even been able to gloss over the part where she abused and neglected her kids for decades, if she just hadn’t killed Benzaiten.
But she did, and you and I both know that even she wasn’t a good enough writer to make something that can overshadow that. You can’t have a monument to a killer at Polaris- you need a hero, or at least a real victim you can pretend to apologize to.
That’s why you’re talking to me, right?”
“… It’s more than that.”
“Sure, the benevolent corporation really wants to make amends-”
“-Martian I.P. law is notoriously complicated, and specifically geared towards keeping property within a family. Three guesses who’s responsible for that.”
“… Huh. Thought that felt like a Kanagawa headache.
…Wait, what does that mean? Do I.. Does that I mean I own Andromeda?”
“Not quite. But you definitely have a claim to it, and by default, you own the work you’re mother made outside of North Star’s employment.”
“Didn’t she leave that to her pen pal? The guy you got it all from?”
“Not formally. He only ended up with it because you refused her last effects, but technically it still belongs to you.”
“So what is it you actually want from me here? You want her work, or for me to give up whatever claim I have to your flagship character?”
“No- as you pointed out, we are in something of a pr nightmare at the moment, and we do need… something from you. Your blessing.”
“God, you can’t be serious-”
“- Or a statement, or even just- We need something to give us some sense of legitimacy-”
“Legitimacy!? You’re a trillion-dollar corporation built on stolen work that barely pays its employees enough to keep themselves and their families alive and funneled millions into backing a tyrant, legitimacy is so far out of the question it’s sticking halfway out of the margin and onto the next page! You have less of a chance of gaining legitimacy than Andromeda does finding Polaris!”
“Well… we still have to try, don’t we? Isn’t that the whole point?”
“Ugh, spare me.”
“Look, I’ll be candid with you Mr. Steel- You’re right. This isn’t about you, or your mother, or any one person. This is about keeping the company alive. About keeping everyone who relies on North Star to put food on their tables employed- and yeah, about keeping the shareholders happy. I wish it was less cynical, I really do, but at the end of the day this is a precarious business and we’re just- I’m just trying to minimize the damage okay?”
“You’re trying to save your own skin.”
“Well, y’know, I’m pretty attached to it!”
“Hah. Yeah…
…
*Sigh* You know what the worst part of this all is?”
“Uh… what?”
“All those dense plot threads you were talking about? That big, intricate space drama?
I wanna see it. Like, so bad.”
“Ha, well… It is really good.”
“Course it’s good, it’s hers. Whatever else you say about her- and I could say a helluva lot- she was a brilliant writer. Ben and I loved her stuff as kids, and even after- like, when I pieced everything together, learning that Andromeda, my favourite, my hero, was something she made- it just felt right.
Not good, I mean, I wasn’t happy or touched or anything like that, but… I didn’t really even question it. It felt obvious, like when someone points out that something you’ve been looking for is right in front of your face. She put so much of herself into it, I feel like I should have figured it out years ago.”
“I wish you had. Might have made my job simpler.”
“Well, honestly, I probably would have made your job much harder if I’d been able to prove it. Nothing personal.”
“… I mean, that’s fair. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same in your shoes.”
“Can you say what you’d do in my shoes now? Cause I’m gonna be honest I have… no idea where to even begin with all this. I don’t want to be some, like, symbol or whatever.”
“I mean, that is a place to start. Next place to go would probably be to a lawyer.”
“I’m uh… you know, I’m not exactly on the best terms with the law right now. Not sure that’d be a great idea.”
“Mr. Steel, if you think that matters, you’ve been off Mars for too long.”
“… Good point.
So. Guess I’ll… get a lawyer. And, uh, get back to you?”
“Yeah. Yeah, you can call me, or have them call me. This… this is gonna be a process.”
“Yeah, what the hell isn’t anymore.”
“*Sigh* Yeah…”
“…
Look, I’m not- I’m not promising anything here. I’ve really got no interest in bailing North Star out of the mess they made, so like- I know this is like, you’re job on the line or whatever, I- wait, goddammit, that sounds bad-”
“It’s fine. Seriously, it’s… No, okay, it’s pretty messed up. But like, you are basically the last person who’s fault that is, so.”
“Yeah, I know, just… ugh. This would be so much easier if I could just be a dick about it. Part of me would love to see North Star go down but that’s…”
“I mean, if it makes you feel better, you do kind of have them by the balls. Especially if you can get a good lawyer. Like, you hit the nail on the head earlier- they really need you to make this work.”
“…Yeah, I guess I do. That does make me feel better, actually.
… So, what the hell’s your game? Like, not to put a sour note on our friendly little chat here, but it’s a little weird for a corporate stooge to be acting this…”
“Friendly?”
“I was going to say human.”
“Ouch. Fair, but ouch.
…
You know, Andromeda was my favourite too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Made me want to become an animator.”
“Wait, are you…?”
“Nope. Couldn’t make the cut, so I settled for corporate stooge.”
“Settled for a job that probably makes several times the creds.”
“Well, when you say it like that.
I dunno, I gave up on all that years ago, I just, like. I wanted to… be part of something good? It seems kinda stupid now. Y’know, childish.”
“Kinda, yeah. I get it though.”
“Yeah. It’s not realistic, it’s just business. Like, this whole thing… It’s just more of the same business. Never really changes.”
“Do you think it could?”
“Change?”
“Be something good. Or do something good, or just be… I dunno, better?”
“Maybe. I guess it depends.”
“On me?”
“On us, really. North Star. If we’re really willing to change.”
“… No offense but, uh… I’m not gonna be holding my breath.”
“None taken.
So… We hope to hear from you soon, Mr. Steel. And I- I hope you have a nice night, wherever you are.”
“Yeah… thanks. You too.
…
Wait, it’s like 10 am on Mars right now isn’t it.”
“It’s literally 9:51.”
“Goddammit.”