Poe Dameron
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Poe Dameron |
| Occupation: | Resistance pilot |
| Relationships: | Leia Organa(Superior & Mentor) Finn(Friend & ally) Rey (Ally) Kylo Ren (Enemy) General Hux (Enemy) Zorii Bliss (Ally) BB-8 (Partner & Familial) Kes Dameron (Father) Shara Bey (Mother) |
| Fandom: | Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker |
| Other: | Portrayed by Oscar Isaac |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Poe Dameron is a major character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He is also a major character in Star Wars: Resistance and appears as a guide in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge VR rides. Of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy characters, Poe is featured in the most novels, comics, and television episodes as of 2021. He is played by Guatemalan-American actor Oscar Isaac.
Canon Background
Poe was born to Rebel fighters Kes Dameron and Shara Bey sometime around the Battle of Hoth, and as an infant he was sent to live with Bey's father on an unnamed, undisclosed planet for his safety. After the Battle of Endor, Poe was reunited with his parents and the Dameron family settled on Yavin 4 to begin a koyo melon orchard. Poe's childhood and tumultuous adolescence are fleshed out in the canon novels Poe Dameron: Free Fall, Before the Awakening, and Poe Dameron: Flight Log. Around age 16, Poe Dameron ran away from home and settled on Kijimi. After five years there, he returned home and then joined the New Republic Defense Force on Mimban, where he quickly became the Captain of Rapier Squadron. Poe, along with Kare Kun and Iolo Arana, defected to the Resistance when the First Order killed their squadron mate Muran on a routine scouting mission. Poe was recruited by Leia Organa personally and made her second-in-command quickly, as well as the leader of Black Squadron and her head spy. His exploits in the early Resistance era are shown in Marvel Star Wars: Poe Dameron and Star Wars Resistance.
He is charming, daring, a hell of a pilot and one of Leia Organa's most trusted operatives. In The Force Awakens, Poe is tasked with retrieving a piece of he map to Luke Skywalker's location, but he is captured and tortured by the First Order. Poe escapes with the help of a Stormtrooper, Finn, who wants to defect. Although they crash land on Jakku, Poe makes his way back to the Resistance and plays a key role in destroying Starkiller Base.
In The Last Jedi, Poe defies his superiors to orchestrate a mission aimed at destroying the First Orders ability to track the Resistance through lightspeed, but the mission fails. At the end of the film, Poe's desire to strike back against the First Order is tempered by his need to preserve life and build the Resistance.
Following the release of The Force Awakens, there was some media and fan speculation that Poe is gay (or at least that Isaac intentionally plays him that way) but there has been no official confirmation.[1]
Fandom
This article or section needs expansion. |
On AO3, the most popular Poe ship is Finn/Poe, followed by Finn/Poe/Rey.[2] The gen pairing Finn & Poe Dameron is also popular. Some TFA fans have noted that Finn/Poe is not as popular overall as it ought to be given that it is a slash ship of the main protagonists. See Star Wars: The Force Awakens#Racism In and Outside The Fandom.
Other pairings for Poe include Poe/Rey, Poe/Kylo Ren, and Poe/Luke Skywalker.
In 2017, potion-approaching999 wrote on tumblr:
Poe Dameron is the Captain Jack of Star Wars: I ship him with everyone.[3]
Common Storylines & Tropes
- PTSD - Poe is sometimes shown to be suffering symptoms of PTSD as a result of been tortured while in First Order custody.
- Widower - Poe is often written to have been a partner or spouse of Muran, whose death caused Poe to defect from the NRDF and join the Resistance.
- Pre-canon - Many works featuring a young Poe pair him with Kylo Ren| Ben Solo, although this is a rare pairing within the fandom. In some works, Poe was friends with Ben Solo before he was sent to Luke's Jedi Academy. They often met as a result of their Resistance parents, who canonically worked closely together and had a relationship of mutual respect. Poe's mother Shara Bey was Leia Organa's personal pilot after the Battle of Endor, and Han Solo gave up his compensation pay from the Rebel Alliance so that Poe's father Kes Dameron could retrieve baby Poe from his safehouse and settle with him on Yavin 4. In AU works pairing these two, Dark!Poe and Senator!Poe works appear.
- Modern AU
- Force Trees - Poe grew up on Yavin IV with one of two Force trees planted in his backyard. Fanworks frequently depict Poe as bonding with "his" tree and/or showing it to romantic partners.
- Spymaster or Secret Agent - Poe often goes undercover on missions for the Resistance.
- Leia's protege - Poe often has a close relationship with Leia, and looks to her as a mentor.
- Sexually Experienced - Poe is frequently shown as sexually experienced and uninhibited, especially in contrast with Rey and/or Finn.
Reaction to TRoS
Some fans were unhappy with Poe's portrayal in the third installment of this trilogy. Some disliked the inclusion of a heterosexual love interest, in what they felt was an attempt to make the character straight. Others were unhappy with the apparent retconning of Poe's backstory.[4][5]
So they took Poe Dameron… the first Hispanic Star Wars character… and made him a former drug dealer… even though his original backstory was that he had always been a pilot for the republic… and his parents were resistance fighters…What the fuck[6]
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
- being an account of poe dameron's epic sexual history by peradi. Otherwise known as: all the people Poe took to his bed, and the one who stayed.
- to the sky without wings - Luke/Poe, set before the The Force Awakens.
- Since Feeling Is First Series by aimmyarrowshigh & nichestars. An fic series featuring various one-shots of Poe losing his virginity to different characters in niche pairings in different canon-based 'verses. Pairings include Poe Dameron/Suralinda Javos, Poe Dameron/Karé Kun, Poe Dameron/Rey, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Greer Sonnel, and Poe Dameron/Leia Organa.
Fanvids
Fanart
- Poe Dameron more like Poe DAMNeron amirite?, fanart by reb-chan [1]
- poe’s transmission to the resistance haha, fanart by feredir
- I repeat it like a mantra: I'm OK, I'm OK, I'm OK, motion graphic by aimmyarrowshigh
![[1]](https://68.media.tumblr.com/b26fb3db0dda0c088c738bd35cb88949/tumblr_o0grr0lQjP1tgay78o1_1280.jpg){kind=link}
Archives & Fannish Links
- Poe Dameron Appreciation Week - A prompt-based fanweek challenge
- Works tagged Poe Dameron at Archive of Our Own
- Poe D. Star Wars filter at FanFiction.Net
- Poe Dameron at Wookieepedia
References
- ^ See Hypable, Is Star Wars setting up Poe Dameron as its first queer protagonist?, 24 December 2015
- ^ Poe Dameron works on AO3 sidebar as of 13 December 2016
- ^ Tumblr post by potion-approaching999 (January 22, 2017), Archived version
- ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (2019-12-20). "The problem with Poe Dameron's role in 'The Rise of Skywalker'". Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2022-05-31.
- ^ Lugjuraj, Susan. "Star Wars: Poe Dameron's new backstory felt unnecessary and out of place". Dork Side of the Force. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16.
- ^ Tumblr post by rose-2d2, posted December 27th 2019. As of January 2 2020, the post has 6,624 notes