Amilyn Holdo

"Then there's this girl from Gatalenta named Amilyn Holdo who is&hellip;let's say, a little odd.''" "''I trust your judgement, Leia, but don't be too quick to write people off. Sometimes they can surprise you."

- Leia and Bail Organa

Amilyn Holdo was a human female from the planet Gatalenta. In her youth, Holdo served in the Apprentice Legislature of the Imperial Senate, where she became acquainted with Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. During her time in the Apprentice Legislature, Holdo became friends with Organa, who confided with her about involvement with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire.

By the year 34 ABY, Holdo became a Vice Admiral in Organa's Resistance during its war with the First Order, and was given command of the cruiser Ninka. Taking overall command of the Resistance after the deaths of most of the commanders and Organa's incapacitation, Holdo devised a plan to save the remaining personnel by evacuating them on transports while she stayed behind on the command ship to draw attention away from them.

When the transports came under fire, Holdo piloted the heavy cruiser Raddus into position and jumped to lightspeed through Supreme Leader Snoke's flagship, the Mega-class Star Destroyer Supremacy. Her sacrifice allowed the remaining transports to reach the planet Crait, where they subsequently escaped to fight another day.

Early life
A human female, Amilyn Holdo was born on the planet Gatalenta during the early Imperial Era. In the year 3 BBY, Holdo joined the Apprentice Legislature, an Imperial organization on Coruscant for youth in politics. While in the Apprentice Legislature, Holdo met Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, daughter of Senator Bail Organa. Holdo and Princess Organa spent much time together during senatorial sessions and routine pathfinding training on various worlds such as Alderaan, Eriadu, and Felucia. While pathfinding on the planet Pamarthe, Holdo discovered Organa's involvement with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Soon after, Holdo helped Organa find passage to the Paucris system in order to warn the fleet of an impending Imperial attack.

Organa's Resistance
In 2 BBY, the rebellion became the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and in the subsequent Galactic Civil War, the Empire was toppled and replaced with a New Republic. However, an Imperial remnant reorganized into the First Order, so in 28 ABY, Organa created the Resistance to oppose them. By 34 ABY, during the conflict between the two groups, Holdo joined the Resistance military and served as a Vice Admiral and commanding officer of the cruiser Ninka.

After the attack on Starkiller Base, she was posted on the Resistance ship Ninka. On D'Qar just before the First Order's arrival, she briefed the Resistance pilots from Cobalt and Crimson Squadron about the events of the annihilation of the Hosnian system as well as the subsequent destruction of Starkiller Base. She offered ammunition from her ship to help arm their squadrons. Having heard of Rose Tico's previous accomplishments with Cobalt Squadron, Holdo asked her to take a position on the Ninka as part of the maintenance team.

Commanding the fleet
During an attack on the Raddus, the ship's commander Leia Organa was ejected from the bridge and left unconscious, the attack also killing the entire High Command stationed on the bridge. Following the chain of command, Commander Larma D'Acy delegated overall command of the Resistance to Holdo, who had transferred from her ship to the Raddus to take full command. After thanking D'Acy, Holdo addressed the situation by explaining that the 400 personnel on three ships comprised the very last of the Resistance, but they would survive. Holdo had the remaining ships continue full ahead to keep out of the First Order's range, but their fuel reserves dwindled and they lost their medical frigate Anodyne when it ran dry. Holdo received a communication from the Anodnye's captain informing her that the rest of its crew had escaped and were heading her way, but the transmission was lost as the First Order destroyed the defenseless frigate. Shortly after, Holdo's own ship the Ninka was destroyed as well.

Poe Dameron and Holdo were not on good terms, immediately butting heads over the issue of Poe's demotion and apparent lack of any decisive action. Deeming Poe an impulsive and reckless "fly-boy", Holdo recognized that as a liability rather than an asset for the current situation and instead ordered him to stick to his post and follow her orders. Unfortunately, Holdo's lack of transparency with Poe had repercussions. When Holdo ordered the crew of the Raddus to evacuate to the planet Crait via rescue transports, Dameron and some crew members held the Admiral and some officers loyal to her at gunpoint and took control of the ship. Holdo escaped the mutiny, however, by kicking a steam pipe and stunning her antagonists while the newly-wakened Leia stunned Poe, and sent him to Crait with the rest of the crew. Holdo refused to board a transport herself, however, and told Leia that someone had to stay on the Raddus  to keep it going and said she would be honoured to do it. Though Leia was extremely reluctant to take any more losses that day, especially another good friend, Holdo consoled her and bid her friend goodbye with the phrase "May the Force be with you."

Sacrifice
"Godspeed, Rebels."

- Amilyn Holdo wishing good luck to the Resistance

Holdo willed the transports on their way from the ship's secondary command bridge, but was horrified when the First Order detected and fired on the fleeing transports, destroying many of them. After personally witnessing the demise of a transport whilst conferring with its frantic pilot, Holdo resolved to prevent any more deaths and fired up the hyperdrive on the Raddus. Both the Resistance and First Order thought she was fleeing the battlezone, but General Hux ignored the ship as he thought it was simply a distraction, only realizing what Holdo was really going to do when the Raddus turned to face the Supremacy. Frantic, Hux ordered all batteries to fire on the cruiser but it was too late. Activating the hyperdrive, Holdo jumped through Supreme Leader Snoke's ship Supremacy at lightspeed, slicing the mammoth Dreadnought in two along with at least five Resurgent-class battlecruisers. The impact also threw the ship into complete chaos, disrupting the execution of a captured Finn and Rose. Though Holdo perished in the collision, her sacrifice allowed the escape of the remaining Resistance personnel.

Personality and traits
"I like comparing different planets' traditional astrological charts to see if they agree on the influences exercised by various stars. The parallels are uncanny!"

- Amilyn Holdo, introducing herself to the Apprentice Legislature

Holdo had blue eyes and light-colored skin, and she was tall. In her youth, Holdo rebelled against the peaceful culture of her homeworld and expressed herself by dyeing her hair vibrant colors, wearing vibrantly-colored clothing, and going on daring escapades. In spite of that, Holdo showed great interest in esoteric practices of her planet, like meditation and astrology, and she was knowledgeable of the galaxy. Organa found Holdo to be insightful and charming, but also irritating at times.

Holdo had a quirky personality, often getting distracted, speaking in riddles and metaphors with a monotone/singsong voice, and being eccentric. She was by no means stupid, however, and her oddball persona hid a keen intellect. She was not afraid of death, and dreamed of dangerous adventures “to get more comfortable with the nearness and inevitability" of it. Holdo was a determined and patriotic person, able to react to changing circumstances and ready to sacrifice herself for the cause. As a commander she had a cool head for the greater strategy, and expected her orders to be executed precisely. Holdo was known to carry a Defender-5 sporting blaster, which was favored by many nobles on her homeworld.

Behind the scenes
"She's somebody who's a bit off-kilter, who sees the world through a prism most others don't understand. At first Leia thinks she's pleasant but weird, but as time goes on, it becomes apparent that there's much more to Holdo than you might guess when you first met her. We don't really have a lot of true oddballs in Star Wars, so it was fun to introduce one!"

- Claudia Gray, on Amilyn Holdo

Amilyn Holdo is a character developed for the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, in which she is portrayed by actress Laura Dern. The casting announcement was revealed on February 15, 2016, and Holdo's name was first revealed on May 24, 2017 in a Vanity Fair article. During the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi marketing campaign, Holdo appeared as a supporting character in the young adult novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, and was briefly shown in the picture book A Leader Named Leia. Holdo's appearance in Leia, Princess of Alderaan was received positively, with some readers comparing her to the character Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.

Appearances

 * Leia, Princess of Alderaan
 * A Leader Named Leia
 * The Last Jedi: Cobalt Squadron
 * The Last Jedi: Bomber Command
 * Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes