Jan Dodonna

"General Dodonna is known for his courage. He wouldn't be aboard the first vessel to flee."

- Grand Admiral Thrawn on Dodonna, during the battle of Atollon

Jan Dodonna was a male human military officer from Commenor who first served with the navy of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, and later, as a general in the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Commanding the Massassi Group, one of the largest cells in Senator Bail Organa's rebel network, elements of his cell were instrumental in the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and he would become part of the Alliance High Command, as well as the military leader of the Rebel Alliance's hidden fortress on Yavin 4. In this capacity, he formulated the plan that led to the successful Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star superweapon.

Service in the Republic and the Empire
A human male from the planet Commenor, Jan Dodonna served in the naval forces of the Galactic Republic during the conflict known as the Clone Wars, where he served as a bridge officer on a Venator-class Star Destroyer. After the Republic's transition into the Galactic Empire, Dodonna continued his service into the Imperial Navy, where, for outstanding service, he became one of the first captains of an Imperial Star Destroyer. However, as time went on, Dodonna would become disillusioned with the Empire, and, soon after, he defected to the growing rebellion.

Early rebellion
"We have orders to deliver these bombers to General Dodonna's unit. They're part of a wider rebellion we're working to build."

- Hera Syndulla, referring to the Y-wing bombers stolen by the Phoenix rebel cell

The rebellion in the early years of the Empire was made up of a loose collection of rebel cells secretly coordinated by Imperial Senator Bail Organa. By 5 BBY, Dodonna had risen to command one of these teams of rebels, the Massassi Group, in his fight against the Empire. Leevan Tenza was a member of this group, however an incident where he disobeyed orders and preemptively engaged an Imperial target led to his court-martial and defection to Saw Gerrera's Partisans.

By 2 BBY, Dodonna commanded one of the largest rebel cells in the entire rebellion, based on Yavin 4, the fourth moon of Yavin, in the Gordian Reach. In this year, elements of Phoenix Squadron, which also operated as part of the rebel network, managed to steal five antiquated BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bombers from an Imperial salvage yard in order to deliver them to Dodonna and his unit. The Y-wings eventually made their way to the group's starfighter auxiliary, Gold Squadron, led by Captain Jon 'Dutch' Vander.

Gold Squadron was later assigned to escort the fugitive Senator Mon Mothma, branded a traitor by the Empire and forced to flee from Chandrila, to a rendezvous at Dantooine. Later, General Dodonna along with Senator Bail Organa and several rebel personnel listened to a live HoloNet broadcast by the former Senator denouncing the Empire and urging the galaxy to rise up in rebellion, which eventually led to the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Atollon
"This day has been a long time coming. Hopefully we can finally deal a blow to the Empire and show the rest of the galaxy what we're capable of."

- General Jan Dodonna to Commander Jun Sato

Under the new Rebel Alliance, Dodonna and his Massassi Group were paired with Commander Jun Sato's Phoenix Squadron in preparation for a strike on the capital world of the Lothal sector, Lothal. However, before the attack could take place, the rebels were ambushed by the Seventh Fleet under Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, or Thrawn, a fearsome tactician responsible for the destruction of several rebel cells in the past, who was also intent on capturing Dodonna as well as the rest of the high-ranking rebels gathered on the planet.

Thrawn, along with Admiral Kassius Konstantine and his Interdictor cruisers, initially laid waste to both Dodonna's and Sato's forces, and the latter was forced to sacrifice himself in an attempt to enable Ezra Bridger and Chopper to escape on the Nightbrother and seek help. Sustaining heavy losses, Dodonna and the rest of the fleet were forced to withdraw back to Chopper Base, under the protection of a deflector shield. The deflector shield weathered Thrawn's orbital bombardment but the Grand Admiral launched a ground assault with AT-DP walkers, AT-AT walkers, and stormtroopers.

While planning the defense of Chopper Base, General Dodonna predicted that Thrawn would deploy his forces through the narrow canyon leading to Chopper Base. The former Clone Captain Rex then proposed ambushing the Imperial forces along that route. Despite destroying several AT-DP walkers, the rebels were unable to stop Thrawn's AT-ATs and stormtroopers from storming the base. As the rebel ships depart, Dodonna, Hera's Spectres crew, and the RA-7 protocol droid AP-5 attempted to flee aboard the Ghost but were surrounded by Thrawn and his troops. Before Thrawn could captured them, a mysterious Force entity known as the Bendu attacked the base with lightning.

Dodonna and the other rebels were able to flee aboard the Ghost. Weathering the thunderstorm, the rebel convoy reached space. By that stage, Ezra had arrived with Clan Wren reinforcements who destroyed the remaining Interdictor, allowing Dodonna and his remaining forces to escape. The rebel convoy then traveled to Yavin 4.

Galactic Civil War
"&hellip;man your ships, and may the Force be with you."

- General Dodonna, to the Rebel pilots, before the Battle of Yavin

Stealing the Death Star plans
By 0 BBY, the general commanded the Great Temple, which was the main rebel headquarters, considered its most important base and "hidden fortress" from the Empire. By this point, Dodonna had been elevated to Alliance High Command, and was present at the headquarters as Operation Fracture confirmed the existence of an Imperial mobile battle station superweapon capable of destroying entire planets, known as the Death Star. Although High Command was divided in their response to the threat, the squad Rogue One launched an unauthorized mission to steal the plans in hope of discovering a weakness that would allow the Alliance to destroy the station. The resulting Battle of Scarif resulted in the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War and open warfare against the Empire, and the plans would be successfully retrieved from the Scarif Citadel Tower in an attempt to return them to Dodonna for analysis.

After the plans made their way to the headquarters and the weakness installed in the battle station by Galen Erso was found, Dodonna designed an attack strategy that would set a group of starfighters into battle against the Death Star with the mission to fire proton torpedoes into the station's exhaust port and destroy it. This led to the Battle of Yavin, which Dodonna and other Rebel leaders monitored from Yavin 4. Just as the Death Star came into range to destroy Yavin 4, and Dodonna with it, the station was destroyed by Luke Skywalker.

Evacuating Yavin
"...The Empire now knows our location. Therefore our first priority is to find a base of operations. To that end, all rebel fleets have arrived to assist us in evacuating Yavin immediately."

- General Jan Dodonna to Yavin personnel

The General was present at the Royal Award Ceremony commemorating the battle station's destruction, announcing at the conclusion of the event that they would be evacuating Yavin 4, as the Empire now knew the location of their base. Dodonna immediately began screening new planets that would be suitable to establish a new base of operations, quickly dismissing Insk and Daxan Beta as candidates.

Princess Leia spoke with General Dodonna, asking to assist with scouting for a new base. The General refused her offer, reporting that a bounty of 10,000,000 credits had been placed on her head by the Empire and reported rumors that the Imperials were seeking out surviving Alderaanians for reprisal. Dodonna demanded that the Princess not leave the system with anything less than a full military escort before dismissing her.

Despite Dodonna's objections, Organa departed the jungle moon in a T-1 shuttle operated by R2-D2 and Evaan Verlaine, an Alderaanian pilot. Leia left a hologram explaining her actions in Dodonna's private quarters, which contained luxury furniture and a balcony overlooking the jungle canopy below. The General dispatched Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles in X-wing starfighters to retrieve the wayward princess; however, the shuttle jumped to hyperspace before Skywalker and Antilles could stop them.

Later career
Following the evacuation of Yavin 4, Dodonna joined the Alliance Fleet and helped the rest of the Alliance's leaders oversee the war effort. Shortly after the assault on the Empire's Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1, Dodonna met with Princess Leia, Chancellor Mon Mothma, and Admiral Gial Ackbar to discuss the Alliance's next steps and the need to find a new base of operations.

Several days later, the Rebel fleet received an distress call from R2-D2, Skywalker's astromech droid. The droid reported that Skywalker had been captured by Grakkus the Hutt, a powerful crime lord on Nar Shaddaa. Dodonna met with Mon Mothma and Ackbar to discuss the situation, and expressed his confusion as to why Skywalker had been on the crime-ridden moon of Nar Shaddaa in the first place. Ackbar proposed that they rescue the Rebel hero, but Mon Mothma noted that they could not make a move against the powerful Hutt Cartels, and that no one would be brave enough to volunteer for a covert rescue mission. The meeting was then interrupted by Chewbacca, and Dodonna noted that he seemed to be willing to do so alongside the protocol droid C-3PO. Chewbacca successfully rescued Skywalker with the help of Princess Leia and Han Solo, who had learned of Skywalker's situation and went to his aid.

Alliance High Command soon received word that the Rebel garrison on Vrogas Vas had engaged Darth Vader and shot his starfighter down after taking heavy casualties. Dodonna decided that Darth Vader represented a significant threat and target of opportunity, and dispatched a battalion to reinforce the Rebels on planet in their effort to kill the Sith Lord.

Sometime later Dodonna ordered the mission that lead to the discovery of the ice planet Hoth.

Behind the scenes
Jan Dodonna's first film appearance was in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, where he was played by Alex McCrindle. Dodonna later appeared in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story where he was portrayed by Ian McElhinney. He is voiced by Michael Bell in Star Wars Rebels.