Purpruff Purpruff was a female Gigoran who served as a corporal in the Vapetailers unit of Alliance to Restore the Republic Special Forces . During the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire , she traveled to the planet Hoth while scout ing for a new location for the Alliance ' s headquarters . Purpruff wrote up a report recommending Hoth as a good location for the base despite its freezing temperatures , which ultimately lead to the Alliance establishing Echo Base on the planet . Purpruff was killed when the Empire attacked Echo Base in 3 ABY . Biography . Snowy scouting . During the Galactic Civil War between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire , the Gigoran female Purpruff served in the Alliance ' s Special Forces as a corporal in the Vapetrailers unit . During her time with the unit , the Vapetrailers sometimes played matches of pazaak for cantina chits against the Shrikes , another Special Forces unit that included Caluan Ematt . At some point between 0 ABY and 3 ABY and following the start of the Alliance ' s Mid Rim Retreat , = Purpruff traveled to the ice planet Hoth while scout ing for a suitable location for the Alliance to construct its new headquarters . She noted her initial impressions in a scouting log entry from orbit and then landed on the planet ' s surface . The Gigoran then hiked to the nearest entrance of a large subterranean cave rn nearby that her terrain mapper had identified . Amongst the fallen . Purpruff discovered that the cavern was spacious enough to house freighter s inside and tested the structural integrity by detonating a sticky mine on a stalactite , which did not even shudder during the explosion . The corporal ' s life - form scanner then led her to a herd of tauntaun in the cavern which she capture a surveillance image of at five times zoom and then fed a ration stick by hand . Purpruff then compiled her findings into a report that recommended Hoth as a suitable location for a base . The report reached Colonel Anna Seertay , who sent it on to the head of Special Forces , General Pitt Onoran . It was also added to the Rebel Files , a collection of physical documents tracking the history of the Alliance maintained by Hendri Underholt . The Alliance ultimately choose to follow Purpruff ' s recommendation and constructed Echo Base on Hoth as its new headquarters . In 3 ABY , Echo Base was discovered by the Empire and attacked , forcing the Alliance to swiftly evacuate . Most of the Alliance forces escaped , but Purpruff was amongst those killed during the battle . In 34 ABY , Ematt saw Purpruff ' s report in the Rebel Files and annotated it with a note saying that he had know the Gigoran and that he had seen her name listed amongst the fallen at Hoth . Personality and traits . As a Gigoran , Purpruff ' s tolerance for cold temperature s was far higher than that of human s and as such she considered the freezing temperatures of Hoth to be merely brisk . The corporal enjoyed the tingle of the planet ' s clean air in her nostrils upon first landing She considered Hoth ' s landscapes beautiful and its native tauntauns cute and pleasant smelling . Behind the scenes . Purpruff was first mentioned in the 2017 reference book " " by Daniel Wallace .