Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars #14 ahead!
Amilyn Holdo is best remembered as vice admiral of the Resistance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but a recent comic shows she was a hero during the time of the Original Trilogy. The current War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event in Star Wars comics takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and centers around the hunt for Han Solo’s frozen carbonite body. Though Holdo’s appearance is brief, she makes an important contribution to Leia’s efforts to rescue Han.
Holdo plays a critical role in The Last Jedi when she steps in to lead the Resistance after Leia is injured in an attack. She butts heads with Poe Dameron, who eventually leads a mutiny against her. It is revealed that she has had a plan all along to enable the Resistance fighters to escape to an old Rebel base nearby. As the Resistance is closely pursued by the First Order, she sacrifices her life by flying a ship at lightspeed directly into the First Order fleet. This move comes to be known as the Holdo Maneuver and decimates several First Order ships, buying the Resistance time to mount a defense.
In Star Wars #14 by Charles Soule, Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg and Clayton Cowles, the hunt for Han is on as Luke, Leia and Chewie desperately search for their captured friend. After appearing to be out of leads, Leia receives a message from her old friend, revealed to be Holdo. She informs them that Han’s frozen body is set to be sold at an auction that will be attended by some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy. She has come by this information while working with crime syndicates to secure supply chains for the Rebellion. Armed with this information, the Rebels set off toward the planet Jekara to try and recover Solo from the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn.
Though it might seem that Holdo is just passing off some information, the fact that she is working with the syndicates says a lot about her character. While some crime syndicates such as the Hutt Clan and Crimson Dawn were introduced in movies, recent Marvel Star Wars comics have also introduced rival factions the Mourner’s Wail Syndicate and the Unbroken Clan. All of these clans have been established to be incredibly dangerous and willing to sell to the highest bidder. Holdo is putting herself at great risk by working with them, as there is little to stop them from kidnapping her and selling her off to the Empire. It's also likely that they would not be happy with her passing information about syndicate activity on to the Rebels. But as her actions in The Last Jedi prove, she is someone who will readily put herself in danger to benefit the greater good.
Leia tells her friends that she has known Holdo since the two were teenagers, which has been established in previous Star Wars books and comics. “I trust her with my life,” Leia says. “If she says this is real, it’s real.” If Leia is willing to throw herself into the lion’s den based on her friend’s word, it makes sense that decades later she would entrust Holdo with commanding the entire Resistance.
Holdo has been a slightly controversial character among certain factions of the Star Wars fandom. Some viewers of The Last Jedi believe that she should have shared her plans with Poe and explained her decisions during the film. But Poe had recently been demoted to captain after causing several casualties during a mission, and in no military organization would a vice admiral be expected to justify their orders to a captain. She carries out her mission with a clear focus and little regard for her image or personal safety. Amilyn Holdo’s brief but important contribution to the rescue efforts in War of the Bounty Hunters establish that she was a competent and brave soldier long before her noble sacrifice in The Last Jedi.