The Last Jedi: Why Amilyn Holdo is important

The wait is over. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has finally been released and we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t have takes hotter than the fires of Mustafar.

The Last Jedi has been hailed as the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back, but comparing it to any Star Wars film before or since is reductive. While director Rian Johnson continues the legacy of the filmmakers before him, there is something a little bit different about The Last Jedi. Never has it been more apparent that our heroes — and our villains — are human. Flaws and all. 

The Resistance is full of amazing examples of this. Poe Dameron leads a charge that gets a lot of people killed in the first 10 minutes because that’s what he thinks heroism is — victory at any cost. It becomes clear that he has a lot to learn about leadership.

He learns it from women.

When Amilyn Holdo comes along, played beautifully by Laura Dern with purple hair and a calm demeanor, Poe isn’t sure about her. He doesn’t trust her like he trusts Leia, and since he relies on his own moxie more than he relies on authority, he leads a covert mission behind her back. When that looks like it might fail, he stages a coup. And we thought Luke was the most extra person in the galaxy.

But Amilyn isn’t what she seems. Amilyn proves that heroism manifests itself in so many ways and it’s not always accompanied by fireworks and awed gasps. Sometimes it’s accompanied by suspicion and cynicism — the important thing is to keep going.

This message particularly hits hard after Rogue One, where we see the team take on a thankless mission, only to become a doomed footnote in Star Wars history. But without their contribution, Luke Skywalker would never have blown up the Death Star. Without Amilyn, the Resistance wouldn’t still be fighting.

She isn’t a Poe Dameron or even a Leia Organa, despite being a friend of Leia’s from before she joined the Rebellion. She shares some traits — selflessness and courage to name but two — but she is quieter, more understated in her heroism.

She doesn’t tell Poe her plans, though it would save her skin as well as her reputation, because he doesn’t need to know.  Her ultimate sacrifice, which looked to some like she was running away, meant that legions of Resistance fighters could escape to live another day. She might not always have been the Known Hero, but she’s a hero nonetheless. Poe’s right that she’s no Leia Organa; she is Amilyn Holdo and that is no less great.

Her aforementioned friendship with Leia is something to be celebrated. We know from Claudia Gray’s book Leia, Princess of Alderaan that they worked together in the Apprentice Legislature, a youth politics group based on Coruscant. They are cut from the same cloth, and though they might have different styles, that doesn’t mean they can’t work together. In fact, they deeply respect and like one another, and that is so important.

In a world where having one woman in power is extraordinary, having two is nigh on revolutionary. (This is, of course, not to mention the wealth of incredible women elsewhere in the Star Wars universe, in comics and TV shows, and the newcomers like Rey and Rose.) For a moment, it looks like Poe is about to take Leia’s place at the helm, a position he is definitely in training for. But he isn’t the second in command — it’s Amilyn.

When Poe doesn’t take to her (something that she very generously forgives him for), it would be so easy for us to see Leia take his side. A lesser movie perhaps would have shown that.

Instead, we see that Leia trusts Amilyn, just as she recognizes that Poe still has a lot to learn. Amilyn turns out to be a great teacher and it is notable that Poe echoes Amilyn’s words when he says that the Resistance will be “the spark that burns the First Order down”.  Amilyn’s legacy lives on.

Competent women supporting competent women is absolutely our jam. Amilyn and Leia don’t have to fight each other for power. The world is wide enough for both of them, however briefly they may have shared a screen. 

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We may have only known Amilyn for one film, but we certainly felt her loss, just as keenly as Leia did.