Maren Kelsome Maren Kelsome was a Human male soldier of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War . As a young man , Kelsome received his first assignment as a scout to the frozen planet of Akuria II to clean out the remnants of a gutted Imperial garrison destroyed during the Mission to Akuria II , just weeks after the Battle of Yavin . Kelsome performed adequately , helping to remove the last Imperial troops , which allowed the native Akurian s to regain their homeworld . Colonel Odan , commander of the Rebels on Akuria II , promoted Kelsome from private to corporal for his performance . Kelsome later answered a call for soldiers trained in arctic survival to protect the Alliance ' s Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth , where , under the command of Colonel Ledick Firest , he learned how to function in a formal military structure , which he found quite different from the ragtag Akuria II group that had served under Odan . During the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY , Kelsome acted as Echo Base ' s forward scout at Outpost Beta on the base ' s defensive perimeter , designated Point Rider Five . He earned the distinction of being the first to report the sighting of Imperial All Terrain Armored Transports approaching the base from Hoth ' s North Ridge , but he and his tauntaun mount were crushed to death under an AT - AT ' s massive footpad after underestimating the walkers ' deceptive speed . Biography . First assignment and transfer to Echo Base . Young Maren Kelsome ' s first assignment with the Alliance to Restore the Republic was to the ice world Akuria II as a scout under the command of Colonel Odan . Kelsome was responsible for sweeping up retreating Imperial troops from a gutted garrison that Odan and his ragtag forces previously wiped out with the help of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa during a battle just weeks after the Battle of Yavin . Kelsome performed adequately , removing the Imperial presence , and helping the native Akurian s to reclaim their homeworld . Odan promoted Kelsome from private to corporal for his actions . When the call for soldiers trained in arctic survival to protect the Alliance ' s new Echo Base reached Odan , Kelsome volunteered and transferred to the ice planet Hoth . At Echo Base , Kelsome served under field commander Colonel Ledick Firest , who taught Kelsome formal military structure , which he found to be quite a departure from Odan ' s undisciplined group on Akuria II . Kelsome was assigned to one of the regular scouting patrols around Echo Base ' s outer perimeter . Battle of Hoth . With the onset of the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY , Kelsome was one of the base ' s many soldiers who were thrust into first - time combat duty . He served as the Alliance ' s forward scout at Outpost Beta , the outermost manned station on the base ' s perimeter , under the designation Point Rider Five . When the Empire arrived in the Hoth system , Kelsome and the other advance outposts were notified , with instructions to observe and relay any information on the Imperial invasion force they could , and then to fall back to avoid being overrun . Kelsome was the first to report the presence of Imperial All Terrain Armored Transports two kilometers from Hoth ' s North Ridge , although he didn ' t know what the giant machines were . After issuing an initial sensor report to Echo Station 3 - T - 8 , he nervously described the physical specifications of the heavily armored walkers via comlink directly to General Carlist Rieekan in the Echo Base command center . Rieekan grimly determined that Kelsome was describing the formidable AT - AT walker , and , after Kelsome warned that the walkers would be in firing range of the perimeter in another minute , Rieekan ordered him and his men to vacate immediately . Kelsome , however , underestimated the deceptive speed of the AT - AT while retreating back to the base . After issuing one final warning of the AT - AT advance to the Echo Base defenses over the whine of servomotors , laser cannon blasts , and the terrified screams of his tauntaun , Kelsome and his mount were crushed to death under one of the walkers ' massive footpads before the Alliance fired a single shot . Personality and traits . Maren Kelsome ' s arctic survival skills validated him for transfer from one ice planet — Akuria II — to another — Hoth — to serve at the newly - constructed Echo Base . While under the tutelage of Ledick Firest , Kelsome found stringent military protocol to be very different from the loose group run by Odan on Akuria II . Kelsome was unfamiliar with the AT - AT walker , failing to recognize the giant machine for what it was when reporting the first sighting of the approaching Imperial force to Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth . The imposing size of the war machine frightened the youthful Kelsome , and his nervousness was evident during his comlink conversation with Carlist Rieekan . His unfamiliarity with the AT - AT would prove to be his undoing , when he failed to recognize the walker ' s deceptive speed and was consequently trampled to death . During his scout service on Hoth , Kelsome was trained in tauntaun riding , demolitions , and artillery use . His equipment included a blaster rifle , grenades , a comlink , and macrobinoculars . Behind the scenes . Character origins and development . A " Corporal Kelsome " character first appeared in the 1989 West End Games sourcebook " " to provide a profile of a standard Echo Base soldier for purposes . The Kelsome character was provided a detailed backstory in the 1996 of " Galaxy Guide 3 " , as part of a major expansion on the first edition sourcebook by Pablo Hidalgo , which also provided a full name for the character , " Maren Kelsome . " The second edition of " Galaxy Guide 3 " tied Kelsome with a tauntaun rider appearing in early versions of " The Empire Strikes Back " script , who first encounters the AT - AT walkers during the opening stages of the Battle of Hoth . This tauntaun rider , before being identified as Kelsome , first appeared in the 1980 " Marvel " comic adaptation of the film , " " , and also appears with several lines in the 1983 radio adaptation of " The Empire Strikes Back " , identified only as " Outpost Beta . " With the merging of these two characters , the second edition of " Galaxy Guide 3 " was the first source to confirm Kelsome ' s death in the battle . Kelsome ' s biographical entry in the second edition of " Galaxy Guide 3 " also links him to the " Marvel " serial comic " The Kingdom of Ice " , released from July 1978 to January 1979 . Specific references in the entry , including the planet Akuria II , the native Akurians , the character Colonel Odan , and a mention of the Imperial garrison defeated during the Mission to Akuria II , all originated in the " Marvel " comic . The " tauntaun rider " character destined to become Kelsome was first illustrated by conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie during the development stages of " The Empire Strikes Back " . Originally , the rider was intended to be Luke Skywalker , who , in the conceptualized scene , rides his tauntaun up a ravine only to be surprised by the presence of Imperial walkers and then must flee for his life . Character confusion . Maren Kelsome should not be confused with the character of Trey Callum , who appears in the film as the trench officer who confirms the presence of AT - ATs approaching Echo Base . Callum is the third link in a chain of comlink calls , originating with Kelsome and passing through Echo Station 3 - T - 8 , that reports the presence of AT - ATs to the base . The 1990 West End Games " Rebel Alliance Sourcebook " and the sourcebook ' s 1994 second edition include an introductory narrative in " Chapter Six : Ground Combat " detailing how " the advance scout on Echo Base ' s North Ridge [ who was ] the first to see the walkers " goes on to save the life of a downed snowspeeder pilot once the last AT - AT has passed his position . The scout single - handedly neutralizes a squad of snowtroopers before carrying the pilot to safety on his tauntaun . This description is a clear reference to the " tauntaun rider " who was later identified as Maren Kelsome . However , with the advent of Kelsome ' s death early in the battle as established by " Galaxy Guide 3 " in 1996 , any connection between this character in the " Rebel Alliance Sourcebook " and Kelsome provides a stark continuity inconsistency , since Kelsome is long dead by this point . Inconsistencies . In " The Empire Strikes Back " radio drama and the radio drama script , published in " " , Carlist Rieekan addresses Kelsome as a lieutenant . The first edition " Galaxy Guide 3 " later identified Kelsome as being a corporal during the Battle of Hoth . Kelsome ' s report of the AT - ATs in the radio drama script describes the walkers as " twenty , twenty - five meters high , " whereas in the actual radio drama , the Kelsome character describes the walkers as " ten , fifteen meters high . " This height differential mirrors a persistent canonical discrepancy across sources concerning the actual height of the AT - AT walkers . To date , many sources , including West End Games " " supplements and sourcebooks such as " " , identify the AT - AT at 15 . 5 meters , while others , including " " , put the AT - AT at 22 . 5 meters .