What's In A Name? A Look At The Other Jyns Of Star Wars History
With the release of the Star Wars: Rogue One teaser trailer, we now know the lead character played by Felicity Jones is named Jyn Erso. While this character is not a previously known person in Star Wars canon, I thought it would be fun to point out that our new Star Wars lead character isn't even the first person in a galaxy far, far away to have that first name.
So let's use this an an opportunity to explore the other Jyns of the Star Wars universe and see if we find anything interesting. We won't learn much in terms of information about Rogue One, so if you're looking for that you can stop here.
Jyn Erso
In Rogue One, Felicity Jones plays a female human rebellion soldier who came from a criminal background. We will see Erso lead a group of rebellion soldiers in a heist for the plans for the original Death Star. We know very little about this character other than what the trailer tells us:
She grew up on her own from the age of fifteen years old and developed a reckless and rebellious streak. She had a number of incidents on her record, including the forgery of Imperial documents, possession of stolen property, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest.
Jones's dark hair and English accent have led some to speculate that her character may be the mother of Daisy Ridley's character Rey, first seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I don't think there is really any evidence to support this theory at this time.
Yes, Rey's parents are the subject of a mystery that will most likely be resolved in the new Star Wars trilogy. Her Force abilities suggest that at least one of her parents was probably a Jedi (or Sith). Most popular theories point to Luke Skywalker, with other fans theorizing that she could be Obi-Wan Kenobi's granddaughter or somehow related to Supreme Leader Snoke. And director Gareth Edwards has said that Rogue One will feature no magical Jedi. Rey could be the daughter of a woman with no Force abilities, but it seems very unlikely that Rogue One will be connected to The Force Awakens in this way.
We also know that when casting Star Wars: Rogue One, there were listings for a character named Lyra Erso. Is this a relative of Jyn or was Lyra the original name of the character before it was changed to Jyn?
Jyn N'oram
Jyn N'oram appeared in At Your Service, year three of the Living Force roleplaying-game adventure which is no longer considered Star Wars canon. As with all pre-Force Awakens fiction, it is classified as a non-canon Star Wars Legend until someone decides to adopt the character or some of the ideas into the current Star Wars galaxy.
In the RPG, N'oram was a female human who worked as the captain of the Fricasseed Nerf, a YT-1300 light freighter (same model as the Millennium Falcon), for Hedrett Shipping and Investments. N'oram was aboard a ship when it collided with a comet fragment in the Cularin system and was left drifting in space before being rescued by the Heroes of Clarion.
The character lived during the waning years of the Galactic Republic, 20 years before the Battle of Yavin and the events of A New Hope. So she basically existed during the Clone Wars which makes it unlikely she's connected to Rogue One in any way.
Jyn Obah
Appearing in the Star Wars: Droids animated series in the 1980s, Jyn Obah was a Schiav space pirate and first mate to Captain Gir Kybo Ren-Cha. A large alien of unknown lineage, he had tan-colored skin, long brown hair, a large hoop nose-ring, two fangs projecting upward from his bottom jaw, ill-fitting stormtrooper armor, and was voiced by Dan Hennessey. Jyn served aboard the Dianoga as well as his capital destroyer, the Demolisher. Here is some info on the character from the Star Wars wiki:
When the crew were not flying through space looking for new worlds to plunder, they retreated to their secret base of operations on the oceans of Tarnoonga. On one occasion, Captain Kybo kidnapped the freighter pilot known as Jessica Meade. He kept her secured in his ready room on Tarnoonga, but Jessica escaped and ran directly into Jyn Obah. Jyn tried to grab a hold of her, but Jessica evaded him and ran back towards her freighter. Jyn gave chase and tried to stop her before she could enter the ship. Jess halted Jyn's advances by trapping him between the blast doors of her ship. Once incapacitated, she freed him and blasted off from Tarnoonga. Later, Jyn discovered that Captain Kybo had been arrested by King Mon Julpa of Tammuz-an and held prisoner at the royal palace. He sneaked onto the planet and broke Kybo out of his cell. They managed to temporarily avoid detection by disguising themselves as natives of Tammuz-an. Soldiers under the command of Mon Julpa and Lord Toda eventually discovered their plot and gave chase. They managed to capture Jyn Obah, but Captain Kybo escaped.
The character is also part of the non-canon Star Wars Legends universe and doesn't appear to be related to Rogue One in any way.
Jyn Odan
The only Jyn that is considered part of current Star Wars canon and not Star Wars Legends is Jyn Odan from the Fantasy Flight Games board game Imperial Assault. Unfortunately, since Jyn Odan is a player character, much of her story is up to how you play the game. We do know that she is a sly smuggler working with the rebellion during the New Hope era. She wears the orange and white rebellion fighter pilot colors on her jacket and sports a blaster.