"It's, uh... it's Rogue. Rogue One."
Imagine being underrated even when compared with other characters of your underrated movie. Bodhi deserves better.
What's the Work?
Rogue One is a space opera, science fiction Star Wars spin off movie from 2017.
It follows the story of Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen Erso, one of the most inportant engineers behind the creation of the infamous Death Star. Alongside the shady Rebel Alliance, Jyn sets out to gather the plans regarding the Death Star, put there by her father, in order to unlock its famous weakness. She does this with a bunch of ragtag characters, including a blind believer in the Force, a retired, berserkerish believer in the Force, an anti heroic Rebel Captain, a sarcastic reprogrammed Empire droid, and a defecting Empire pilot. The pilot in question is who we're talking about today.
Who is him?
Bodhi Rook is a major character. A defecting Empire pilot who conspired with Galen Erso, Bohdi, as "The Pilot", played a pivotal role in Erso's scheme against the Empire by bringing his message to his former partner, Saw Guerrera. Anxious and most of the time afraid, but nevertheless loyal to his mission and to Galen, Bodhi goes beyond his mission and helps Jyn and her team retrieve the Death Star plans, containing the intentional flaw planted by Galen, becoming, for his short time at the Alliance, a valuable Rebel.
What does he do?
From his dialogue, even before meeting Galen Erso, Bodhi wanted out of the Empire, as one of the reasons Erso won him over is telling him how he could "redeem [himself]". Bohdi, as an Imperial Pilot, somehow got in contact with Galen, and helped him in his scheme against the Empire. Taking a message of his in order to bring it to his friend Saw Guerrera, Bodhi took off and defected for good. He was looked for by both Imperial and Rebel forces, and was kidnapped by Saw Guerrera's army.
After explaining the situation and being subjected to a psychic alien to see if he was lying, Bodhi was put on a cell. He is joyful to know Andor, his cellmate, is a member of the Rebel Alliance, and flees with him and his allies, including Jyn, who saw her father's message. He wanted the group to go the Eadu, so they could save Galen, unaware Andor had orders to kill him. In the planet, he plays a big part by exploding an incoming attack ship from the Empire, and directly getting everyone out of the planet by flying them away in a stolen Imperial ship.
When the Rebel Alliance refuses to help them follow Jyn's plan, Bodhi goes to Scariff with them. He dubs their ship "Rogue One", and stays as control in the battle proper. Fighting to get a cable connected to Rogue One, he eventually manages to and contacts Rebel troops hovering outside of the planet at the moment, who had disagreed with the High Command's decision to stay out of the fight and came to help He explains to them what to do and how they had to destroy the Imperial shield around the planet so that they could receive a message from Scariff, containing the Death Star plans. He is successful in passing on this info, but a grenade is thrown into the ship and he dies in an explosion unfortunately.
Corrupting Qualities
None really. He is pretty anxious and nervous, but this never causes incompetence or cowardice from him. In the other way around, it only makes him persevering to honor Galen and help the Rebels even more admirable. He raises his voice to Saw's guerrillas, but they were being uncooperative, Bodhi had that extremely important message to deliver and was being hunted by the Empire. Being agressive and assertive, especially in such a situation, is not corrupting at all. Other than that, nothing really.
Admirable Standarts
Yeah, yeah, I know this is Star Wars we're talking about. But in my opinion? Bodhi passes with relative ease.
All of the core characters of this movie are highly admirable for knowingly working to take down a battle station that would kill billions and control the galaxy with fear, and their efforts paid off by the time of A New Hope (which takes place... literally mere hours after the end of Rogue One). Yes, the standarts are giganormous, but Bodhi is no Jedi, influentious leader or resourceful outlaw; he is just a pilot.
Even among other characters from Rogue One, he stands out for betraying the Empire and bringing the message from Galen in the first place, ensuring his efforts to install a secret weakness paid off, as well as helping the team throughout all of the movie and playing a considerable role in the final battle by having the Rebel fleet properly prepare themselves to receive the message from Scariff.
Veredict?
Bodhi gets a yes from me; what do you guys think?