Odan ( impostor ) An Impostor of Odan was an Imperial commander on Akuria II during and around the time following the Battle of Yavin . He was the head of Polar Base , the Imperial garrison on Akuria II , and impersonated the local Rebel group leader , Colonel Odan , in order to deceive Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa into giving away the Rebel Alliance ' s plans . The pair of Rebels eventually realized that he was an impostor , but the man kept Organa prisoner while setting the War Sled on a course to the Geyser Sea with Skywalker tied up inside . The real Rebels rescued Skywalker and helped him save Organa , capturing the impostor in the process . He managed to get away from them when the group attacked Polar Base but was later killed by Skywalker , who was using a captured TIE / LN starfighter . Biography . The officer commanded the Imperial garrison on Akuria II , an ice world in the Outer Rim Territories , where he fought against Colonel Odan and his Rebel cell . At some point prior to the arrival of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa , his forces captured the War Sled that was used by the Rebels . When Skywalker and Organa arrived on Akuria II to meet with Colonel Odan , the Imperial officer had a robotic TIE / LN starfighter shoot down their ship . When a group of native Akurian s ( also called " Snow Demons " ) allied with the Akurian Rebels sought to help them , his forces then arrived in the War Sled and " rescued " the two Rebels from their " enemies " . Posing as Colonel Odan , the Imperial tried to get the Rebels to give away information on the war plans of the Rebel Alliance . However , the two Rebels noticed that there were signs of a battle having taken place aboard the Sled , and Organa realized that " Odan " never used the proper Alliance recognition codes . The impostor entered the room at that moment , finding out that they know the truth . He had them abandon the War Sled , but locked Skywalker inside , and then set the mobile fortress on a course to the Geyser Sea . He told Organa that he would have the Imperial garrison ' s strato - hopper stop the Sled from driving into the sea if she told him the Rebel plans . She refused to do so Meanwhile , Skywalker was rescued by the real Colonel Odan and his Akurian allies . The group then directed an ice worm to attack the imposter and his stormtroopers . The imposter ' s stormtroopers were defeated , but he sped away inside a snow flyer with Organa . The Rebels chased the flyer and flew alongside it on power ski s , allowing Skywalker to jump aboard and open the canopy by shooting its locks with a blaster . The automatic safety system caused the speeder to stop when the canopy opened , at which point the Imperial officer was captured by the Rebels . Putting a blaster up to the back of his head , the Rebels were able to get the man to give them the access codes to get into the Polar Base . The Rebels wedged a snow flyer into the open gates of Polar Base and detonated it with explosives , deactivating the energy gates and providing an entryway for a Rebel attack . As the native Akurians swarmed the Imperial stronghold , the impostor was able to escape from his captors into the base to lead his men . However , the base was unable to hold against the the Rebel onslaught and it eventually fell to the attacking Ice Demons . The Imperial commander himself was killed when Skywalker commandeered a TIE / LN starfighter and used it to destroy the blaster cannon emplacement that was housing the commander . With the Imperial officer dead , the Rebels quickly mopped up any further resistance , claiming Akuria II for the Rebel Alliance . Personality and traits . The officer was a deceitful man , using manipulation in an attempt to get the Rebels to reveal their plans , and was willing to use threats and intimidation when that did not work . He and his forces were also willing to kill Skywalker in the event that Organa did not cooperate ( although he was later rescued by the local Rebels before that could happen ) . Once captured , he succumbed to threats from the Rebels to use his codes in order to open the gates of the Imperial garrison facility . The man had fair skin , brown hair , and wore a thick fur coat in the place of a regular Imperial officer ' s uniform due to the cold climate of Akuria II . Behind the scenes . The impostor of Odan appeared in the eight - part comic series " The Kingdom of Ice " , the writer of which was Archie Goodwin , published from April 1978 until January 1979 . His real name was never given , as he was always referred to as " Odan " or , later , as " commander . " The impostor was initially introduced in the second installment of the comic series , " The Snow Demons " , as the local Rebel leader , and was revealed to be an Imperial in the third part , " Treachery " .