Poe Dameron

"We are the spark that'll light the fire that'll burn the First Order down."

- Poe Dameron

Poe Dameron was a human male pilot who served as a commander in the New Republic and, later, the Resistance during its conflict with the First Order. The son of Lieutenant Shara Bey and Sergeant Kes Dameron of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, Dameron followed in his late mother's footsteps and became a pilot, serving the New Republic Starfleet as the commander of Rapier Squadron, but grew disillusioned with the Republic's inaction to the First Order's violations of the Galactic Concordance. Dameron defected to the Resistance, where he became one of General Leia Organa's most trusted operatives. Dameron flew under the callsign of Black Leader while piloting his specialized T-70 X-wing fighter, Black One.

As the conflict with the First Order grew more desperate, Dameron was sent to find Lor San Tekka on Jakku, who had part of a map to locate Organa's brother, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Though Dameron entrusted the map to his astromech droid BB-8, he was captured by the First Order. He escaped with the help of a defecting stormtrooper, whom Dameron nicknamed Finn, and returned to the Resistance base on D'Qar on his own. He aided Finn, Rey, Han Solo, and Chewbacca with air support during the Battle of Takodana, and he later flew during the battle to destroy the superweapon known as Starkiller Base. During the battle, after the base was damaged by Solo, Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca, Dameron fired the shots that destroyed the Starkiller weapon, saving the Resistance from certain destruction.

After the Battle of Starkiller Base, Dameron lead an attack on a super star destroyer, but his reckless actions caused him to be demoted. As the First Order pursued the Resistance, Dameron did not approve of the high command's passive strategy and worked with Finn and Rose Tico to break into Supreme Leader Snoke's dreadnaught Supremacy and disable the First Order's lightspeed tracking before staging a mutiny against Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. However, Dameron did not realize that Holdo was planning to get the alliance to escape to a nearby planet, and his group's actions caused the First Order to discover the Resistance's escape vessels and destroy many of them. However, General Organa gave Dameron command after Holdo sacrificed herself, and he led a last-ditch counterattack against the First Order on the planet Crait. The counterattack was unsuccessful, but Luke Skywalker came to the planet thanks to Rey and held off the First Order long enough to allow the remainder of the Resistance to escape.

Early life
"People were hurting. People were suffering. Your father and I couldn't sit and do nothing."

- Shara Bey, to Poe Dameron, about her military service

Born two years before the Battle of Endor, Poe Dameron was the son of Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, who both served the Alliance to Restore the Republic in the fight against the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. As an infant, Dameron barely saw his parents due to the Alliance's continued operations against the Imperials before and after Endor, as his mother worked as a Rebel pilot for the Alliance's Green Squadron and his father was a member of the Pathfinders, and Dameron was thus left in the care of his maternal grandfather. Six months after the Battle of Endor, after the Imperial remnant put forward Operation: Cinder, Dameron's parents left Rebel service to reunite with him, settle on Yavin 4 and build a house—close to which they planted a Force-sensitive tree, a gift from Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.

At age 6, Dameron began to learn how to fly in his mother's old RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, which was part of his mother's compensation package when she mustered out of the Rebellion. She would take Dameron up in it, and he would sit in her lap, learning how to control the ship from her. Tragedy struck his family when his mother unexpectedly died; at the time, Dameron was only eight years old. L'ulo L'ampar, Bey's fellow Rebel pilot and friend, helped raise Dameron, and was thus like family to him.

New Republic
Eventually, Dameron became a pilot himself and joined the New Republic Starfleet. Upon entering the New Republic's service, he began to learn the true scope of his mother's heroism, and he himself rose through the ranks, becoming a commander for the New Republic, and earned the reputation of being extremely skilled. Given command of Rapier Squadron, a group of T-85 X-wings, Dameron also met the spherical astromech droid BB-8, who would go onto assist him during his flights as Rapier Leader and become a steadfast friend from then on.

His squadron was stationed at the Mirrin Prime Republic Base, under Major Lonno Deso. In time, Dameron came to be aware of the threat the First Order represented and the leeway they were given by the Republic, but he and his squadron were merely deployed to patrol trade lanes in the Mirrin sector and protect ships from piracy.

The Yissira Zyde
"It's going to happen again, you realize that, don't you?''" "If it does, it'll be dealt with then." "''So we do nothing? That's the solution? An emerging threat, and we do nothing?"

- Poe Dameron and Lonno Desso, discussing the First Order

After four weeks of inactivity, Dameron's scanner picked up a distress call from the Yissira Zyde. Once BB-8 pinpointed its exact location above Suraz 4, Dameron and his fellow Rapiers—Karé Kun, Iolo Arana, and Muran—made the jump into lightspeed, expecting to find the Zyde under pirate attack. However, they found the freighter sieged by eight First Order TIE fighters, which proceeded to attack them. Breaking them into two elements, Dameron and Kun attacked the TIE fighters, while Arana and Muran broke off the shuttles attacking the Zyde. Though during the skirmish Dameron fell five enemy ships, and Kun the other three, the squadron lost Muran. Afterwards, Dameron tried to convince Desso to contact the Resistance or investigate the attack, but as Republic Command had ordered not to take action against the First Order, Dameron's request was denied. Whent they were sent on a patrol once again, Dameron split up from Kun and Arana to do a reconnaissance mission of the Yissira Zyde’s hyperspace trajectory alone with BB-8. Together, they made it to OR-Kappa-2722 where they found a First Order staging point and Dameron was forced to engage and avoid two dozen TIE fighters while BB-8 located the Zyde’s ID transponder aboard one of the Star Destroyers. When they were ready to leave, Dameron made a "L'ulo Stand" and managed to escape back to Mirrin Prime. Upon his return to the planet, Dameron met Major Caluan Ematt and was then made to enter a briefing room alone to meet General Leia Organa, who requested that he tell her everything about the Yissira Zyde.

Resistance
"I'm a Republic officer, General. I swore an oath to protect the Republic, to—" "No, you misunderstand. I like it. It was rash of you, as I said, it was foolish. But we could use some rash these days, and foolish and passionate are often confused, and passion is something we desperately need."

- Poe Dameron and Leia Organa

Upon ending his account of the skirmish, Organa realized that Dameron reminded her of her brother Luke Skywalker―for being passionate, an outstanding pilot and dedicated to doing what was right―, and offered him the opportunity to join the Resistance in its conflict against the First Order. Dameron immediately accepted, as did Kun and Arana. Retaining the rank of commander and now in charge of his own fighter wing, Dameron was transferred to the Echo of Hope, and in the next few months, he went onto helping in recruiting efforts to find additional pilots, scouting missions, long-range reconnaissance, and searching for signs of First Order movement and positions.

In his service to the Resistance, Dameron became one of Organa's most-trusted operatives, and quickly rose through the ranks of the understaffed Starfighter Corps, earning the command of both Red and Blue Squadron―the latter of which served as the primary line of defense for the Resistance base on D'Qar. Under the callsign of Black Leader, to denote his customized, dark-hulled T-70 X-wing fighter Black One, Dameron was assisted during his flights by BB-8.

Operation: Saber Strike
"Captain Kun is an exceptional pilot, without question, as is Captain Arana, for that matter. But it's a rare pilot who engages one frigate and two Star Destroyers and lives to tell the tale."

- Leia Organa to Poe Dameron

Eventually, Dameron was recruited by Organa for Operation: Sabre Strike to steal navicomputer data from the Hevurion Grace, which belonged to First Order sympathizer and Republic senator, Erudo Ro-Kiintor. Dameron, in turn, recruited Kun and Arana and acquired three Z-95 Headhunters for the operation. Forced to leave BB-8 behind, Dameron and his team went to the Uvoss system and awaited for the Pinnacle-class luxury ship to arrive. When it did, Kun and Arana disabled and escorted the ship as planned, while Dameron used an EVA suit to board Ro-Kiintor's Grace. Inside, he claimed the ship for the Irving Boys to cover his true allegiance, and forced the senator, his pilot and his servant to go into the escape pods.

Dameron then made it to the ship's cockpit and worked on restarting the engines when First Order's vessels appeared. Depite engaging one frigate and two Star Destroyers, Dameron, Kun and Aranda managed to escape and land their respective ships aboard the Echo of Hope. General Organa then met with Dameron and sent C-3PO to get everything he could from the flight computers. The following morning Dameron confided in Organa that he was angry and worried at their situation, which echoed the Imperial Era's characteristic hopelessness that his parents had told him about. Organa then resolved to find Lor San Tekka, whom (according to their findings in the Hevurion Grace) the First Order was trying to locate, and whom Organa believed held a clue to her brother's location.

At some point, Dameron and BB-8 were deployed to retrieve C-3PO (with whom he was already familiar), the only survivor of a mission to transmit the location of Admiral Gial Ackbar to the Resistance.

Black Squadron
"You are my team, you are my friends. We are Black Squadron&hellip;and it's an honor."

- Poe Dameron, forming Black Squadron

Determined to find her brother before the First Order did, Organa tasked Dameron with the search for San Tekka at his last-known location. Although trouble was unlikely, Dameron was authorized to select a squadron of four pilots and a technician. Choosing people whom he could trust, Dameron recruited Kun, L'ampar, Temmin Wexley, Jessika Pava, and Oddy Muva to form Black Squadron. Dameron informed the group that they would be departing on a mission, but, to L'ampar's disapproval, the purpose of their mission remained classified.

Except for Muva, Dameron and his squadron departed from D'Qar to Ovanis where Tekka was last seen. Leaving the rest of his squadron to fly above the surface, he flew Black One into a perilous cavern and landed at a Crèche outpost, and briefly lost contact with the squadron. While BB-8 restore the signal, Dameron inquired about Tekka's location with the outpost's elder, but she refused out of distrust. BB-8 then discovered a tracker on his ship, which meant the First Order was likely to arrive soon. Not too long afterwards, Kun reported to Dameron that a First Order platform was already on site and deploying a taskforce to the cavernous entrance. Striking a deal with the elder, Dameron and BB-8 hid their starfighter before Agent Terex bursted into the outpost, and Dameron ordered his squadron to "give him some leverage".

While they did as ordered and fell the platform, Dameron confronted Terex while BB-8 remained hidden. Although he no longer had air support, Terex ordered his flametroopers to destroy the sacred egg of the Crèche and correctly surmised that the Ravenous from orbit would launch a counterattack. However, in the nick of time, the "savior" hatched from the egg and attacked everyone. Dameron used the opportunity to distract Terex with a punch, while BB-8 stole the agent's blaster pistol. As Dameron and Terex fought over it, the creature's counterpart appeared to save the Crèche and killed the newly-hatched beast. Forced into stalemate, Terex called the attack off, and Dameron took advantage of their momentous peace to speak with the elder again. Grateful, she told Dameron where Tekka had gone after leaving the planet, and then left the planet with the rest of her people and the savior. With them safe, Dameron and his squadron retreated from the planet, letting Terex go.

Megalox Beta
"May the worst win."

- Terex

Back on D'Qar, Dameron reported to Organa about the search's next destination and told her of the tracking beacon BB-8 had found attached to his ship. While she put C-3PO on the case to see what he learned through his network, she also paid a generous amount to get Black Squadron inside the privately-owned prison of Megalox Beta so that they could see Grakkus the Hutt—reputed for being a collector of Jedi artifacts. Upon arrival, Dameron and his squadron were greeted by Luta, who gave them a rundown of the prison's rules, and left her men to escort them to the surface. Although they were left to their own devices, Dameron's team found its way to Grakkus' headquarters. However, Dameron soon found out that Terex was already there and had become aware of Dameron's attempts to find the location of Tekka. Grakkus struck a deal with the two of them: he would provide his information to the one who broke him out of the prison.

After speaking with Grakkus, Dameron told Black Squadron that Grakkus knew where Tekka was. However, he told them they had break him free out of prison before Terex. "Snap" asked Dameron how Terex got there first. All Dameron knew was that the F.O.S.B. have ears everywhere. Thus, Dameron and Black Squadron started to plan the escape. He then waited until a group of prisoners started ram the door.

Dameron and the other members of Black Squadron than defended Grakkus's fortress against the prisoners under Papa Toren. Dameron then waited for BB-8 and the other astromechs to disable the prison's gravity field. After BB-8 signaled him, Dameron and the others then turned on their gravity belts. After the prisoners were subdued, Dameron had L'ampar acquire guns. Dameron then went into the fortress and took Grakkus. Dameron then contacted Warden Luta and told him that he knew about his deal with Terex. Dameron was able to convince him to let them return to their fighters and leave with Grakkus on one of Luta's ships. As they left the station, Dameron and the other pilots then engaged with the Carrion Spike. Before Grakkus made his escape, Dameron was then given information on Lor San Tekka. Dameron then returned to D'Qar, where he gave the information to General Organa. Dameron than asked if he would resume his search for Tekka. Organa told him that she had a more important mission for Dameron; to find out who informed Terex about the prison.

Pheryon
Dameron the went to Pheryon. There, he met up with Suralinda Javos, a reporter for the Galaxy Beacon. Dameron and Javos then came under attack by a group of thugs. He and Javo then "borrowed" a Stormsailer to make their escape. Dameron was then told by Javos she was working on a story about the First Order, it's violations of the Galactic Concordance, and increasing its military's power to destroy the New Republic with it's new weapons. Dameron wanted to know more, but Javos wanted to tell General Organa directly.

Dameron then continued to elude the ships. He and Javos were able to lose in the stormsea. Dameron and Javos then went to a tavern continue their discussion. However, they were then taken by Lieutenant Weel of the First Order Security Bureau with several hooded stormtroopers. Dameron then tried to goad the stormtroopers into fighting him. He was then freed when Javos sprayed acid into Weel's face and took the remaining stormtroopers. Dameron then took Javos to D'Qar. However, Javos had lied about the information and told the truth to both Dameron and Organa.

Kaddak
"Yeah. Just another day on Kaddak. We need to find that droid and get out of here. This isn't just another spaceport. It's a bad place."

- Poe Dameron

Following the mission to Pheryon, Dameron worked on his hand-to-hand combat skill. He also chatted with BB-8 and tried to figure out who was traitor in Black squadron. While Dameron regarded L'ampar, Kun, Pava, and Wexley, Dameron was frustrated that he could no longer trust his squadron mates and blamed Terex. After the technician Oddy Muva ran a diagnostic on his X-wing Black One port stabilizers, Dameron allowed Oddy to fly the Black One as a reward. Shortly later, General Organa dispatched her spymaster C-3PO to enlist Dameron's help in recovering a Resistance spy droid on the Outer Rim world of Kaddak, who had purportedly uncovered a trove of information on the First Order including the location of Supreme Leader Snoke.

The droid had sent a transmission but had been unable to transmit the data. General Organa had ordered C-3PO and Dameron to travel to Kaddak to investigate and if possible to retrieve the operative. To avoid drawing attention, Organa instructed Poe to take C-3PO and another pilot as backup in a shuttle. Since Poe was unable to trust his fellow Black Squadron pilots, he decided to bring Oddy Muva and BB-8 for the mission. The four traveled to Kaddak on an old freighter.

Dameron, BB-8, 3PO, and Muva landed in the Sliver, a city on Kaddak built around a giant crystal. Upon arriving, Poe and his party witnessed an unfortunate individual being thrown to their death. Since Kaddak was a bad place, Poe instructed his team to maintain a low profile so they could find the droid and get out fast. Poe's party visited a cantina in the Sliver's Level 45, which was frequented by various criminal elements including the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub. Poe was present when C-3PO and BB-8 interacted with a mouse droid, who revealed that their spy droid was being held by the Ranc gang, a feared criminal syndicated that dominated Kaddak.

Together, Poe and the group headed to the Ranc gang's base. Upon arriving, Dameron was stunned by a reception staff member. While Poe was unconscious, several Ranc gangsters surrounded his companions. However, C-3PO outmaneuvered them by activating several Resistance spy droids, who forced the gangsters to stand down. As Poe awoke, C-3PO grumbled about exposing a good set of operatives. Poe also assured BB-8 he was allright. Oddy also informed Poe that C-3PO had dispatched the Resistance spy droids to search for their asset, who turned out to be the BX-series droid commando N1-ZX ("Nunzix"). Instead of expressing gratitude, Nunzix chided them for taking too long.

Despite their small victory, Poe and his team ran into a new problem when N1-ZX refused to divulge the information until he had safely been returned to the Resistance base on account of his self-preservation programming. Dameron toyed about giving Nunzix a "Robo-lobotomy" but C-3PO countered that forcibly infiltrating his system would result in a complete memory wipe. Dameron reluctantly agreed to return to D'Qar. Before they could do so, Lord Terex flew over the Sliver in his starship Carrion Spike and placed a bounty on Poe's head. Terex had already retaken control of the Ranc gang. Dameron and his team were attacked by a mob but Poe managed to activate more spy droids to hold the crowd at bay.

Poe and the droids managed to return to their freighter but were separated from Oddy Muva. Since their freighter was not very spaceworthy, Poe had BB-8 open the freighter's cargo bay, which contained his X-wing Black One. Poe and the droids departed on the Black One with C-3PO and N1-ZX riding in storage compartments on the fighter's cargo hull. Poe decided to leave the freighter for Oddy as a get-away vehicle. Unknown to Poe, Terex had allowed him and the droids to escape. Terex's Carrion Spike sensors were capable of tracking the Black One. Terex also mustered a fleet of "Uglies" to hunt down Poe. Oddy also stowed aboard the Carrion Spike, intent on rescuing his wife Sowa Chuan.

Showdown over a desert planet
Once in space, Poe got BB-8 to set a course for D'Qar. While traveling through hyperspace, Poe confided in BB-8 and C-3PO his angst about how Terex had been able to keep one step ahead of him. After ruling out the droids, General Organa, and his Black Squadron mates as traitors, Poe realized that their mole was Oddy Muva. In fact, Oddy Muva had been blackmailed by Terex into spying on Black Squadron in order to guarantee the well-being of his wife Sowa Chuan. Poe also realized that the information Nunzix was carrying was part of a ploy by Terex to undermine the Resistance.

After exiting hyperspace, Dameron contacted N1-ZX and voiced his suspicion that Terex had planted disinformation. Shortly later, Poe's X-wing was followed by Terex's flagship Carrion Spike and a fleet of "Uglies". Terex quickly realized that Poe had figured out his plan and ordered the Ranc fighters to destroy his perennial foe. Poe managed to shoot down two enemy "Uglies" before crashlanding on a desert planet.

Poe and the droids survived the crashlanding but N1-ZX's right arm was severed. While BB-8 guided N1-ZX into a cave, Poe carried C-3PO on his back. The group narrowly escaped being incinerated by several "Uglies." Poe decided to bring the group deeper into the cave. Shortly later, Terex led a landing party into the cave in pursuit of Poe and the droids. BB-8 managed to slow down the Ranc gang by collapsing an ice stalactite on top of them but was shot down. During the journey, tensions surfaced between Poe and Nunzix, who was only concerned with safeguarding his own well-being. Despite some misgivings, Poe allowed C-3PO to stay behind in an effort to slow down Terex and his gang.

After Terex got passed C-3PO and stole the droid's memory unit, Poe tried to convince N1-ZX to fight but the droid was unwilling to put himself at risk due to his self-preservation software. In frustration, Poe pointed his blaster at N1-ZX but the droid retorted that doing so would give their position away. When all seemed lost, Poe was contacted by his second-in-command Temmin, who reassured him that Black Squadron had come to his aid. Black Squadron then engaged in a dogfight with the Carrion Spike and Terex's fleet of "Uglies."

With N1-ZX unwilling to fight, Poe contacted Terex, who sent him a droid personality template for his late B1 battle droid Mister Bones. Poe used his comlink to transmit the template onto N1-ZX, who assumed Mister Bones' identity. Mister Bones quickly killed Terex's henchmen before being shot and beheaded by Terex. When Terex dared Poe to come out of hiding, Poe leapt onto Terex from higher ground and threw him to the ground. Poe then confronted Terex with his blaster and vowed to settle scores with him.

However, Terex hurled a dagger at Poe. The dagger pierced Poe's right hand, causing him to drop the gun. Terex then prepared to kill Poe with his vibroblade but was electrocuted by BB-8. Meanwhile, Oddy Muva managed to evacuate his wife and Terex's other slaves in escape pods. Black Squadron provided cover as the escape pods headed to the desert world. During the skirmish, L'ampar was killed when his A-wing was shot down. Still, the Resistance pilots managed to escort Oddy and the escape pods to safety. Terex's fleet was wiped out when First Order forces under Commander Malarus arrived above the desert planet to chastise Terex for insubordination. Terex had disobeyed the Supreme Leader's directive to avoid direct conflict with the New Republic and its aligned forces.

Poe dragged Terex and C-3PO out of the cave. He was greeted by Commander Malarus and several stormtroopers and TIE fighters. To ward off a First Order attack, Dameron instructed Temmin and the other pilots to do a fly over and record everything that happened. Commander Malarus however was not interested in fighting the Resistance and praised Dameron for his political savvy. She then informed him that she had come to arrest Terex. Poe did not object since Terex was his enemy. Before handing Terex over, Dameron taunted Terex about the destruction of his fleet. When Terex countered that Poe had lost one of his pilots, Dameron responded that he had only lost a friend while Terex had lost everything.

Jakku
"The Resistance...will not be intimidated by you."

- Poe Dameron to Kylo Ren

At Organa's behest, Dameron and BB-8 went to Tuanul on Jakku to retrieve a map to Skywalker's location from Lor San Tekka, but during the meeting, stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren attacked the village. Alerted by BB-8 of their arrival, Dameron and the droid attempted to flee in their X-wing starfighter, but a pair of stormtroopers disabled the engines. Left with no alternative, Dameron gave the map to BB-8 and ordered the astromech to flee, while he remained behind to cover BB-8's escape. After watching the confrontation between Tekka and Ren, Dameron tried to take a shot at Ren, but he caught the blaster bolt in mid-air and immobilized Dameron simultaneously with the Force. Dameron was subsequently taken prisoner, while the rest of the villagers were slaughtered.

Taken aboard the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Finalizer, Dameron resisted interrogation until Ren assaulted him with the Force, which eventually caused Dameron to crack about BB-8. Left alone by Ren, a renegade stormtrooper named FN-2187 helped Dameron escape. Together, they stole a TIE/sf space superiority fighter from a hangar bay, with FN-2187 manning the guns while Dameron piloted the fighter, and managed to disable the Finalizer’s turbolasers. Upon a disagreement—while FN-2187 wanted to flee the system, Dameron attempted to return to Jakku to retrieve BB-8 and the map—, their TIE fighter was disabled on General Armitage Hux's orders, the blast knocking Dameron out.

Whereas FN-2187, dubbed "Finn" by Dameron, ejected from the TIE shortly before it crashed on the planet's surface, Dameron recovered consciousness just in time to set the craft down more or less intact, and got out of the cockpit before something blew, leaving his jacket behind. Suffering from a concussion and a brief period of memory loss, he moved away from the crash. When he awoke, Dameron found himself alone and set off to find a ship and contact the Resistance, sure that he would be able to reunite with BB-8 with their help. During his journey, he encountered a Jakku native, the Blarina Naka Iit, whom Dameron managed to impress with both his sheer audacity and his piloting skills, such that he agreed to get Dameron to a ship in Blowback Town that would get him back to the Resistance. Dameron hitched a ride from Iit's friend, Ohn Gos to Yavin 4, where he left Black One prior to his mission to Jakku.

Takodana
"Go straight at 'em. Don't let these thugs scare you."

- Poe Dameron

Following the destruction of the Hosnian system, Dameron was deployed to lead a squadron of Resistance X-Wing fighters to fend off the First Order garrison attacking Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana. Dameron, piloting the Black One, swooped in dangerously low, attacking at treetop level, and took out parked TIE fighters, clusters of troopers, and support vehicles, firing repeatedly without wasting a single energy burst. The battle ended prematurely when Ren ordered his troops to retreat once he had captured Rey, a scavenger who had seen the map to Skywalker's location.

After returning to the D'Qar base, Dameron was reunited with BB-8 and Finn, who offered to return his jacket. Dameron declined, stating that his jacket suited Finn better. Subsequently, the ex-trooper requested Dameron's help in rescuing his friend Rey, by asking Dameron to take him to meet General Organa. Together, they made it to the conference room, where Finn disclosed what he knew of the First Order superweapon, Starkiller Base. After a reconnaissance flight by Wexley, the Resistance command made the plans to attack the base, assigning Dameron to lead the starfighter attack to the weapon's thermal oscillator.

Starkiller Base
"All right, let's light it up!"

- Poe Dameron during the attack run on Starkiller Base

Upon receiving notice that the Millennium Falcon had landed on Starkiller Base, Organa sent order to deploy the X-wings. Dameron, in the lead, was aboard Black One and assisted by BB-8 once again, and departed D'Qar along his fellow pilots. Once Finn, Han Solo and Chewbacca were able to bring down the thermal oscillator's shields, Dameron was given full authorization to attack, and his team emerged from lightspeed. Ordering his fellow pilots to hit the target as many times as possible with as many runs as they could get, he himself let loose his X-wing's full complement of armament, but they barely damaged the building before a host of TIE fighters moved to engage the X-wing squadrons, as well as deployed seekers.

The ground team, however, planted pyro denton explosives to create an opening in the containment center, which Dameron took advantage of—with the assistance of his squadron, he flew through the opening and caused heavy damage inside, starting a chain reaction that would ultimately destroy Starkiller Base. Dameron escaped the explosion, heading for the outer atmosphere, yet at the order of General Organa to retreat immediately, Dameron refused to leave their friends in the Falcon behind. His fellow pilots concurred, and Dameron gave the order to find them.

After spotting the Falcon leaving Starkiller Base, Dameron called in his teams in relief and reached D'Qar shortly before the old YT-1300 light freighter did. Like BB-8 and many others, he waited for the Falcon as it landed on their base. There, sometime later, Dameron was present for a strategic gathering concerning the map to Skywalker's location, when Skywalker's astromech, R2-D2, awoke and revealed his possession of an incomplete galactic map from the Imperial archives, only completed with BB-8's fragment. In the ensuing celebration, Dameron met Rey, whom he bid farewell along with BB-8, Organa, C-3PO when she departed D'Qar aboard the Millennium Falcon to find Skywalker at the first Jedi temple.

Demotion
Eventually Dameron's reckless actions landed him in trouble with his allies, and Dameron was demoted from Wing Commander to the rank of Captain.

Personality and traits
"Dameron's commitment is absolute. And he's our best pilot. He'll get what we need.''" "''I've never worried about Poe's commitment. My worry is for what that commitment may cost him."

- Caluan Ematt and Leia Organa

The son of a Rebel pilot and a Rebel commando, Dameron grew up on stories of Alliance campaigns, and while his mother taught him to fly and to love it, his father had taught him that when he committed to doing something, one committed to going all the way or not do it at all. Thanks to them, Dameron developed a strong sense of commitment and duty, but had trouble with the line between his commitment to the Resistance and the commitment to his comrades, willing to disobey a direct order from his superior, General Organa, to make sure that the Millennium Falcon safely left Starkiller Base before its imminent destruction.

Noted to be a "bad liar" by fellow comrades much to his indignation, Dameron had a headstrong nature which often led him into trouble, and a proud countenance that, those who did not know him, could mistake for arrogance. Confident in his skills and in his mission, he sometimes displayed an impatience that arose only from a desire to fulfill the task at hand. While daring with an appetite for risk as well as somewhat foolish, Leia Organa once noted that his need to do what was right and "maybe find a little adventure along the way", coupled with his outstanding piloting skills, reminded her of her brother, Luke Skywalker.

Dameron regarded his fellow pilots Karé Kun, Jess Pava, L'ulo L'ampar, and Temmin Wexley, and the technician Oddy Muva as close friends that he could trust. Poe was also adventurous and willing to risk danger such as when he entered the Cave of the Crèche. Dameron treated his hosts with respect. Dameron's selfless and concern for the well-being of others led him to surrender himself to the First Order Agent Terex in an attempt to save the Crèche egg. As a commander, Dameron was a fair-minded and just leader who gave his Black Squadron mates ample room to improvise. Poe regarded his astromech droid BB-8 as a close friend who would aid him in combat and someone he could confide with. Poe was also magnanimous in victory and allowed Terex and his men to leave following the Mission to Ovanis. This was also tempered by Dameron's unwillingness to provoke war between the First Order and the Resistance.

Dameron and his Black Squadron mates' devotion to the Resistance cause led them to risk life and limb on several occasions including the Mission to Megalox Beta. Poe and his comrades managed to fight their way to Grakkus the Hutt's fortress despite being double-crossed by the prison guards. When faced with competition from Terex, Poe showed resilience and ingenuity as a commander. He got BB-8 and the other astromech droids to lower Megalox prison's gravity shield; eliminating opposition from Terex and convincing Grakkus to accept their rescue offer.

After learning there was a spy within the Resistance ranks, Dameron found himself unable to trust his Black Squadron mates despite regarding them as friends. Poe was also willing to walk into danger in an effort to recover information for the Resistance. During a Mission to Kaddak, Poe was only saved from capture by the efforts of C-3PO. While Poe was able to work well with droids like BB-8 and C-3PO, he found the BX-series droid commando "Nunzix" self-serving and irritating due to the droid's strong self-preservation mechanism. Poe was annoyed that the droid refused to disclose the information in his memory banks. Poe had little patience with Nunzix and expressed annoyance at the droid commando's unwillingness to fight; overlooking the fact that the droid had lost one of his arms. Poe's irritation with Nunzix was reinforced by his suspicion that the information Nunzix was carrying was a trap set by Terex.

Due to their repeated encounters on several missions, Dameron came to regard Terex as a nemesis and blamed him for sowing distrust among his Black Squadron pilots. Poe was determined to root out the spy and eventually realized that the spy was Oddy Muva; who had been blackmailed by Terex into spying on the Resistance. Despite his hatred for Terex, Dameron did not seek to destroy the First Order agent and instead handed him back to his First Order superiors. While Dameron grieved the loss of one of his pilots L'ampar, he took comfort in the fact that Terex's Ranc gang fleet had been destroyed.

Though brash, Dameron had great charisma and limitless respect for the founders of the Resistance, particularly Leia Organa. Dameron's fellow pilots joked that if the Resistance had recruitment posters, Dameron would triple their numbers with his dashing bravado alone. Unlike many starfighter pilots, Dameron delighted in atmospheric missions, soaring through skies and skimming the surfaces of planets.

Skills and abilities
"That's one helluva pilot!"

- Finn, on Poe Dameron

Confident in his piloting skills, Dameron flew starships since he was six years old, and by the age of 32, he had became the most daring and skilled of the Resistance pilots. He was a decorated X-wing pilot who could fly anything, managing to familiarize himself with a TIE/sf fighter's controls in a matter of minutes and under pressure, as well as with a Pinnacle-class luxury ship. During the Battle on Takodana, he showed to be skilled enough to fire repeatedly without wasting a single energy burst and destroy multiple First Order assets. In addition to his piloting skills, Dameron was a capable infantryman.

L'ampar once observed that Dameron trusted his subordinates to figure things out on their own rather than give them bad orders, and saw it as the mark of a good commander. Dameron was also skilled in hand to hand combat which he used against the First Order and criminal proxies on several occasions. On a few occasions, Poe was saved from the jaws of defeat by his indefatigable and loyal droid companion BB-8. was Poe was also known to practise with unarmed combat during his free time. Poe could also fly a rundown freighter, which he once used on an undercover mission.

A speaker of Galactic Basic, Dameron also understood Binary, and thus had no need for reading BB-8's translated speech in a console to understand what the astromech said while plugged into his starfighter.

Behind the scenes
Poe Dameron was portrayed by actor Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, the LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens video game and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. For the LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises episode "Poe to the Rescue," the character is voiced by Lex Lang. Isaac's casting in the film was first announced on April 29, 2014, and the character was revealed in the first teaser trailer for the film on November 28, 2014. His name was revealed by Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive trading card. Dameron was named after J.J. Abrams' production assistant Morgan Dameron. Yavin 4 was made Dameron's homeworld in Star Wars: Shattered Empire when Isaac realized the planet's shooting location was Tikal, which is located in the country he was born, Guatemala.

The character was originally meant to die in The Force Awakens, but Abrams changed his mind after realizing Isaac was hesitant about accepting the role. (As he had previously played several characters that were killed soon after being introduced. ) Isaac recounted that after he initially met Abrams, "[He] soon wrote back: 'Never mind. I've figured it out. You're in the whole movie now.' I was like, 'Holy shit! Alright, cool.' Let’s say that it was in that conversation that we began to see a way that being in the movie would be worth his time and the audience’s." On March 20, 2015, Isaac revealed that he would appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, as well. The film's novelization includes an additional sequence detailing Dameron's escape from the planet Jakku.

When asked on Ellen about there being "any romance between these characters" in The Force Awakens, Isaac replied "I think it's a very subtle romance that's happening, you know you have look very closely, you have to watch it a few times to see the little hints, but there was, at least I was playing romance," to which John Boyega interjected "I was." Isaac declined to say with which character he interpreted Poe as having romance with, though "it could be a droid". These comments, coupled with the way Isaac had Poe bite his lip while complimenting Finn, prompted speculation that Poe could be an LGBT character.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson said that he forgoed having Poe go with Finn to Canto Bight as it would have been boring ("I knew something was wrong when I looked at their dialogue and realized I could interchange any of the lines," he said.) Poe's eventual arc in the film was influenced by war movies like Twelve O'Clock High and The Dawn Patrol, which explored the contrast between bravado and true heroism, "which is leadership". He said that Poe's conflict with Amilyn Holdo, a woman, "and not only that, but it's a woman who isn't in a general's outfit but has a real feminine energy, seemed like the toughest thing that Poe could come up against."

Non-canon appearances

 * Disney Infinity 3.0
 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
 * LEGO Star Wars Movie Short
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Puzzle Droids
 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue