If you’re reading a review of Rogue One I can guarantee people are talking about Jyn and Captain Andor.  They’re discussing Alan Tudyk as K-2SO and Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso.  They may even mention their like or dislike of the CG characters.

But I can almost guarantee that they aren’t talking about the real hero of Rogue One.  Imperial pilot turned Rebel Bodhi Rook.

Bodhi made the biggest leap of faith in the Star Wars Universe since Finn in Episode VII.  And technically Bodhi precedes him by almost 30 years if you go by the timeline.

Bodhi is an Imperial pilot whom Galen Erso has a huge impact on.  So much so that he is willing to risk the cruelest of deaths to accept the mission that Erso gives to him.

To deliver the most important message in the universe to his long lost daughter.

Why Bodhi is so passionate to get this message to her can only be described as a strong sense of right.  He doesn’t know that it’s the Rebels ticket to destroying the Death Star.  He just knows who the message is expected to be delivered to.

And he faces staggering odds to achieve his mission.

You want to talk about the death sentence on 12 systems?  He’s got that beat.  As a turncoat his punishment in the Empire would be death, and probably an unspeakable one too.  As an Imperial pilot to be captured by the Rebel Alliance, irregardless of who he was sent by, could easily be death.  He is tortured to prove he’s not a spy by Saw Gerrera and almost loses his mind to it.

Just think about what would have happened if he had lost his nerve and run for the deepest borders of space?

He is the turning point of the entire war against the Empire. Without the message that he carried from Erso the Rebellion would have lost the war (even with the message they almost lost it).

A lesser man would never have made it.

In Rogue One he is relegated to a side character with the whole plot telling us that the important ones are Jyn and Andor.  They are the ones who actually put their hands on the Death Star plans.  But without Bodhi they wouldn’t have known about the plans.  They wouldn’t have gotten to the plans.  They wouldn’t have been able to transmit the plans.  Without Bodhi, game over.

There are many unsung heroes in the pages of history.  Bodhi Rook is in good company.