Jyn Erso

Jyn Erso is a fictional freedom fighter and a central character in the Star Wars multimedia franchise. Played by actress Felicity Jones, she was the female lead in the 2016 stand-alone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Early years
Jyn Erso was the daughter of Galen Erso and Lyra Erso. She was born right after the onset of the Clone Wars on the planet Vallt. Her father gave her nickname "Stardust". Galen was made to work in service of the Galactic Empire, where he was tasked with developing the ultimate weapon of mass destruction - a planet killer known as the Death Star. Unwilling to commit anymore of himself to such a weapon, the Ersos decided to defect from the Empire. A revolutionary named Saw Gerrera helped them to go into hiding and set them up on a remote Outer Rim world named Lah'mu. For the next four years, the Ersos lived in peace.

When Jyn was eight years old, Galen's superior in the Empire, Director Orson Krennic, managed to track them down. While Galen tried to distract Krennic, Lyra Erso secreted her daughter away and contacted Saw Gerrera. Lyra was killed soon after, and Galen was forced to return to the Empire.

Saw Gerrera raised Jyn Erso on his own for the next eight years whereupon she received combat training and became a part of his militia of insurgents - always executing minor attacks against agents of the Empire. Gerrera and Jyn eventually parted company, and she believed that he had abandoned her. With no parental figure to guide her, she turned to a life of crime. This new lifestyle eventually caught up with her however, and she was captured and sent to an Imperial labor camp on the planet Wobani.

The Rebel Alliance
Six months after she had been imprisoned, members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic learned of her existence and knew that she could help them track down Saw Gerrera, and through him, track down Galen Erso. The Alliance sent an extraction team to rescue her, which consisted of Rebellion spy Cassian Andor, and reprogrammed Imperial interrogation droid designated K-2SO. They broke her out of Wobani and brought her back to the Alliance headquarters on Yavin IV. Alliance High Command convinced Jyn to serve as a go-between for initiating a dialogue with Saw Gerrera.

Cassian Andor, K-2SO, and Jyn Erso flew to Saw's last known whereabouts, which was the holy Jedha City on the planet Jedha. While navigating the bustling streets, they did their best to avoid the Imperial patrols. A mysterious blind man named Chirrut Îmwe picked Jyn out of the crowd and made note of the concealed necklace that she wore. The necklace was the last gift from her mother and contained a Kyber crystal. Chirrut was a member of a holy order known as the Guardians of the Whills, along with his colleague, Baze Malbus. Before long, Jyn and the others found themselves caught in the crossfire of a firefight between Saw Gerrera's Partisans and Imperial Stormtroopers. Although they evaded being gunned down by the troopers, they all found themselves prisoners of the Partisans. Jyn reunited with Saw Gerrera, but their reunion was bittersweet, as Jyn still blamed him for abandoning her fifteen years ago. Saw showed Jyn a holographic message left behind by her father. The message revealed that Galen Erso had designed a flaw in the Death Star - one that if exploited, could yield to the destruction of the station itself.

Shortly thereafter, the Empire decided test the firepower of their newly operational Death Star. They fired a single-initiation blast from the station's super-laser, which obliterated Jedha City. Jyn Erso and her newfound allies managed to get off-planet in time, but Saw Gerrera and hundreds of others died in the explosion.

Mission to Eadu
One of the men who accompanied Jyn Erso off Jedha was Bodhi Rook - a former Imperial cargo pilot. Bodhi told her that Galen Erso was stationed on the planet Eadu. The group journeyed to Eadu, but Jyn was unaware that Cassian Andor had standing orders to assassinate Galen. As they surveyed the area, they noticed Director Krennic had arrived and was questioning Galen Erso. At that moment, several Rebel Alliance fighter ships descended upon the area and opened fire on the terrain. Galen Erso was struck by a blast that originated from a Y-wing fighter. As he lay dying amidst the carnage, Jyn Erso raced up to him, having not been able to speak to her father since she was a child. Before expiring, Galen heard Jyn tell him that she received his message.

Returning to Yavin, Jyn told the Rebel Alliance about her father's message. However, as the message was destroyed along with Jedha, she no means of proving it. Members of the High Command debated in committee as to whether they should act on this knowledge or not. Ultimately, they decided to dismiss the information. Jyn stormed out of the temple, but was met by Cassian Andor and several others. Cassian believed Jyn's story now, and the other volunteers were ready to take action with her.

Mission to Scarif
Armed with the location of the vault that contained the Death Star plans, Jyn and the other freedom fighters took a stolen Imperial shuttle to the planet Scarif. Jyn and Cassian managed to get into the data vault, but the other members of their unit needed to open the shield gate so they could transmit the Death Star plans to the Alliance. Jyn and Cassiand mad their way to the data tower, leaving Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi and the others to deal with the Imperials. All of the ground forces lost their lives under the assault of the Imperial war machine. Even K-2SO fell before Stormtrooper blaster fire.

Director Krennic arrived on Scarif and pursued the rebels. He had a confrontation with them on the data tower, and Jyn shot Krennic down, revealing to him that she was the daughter of Galen Erso. Afterward, she succeeded in uploading the data files to the Rebel fleet in orbit about the planet.

The Empire, having taken notice of everything going on below, fired the Death Star super-laser for a second time. The laser impacted the ground several kilometers away from the Imperial base, but this was enough to get the job done. Jyn and Cassian held onto each other as the wave energy washed over them, killing them.

Notes & Trivia



 * It was announced that Felicity Jones would play the part of Jyn Erso on March 12th, 2015.


 * Actress Beau Gadsdon played young Jyn Erso in flashback scenes on Lah'mu.


 * Jyn Erso's preferred weapon of choice is a BlasTech A-180 blaster.


 * The pendant that Lyra Erso gave to Jyn when she was a child was a piece of Kyber crystal. Lyra stole it from the research facility where she worked while she was operating on Coruscant.


 * Actress Felicity Jones was the guest host on the January 14th, 2017 episode of Saturday Night Live. SNL regular cast member Kenan Thompson joined her during the opening monologue dressed as Saw Gerrera and veteran SNL writer & comic Tina Fey appeared as a hologram.

Appearances

 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 1
 * Star Wars: Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel