Galen Walton Erso



"Galen Erso is one of the Core's most renowned polymaths. A theoretician, a mathematician, an engineer and experimental physicist. At present he is the preeminent authority on crystals and their use in supplying enchanced power."

- Orson Krennic speaking about Galen to Mas Amedda

Galen Erso was a human male scientist who lived during the reign of the Galactic Empire.

Early life
Galen Erso was born on the planet Grange twenty nine years before the Clone Wars broke out. Galen married Lyra Erso on Coruscant.

Clone Wars
During the war, Galen, Lyra and his daughter Jyn were abducted by Separatist agents but were rescued by his old friend Orson Krennic. Erso worked on manipulating kyber crystals, Force-attuned crystals that were at the heart of every Jedi lightsaber, and was encouraged to continue his studies by Krennic.

Age of the Empire
"We have intercepted a coded Imperial transmission. It indicates that a major weapons test is imminent.''" "''The message was sent by your father."

- Mon Mothma and Cassian Andor to Jyn Erso

Galen Erso's knowledge of the galaxy led both the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic to seek him out. He was eventually taken by Krennic to help the Death Star project, to which he made himself indispensible.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance intercepted a coded transmission from Erso indicating that a major weapons test was imminent, resulting in the Rebels recruiting his estranged daughter to partake in a mission to steal the plans to what they would discover to be the Imperial superweapon known as the Death Star. Unknown to the Empire, he had never become truly loyal, and instead deliberately sabotaged the station with a fatal weakness - due to his designs, any pressurized explosion to the main reactor would trigger a chain reaction destroying the Death Star entirely, plus he had included a thermal exhaust port that led directly to the reactor.

He was killed in a Rebel bombing raid on an Imperial outpost on Eadu, shortly after Krennic had his team executed for apparent disloyalty.

Behind the scenes
Galen Erso, portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen, is a character created and developed for the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Mikkelsen's involvement was announced on August 15, 2015. Mikkelsen revealed on Sky News that he would be portraying Jyn Erso's father. Mikkelsen later revealed that her father would be portrayed when Jyn is a child, and stated that the film would "jump forward and backward in time". His name was revealed by Entertainment Weekly on June 22, 2016. The first photo of the character was revealed at Star Wars Celebration Europe on July 15, 2016.

Appearances

 * Catalyst
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story