The Star Wars galaxy has continued to grow as well as the amount of lore and history behind each planet, character and major event, know the meaning of the tattoos of Arvel Skeen
Since the starting of the latest Star Wars series, Andor fans have been treated to plenty of hidden references, some more niche than others.
And one of the latest pieces of information that is marking questions with fans happens to be Tattoos that Arvel Skeen is going to show in the episode 5 of Andor, which we learn denote “Krayt Head” and “By the Hand.”
Andor Season 1 Episode 5 Review, Arvel Skeen Krayt Head And By The Hand Tattoos Meaning Explained
But what exactly does this tattoo mean in Andor and the wider Star Wars Universe, here’s everything that you might need to know about.
Arvel Skeen shows off his Tattoos
In one of the early scenes of episode 5, Cassian wakes up to find that his equipment has been taken by a distrustful Arvel so that he can inspect it.
The tense situation between the duo quickly turns to the tattoos that we can see on Skeen’s chest and arm.
Meanwhile Skeen caught Cassian noticing his Tattoos on his chest and instantly questioned him, “You know what this means, don’t you?”
Arvel Skeen tattoos Meaning
The first Tattoo that the two discuss is located on Skeen’s chest and it resembles a barcode which Andor quickly recognizes as it denoting something called Krayt Head, which we believe is implied to be a prison.
As their conversation continued, Cassian tells that he had spent 3 years at a youth centre prison on Sip from the age of 13, which fits with the story that he had previously told Luthen in episode 4.
At the time he had said that he went to Mimban after leaving prison at 16. Well if you’re Star Wars fans, you can easily tell that the name Krayt is from the krayt dragon in season 2 of The Mandalorian.
The krayt dragon is a native creature native to Tatooine, which can possibly suggest that the prison is located somewhere in the desert planet.
Coming back to the second tattoo that we saw was on Skeen’s forearm, which Cassian reveals represents “By the Hand.”
It simply means that it is another tattoo relating to a stint in prison, which could possibly represent the crime that Skeen might have committed, maybe theft, as people used to lose hands for stealing in years gone by.
Or perhaps it can refer to the manual labour that he was forced to carry out as part of his sentence.
Meanwhile the backstory of Skeen’s is revealed later in the episode after he and Cassian have a tense talk about Andor’s motivations for joining the heist crew.
In one of the final scenes, Arvel reveals that he will fight against the Empire for what they did to his family. Later he explains that an Imperial Prefect took his brother’s tree farm and flooded the land.
Unable to fight back, his brother filled his pockets with stones and committed suicide as he jumped from a boat.
Andor is available to stream now on Disney Plus as the series has already premiered on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.