Jan Dodonna Jan Dodonna was a male human military officer from Commenor who first served with the navy of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars , and later , as a general in the rebellion against the Galactic Empire . Commanding the Massassi Group , one of the largest cells in Senator Bail Organa ' s rebel network , elements of his cell were instrumental in the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic , and he would become part of the Alliance High Command , as well as the military leader of the Rebel Alliance ' s hidden fortress on Yavin 4 . In this capacity , he formulated the plan that led to the successful Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star superweapon . Biography . Service in the Republic and the Empire . A human male from the planet Commenor , Jan Dodonna served in the naval forces of the Galactic Republic during the conflict known as the Clone Wars , where he served as a bridge officer on a " Venator " - class Star Destroyer . After the Republic ' s transition into the Galactic Empire , Dodonna continued his service into the Imperial Navy , where , for outstanding service , he became one of the first captain s of an Imperial Star Destroyer . However , as time went on , Dodonna would become disillusioned with the Empire , and , soon after , he defected to the growing rebellion . Early rebellion . The rebellion in the early years of the Empire was made up of a loose collection of rebel cells secretly coordinated by Imperial Senator Bail Organa . By 5 BBY , Dodonna had risen to command one of these teams of rebels , the Massassi Group , in his fight against the Empire . Leevan Tenza was a member of this group , however an incident where he disobeyed orders and preemptively engaged an Imperial target led to his court - martial and defection to Saw Gerrera ' s Partisans . By 2 BBY , Dodonna commanded one of the largest rebel cells in the entire rebellion , based on Yavin 4 , the fourth moon of Yavin , in the Gordian Reach . In this year , elements of Phoenix Cell , which also operated as part of the rebel network , managed to steal five antiquated BTL - A4 Y - wing assault starfighter / bomber s from an Imperial salvage yard in order to deliver them to Dodonna and his unit . The Y - wings eventually made their way to the group ' s starfighter auxiliary , Gold Squadron , led by Captain Jon ' Dutch ' Vander . Gold Squadron was later assigned to escort the fugitive Senator Mon Mothma , branded a traitor by the Empire and forced to flee from Chandrila , to a rendezvous at Dantooine . Later , General Dodonna along with Senator Bail Organa and several rebel personnel listened to a live HoloNet broadcast by the former Senator denouncing the Empire and urging the galaxy to rise up in rebellion , which eventually led to the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Atollon . Under the new Rebel Alliance , Dodonna and his Massassi Group were paired with Commander Jun Sato ' s Phoenix Squadron in preparation for a strike on the capital world of the Lothal sector , Lothal . However , before the attack could take place , the rebels were ambushed by the Seventh Fleet under Grand Admiral Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo , or Thrawn , a fearsome tactician responsible for the destruction of several rebel cells in the past , who was also intent on capturing Dodonna as well as the rest of the high - ranking rebels gathered on the planet . Thrawn , along with Admiral Kassius Konstantine and his Interdictor vessel s , initially laid waste to both Dodonna ' s and Sato ' s forces , and the latter was forced to sacrifice himself in an attempt to enable Ezra Bridger and Chopper to escape on the " Nightbrother " and seek help . Sustaining heavy losses , Dodonna and the rest of the fleet were forced to withdraw back to Chopper Base , under the protection of a deflector shield . The deflector shield weathered Thrawn ' s orbital bombardment but the Grand Admiral launched a ground assault with AT - DP walkers , AT - AT walkers , and stormtrooper s . While planning the defense of Chopper Base , General Dodonna predicted that Thrawn would deploy his forces through the narrow canyon leading to Chopper Base . The former Clone Captain Rex then proposed ambushing the Imperial forces along that route . Despite destroying several AT - DP walkers , the rebels were unable to stop Thrawn ' s AT - ATs and stormtroopers from storming the base . As the rebel ships depart , Dodonna , Hera ' s Spectres crew , and the RA - 7 protocol droid AP - 5 attempted to flee aboard the " Ghost " but were surrounded by Thrawn and his troops . Before Thrawn could captured them , a mysterious Force entity known as the Bendu attacked the base with lightning . Dodonna and the other rebels were able to flee aboard the " Ghost " . Weathering the thunderstorm , the rebel convoy reached space . By that stage , Ezra had arrived with Clan Wren reinforcements who destroyed the remaining Interdictor , allowing Dodonna and his remaining forces to escape . The rebel convoy then traveled to Yavin 4 . Road to war . In 1 BBY , General Dodonna attended a briefing of the rebel leadership and the Spectres to discuss the Jalindi relay , which the Empire was using to disrupt Alliance supply runs . During the meeting , Dodonna admitted that the Partisan leader Saw Gerrera ' s intelligence had been right despite disapproving of the latter ' s ruthless methods . During the meeting , the Alliance leadership approved of a plan by the Spectres to travel aboard the " Ghost " to Jalindi and plant a spike on the relay for intelligence gathering . When Dodonna asked if the " Ghost " was suitable for the mission , Hera replied that her ship was up to scratch . After Hera and Chopper returned from Lothal with the TIE / D Defender Elite ' s flight data recorder , Dodonna attended a high - level briefing with Hera , Mothma , Organa , and Erskin Semaj . After analyzing the data , Dodonna surmised that the Alliance ' s starfighters were no match for the TIE / D Defender Elite . While Dodanna and the others were debating why the Empire had activated Protocol 13 on Lothal , Hera interrupted the meeting and convinced Mothma to launch a strike against the TIE Defender factories on Lothal . Galactic Civil War . Stealing the Death Star plans . By 0 BBY , the general commanded the Great Temple , which was the main rebel headquarters , considered its most important base and " hidden fortress " from the Empire . By this point , Dodonna had been elevated to Alliance High Command , and was present at the headquarters as Operation Fracture confirmed the existence of an Imperial mobile battle station superweapon capable of destroying entire planets , known as the Death Star . Although High Command was divided in their response to the threat , the squad Rogue One launched an unauthorized mission to steal the plans in hope of discovering a weakness that would allow the Alliance to destroy the station . The resulting Battle of Scarif resulted in the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War and open warfare against the Empire , and the plans would be successfully retrieved from the Scarif Citadel Tower in an attempt to return them to Dodonna for analysis . After the plans made their way to the headquarters and the weakness installed in the battle station by Galen Erso was found , Dodonna designed an attack strategy that would set a group of starfighter s into battle against the Death Star with the mission to fire proton torpedo es into the station ' s exhaust port and destroy it . This led to the Battle of Yavin , which Dodonna and other Rebel leaders monitored from Yavin 4 . Just as the Death Star came into range to destroy Yavin 4 , and Dodonna with it , the station was destroyed by Luke Skywalker . Evacuating Yavin . The General was present at the Royal Award Ceremony commemorating the battle station ' s destruction , announcing at the conclusion of the event that they would be evacuating Yavin 4 , as the Empire now knew the location of their base . Dodonna immediately began screening new planets that would be suitable to establish a new base of operations , quickly dismissing Insk and Daxan Beta as candidates . Princess Leia spoke with General Dodonna , asking to assist with scouting for a new base . The General refused her offer , reporting that a bounty of 10 , 000 , 000 credit s had been placed on her head by the Empire and reported rumors that the Imperials were seeking out surviving Alderaanian s for reprisal . Dodonna demanded that the Princess not leave the system with anything less than a full military escort before dismissing her . Despite Dodonna ' s objections , Organa departed the jungle moon in a T - 1 shuttle operated by R2 - D2 and Evaan Verlaine , an Alderaanian pilot . Leia left a hologram explaining her actions in Dodonna ' s private quarters , which contained luxury furniture and a balcony overlooking the jungle canopy below . The General dispatched Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles in X - wing starfighter s to retrieve the wayward princess ; however , the shuttle jumped to hyperspace before Skywalker and Antilles could stop them . Later career . Following the evacuation of Yavin 4 , Dodonna joined the Alliance Fleet and helped the rest of the Alliance ' s leaders oversee the war effort . Shortly after the assault on the Empire ' s Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1 , Dodonna met with Princess Leia , Chancellor Mon Mothma , and Admiral Gial Ackbar to discuss the Alliance ' s next steps and the need to find a new base of operations . Several days later , the Rebel fleet received an distress call from R2 - D2 , Skywalker ' s astromech droid . The droid reported that Skywalker had been captured by Grakkus the Hutt , a powerful crime lord on Nar Shaddaa . Dodonna met with Mon Mothma and Ackbar to discuss the situation , and expressed his confusion as to why Skywalker had been on the crime - ridden moon of Nar Shaddaa in the first place . Ackbar proposed that they rescue the Rebel hero , but Mon Mothma noted that they could not make a move against the powerful Hutt Cartels , and that no one would be brave enough to volunteer for a covert rescue mission . The meeting was then interrupted by Chewbacca , and Dodonna noted that he seemed to be willing to do so alongside the protocol droid C - 3PO . Chewbacca successfully rescued Skywalker with the help of Princess Leia and Han Solo , who had learned of Skywalker ' s situation and went to his aid . Alliance High Command soon received word that the Rebel garrison on Vrogas Vas had engaged Darth Vader and shot his starfighter down after taking heavy casualties . Dodonna decided that Darth Vader represented a significant threat and target of opportunity , and dispatched a battalion to reinforce the Rebels on planet in their effort to kill the Sith Lord . Sometime later Dodonna ordered the mission that lead to the discovery of the ice planet Hoth . Behind the scenes . Jan Dodonna ' s first film appearance was in " " , where he was played by Alex McCrindle . Dodonna later appeared in " " where he was portrayed by Ian McElhinney . He is voiced by Michael Bell in " Star Wars Rebels " .