Enfys Nest, a human female, distinguished herself as a resistance fighter. She commanded the Cloud-Riders, a group comprising both pirates and rebels, who were in opposition to the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. Because of her proficiency as a pirate, Nest became known as a notorious marauder, even within Crimson Dawn, which she and her Cloud-Riders actively combatted as retribution for the syndicate's wrongdoings. Nest, identified by her battle helmet inherited from her mother, encountered Tobias Beckett, a Crimson Dawn operative, along with his gang.
In the year 10 BBY, Nest and the Cloud-Riders clashed with Beckett and his team, including Han Solo, in a competition to acquire valuable hyperspace fuel known as coaxium. Following their unsuccessful attempt to seize a shipment on Vandor, Nest and her second-in-command, Weazel, pursued Beckett's crew after they stole coaxium from Kessel. Nest and the Cloud-Riders located Beckett's group on Savareen, where she disclosed that their organization was actually allied in the fight against Crimson Dawn. Solo chose to support Nest, and they collaborated to take the coaxium from Crimson Dawn, which dealt a significant setback to the syndicate. Nest intended to use the coaxium to help establish a rebellion, so she entrusted it to Saw Gerrera of the Partisans and his young charge, Jyn Erso.
Born in 27 BBY during the final years of the Galactic Republic, Enfys Nest came from a line of women dedicated to protecting the galaxy. She was the daughter of a woman who led the Cloud-Riders, a pirate group seeking vengeance against the Galactic Empire and the criminal organizations that plagued the galaxy. She hailed from a world devastated by the criminal Five Crime Syndicates, and she harbored a particular grudge against Crimson Dawn—regarded as the most dangerous and influential of the five—for the harm they inflicted on her homeworld, her family, and the innocent across the galaxy.
In 11 BBY, Nest's mother died, leaving the 16-year-old Nest to assume her mother's distinctive mask and armor, stepping into the role of leader of the Cloud-Riders to continue their fight against the threats to galactic safety. Concealing her identity and age with a mask and vocoder chest box, she earned a reputation as a formidable and feared pirate, no longer underestimated because of her youth.
Approximately one year after becoming the leader of the Cloud-Riders, in 11 BBY, Nest led a group of six marauders in a raid on an Imperial spice cache located on Gargon. The raiding party used their swoop bikes to approach the cache and stole the medicinally processed spice, which was stored in triage kits and emergency packs ready for immediate use. Despite being pursued by Imperial forces that nearly caught them, Nest and the Cloud-Riders successfully escaped with their prize.
During the subsequent investigation by the Imperial Security Bureau, Agent Andressa Divo noted that the raiding party only took the medicinally processed spice, leaving behind the raw spice that could be refined into a highly profitable narcotic. While others attributed this to a hasty escape due to the Imperial pursuit, Divo believed it was a deliberate choice by Nest, reflecting the ideological reasons behind her group's actions. She suspected Nest was not simply seeking profit but was building an insurrectionist movement against the Empire and preparing an army for war.
Needing some blank identichips, Nest devised a plan to deceive her rival Tobias Beckett into acquiring them for her. Nest sent a communication to Beckett and his crew, impersonating Dryden Vos of Crimson Dawn. Believing that Vos wanted them to steal blank identichips, Beckett and his crew stole a package of identichips from Dvorad on Hovun IV.
Beckett's gang brought their stolen goods to the space station Munt Ontdal on the Rampart. However, upon arrival, they discovered that it was a trap when Nest and her Cloud-Riders confronted them, managing to capture them. Beckett attempted to intimidate them by threatening to have Dryden Vos show up, but Val had figured out that Nest was the one who had sent them on their mission. Nest threatened Beckett with a blaster, demanding to know where the identichips were hidden. To prevent Nest from obtaining the cargo, Beckett destroyed the Rampart, escaping with his crew during the resulting explosion.
Having been a constant source of trouble for Tobias Beckett and Crimson Dawn, Val raised the possibility of Nest and the Cloud-Riders interfering with Beckett's heist on Vandor. However, her warning was ignored; Beckett was confident that only he and his inside contacts knew about the cargo being transported by a 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport in the Vandor mountains. Val's concerns were soon validated when Nest and her Cloud-Riders arrived, attempting to disrupt Beckett's gang's efforts to steal a large amount of coaxium from the conveyex, intending to take the fuel for themselves.
As Beckett and his gang detached the train car carrying the hyperfuel, Nest and the Cloud-Riders, flying swoops, attached tow cables to the car and tried to seize the fuel from Beckett's stolen Y-45 armored transport hauler, piloted by Rio Durant and Han Solo. During the ensuing conflict, the coaxium cargo fell into a mountain ravine, causing a massive explosion.
Shortly before Beckett and his team departed from Vandor, Nest had members of the Cloud Riders place a homing beacon on the ship. As the Falcon took off, Weazel informed Nest that the beacon had been successfully attached.
Beckett and his gang regrouped and succeeded in stealing a second load of coaxium, this time in its unrefined state, from the mines of Kessel. This unrefined hyperfuel was extremely unstable and needed to be processed quickly at the Bis Refinery on the planet Savareen. After the fuel was processed, Beckett and his crew intended to deliver it to Dryden Vos, but they were once again ambushed by Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders, who had been tracking them since Vandor. Han Solo, a member of Beckett's crew, tried to bluff by claiming that the Millennium Falcon was ready to take out the Cloud-Riders, only for its owner, Lando Calrissian, to abandon them.
Following a confrontation, Nest revealed that the Cloud-Riders were not "marauders" as Beckett had assumed, but rather freedom fighters working to prevent crime syndicates and the Empire from gaining more power. Solo sympathized with her cause and came up with a plan to betray Crimson Dawn for the coaxium. The Cloud-Riders would temporarily go into hiding, and villagers would impersonate them to draw away Crimson Dawn's Hylobon Enforcers, leaving Vos vulnerable and easier to kill.
Solo's plan was successful, and the Hylobon Enforcers disarmed the "Cloud-Riders," securing the coaxium vault. Before they could return the coaxium to Vos, Nest and the real Cloud-Riders appeared in the encampment, ambushing and swiftly defeating all the guards. After Vos and Beckett were killed, Solo handed the coaxium over to Nest, who stated that such a significant amount of the valuable material would help fund a rebellion against the Empire. She offered Han a vial of coaxium and a chance to join her movement, which he declined, leaving Savareen.
Supported by her Cloud-Riders, Nest delivered the coaxium acquired on Savareen to Saw Gerrera, the leader of the Partisans. Insisting that Gerrera come alone, Nest became wary when she heard another person inside his shuttle, and the Cloud-Riders prepared their weapons for a potential fight. Gerrera diffused the situation by revealing that the companion was his eleven-year-old ward, Jyn Erso. Jyn had wanted to accompany him, curious to observe the exchange; Gerrera, believing she needed to learn to survive the dangers of the Empire, allowed it.
Initially surprised by her presence, Nest saw much of her younger self in Jyn and sensed that she had lost her innocence at a young age, much like she had. Choosing to abandon her custom of concealing her identity and age, even from potential allies, she removed her mask to reveal that she was also very young. Nest asked Jyn if she thought her age protected her. When the girl said no, she warned Jyn that people would still underestimate her and advised her to make them regret it. Turning their attention back to the purpose of the meeting, Gerrera and Nest boarded his shuttle to negotiate the exchange of coaxium, leaving the Cloud-Riders behind to secure the ship. As Nest entered, Jyn quietly told her that Gerrera would underestimate her, impressing the older woman with how quickly she learned.
Enfys Nest exhibited passionate and dedicated leadership. She was a highly skilled fighter, fiercely using melee weapons like her electroripper staff and relying on her martial arts skills. She also demonstrated skill in operating a swoop bike. Over time, she established a strong reputation for herself and the Cloud-Riders. She was a mysterious figure, with limited information available about her past. In public, Nest wore her battle helmet to hide her identity and disguised her voice using a vocoder. Her motives were often shrouded in mystery as well.
Despite Nest's reputation as a relentless and ruthless pirate, she possessed compassion, selflessness, loyalty, and bravery. She had ambitious goals, thwarting the Empire and Crimson Dawn on numerous occasions, all while caring for her people. As the daughter of a pirate leader, Nest matured quickly and successfully shouldered the responsibilities of leadership at just sixteen years old after her mother's death. She continued her mother's legacy of defending the innocent people of the galaxy whenever possible.
Enfys Nest wore gauntlets made of beskar armor plates that could be expanded using a built-in servo to serve as shields. She wore a battle helmet, previously worn by her mother, crafted from items stolen or scavenged by its owners and inscribed with a poetic extract: "Until we reach the last edge, the last opening, the last star, and can go no higher." Her armor and helmet contained clues about her identity. Nest rode a Skyblade-330 model swoop bike. Enfys also used repulsorlift boosters attached to her legs to enhance her jumping ability. One of her most important weapons was her electroripper staff, which generated a current of energy through a coil to shred metal. Nest also had a carrier at her disposal called the Aerie, capable of launching their swoop bikes from altitudes of 400 kilometers.
Enfys Nest is a character created for the 2018 Star Wars Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story, and is portrayed by Erin Kellyman. The character's inspiration came from Maisie Williams' performance as Arya Stark in the Game of Thrones TV series. John Powell, the composer for Solo, composed a distinct musical theme specifically for Enfys Nest, one of six new themes created for the film.
Erin was relatively unknown prior to being cast in Solo, but casting director Nina Gold discovered her and offered her the role of Nest. Kellyman auditioned three times to secure the part. Despite feeling that she had made mistakes during the first audition, she received a callback. In her third audition, she met Alden Ehrenreich, who portrayed Han Solo, and they performed a screen test together. Kellyman was also tested on her fighting abilities and underwent stunt tests just before her audition with Ehrenreich, although some of the stunts in the film were performed by Kellyman's stunt double, Casey Michaels.
Regarding her approach to the character, Kellyman received information from the film's directors about Enfys's background, including her mother, to help her understand how Nest developed into the person she became.
The character's name was officially revealed on a Topps trading card exclusive to Denny's. A French trading card from LECLERC identified Nest's gender as female before the film was released. However, Star Wars Insider 180 referred to the character as male, using "he" several times. Nest's gender remained a mystery until the film's release, where she was revealed to be female.
Nest's height is listed as 1.87 meters in her Databank entry, while Solo: A Star Wars Story Official Sticker Collection lists her height as 1.88 meters, and Solo: A Star Wars Story The Official Guide measures her at 1.67 meters. Given that Nest is visibly shorter than Tobias Beckett, whose height is stated as 1.78 meters, this article assumes that Nest's height is 1.67 meters.