Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. She is initially introduced in the 2017 Claudia Gray novel ' as the best friend of Princess Leia Organa. Holdo and Leia first meet as teenagers when they are both enrolled in Coruscant's Apprentice Legislature, and Holdo subsequently becomes an important member of Organa's Resistance. Holdo reappears in the 2017 movie ', in which she is portrayed by Laura Dern, as well as a number of Star Wars comics.
Character
In Claudia Gray's novel and comic stories, Amilyn Holdo is depicted as an eccentric yet highly intelligent and competent member of the Resistance who is often underestimated because of her quirks. She is knowledgeable of the esoteric and spiritual practices of her home planet Gatalenta, such as astrology and skyfaring, and often speaks in riddles and strange metaphors. In terms of appearance, Holdo dyes her hair exotic colors, habitually goes barefoot, and dresses in flamboyant clothing. Gray said: Initially, the movie version of Holdo was intended to be very close to her description in the book, described by Johnson as "hippy-dippy"; Laura Dern also compared Holdo to a hippie. However, the director thought that Dern's portrayal was "too spacy", so her character's eccentricities were significantly toned down in the final version of the script. In a 2018 interview, Dern revealed that Holdo is Force-sensitive.
Holdo makes her first appearance as a teenage student of the Apprentice Legislature who befriends Leia during a Pathfinding class. Subsequently she learns about Leia's involvement in the Resistance, and aids her in her missions. Most notably, Holdo helps Organa safely navigate to the Paucris system to warn the rebels about an impending attack by the Empire.
''The Last Jedi''
In the 2017 movie, Holdo is the Vice Admiral of the Resistance who temporarily assumes the position of the Supreme Commander while Princess Leia is in a coma after an attack by the First Order. There is distrust and tension between her and her subordinate Poe Dameron, which eventually culminates in Dameron starting a mutiny against Holdo. After Leia recovers from her injuries, she suppresses the mutiny, but Holdo eventually decides to sacrifice herself to defeat the First Order fleet in a suicide attack dubbed as “the Holdo maneuver”.
Comics
Holdo appears in a number of Star Wars comic stories. The Star Wars Adventures 25 story "The Right Wrong Turn" revisits Holdo and Organa's teenage friendship, with Amilyn asking Leia to teach her to drive a speeder as a pretext for visiting the dangerous lower levels of Coruscant. In Age of Resistance Special 1 story "The Bridge", she assumes command of a Rebel Alliance starship after the captain is killed by an attacking Imperial warship, and saves the crew by making her "Holdo maneuver". In Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Poe Dameron #1, Holdo runs a Resistance spy operation to steal the head of a protocol droid belonging to the New Republic. She is confronted by Poe Dameron, who is at that time a New Republic pilot, but her identity as the thief is never revealed to him, which is why he doesn’t recognize her in The Last Jedi.
Reception
The book version of Holdo received critical acclaim, and readers compared her to Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series. Her character was analyzed from a feminist perspective, with Valerie Estelle Frankel noting that Holdo possesses "a very different nonlinear type of strength". In regards to the movie version of Holdo, Arkady Martine wrote that "women who look like Holdo — femme fatales, even in their middle age, women who… like frivolous things, jewels and bright hair and makeup even in the darkest moments — we are primed to read women like that as women who will betray", and that this "old trope" is eventually subverted when Holdo turns out to be a skilled strategist with "impeccable military credentials" who sacrifices herself for the Resistance. Caitlyn Busch described Dern's character as "a stern, beautiful female character who audiences have never seen before; she swoops in, takes control of the situation, and shames a favorite male character like he’s an insolent child". However, critics also noted that the movie depiction of Holdo appears very dissimilar from the quirky book character created by Claudia Gray, and basically seems "like a different person".
