James "Jim" Holden

James "Jim" Holden is the captain of the Rocinante.

Background

A Montana native, Holden is the only child born to eight parents as part of a genetic collective, born in 2320 (age 30 by 2350). At a time when Earth's population is over 30 billion, there are big incentives for people not to have children and undeveloped land is a distant memory for most of Earth's population.

Holden is an only child of 8 parents whose DNA has been artificially combined to create an heir to his parents' fight to preserve one of the last undeveloped wildernesses in Montana. When he was 18, his closest parent, Elise, in a moment of guilt, told him he had been raised to fight a losing battle and that he should run away as far as possible.

Holden joined the UN Navy to escape. In the UNN, he served as a First Lieutenant on board the UNN Zheng Fei until an ideological conflict turned into a physical confrontation where Holden tried to punch a superior officer. The situation was that Holden refused to shoot upon an unarmed Belter freighter carrying innocent civilians, although the freighter was flagged as carrying criminal contraband by UN records. The officer dodged and Holden broke his hand on a bulkhead. Holden was then given a general court-martial, convicted and discharged from service as a result. After being discharged from the Navy, Holden took a contract with Pur'n'Kleen (owner of the Canterbury), looking to get as far from home, Earth, and the UNN as possible.

Aboard the Canterbury

On the Canterbury, Holden sought to have a much more comfortable life and was enjoying the relative lack of responsibility that comes with being the 2nd officer on a remote ice hauler. The captain, McDowell, wanted to promote him to being an executive officer, to which Holden refused. McDowell gave him a executive officer ring anyway to see if could convince him over time. After a ice run to Saturn's rings, the Centerbury picked up a distress call from a ship called the 'Scopuli.' Believing it to be pirate bait, McDowell opted to ignore and delete the distress call from the Scopuli in violation of shipping laws as it would result in a shipment delay, a potential attack from Belter pirates, and cost the crew an on-time bonus.

Holden took up overtime for one of the crew so they could get some sleep. Holden, bored and curious, recovered the deleted distress signal. After managing to decipher it and hearing a woman's voice calling for help (the voice of Julie Mao, although he didn't know at the time), Holden's gut feeling of wanting to help people kicked in and he logged the distress call with Pur'n'Kleen HQ.

The next day, everyone was upset over the fact they were now required to go to the Scopuli, although none knew who logged it. Holden, Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, Shed Garvey and Amos Burton all board the Centerbury's sole shuttlecraft, the Knight, and head to the Scopuli. They discover signs of a struggle, with large hole in the ship indicating the use of breaching pods. At the bridge, they discover a Martian Navy distress beacon. Upon finding it, a stealth ship, the Anubis, reveals itself and fires nuclear missiles at the Centerbury, killing all on-board. Holden, Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, Shed Garvey and Amos Burton are the only ones that survive.

Desperate Measures

With oxygen dwindling, Holden and the surviving crew of the Canterbury struggle to stay alive in their shuttle. They theorize the Canterbury’s destroyers were Martian, since the distress call transponder was of Martian Naval origins. At the same time, a ship has managed to find them and is heading toward them, only to realize it's the MCRN Donnager, the Martian Flagship. Holden broadcasts a public message that implicates Mars in the attack, thus ensuring he and his crew won’t be killed by Mars (for fear they’ll look more guilty).

The Martians detain the crew onboard the Donnager for interrogations Holden and his crew over Holden’s public accusation that Mars destroyed the Canterbury. Holden is interrogated and made to doubt Naomi’s loyalty, due to her expertise as a technician and her identification of MCRN technology. The ship’s captain wants Holden to rescind his statement and blame Naomi and her supposed Outer Planets Alliance ties for the explosion (that way, warhawks from both Earth and Mars don't use the event as an excuse for the two planets to do to war). At the same time, a fleet of aggressive stealth ships approach that aren't Martian.

The Donnager comes under attack by the fleet of stealth ships just like the one that destroyed the Canterbury. The crew realizes this indicates Mars’ innocence. While Shed is killed, Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos escape the destruction of the Donnager by commandeering a Martian Corvette-class Light Frigate, the MCRN Tachi. After their escape, the Donnager activates its self-destruction protocol, destroying both itself and the attacking stealth ships.

The Rocinante

After the attack, Holden feels an immense need to find and punish those responsible for the Canterbury's and Donnager's destruction. They receive an offer of help and refuge from Fred Johnson. After much debate, given Fred’s reputation, they decide to take him up on his offer, shortly before disguising the ship with the new name of the Rocinante. Holden and his crewmates arrive on Tycho Station, where Fred Johnson reveals that he was the one that chartered the Scopuli, the ship whose distress call started the chain of events that destroyed Holden’s ship, the Canterbury. He tells Holden and co. he needs their ship, the Rocinante, to go find the Scopuli’s sole survivor – someone code named Lionel Polanski. Holden agrees to lend the ship if he's part of the crew, as Lionel might be able to reveal who really destroyed the Canterbury. Fred agrees, and Holden, Naomi, Alex, and Amos decide to stick together until they get answers. Over time, Holden manages to naturally take up the role as captain.

On the way to retrieve Lionel Polanski, the person that can reveal who destroyed their ship, Holden and Co. elude detection by a Martian warship. They discover Avasarala’s spy, Kenzo stowed away aboard the Rocinante. Holden and Amos disagree over his treatment, with Amos wanting him and dead while Holden wants him as a strict prisoner.

Eros Incident

Holden and his crew find the Anubis at the coordinates provided by Lionel Polanski. They realize the Anubis was the stealth ship that blew up the Canterbury, and is filled with a dangerous substance (the Protomolecule) that must have killed the crew. The crew traces the Anubis’ shuttle to Eros, where they meet Josephus Miller and escape U.N. Underecretary Errinwright’s team of assassins at the Blue Falcon Motel, only to discover the agent they’re looking for – Julie Mao - is dead and infected with the same strange substance (the Protomolecule).

Holden and his crew compare notes with Miller. Both parties realize that the trails they’d been following point to the bioweapon that made its way from Phoebe. Eros goes on lockdown, and Miller deduces it’s the work of the same people responsible for the bioweapon. Believing this could reveal why the Canterbury was destroyed, he accompanies Miller on a search for answers while Naomi, Alex and Amos head to the Rocinante. Holden and Miller are hit with a fatal dose of radiation after discovering that the bunker's the population are being sent into are all infected with this bioweapon. The bioweapon--the Protomolecule--feds off radiation, and its being administered to the whole population. Together, they manage to elude detention by those security forces keeping Eros on lockdown and then the pair get back to the Rocinante. Miller, Holden and the Rocinante crew vow to find Dresden, the scientist who is responsible for locking down Eros to use its populace as an experiment for the bioweapon.

In the aftermath of the Eros station disaster, Holden is still recovering from an almost lethal dose of radiation, although thankfully he and Miller get an anti-rad implant in their shoulders. Holden and the crew of the Rocinante go on the run, this time with a sample of the protomolecule. With so much at stake, they decide to reconvene on Tycho with Fred Johnson. Naomi and Holden also embark on a romance.

Once on board Tycho, the crew of the Rocinante hatch a plan to get rid of the protomolecule. Holden and the crew of the Rocinante depart for Thoth, a black ops station hidden in the belt and the whereabouts of the foremost protomolecule scientists. Once on board Thoth station, Holden finds a group of protomolecule scientists. When his boarding team disrupts them, things go sour and only one of the scientists survives the shootout. Holden, Fred Johnson, and Miller corner Dresden, and seem poised to finally extract the truth from him regarding the protomolecule, before Miller shoots him dead.

after the battle on Thoth station, the crew of the Rocinante take some much-needed R&R. Naomi and Holden clash over Miller’s murder of Dresden; Naomi thinks that Miller was protecting the Belt with his actions and Holden believes Miller’s actions to be motivated by revenge. The two come to a truce, but their alliance and relationship may have been formed on a cracked foundation. Meanwhile, Holden works with Amos to extract vital protomolecule information from Cortazar, the only scientist to survive Thoth station.

Fred Johnson and Miller inform Holden and the Rocinante crew of their plan to get rid of the protomolecule threat on Eros once and for all: by using a commandeered Nauvoo as a battering ram, they plan to push Eros into the sun. Once they get close to Eros, they encounter a small rogue Belter ship, the Marasmus, has boarded Eros and been exposed to the Protomolecule. Holden has no choice but to fire upon the Marasmus crew lest they infect the rest of the system with the protomolecule. Later, the Rocinante crew launches the Nauvoo into Eros, but the asteroid defies all physics and dodges the starship.

The Eros Incident then takes place.