Odan Odan was a male Human who served as a colonel with the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Based on the ice world of Akuria II around 0 ABY , Odan and his men utilized a powerful vehicle known as the War Sled to great effect , running successful hit - and - run attacks against the Imperials stationed on the planet . Odan even made friends with the native Akurian s who had been badly abused under Imperial rule . The alliance with the natives made the Rebel threat on Akuria II quite formidable , and Odan ' s group even merited a visit from Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa . However , the visit was marred by defeat , as the Imperials and their commander were able to capture the War Sled and imprison the majority of Odan ' s men . When Skywalker and Organa arrived on the world , they were greeted by Imperials who were posing as Rebels . To stop the deception and to keep the two Rebels from spilling secrets to the Imperial impostors , Odan and the Akurians staged a rescue , but were only able to come away with the duo ' s two droids , C - 3PO and R2 - D2 . With the droids ' help , Odan was able to stage another , more successful , rescue , eventually securing the two Rebels away from their Imperial captors . Following the rescue , the group mounted an attack on the Imperials ' Polar Base , liberating the planet from the Empire . The experience that Odan ' s group had built on the ice planet proved fruitful during the Rebellion ' s relocation to Hoth . At least one of Odan ' s men , Maren Kelsome , was transferred to Echo Base to serve the Alliance there . Biography . Resistance fighter . Early in the Galactic Civil War , prior to the Battle of Yavin , Odan was in command of a rag - tag group of rebels fighting to liberate the planet Akuria II from the Empire . Although Odan ' s group was opposed to the Empire , they were not officially part of the Alliance to Restore the Republic , and their resistance group worked without support from the larger rebellion . The large Imperial garrison on the world forced the colonel and his men to resort to hit - and - run attacks . Odan ' s operations were run primarily from a large vehicle known as the War Sled . The massive sled could move rapidly across Akuria II ' s snowy plains , allowing Odan and his group to stay one step ahead of the Imperials . During their battles with the Imperials , Odan and his group made friends with the Akurian s , the local populace of the planet , who went by their nickname of the Snow Demons , and recruited them to help combat the Imperial forces . Although the War Sled was Odan ' s main base of operations , he also made use of abandoned ice worm tunnels , and a hidden base occupied by the Snow Demons , to stay out of reach of the Imperials . Following the Battle of Yavin , the War Sled was boarded by Imperials and their leader . Stormtroopers easily defeated Odan and his group , capturing most of his men and the War Sled with it . Odan was able to escape , but the battle had come at the worst possible time . The Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa , delayed due to an unplanned detour to the Keeper ' s World , arrived to check in with Odan and his group , hoping to convince them to join the larger Rebellion . With the War Sled in their possession , the Imperial leader devised a plan to trick the Rebels into revealing the Rebellion ' s location by posing as Colonel Odan . Odan predicted that the Imperials would try deception , and so he sent several of the natives , the Snow Demons , to rescue the Rebels from the Imperial leader . Rescue attempts . Unfortunately for the rebel soldiers , the leader of the rescue party , Fafnir , was unable to successfully rescue the group . Due to Fafnir ' s inability to speak Basic , Skywalker and Organa misinterpreted Fafnir and his fellows ' intentions and so fought them off . However , Fafnir and his men were able to grasp the two droids , R2 - D2 and C - 3PO , before escaping from the Imperials that arrived to stop the rescue . The rescue group returned to the Snow Structure , the temporary headquarters of the Rebels , but were scolded by Odan for their failure . Artoo and Threepio eventually convinced Odan to undertake another rescue attempt , but Odan informed them that the only craft they possessed that could catch up with the War Sled , a Snow Flyer , had been disabled when its T - 3 unit had taken one blaster bolt too many . Artoo was able to take the destroyed droid ' s place , but after catching up with the War Sled , they found it on a suicide run for the geyser sea . Fafnir and Odan boarded the War Sled and found Skywalker tied up in the cockpit . The impostor Odan had been discovered , and in an effort to force Organa to talk , had threatened her companion ' s life . Odan was able to untie Skywalker , and the group escaped the doomed sled on power ski s . However , after abandoning the craft , they were caught in a terrible snowstorm and were in danger of being blown into the geyser sea . To prevent this , Skywalker devised a plan to melt a hole in the ice as a haven to wait out the storm . Using Artoo ' s heat induction unit , the Rebels had soon melted a large hole in the ground . Coincidentally situated over a large ice worm burrow , the bottom of the hole collapsed into the tunnel , plummeting the group deep into the planet ' s crust . The fall left their power skis undamaged , and since they were now out of the snowstorm , they decided to use the vehicles to travel under the surface to catch up with the Imperials and the captive Organa . Traveling through the tunnels , the group eventually stopped when Artoo detected the heat signatures from the Imperials ' ships directly above them . The Imperial leader and his troops had decided to wait out the storm before returning to their headquarters , and Skywalker devised a plan to ambush the group from below . However , before they could begin the plan , a large ice worm appeared , bearing down on the group . Skywalker , Fafnir , and Odan began to fire wildly at the beast , but their efforts were unable to stop the worm . The group rushed to their power skis , but Odan pointed out that there was no chance of outrunning the beast as it was so close . Luckily for the Rebels , the ice and exhaust kicked up by the skis was able to divert the worm ' s path , saving the group from destruction . The worm burrowed a new tunnel towards the surface as it avoided the group entirely . Reunion . The new pathway taken by the Ice Worm led the beast directly toward the Imperials on the surface . Erupting out of the ground , the worm destroyed the Imperials ' Strato - Hopper and scattered their forces . Only the Imperial leader and Organa were able to escape the Ice Worm ' s wrath in a spare Snow Flyer . By the time the Rebels had climbed out of the Ice Worm ' s tunnel , the Imperial craft was well on its way back to the Imperials ' Polar Base . Luckily for the Rebels , before perishing , the stormtroopers were able to kill the Ice Worm , removing both threats . Surveying the wreckage , Odan and Skywalker witnessed the retreat of the Imperial Snow Flyer and jumped on their power skis to continue pursuit . However , the Imperial commander fired on the two Rebels , barely missing them , and forcing Odan to break off pursuit . Luckily for Odan , Skywalker was undeterred by the attack and was able to catch up to the Snow Flyer , rescuing Organa and taking the Imperial captive . The Rebels were out of danger for the moment , but the Imperial leader had already transmitted a message to the Polar Base to tell them that he was bringing in a captive . The Imperial informed the Rebels that if he did not arrive , every TIE fighter at the base would come to destroy them . Battle . Forced to come up with a plan on the fly , Odan and the rest of the Rebels boarded the Snow Flyer with the Imperial commander as their hostage . Approaching the Imperial base , Skywalker forced the commander to transmit the codes to the base , opening the energy gates . The Rebels then parked the vehicle in the middle of the gate and allowed Artoo to reverse the combustion feed lines into the Flyer . The action caused the craft to explode , keeping the gate from closing . On that signal , Fafnir and all the Snow Demons rushed the base to take the attack to the Imperials . Odan went to lead the Snow Demons alongside Fafnir , while Skywalker and Organa commandeered TIE fighters to take out the laser emplacements of the base . At the same time , the Imperial commander was able to escape and take command of the Imperials inside the base . Although the commander ordered his forces to shoot down the two rogue TIEs , Skywalker ' s flying skills allowed him to easily outmaneuver the blaster cannons . Skywalker ' s TIE eventually destroyed the cannon emplacement that contained the Imperial commander , killing him and turning the tide of the battle . With the Imperial base destroyed , Odan and his men officially joined with the Alliance , turning Akuria II over to the Rebellion . Further career . Following the victory on Akuria II , Odan promoted a young Rebel named Maren Kelsome from private to corporal for adequate service in helping to remove the Imperial presence . When the call for troops trained in arctic survival to protect the new Alliance base on Hoth reached Odan , at least one of Odan ' s men , Kelsome , answered the call , transferring to the new Echo Base . Personality and traits . Colonel Odan was a temperamental man , expecting the best of the men under his command . He was often quick to anger , and was known to resign himself to despair in desperate situations . In fact , he even equated his success to simple blind luck at times . However , Odan proved himself to be incredibly persistent , fighting in the most hostile conditions , constantly evading capture and death . He ended up being the only Human to escape the sneak attack on the Rebels ' War Sled . Unlike many Humans during the reign of the Galactic Empire , he was not xenophobic , and he generally respected and valued the Snow Demons that fought under him . The Snow Demon Fafnir became Odan ' s right - hand being during the final overthrow of the Empire from Akuria II . Although prone to excitable outbursts , Odan was not a tough commander , nor a strict disciplinarian . When Maren Kelsome transferred to Echo Base , he found the mainstream Rebellion to be much different than the loosely assembled band that was loyal to Odan . The formal chain of command and protocol that characterized the highest Rebel leaders was left forgotten with Odan ' s rag - tag group . Odan was a burly man , well equipped to deal with the harsh conditions of Akuria II . Sporting a large , thick beard , Odan gave the impression of a man prepared for cold weather . Odan was also equipped with an eye patch over his left eye , giving his face a more fearsome demeanor . Alongside a yellow bandana that he wore around his head , Odan fit the part of a formidable Rebel commander . Behind the scenes . Colonel Odan was created by Archie Goodwin for use in the comic , " The Kingdom of Ice " , in which he played a supporting role behind the main characters of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa . The story , published before the release of , was set on an ice planet , predating the ice world of Hoth that appeared in the film . After this , Odan had a small reference in West End Games ' s second edition of the sourcebook " " , which tied Odan to a Rebel soldier that died at the Battle of Hoth . This connection was likely made due to the fact that the planet on which Odan resided bore a striking similarity to Hoth .