Amilyn Holdo was a human female politician, military commander, and freedom fighter who served in both the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Resistance. Known for her unconventional strategy and eccentric style, she was an early participant in the rebellion against the Galactic Empire and a lifelong friend and ally to rebel leader Leia Organa of Alderaan. In the early days of the First Order/Resistance War, Holdo became the commanding officer of the Resistance fleet as it fled the overwhelming might of the First Order Navy. Her leadership in that role saved the Resistance and many of its heroes when she executed a historic suicide attack on the First Order fleet, later dubbed the Holdo maneuver.
A native of the planet Gatalenta, Amilyn Holdo had an early career in public service as a delegate to the Imperial Apprentice Legislature program. During her term, Holdo was notably critical of oppressive Imperial policy and developed a close relationship with the like-minded Alderaanian Princess Leia Organa. Through Organa, she became involved in the operations of the insurgent Rebel Alliance in opposition to the Empire during the Galactic Civil War. Although she initially served as a civil minister, Holdo proved herself as a capable martial commander and was granted an officer’s commission in the Alliance Fleet.
Decades after the Alliance’s victory over the Empire, Holdo was again recruited by Organa—this time to join her paramilitary Resistance movement against the rise of the neo-Imperial First Order. Holdo served then-General Organa during the Cold War as a vice admiral of the Resistance fleet, undertaking clandestine missions to prepare for open war. After the war erupted in 34 ABY, Resistance High Command was decimated, leaving Holdo as the highest ranking officer in charge of the remaining Resistance forces as they fled from the pursuing First Order armada and its mobile headquarters, the Supremacy.
Unable to escape into hyperspace and low on fuel, the remaining Resistance personnel consolidated under Holdo’s command aboard the flagship star cruiser Raddus. Holdo’s singular focus on escape was controversial among some younger soldiers like Captain Poe Dameron, but the vice admiral successfully led the Resistance to the mineral world of Crait, where she intended to sneak the survivors to the surface aboard cloaked transports. Due to an information leak during an attempted mutiny, the First Order ascertained her plan and destroyed nearly all of the Resistance transports. In a stunning act of sacrifice, Holdo saved the Resistance from complete obliteration by jumping the Raddus directly into the First Order fleet, resulting in a lightspeed collision that destroyed the Resistance flagship, the Supremacy, and twenty Star Destroyers. Holdo’s actions allowed the remnants of the Resistance to escape, ensuring the continuation of an organized opposition to the First Order’s fascist regime.