Lando Calrissian

Lando Calrissian (born c. 31 BBY; pronounced /kælˈrɪzjən/) was a former smuggler and friend of Han Solo. After losing the Millennium Falcon to Han in a game of sabacc, the same game later won him the job of Baron Administrator of the floating Cloud City and Tibanna gas mine on the gas giant planet of Bespin. He then meets his assistant Lobot.

Early Years to Galactic Civil War

Early in his career, Lando won the Millennium Falcon in a game of Sabacc. At the time, he was not an amazing pilot, so he hired a young smuggler named Han Solo to teach him. He also won a strange star-shaped droid named Vuffi Raa, who would be his friend and ally on many occasions.

During his years with Vuffi he was conned by the Sorcerer of Tund, Rokur Gepta, into hunting down the valuable Mindharp of Sharu in the Rafa system. When he arrived, he found it totally covered in sand and plastic pyramids, and inhabited by a dull and slow-witted society, the Toka. Lando eventually found the mindharp, but the human governor of Rafa IV activated it. Majestically, the pyramids crumbled and the Toka were revealed as the Sharu, an ancient civilization that, unknown to all, had drained their intelligence away for safety. Once the Sharu were resurrected, they drove out all the humans. Lando was forced to return to Rokur empty-handed.

Then his luck turned for the worse. While trying to save a space-borne species called the Oswaft, strange spherical droids came and took Vuffi Raa away, for he was actually a scout for this strange culture. Then, he entered the sabacc championships, and lost to Han Solo. Han made off with the Millennium Falcon.

Prior to the events of The Empire Strikes Back, Lando aids Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Solo's old flame Bria Tharen (then a Commander in the Rebel Alliance) in a raid against the Hutt controlled slave world of Ylesia. During the raid which promised generous rewards to Solo and his compatriots, the Red Hand Squadron commanded by Tharen double crossed Lando and the rest of Han's friends. In the confusion that ensued Han is branded an accomplice and a traitor. Back on Nar Shaddaa (then Solo's home) word soon spreads, Lando punches him out and that's the last they see of one another. Hence the line "You've got a lot of guts comin' here, after what you pulled."

Later, Lando won the mining facility of Cloud City from its current ruler, Baron Raynor. He became a responsible leader, keeping his operations out of the eyes of the Empire.

After betraying Solo when threatened by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, Calrissian joins the Rebel Alliance. In Return of the Jedi Calrissian helps rescue Solo from Jabba the Hutt. He is named a General for his efforts at The Battle of Tanaab, and then leads the Rebel starfighter fleet (in the Millennium Falcon previously owned by him) into the Death Star to destroy the massive space station. The Sullustan Nien Nunb copiloted the Falcon during the Battle of Endor.

New Republic Era

4 ABY - 24 ABY

Following the war, Calrissian built a mining complex on the Nkllon - the hot inner planet in orbit of the star Athega - called Nomad City. The city consisted of an old Dreadnaught carried across the landscape on the night side of the planet. The city always stayed on the night side - as close as the planet was to the sun most materials would not last very long in direct sunlight. Custom built shield ships with special cooling equipment were built so that ordinary ships could be protected from the Athega's intense heat on the trip inward. Calrissian's startup costs were high, but he made a large profit due to the materials he mined from the planet.

Nomad City was destroyed during Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic. When Emperor Palpatine reappeared in a fresh clone body and began his own campaign against the New Republic, Calrissian rejoined the Republic's military at his previous rank. After Palpatine was finally destroyed, Calrissian left the military. When Kessel was abandoned following Admiral Daala's attack on the planet, Calrissian took over the planet, converted the former prison into a mining complex, and mined spice from the planet for a number of years.

During the Corellian crisis, Calrissian went on a galaxy-wide hunt for a rich wife. The businessman, reasoning that marriage was partly a monetary relationship, met Tendra Risant from Sacorria, whom he married. With Tendra's family's money and Lando's entrepreneurial abilities, he was able to open a mining facility on the planet of Dubrillion on the Outer Rim. On the side, Lando unofficially ran an asteroid training facility for smuggler pilots, in order to improve their skills.

The Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY - 30 ABY)

Just before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion began, Lando asked Han and Chewie to help him with a business transaction on the planet of Sernpidal. It was during this trip that Chewie met his demise, saving Anakin from the moon the Yuuzhan Vong sent crashing onto the planet. Han, Anakin, and the thousands of people they saved headed to Dubrillion, where the first major clash between the biological Vong and the mechanical New Republic first met.

It was Lando's ground defenses, as well as his newly-created shielding technologies, that allowed Dubrillion to survive the initial assault. (The Solo family was also a major factor, especially the Anakin-initiated Force-meld between the three siblings.) When the Vong retreated, and the Skywalkers arrived, followed by a Star Destroyer and its task force, a desperate attack was launched. Lando served as gunner for Han on the Falcon, but the heroes of the war against the Empire were not enough, and the Rejuvenator and most of her complement of ships were destroyed.

Following their retreat, Luke, Anakin, and the newly-rescued Danni Quee formulated a plan to attack the Vong again. Using Lando's energy-resistant shieldships, created to stop Nkllon's sun from destroying the visiting ships, they froze the battle-coordinating yammosk the Vong had used to win just a short time ago. This resulted in a rout of the enemy forces.

Later in the war, Lando helped Han and Leia organize an escape route for Jedi, so they could hit, hurt, and escape the Vong quickly, as well as help refugees and others retreating from the implacable enemy. He posed as a citizen of the besieged world Talfaglia in order to deliver 17 Jedi "hostages" to the Yuzzhan Vong; this was actually the strike team that would attempt to destroy the voyxn cloning facilities on the worldship orbiting Myrkr. He also created Yuuzhan Vong Hunter Droids (in which Anakin created the prototype for the first YVH), deadly, strong, powerful Vong tracker and killer robots. Two of these droids proved crucial in the assault on Myrkr to destroy the voxyn queen, and dozens more were used in assaults on Vong strongholds throughout the war.

When the time came to defend Coruscant, Lando's efforts were crucial in delaying the Vong victory. Instead of using mines to attack the Vong piecemeal, Lando let them into the minefield, then turned them on the approaching enemy. The result was over a thousand badly-damaged or destroyed ships, and hundreds more minimally damaged. Lando also rescued the kidnaped Ben Skywalker from the clutches of traitor and former Senator Viqi Shesh.

On Borleias, Lando led the ground troops to a quick victory, then volunteered to lead a small task force to destroy Vong ambushes of convoys and find out how they tracked said convoys. These efforts were wholly successful, with large Vong capital ships being destroyed with minimal effort, time, fuel, and munitions.

Finally, when the newly located Senate on Mon Calamari set out to vote for a new Chief of State, Lando and Talon Karrde provided "incentives" such as silence, money, and blackmail to convince dishonest, selfish, and otherwise criminally-minded senators to vote for Jedi-supporting Cal Omas. (The aforementioned senators had done everything from accepting refugee donations and using them for themselves to appropriating whole fleets on Coruscant and escaping, leaving huge gaps in the Republic's defenses, as well as everything in between.) When Omas was elected, Calrissian, Karrde, and Star Destroyer owner Booster Terrik led the Smuggler's Alliance, with Han Solo commanding, to victory over a massive Yuuzhan Vong force in the rout at Ebaq 9.

Lando continued to serve with the Smuggler's Alliance, eventually retiring to private life after proving crucial in the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar and creating a new Holonet to replace the one the Vong destroyed.

Notes

Lando Calrissian was the only character in the original Star Wars trilogy to be visibly played by a black actor, Billy Dee Williams (though James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, and a Rebel pilot in Return of the Jedi can briefly be seen to be black before being shot down by Imperials). George Lucas was heavily criticised for this perceived omission (and indeed his policy of using ethnic dialects to identify classes of characters, such as giving some - though not all - senior Imperial officers and the droid C-3PO British accents).

It is surmised that one of the character functions of Calrissian is to act as a Han Solo surrogate. Harrison Ford was not contracted to a third film by the end of principal photography of The Empire Strikes Back (Solo's freezing in carbonite at the end of Empire allowing a removal of that character should Ford not be available.) Calrissian/Williams would then have provided the necessary wry anti-heroic balance to Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.

Calrissian (or at least the action figure thereof) is namechecked with other Star Wars characters in Steven Spielberg's film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Williams originally auditioned for the role of Han Solo in the first Star Wars film.

Williams has been quoted as saying that Lando was greatly misunderstood as a character. After the second film was released, kids who recognized Williams when he went to pick up his daughter after school would accuse him of being evil for betraying Han Solo. However, he also noted that all was forgiven with the fans with the release of Jedi in which Lando redeemed himself by risking his life to rescue Han.

Some fans, questioning the most likely immoral life Solo led as a smuggler and mercenary, have concluded Calrissian was actually the more honorable of the two characters, arguing he only betrayed Solo in order to save the citizens of Cloud City in danger of being destroyed by the Empire. It is also argued that in betraying Solo, Calrissian was unaware of the full extent of Darth Vader's plans; indeed, he was given to understand that Solo and company were to be simply detained until Skywalker's arrival on Bespin, at which point they would be released.

During Return of the Jedi, after being told that he would lead the Second Death Star battle, Lando mentions that the alliance may have heard of some brave maneuvers he did during the Clone Wars. This is the second time the Clone Wars are mentioned (chronologically) and both times are small parts of much larger conversations, and it can be then concluded that not only clones and droids were the soldiers during the Clone Wars, and that the Republic Army also used actual people as well as clones.

Trivia

Lando Calrissian is the final person Frank Zappa announces is 'not the illigitimate son of Michael Jackson' in the song 'Why Don't You Like Me?' on the 1988 album 'Broadway the Hard Way'.

Lando Calrissian is the only character to get both a African American and a Light Side card in the Star Wars TCG.

On the animated series Drawn Together, the character Foxxy Love has a crush on Lando Calrissian.

The Star Wars comic book series released by Marvel Comics featured Lando as a prominent character following The Empire Strikes Back. He pilots the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca, helps search for the kidnapped Han Solo, and is even given an archenemy, a crime lord named Drebble. Lando is further established as a con man, swashbuckler, and gambler, and even uses a disguised alter ego who resembles the Japanese cartoon character named Captain Harlock. In this disguise, Lando would go by the alias "Drebble" so that any havoc he caused while using the identity would work its way back to his old enemy and not himself. After Return of the Jedi, Lando gets his own ship, the Cobra .

External links

• Star Wars databank
• Lando Calrissian on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki