WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars #14 by Charles Soule, Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg and VC’s Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
In Marvel’s current Star Wars run, Princess Leia is rounding up all the help she can get in order to save Han Solo after he was frozen in carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back. As Leia faces the War of the Bounty Hunters, she’s calling in the calvary with Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca and even Lando Calrissian waiting to figure out what’s the rescue mission aboard the Millennium Falcon.
But in Star Wars #14, we learn that another legend played a key role in saving Han: Amilyn Holdo, who saved what was left of the Resistances in The Last Jedi.
In this comic, a prelude to Return of the Jedi, Holdo appears via hologram to Leia to let her know where Han is. She reveals that she’s been working in the field with dangerous syndicates to scrounge up resources for the TRebel Alliance, and she’s gotten word Crimson Dawn has Han. Immediately, an excited Leia preps the Falcon, worrying Luke, who thinks she’s acting rashly.
However, Leia makes it clear she trusts Holdo and her intel with her life and takes her word as fact. It’s a powerful sign of friendship that shows what Holdo really was like in the trenches, risking her life with sinister syndicates at a time Imperial fleets were hunting them. This proves she was brave back then, and reiterates why she’d always fight oppression, from the days of Palpatine’s Empire or Snoke’s First Order.
By the time the First Order came to power, Vice-Admiral Admiral Holdo was one of Leia’s most trusted colleagues. While she may have seemed like a diplomat, her military mind was as keen as ever. Although Poe Dameron butted heads with her, she knew what to do in desperate times. Holdo single-handedly saved the Resistance by flying the Raddus cruiser through Snoke’s Supremacy flagship in a suicide maneuver that would become the stuff of legend.
That sacrifice allowed Leia’s crew to escape to Crait to try to get help and fight off Kylo Ren’s forces. It’s one of the series’ most epic moments, so much so Finn admitted in The Rise of Skywalker it was a one in a million shot that can’t be duplicated. More importantly, it was something that inspired Leia and gave her hope to keep fighting in their honor.
With her information about Han here, Holdo once again gave Leia a new hope. With this information about Han’s whereabouts, she was able to stop Leia from hunting down wild leads and give her a firm sense of direction once again. Leia was shaken to her core after Commander Zahra almost killed her in their last fight, but Holdo helped Leia by giving her a clear way to carry out her new mission to save Han Solo. This key information makes Leia hungry for the fight again and ensures she gets her hands on Solo, who is also one of the Rebels’ key leaders at this point.
While Holdo may not have actually appeared in the original trilogy, this revelation confirms that she was a nig part of Leia’s world and a meaningful fighter for the Rebellion long before The Last Jedi.
About The Author
