Odan was a male Human who held the rank of colonel within the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Stationed on the icy planet Akuria II circa 0 ABY, Odan and his troops effectively employed a powerful vehicle called the War Sled, executing successful guerrilla attacks against the Imperial forces occupying the planet. Odan even cultivated a friendship with the indigenous Akurians, who had suffered greatly under Imperial rule. This alliance with the native population significantly strengthened the Rebel presence on Akuria II, and Odan's unit even warranted a visit from Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. However, their visit was tainted by defeat, as the Imperials and their commander managed to seize the War Sled and imprison the majority of Odan's soldiers. Upon Skywalker and Organa's arrival, they were met by Imperial forces masquerading as Rebels.
To expose the deception and prevent the two Rebels from divulging sensitive information to the Imperial imposters, Odan and the Akurians launched a rescue operation, but they only managed to retrieve the duo's two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. With the droids' assistance, Odan orchestrated another, more successful, rescue mission, ultimately freeing the two Rebels from their Imperial captors. Following the rescue, the group launched an assault on the Imperials' Polar Base, liberating the planet from the Empire's control. The experience Odan's group gained on the ice planet proved valuable during the Rebellion's relocation to Hoth. At least one of Odan's soldiers, Maren Kelsome, was transferred to Echo Base to serve the Alliance there.
In the early stages of the Galactic Civil War, before the Battle of Yavin, Odan commanded a diverse group of rebels striving to free the planet Akuria II from the Empire. Although Odan's group fought against the Empire, they were not officially affiliated with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and their resistance movement operated independently of the larger rebellion. The significant Imperial garrison on the planet forced the colonel and his troops to rely on hit-and-run tactics. Odan's operations were primarily conducted from a large vehicle known as the War Sled. This massive sled could swiftly traverse Akuria II's snowy landscapes, allowing Odan and his group to stay ahead of the Imperials. During their encounters with the Imperials, Odan and his group befriended the Akurians, the planet's local inhabitants, who were also known as the Snow Demons, and enlisted their help in fighting the Imperial forces. While the War Sled served as Odan's main base of operations, he also utilized abandoned ice worm tunnels and a hidden base occupied by the Snow Demons to evade the Imperials.
Following the Battle of Yavin, Imperials and their leader boarded the War Sled. Stormtroopers easily overpowered Odan and his group, capturing most of his men and the War Sled. Odan managed to escape, but the battle occurred at the worst possible time. The Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, delayed due to an unscheduled detour to the Keeper's World, arrived to check in with Odan and his group, hoping to persuade them to join the larger Rebellion. With the War Sled under their control, the Imperial leader devised a plan to deceive the Rebels into revealing the Rebellion's location by impersonating Colonel Odan. Odan anticipated the Imperials' deception and dispatched several natives, the Snow Demons, to rescue the Rebels from the Imperial leader.
Unfortunately for the rebel soldiers, the leader of the rescue party, Fafnir, was unable to successfully rescue the group. Because Fafnir could not speak Basic, Skywalker and Organa misunderstood Fafnir and his fellows' intentions and so fought them off. However, Fafnir and his men were able to grasp the two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, before escaping from the Imperials that arrived to stop the rescue. The rescue group returned to the Snow Structure, the temporary headquarters of the Rebels, but were scolded by Odan for their failure. Artoo and Threepio eventually convinced Odan to undertake another rescue attempt, but Odan informed them that the only craft they possessed that could catch up with the War Sled, a Snow Flyer, had been disabled when its T-3 unit had taken one blaster bolt too many.
Artoo was able to take the destroyed droid's place, but after catching up with the War Sled, they found it on a suicide run for the geyser sea. Fafnir and Odan boarded the War Sled and found Skywalker tied up in the cockpit. The impostor Odan had been discovered, and in an effort to force Organa to talk, had threatened her companion's life. Odan was able to untie Skywalker, and the group escaped the doomed sled on power skis. However, after abandoning the craft, they were caught in a terrible snowstorm and were in danger of being blown into the geyser sea. To prevent this, Skywalker devised a plan to melt a hole in the ice as a haven to wait out the storm. Using Artoo's heat induction unit, the Rebels had soon melted a large hole in the ground. Coincidentally situated over a large ice worm burrow, the bottom of the hole collapsed into the tunnel, plummeting the group deep into the planet's crust. The fall left their power skis undamaged, and since they were now out of the snowstorm, they decided to use the vehicles to travel under the surface to catch up with the Imperials and the captive Organa.
Traveling through the tunnels, the group eventually stopped when Artoo detected the heat signatures from the Imperials' ships directly above them. The Imperial leader and his troops had decided to wait out the storm before returning to their headquarters, and Skywalker devised a plan to ambush the group from below. However, before they could begin the plan, a large ice worm appeared, bearing down on the group. Skywalker, Fafnir, and Odan began to fire wildly at the beast, but their efforts were unable to stop the worm. The group rushed to their power skis, but Odan pointed out that there was no chance of outrunning the beast as it was so close. Luckily for the Rebels, the ice and exhaust kicked up by the skis was able to divert the worm's path, saving the group from destruction. The worm burrowed a new tunnel towards the surface as it avoided the group entirely.
The new pathway taken by the Ice Worm led the beast directly toward the Imperials on the surface. Erupting out of the ground, the worm destroyed the Imperials' Strato-Hopper and scattered their forces. Only the Imperial leader and Organa were able to escape the Ice Worm's wrath in a spare Snow Flyer. By the time the Rebels had climbed out of the Ice Worm's tunnel, the Imperial craft was well on its way back to the Imperials' Polar Base. Luckily for the Rebels, before perishing, the stormtroopers were able to kill the Ice Worm, removing both threats.
Surveying the wreckage, Odan and Skywalker witnessed the retreat of the Imperial Snow Flyer and jumped on their power skis to continue pursuit. However, the Imperial commander fired on the two Rebels, barely missing them, and forcing Odan to break off pursuit. Luckily for Odan, Skywalker was undeterred by the attack and was able to catch up to the Snow Flyer, rescuing Organa and taking the Imperial captive. The Rebels were out of danger for the moment, but the Imperial leader had already transmitted a message to the Polar Base to tell them that he was bringing in a captive. The Imperial informed the Rebels that if he did not arrive, every TIE fighter at the base would come to destroy them.
Forced to come up with a plan on the fly, Odan and the rest of the Rebels boarded the Snow Flyer with the Imperial commander as their hostage. Approaching the Imperial base, Skywalker forced the commander to transmit the codes to the base, opening the energy gates. The Rebels then parked the vehicle in the middle of the gate and allowed Artoo to reverse the combustion feed lines into the Flyer. The action caused the craft to explode, keeping the gate from closing. On that signal, Fafnir and all the Snow Demons rushed the base to take the attack to the Imperials.
Odan went to lead the Snow Demons alongside Fafnir, while Skywalker and Organa commandeered TIE fighters to take out the laser emplacements of the base. At the same time, the Imperial commander was able to escape and take command of the Imperials inside the base. Although the commander ordered his forces to shoot down the two rogue TIEs, Skywalker's flying skills allowed him to easily outmaneuver the blaster cannons. Skywalker's TIE eventually destroyed the cannon emplacement that contained the Imperial commander, killing him and turning the tide of the battle. With the Imperial base destroyed, Odan and his men officially joined with the Alliance, turning Akuria II over to the Rebellion.
Following the victory on Akuria II, Odan promoted a young Rebel named Maren Kelsome from private to corporal for adequate service in helping to remove the Imperial presence. When the call for troops trained in arctic survival to protect the new Alliance base on Hoth reached Odan, at least one of Odan's men, Kelsome, answered the call, transferring to the new Echo Base.
Colonel Odan possessed a volatile temperament, expecting the best performance from those under his command. He was often quick to anger, and was known to resign himself to despair in desperate situations. In fact, he even equated his success to simple blind luck at times. However, Odan demonstrated remarkable persistence, fighting in the most hostile conditions, constantly evading capture and death. He ended up being the only Human to escape the sneak attack on the Rebels' War Sled. Unlike many Humans during the reign of the Galactic Empire, he was not xenophobic, and he generally respected and valued the Snow Demons that fought under him. The Snow Demon Fafnir became Odan's right-hand being during the final overthrow of the Empire from Akuria II. Although prone to excitable outbursts, Odan was not a tough commander, nor a strict disciplinarian. When Maren Kelsome transferred to Echo Base, he found the mainstream Rebellion to be much different than the loosely assembled band that was loyal to Odan. The formal chain of command and protocol that characterized the highest Rebel leaders was left forgotten with Odan's rag-tag group.
Odan was a burly man, well equipped to deal with the harsh conditions of Akuria II. Sporting a large, thick beard, Odan gave the impression of a man prepared for cold weather. Odan was also equipped with an eye patch over his left eye, giving his face a more fearsome demeanor. Alongside a yellow bandana that he wore around his head, Odan fit the part of a formidable Rebel commander.
Colonel Odan was created by Archie Goodwin for use in the comic, The Kingdom of Ice, in which he played a supporting role behind the main characters of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. The story, published before the release of Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, was set on an ice planet, predating the ice world of Hoth that appeared in the film.