Dryden Vos

"Once you're part of Crimson Dawn, you can't leave."

- Dryden Vos, to Han Solo

Dryden Vos was a male human crime lord who served as the leader of Crimson Dawn during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Vos was known for being a ruthless yet refined crime boss who surrounded himself with opulence.

Biography
Dryden Vos was the leader of Crimson Dawn, one of the most ruthless criminal syndicates in the galaxy during the reign of the Galactic Empire. At some point he came in contact with the crime lord Maul, former Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious, Maul hired him to assist him and communicated with him via hologram, using a ring to do so.

During his tenure as crime lord, Dryden Vos rescued the Corellian Qi'ra from a dangerous situation, taking her out from Corellia. As such, Vos demanded in return her lifelong loyalty to Crimson Dawn, branding her forearm and her neck with his organization's symbol. Qi'ra became his top lieutenant. He even trained her in martial arts, including the Teräs Käsi. Vos also managed at some point of his career to make an uneasy alliance with the Pyke Syndicate.

Ten years before the Battle of Yavin, the scoundrel Tobias Beckett became indebted with Vos, promising him a good amount of coaxium as payment. Unfortunately for Beckett, the heist in which he and his crew attempted to steal a wagon full of coaxium from a 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport property of the Empire ultimately failed due the intervention of Enfys Nest and her swoop pirate gang, the Cloud-Riders. However, his recruit, the young Han Solo, insisted that he meet Vos to talk with him about what had happened. Upon arriving at Vos' yacht, as Han met again with Qi'ra, Vos received Beckett and expressed his condolences for the loss of Val, revealing that he knew what happened with the Conveyex heist. At Vos' office, he then told Beckett that he needed to face his wrath for having failed him once more, but Solo attempted to convince Vos to give Beckett just another opportunity by sending them to the spice mines of Kessel to steal the coaxium stored there. At first, Vos denied that possibility because he didn't wanted to be attacked by the Pykes, but he was ultimately convinced with Qi'ra's intervention that it was a good idea.

In order to attack the spice mines of Kessel, Beckett's crew enlisted the help of the smuggler and Sabacc player Lando Calrissian and his droid L3-37, who brought them to Kessel aboard the Millennium Falcon. Therefore, Beckett's crew infiltrated Kessel's spice mines, got rid of Quay Tolsite and his guards and managed to steal the coaxium, at the cost of L3-37's destruction. After escaping from the Empire's clutches once more at the Maw Cluster, doing the Kessel Run in just 12 parsecs, the crew arrived at Savareen to meet Vos at his yacht, but after Lando departed with the Falcon and they met Nest and her intentions to help the the rebellion with the coaxium, they decide to deceive Vos with fake coaxium, also telling him that Beckett didn't survive the mission.

For the surprise of everyone, however, Vos reveals to know that the coaxium aboard his yacht was fake and that he was warned by his "inside man" about this. Though Han initially thought that Qi'ra betrayed them, Vos reveals that his "inside man" was Beckett in reality, who decided to betray his crew to have Vos spare his life. But as they anticipated Beckett's betrayal, they in reality presented Vos the true coaxium shipment with them to mislead him. Nevertheless, Beckett resolved to take Chewie hostage and escape with the real coaxium, leaving Vos to face Qi'ra and Han. Despite Vos' attempts to finish off with Han, Qi'ra came out in his defense by fighting back Vos. Though able to avoid several attacks, Vos was finally stabbed by Qi'ra and dropped to the floor dead. Immediately after Solo's departure from the yacht, Qi'ra sealed the room and used her former master's ring to inform Maul about Vos' fate, leading Maul to name Qi'ra the new leader of Crimson Dawn.

Behind the scenes
Dryden Vos was portrayed by Paul Bettany in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story. The character was originally going to be played by Michael Kenneth Williams as a motion captured alien character resembling a mountain lion, but when the original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired from the project and replaced by Ron Howard, Williams was not available for extended reshoots due to scheduling conflicts with The Red Sea Diving Resort and the part was recast. Though having a similar last name to Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, Lucasfilm has confirmed that this is merely a coincidence.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Force Arena
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story
 * Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure