The 25 most influential Star Wars characters

17. Jyn Erso

Jyn Erso was a main character in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. She led a group of rebels on a crucial mission that provides important setup for A New Hope. She’s given a huge task to accomplish for the Rebellion — stealing plans for the Death Star — and is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve it.

Due to the fact that we don’t know a ton about Jyn beyond Rogue One, she ranks relatively low on this list. Even if you’re someone who reads the books and comics, Jyn’s story isn’t as fleshed out as those of many other characters. However, that doesn’t diminish what she did. There’s no doubt she’s an important part of the Rebellion.

Rogue One does give us a little bit of Jyn’s history, which is all pretty sad. Her engineer father was taken away from her and forced to work for the Empire. She watched the Empire kill her mother, too. The tragedy she went through would be enough to cause anyone to go into hiding, but instead, she chose to fight. She ended up watching her father die, too, but never gave up on finding the Death Star plans.

Even though she preferred working alone, Jyn worked with others to carry out her mission and died to do it. Her sacrifice allowed Luke to destroy the first Death Star. That’s easily one of the biggest moments in Star Wars history, and Jyn helped make it happen.