Rose Tico

"That's how we're gonna win, not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love."

- Rose Tico to Finn

Rose Tico was a female human who served in the Resistance as a maintenance worker during their conflict with the First Order, whom Tico had hated since she was a child. Tico's sister, Paige, was a gunner in the Resistance.

Biography
Rose Tico and her older sister Paige grew up Hays Minor, a impoverished mining colony in the Otomok system.

Evacuation of D'Qar
Rose Tico and her sister were both active fighters in General Leia Organa's Resistance. Her older sister Paige was a gunner on the Resistance bomber Cobalt Hammer, which served as part of Cobalt Squadron. While Rose was a mechanic, both siblings were very close; they each wore matching pendants around their necks at all times. Paige died in the Battle of D'Qar, which greatly upset Rose, who was aboard the Raddus during the evacuation.

She was stationed in the Raddus'  escape pod bay to prevent any deserters from escaping during the ensuing battle between the First Order and Resistance fleets.

Finn, in an attempt to warn Rey of the critical danger that the Resistance now faced, attempted to leave the Raddus and make contact with her by stealing one of the escape pods.

When Rose caught Finn trying to escape she was initially flustered at meeting a "Resistance hero," not realizing his intent to leave. When she did finally notice his packed bag, she stunned him with a electro-shock prod, put him on a cart and attempted to drag him to the brig, believing him to be one of many attempting to desert in light of the overwhelming odds the Resistance was facing.

When Finn came to, he tried to convince her that he was not merely a deserter but was trying to warn his friend of the direness of the Resistance's situation, pointing out the fact that the Raddus would be tracked by the First Order through hyperspace, chasing them down until they ran out of fuel and they were destroyed.

Rose realized that the First Order must be using a tracking device aboard the Supremacy. With Rose's knowledge of mechanics and Finn's knowledge of First Order ships, the two devised a plan to shut down the tracking device and allow the Raddus to escape into hyperspace. They informed Poe Dameron of their plan to infiltrate the Supremacy, although they do not know how to decrypt the ship's computer codes to be able to gain access to the ship itself. Dameron made a call to Maz Kanata, who referred them to a "master codebreaker" that they would be able to find on Cantonica.

Canto Bight
Without permission from acting commander Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, Finn, Rose, and BB-8 took a ship and traveled to the casino city of Canto Bight. While Finn marveled at the superficial beauty of the city, Rose understood the darkness hiding underneath. She pointed out that many of these rich people and gamblers had come into their fortunes by selling weapons and goods to the First Order. She also pointed out to him the blatant abuse of the fathiers and their children caretakers.

Rose and Finn continued to search for the "master codebreaker," and thought they had identified him by the pin he wore on his lapel, but they were arrested by the Canto Bight Police for parking their ship on a private beach.

While in prison, they met a mysterious figure who claimed to be able to get them onto the Supremacy undetected. Rose and Finn politely declined. The man shrugged it off and proceeded to open the door of their cell with a lockpick.

Now free, Finn and Rose escaped through the sewer system of the city, emerging in the fathier stables. They released the animals and the herd stampeded through the city, leaving a behind them wake of destruction.

Riding one of the fathiers out of the city, Finn and Rose attempted to reach their ship, but it was destroyed before they can reach it by the police. The mysterious slicer suddenly returned with BB-8 aboard a stolen vessel, rescuing Finn and Rose once again.

Supremacy
The slicer decided to help the duo infiltrate the First Order after Rose offered him her gold pendant as payment.

As promised, his hacking skills were impressive, and they passed through the Supremacy's radar undetected. They stole a set of First Order uniforms from the supply rooms and managed to sneak through the ship until they reached the tracking mechanism.

The slicer used Rose's pendant as a conductor in order to hotwire a door panel; he returned it to her afterward. The door opened, but Finn and Rose were quickly surrounded by First Order forces. The slicer had turned them in, selling his allegiance to the highest bidder, allowing the Supremacy to spot the fleeing Resistance shuttles and began firing on them.

Rose and Finn were taken before Captain Phasma for immediate execution. Deeming death by firing squad to be "too good for them," Phasma summoned a pair of stormtrooper executioners instead. Before they could be executed, however, Vice-Admiral Holdo flew the Raddus at hyperspeed right through the First Order fleet, splitting the Supremacy. The blast briefly knocked Finn unconscious, at which Rose began dragging him towards a nearby shuttle, before he regained consciousness. Unfortunately, their way was barred by Phasma and a squad of stormtroopers, who immediately began opening fire on them. Suddenly, a rogue AT-ST began firing on Phasma and her stormtroopers. The pilot of the rogue walker was revealed to be BB-8 when the armor of the walker was removed. Rose took cover as Finn engaged Phasma with a Z6 riot control baton, ultimately besting his former superior, who plunged into a fiery pit.

In the ensuing chaos of the Supremacy's destruction, Rose and Finn were able to escape with BB-8 aboard a stolen First Order shuttle. They took the shuttle to Crait, where the remainder of the Resistance forces had retreated at an abandoned Rebel Alliance base. As their shuttle was being pursued by two TIE fighters, the Resistance assumed all three craft to be hostile and began closing the base doors. Rose and Finn managed to pilot their shuttle into the hanger just before the doors shut, resulting in critical damage to the shuttle, before they were met with a barrage of blasterfire from the Resistance members. To prove they were not First Order, the duo showed their hands, prompting their comrades to cease fire.

Battle of Crait
Rose piloted a ski-speeder during the Battle of Crait. The speeders were relics left over in the base from the days of the Rebel Alliance and so were in a state of serious disrepair. Having no other option, Rose and several other pilots, including Finn and Dameron, flew the speeders towards the First Order's battering ram cannon in order to prevent them from entering the base and destroying the last of the Resistance.

The majority of the speeders were destroyed by AT-M6 fire. When Dameron ordered the squadron to retreat and fall back to the base, Finn refused to retreat with them, instead deciding to fly his speeder into the cannon in an attempt to destroy it. Rose crashed her speeder into his in order to stop him from doing so and save his life, though she badly injured herself in the process. Before falling unconscious, Rose told her friend that they had to fight for what they loved instead of just fighting what they hated and kissed the dumbfounded Finn.

Finn dragged her back to the base in order for her to receive medical aid. She was transported onboard the Millennium Falcon, with the few remaining survivors of the Resistance who survived the Battle of Crait, with Finn watching over his unconscious friend.

Behind the scenes
Rose Tico was portrayed by Kelly Marie Tran in the 2017 Star Wars film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Tran's casting in the film was first announced on February 15, 2016. The first photo of Rose was released during The Last Jedi panel at Celebration Orlando on April 15, 2017. Rose's surname of Tico was revealed by Vanity Fair on May 23, 2017. Rose was named after Maz Kanata's original name during the pre-production of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, which was a tribute to director J.J. Abrams' and production designer Rick Carter's late teacher Rose Gilbert.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson conceived Rose because he realized that having Poe go with Finn to Canto Bight would have been boring. "It was just these two dudes on an adventure," he said. "I knew something was wrong when I looked at their dialogue and realized I could interchange any of the lines. There wasn't conflict between them. So I realized I had to come up with something else. Finn needing somebody else to go with who would actually challenge him and push him and contrast with him was where Rose came from".

He did not envision Rose with a specific ethnicity, auditioning Caucasian actresses and women of color for the role. "We saw a lot of talented actresses of a very broad range — but honestly, it was more about finding Kelly," he recalled. "There was something about Kelly that had that kind of genuine oddball nature and a real sweetness to her. She has the most open heart of anyone I've ever met and I knew that was going to shine through onscreen."

Tran had never seen a Star Wars movie until she got the part: she was more of a fan of other series like The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. She attributes the fact she landed the part to this oversight, explaining "I didn't have this expectation of what I thought this person should be like; I wasn't trying to model her after someone I'd seen in a movie."

Carrie Fisher inspired Rose and Paige's crescent necklaces. Johnson tweeted in response to a fan inquiring about the idea that, "In rehearsals Carrie grabbed my arm and told me with great urgency that we needed 'space jewelry.' I thought that was a fabulous idea. So."

Despite the critical success of The Last Jedi at the box office, Tran received online racist attacks over her portrayal of Rose Tico including vandalism to her character's Wookieepedia article and far-right vlogger Paul Ray Ramsey's tweet attacking her physical appearance. This attracted coverage from several news media including Newsweek and HuffPost. In responsible to criticism likening Tico to Jar Jar Binks, the official Star Wars Facebook page defended the character's contribution to the story plot. Attorney Anthony Nguyen described Trans as the first "woman of color" to be cast in a leading role in the Star Wars franchise while journalist Nicole Karlis commented that attacks on Tran reflected a fear of women who defied sexist stereotypes.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Force Arena
 * Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny: Rose & Paige
 * The Last Jedi: Cobalt Squadron
 * The Last Jedi: Bomber Command
 * Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
 * Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition
 * The Last Jedi: Rose and Finn's Secret Mission
 * 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back
 * 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes