Han Solo

For the trilobite, see Han solo.

Template:SW Character Han Solo is a character in the Star Wars universe. He was played by Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Solo is introduced in A New Hope as a roguish space smuggler who becomes involved in the Rebel Alliance against the evil Galactic Empire. Over the course of this film and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Solo becomes a chief figure in the Alliance. Star Wars creator George Lucas describes him as "a loner who realizes the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good."

Conception and development

Harrison Ford remembers asking George Lucas to have Han Solo die in Empire Strikes Back or The Return of the Jedi; Ford said that he believed that letting Han Solo die would strengthen the story. Writer Lawrence Kasdan concurred, saying it should happen near the beginning of Return of the Jedi in order to instill doubt as to whether the others would survive, but Lucas was adamantly against it and rejected the concept.

Appearances

little leperchons play a lot the Millennium Falcon along with his Wookiee copilot Chewbacca. He is seen as representing the rogue and “a very practical guy, at least how he thought of himself, a materialist. But he was a compassionate human being at the same time and didn’t know it. The adventure evoked a quality of his character that he didn’t know he possessed.”

Star Wars films

The events in this section take place in the original Star Wars film trilogy and the Star Wars Holiday Special.

A New Hope

At the beginning of A New Hope, Solo and Chewbacca are notorious smugglers. However, during one Kessel Run, the Imperial Navy intercepts and boards their ship, forcing Solo to jettison his cargo to avoid arrest. This results in a large and mounting debt to his former employer, Jabba the Hutt, who places a bounty on Solo's capture. Desperate to pay off his debt to Jabba, Solo accepts a charter to transport Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2 to the planet Alderaan, but when they arrive, they find that Alderaan has been destroyed by the Death Star. The Falcon is captured and brought aboard the massive space station, where Princess Leia Organa is being held. Enticed by the likelihood of a substantial reward, Solo and Chewbacca help Luke rescue the Princess from Imperial custody and reunite her with the Rebel Alliance, and after receiving his payment he parts ways with the rebels. However, near the end of the film, he has a change of heart, and returns at a critical moment in the film's climactic battle scene, destroying two TIE fighters and sending Darth Vader's fighter careening into space, and thus allowing Luke to fire the shot which destroys the Death Star. As a result, Solo is handsomely rewarded and given, along with Luke, the Alderaanian Medal of Freedom.

The Star Wars Holiday Special

It is Life Day (a holiday analogous to Christmas). Chewbacca is on his way home to see his family and to celebrate the holiday, accompanied by his friend, Han Solo. Not long after departing Tatooine in the Millennium Falcon, the duo find themselves chased by two Star Destroyers. After a short argument whether they should abort the mission, Han decides to go forward and sends the Falcon into hyperspace. They finally arrive at Chewie's home and Chewie greets his family, but only after Han takes care of an Imperial stormtrooper. Han participates in the ceremony with the Wookiees.

The Empire Strikes Back

In The Empire Strikes Back, set three years later, Han again attempts to leave the Rebel Alliance, as he has still not paid Jabba and is therefore still being relentlessly pursued by the Hutt's minions. However, he is once again dragged back into action when he saves Luke from freezing to death and Princess Leia from an Imperial invasion of the rebel base on Hoth. When trying to lose Darth Vader's ship, they fly into an asteroid field and enter what they believe to be a cave. Despite the fact that Han and Leia are always bickering, and that Leia kissed Luke earlier, Han and Leia grow attracted to each other, and finally share a kiss in the "cave", which is actually a giant worm. After escaping the worm, Han takes Leia to hide on the planet Bespin, but his old friend Lando Calrissian betrays him and turns them over to Vader, who was informed of their location by the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett. After being tortured by Vader, Han's body is frozen in carbonite and given to Fett as a reward, who then delivers the incapacitated Han to Jabba. Moments before Han is frozen, Leia confesses her love for Han who replies with "I know."

Return of the Jedi

In Return of the Jedi, Luke, now a nearly full-fledged Jedi, rescues Han from Jabba (with help from Leia, Chewbacca, and a penitent Lando). Upon rejoining the rebels, Han, now promoted to general, accepts their offer to lead the commando raid on an Imperial shield generator facility on the forest moon of Endor. By destroying the shield generator, they allow rebel fighters to enter the Death Star's superstructure and destroy it in the ensuing battle, permanently crippling the Empire.

Star Wars literature

In the years since the release of Return of the Jedi, several novels in the Star Wars Expanded Universe have detailed Han Solo's life before and after joining the Rebellion.

The Han Solo Trilogy

This book trilogy by Ann C. Crispin is one of the very few dedicated and elaborate Expanded Universe accounts of Han Solo's life before the events of A New Hope.

Book One- The Paradise Snare

In his youth, Han is a beggar in the streets of Corellia. He is discovered by Garris Shrike, captain of the Trader's Luck. Seduced by promises of a better life, Han follows the man to his space ship, a relic of the Clone Wars. Unbeknownst to the young Corellian, the Trader's Luck is little more than a slave ship, where the rule is "Everyone works." After spending most of his childhood pickpocketing and scamming at the whim of the abusive Shrike, Han comes under the care of Dewlanna, a widowed Wookiee "indebted" to the ruthless captain. He then enters a swoop race with a bounty hunter named Dengar, who is severely injured during the course of the race. Dengar has sought revenge on Han ever since. At the age of 19, Solo escapes the Luck on the droid-controlled vessel Ylesian Dream in pursuit of his piloting career. In the process, an enraged Shrike kills Dewlanna, Han's foster mother.

In response to an ad for good pilots, Solo braves the planet Ylesia's storm-ridden atmosphere. There he discovers a religious conspiracy, led by Ylesia's High Priest, Teroenza, to attract slaves to process illegal glitterstim spice. With the help of his friends Muuurgh the Togorian (a feline humanoid) and Bria Tharen (his first love, whom he discovers as a mindless drone in the factories and deprogrammed), Solo steals a significant portion of Teroenza's private art collection. The trio also destroy the spice factory, adding insult to injury by hijacking the T'landa Tils private yacht. On Coruscant, Bria disappears from Solo's life, engendering in him a "Love 'em and leave 'em" philosophy towards women. He then enlists in the Imperial Navy and is nearly killed by Garris Shrike on the night of his induction ceremony. Shrike intends to collect on the bounty placed on Solo for his Ylesian sabotage. Hungry to avenge Dewlanna's death, Solo turns the tables on the captain and nearly kills him. Amid their savage battle, a second bounty hunter guns Shrike down in order to claim Solo for himself, only to be killed himself by a desperate Han. He spends about five years in the Imperial Starfleet, first at the academy on Carida, and then on active service.

Book Two- The Hutt Gambit

Between The Paradise Snare and The Hutt Gambit, he wins the Corellian Bloodstripes, represented by the dotted-red line running down the sides of his pants. A scheduled rendezvous with a slaving vessel reveals that an adult Wookiee has overwhelmed the crew and released the Wookiee children that were to be sold. Leading a TIE fighter squadron, Han boards the damaged ship and meets Chewbacca for the first time, barely alive in the pilot's seat. Commander Nyklas orders the young lieutenant to skin the Wookiee, but he refuses to do so. He later loses his lieutenant's commission and is dishonorably discharged. His Bloodstripes are the only decoration not literally ripped off his uniform when he's cashiered out of Imperial service, as they aren't an Imperial award. Chewbacca swears a life-debt to his rescuer, and from then on the two are inseparable.

Eventually making his way to the Y'Toub system- home world of the Hutts- Han and Chewbacca begin to establish themselves as prominent smugglers and a respected piloting team among others on Nar Shaddaa. After a few months, and several chances to fly the infamously dangerous and illegal spice route call the Kessel Run, Han begins to work for Jiliac the Hutt (and her second-in-command nephew, Jabba), though he flatly refuses to have anything to do with their slave trade. Boba Fett is hired by High Priest Teroenza of Ylesia to bring Han in, who eventually catches up with him. However, a stranger — Lando Calrissian — gets the drop on Fett, and they escape. After many months, Han and Chewie save enough credits to lease a used SoroSuub Starmie-class starship from Lando, which Han renames the Bria.

In a public broadcast, the local Moff declares that Emperor Palpatine intends to crack down on crime in the Outer Rim, including a blockade of Nal Hutta, until the Hutts submit to Imperial rule. The order also dictates that Nar Shaddaa will be rendered inhospitable to eliminate the threat of the smugglers and other criminals who operate from there. The Hutts recruit Han to be a courier in order to bribe the Moff's fleet Admiral to intentionally lose the fight which will start off the blockade, and they purchase his battle plans. Han and Chewbacca then become part of a core group of smugglers who intend to defeat the incoming Imperial fleet, enlisting the help of anyone on the Smuggler's Moon who has a ship; including several Drell pirates hired as mercenaries by the Hutts to defend Nal Hutta. A week later, the Imperial task force arrives in orbit, but the smuggler group has organized a defense (with the use of some holographic trickery) and they are able to inflict significant amounts of damage before the fleet withdraws. When Han returns to reward the fleet Admiral, he is forced to hide in a closet while the Admiral is killed by an unnamed assailant (implied to be Darth Vader). During its escape, the Bria is destroyed by TIE fighters; Han and Chewie survive by forcing their way into the only escape pod.

Book Three- Rebel Dawn

Han wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in an intense sabacc tournament on Bespin, whereupon he embarks on his smuggling career. Han's bravery during the Battle of Nar Shaddaa earns him the attention of his old flame Bria Tharen, now an agent of the Rebel Alliance. He is reluctant in aiding his former love, who is planning an all-out attack against the slaving colonies on Ylesia. Promised appropriate compensation, Han, Lando, and Chewbacca take on the mission. In the aftermath of the battle, Tharen's troopers turn their blasters on Lando and the rest of Han's friends, confiscating all valuables in the name of the Rebel Alliance. Angered, Han threatens to kill Bria if he ever sees her again. Defaced and branded a traitor back on Nar Shaddaa, Lando refuses to believe Han was not involved in the swindle, and punches his former friend in the jaw.

Desperate for money, Han and Chewie take a spice smuggling run from Jabba (who has inherited his aunt's criminal empire) through the Kessel Run. However, they are met mid-Run by an Imperial patrol, and are forced to abandon their cargo in deep space while the Falcon is searched and escorted to a nearby world. When they come back to look for the cargo, however, they discover it has disappeared. Han tries to explain what happened, but Jabba — in a drug-induced haze — turns his back on Han and demands compensation for the lost spice.

The book — and thus the Han Solo Trilogy — ends as Han sits down to a table where "an old man and a farm boy" (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker) are waiting, which is the exact same moment of his first official appearance in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

A period of about nine months in Han's life is broken up into short interludes across several chapters in Rebel Dawn. These short updates vaguely mention several other brief romantic relationships with other women, how he and Chewie continue to upgrade the Falcon, and a few of the minor adventures closer to the core of the galaxy, which are described more fully in Brian Daley's 1979 trilogy The Han Solo Adventures. This break from his regular smuggling life on Nar Shaddaa is to keep sparse so that Boba Fett won't be able to track him down again.

Just before meeting Kenobi and Skywalker on Tatooine, Han meets with Dash Rendar, a character featured prominently in the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project by Lucasfilm. The powerful galaxy-wide crime organization Black Sun also makes several appearances in Rebel Dawn, though it remains in the background.

After Return of the Jedi

In the novels that take place after Return of the Jedi, Han plays a central role in the turbulent years following the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the Empire. In the novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, he resigns his commission in order to pursue Leia, whom he eventually marries on Coruscant after helping to kill Zsinj, an Imperial warlord.

In the Thrawn trilogy, he plays a key role getting Talon Karrde and other smugglers to support the New Republic through intelligence and mercenary work. He is frequently separated from Leia during this time, going on contact missions with friends such as Lando, Wedge Antilles and Lieutenant Page.

Han and Leia have three children together, twins Jaina and Jacen and their younger brother Anakin, who is named after Luke and Leia's father (and the former Darth Vader), Anakin Skywalker. Throughout the Young Jedi Knights series, Imperial agents frequently attempt to kidnap these children, with the intent of raising them as Dark Jedi.

In the Dark Empire series, Solo and Leia's son, Anakin, becomes the target of Palpatine's clone, who attempted to inhabit the infant's body. Anakin is spared this fate in the final entry, Empire's End; just as Palpatine is about to possess the child, Han shoots him in the back, destroying the Sith Lord's body. Palpatine's spirit makes one final lunge at young Anakin, but his former ally Empatojayos Brand turns against him and blocks his way, destroying him.

In the novel Jedi Search, Han and Chewbacca go on a diplomatic mission to Kessel. While there, they are shot down and imprisoned by the administrator Moruth Doole. While in prison, Han befriends a young Force-sensitive man named Kyp Durron. Chewbacca, Han, and Kyp escape in an Imperial Shuttle and go into the Maw, where they are captured by Admiral Daala. Han is taken to Qwi Xux, who helped design the Death Star, and who has just designed an Imperial superweapon, the Sun Crusher. Han convinces Xux that the Empire was evil, and the two free Chewbacca and Kyp. The group then steals the Sun Crusher, destroying a Star Destroyer in the process, and return it to the New Republic.

Durron begins his Jedi training in Dark Apprentice. Under the influence of the spirit of ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun, however, he falls to the dark side of the Force. Han takes off to hunt down Kyp, who has stolen the Sun Crusher from its storage location in the heart of the gas planet Yavin, and takes the vessel on an anti-Imperial rampage. After Kun's spirit is destroyed, Kyp surrenders to Han, who stands at Durron's side when he goes before the New Republic council, and takes him back to Luke Skywalker. Luke forgives him and continues his training, eventually turning him into one of the first Masters of the new Jedi Order.

In The Corellian Trilogy, Han returns to Corellia for the first time in many years. His cousin, Thrackan Sal-Solo, is inciting a revolution to overthrow the existing government, and the entire system is on the edge of civil war. Han and his friends help defuse the situation before it degenerates into a full-scale war.

Chewbacca dies saving Anakin's life in Vector Prime, the first in the New Jedi Order series of books. Han takes his companion's death hard, sinking into alcoholism and depression. He takes his anger and grief out on his family, alienating them and returning to his loner lifestyle. In Star by Star, Anakin dies as well, compounding Han's despair. By the end of the series, however, he finally accepts the deaths of Anakin and Chewbacca and moves on, and repairs his relationship with his family.

In the Legacy of the Force series, Han and Leia join the Five Worlds, a rebellion against the Galactic Alliance. They soon leave the Five Worlds, however, when a bounty is placed on the entire Solo family by Thracken Sal-Solo. Later he, Boba Fett, and Mirta Gev all kill him by shooting him in the head.

Han's troubles in the series do not end with his cousin's death, however. During the events of Tempest, Han and Leia learn that Jacen believes them to be traitors to the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances (the successor to the New Republic, which is in turn was successor to the Rebel Alliance), and he has ordered them detained or killed; he attacks them at Hapes, killing their bodyguards, while Han and Leia barely escape. By this time, Jacen has been corrupted by Lumiya, Dark Lady of the Sith, and turned to the dark side of the Force; as the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, he throws the galaxy into a chaotic, bloody civil war, and (in Sacrifice) murders Luke's wife, Mara Jade Skywalker. In Inferno, following Jacen's attempted burning of Kashyyyk's wroshyr forests to punish the Wookiees, Han and Leia reluctantly approve a (failed) military assassination attempt on Jacen. In Fury, Han officially disowns Jacen, but is still heartbroken over each new outrage his son commits. At the end of the series, the Solos adopt Jacen's daughter, Allana, after Jacen's death.

While the Expanded Universe posits a life of continuing hardship and struggle for the character post-Return of the Jedi, creator George Lucas holds a different view. In a 2005 interview with MTV News, Lucas states: "Han and Leia probably did get married," Lucas conceded. "They settled down. She became a senator, and they got a nice little house with a white picket fence. Han Solo is out there cooking burgers on the grill. Is that a movie? I don't think so."

In comics

Han Solo
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Star Wars Marvel #2 (August 1977)
Created by	George Lucas
In-story information
Alter ego	Han Solo
Species	Human (from Corellia)
Team affiliations	Rebel Alliance
Notable aliases	Han Solo, the Mighty Bounty Hunter, the Bad Guy
Abilities	Good to use blaster rifles or pistols

Han Solo is one of the principal characters in Marvel Comics' Star Wars series by Roy Thomas. Due in part to the lack of Star Wars stories around at the time, numerous issues were fairly routine space fantasy tales involving pirates, smugglers, and motley crews of all sorts of aliens. He would later go on to be a general in the Alliance of Free Planets, which allowed him to ignore new levels of responsibility.

Influence on other fictional characters

Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes explained that their "inspiration was anything Harrison Ford has ever done: Indiana Jones, Han Solo."

See also

• Solo family
• Skywalker family
• Han shot first

Further reading

• Star Wars: The Paradise Snare, (Book 1 of The Han Solo Trilogy), 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57415-9
• Star Wars, The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Star's End, Del Rey omnibus of "Han Solo at Star's End", "Han Solo's Revenge", and "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy", 1979. Brian Daley, ISBN 0-345-37980-2
• Star Wars: Rebel Dawn (Book 3 of "The Han Solo Trilogy"), by A. C. Crispin. 1998. ISBN 0-553-57417-5
• Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
• Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura, 1st paperback printing, 1994. Kathy Tyers, ISBN 0-553-56872-8
• Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia, 1995. Dave Wolverton, ISBN 0-553-56937-6
• Star Wars: Jedi Search, (Book 1 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy), 1994. Kevin J. Anderson, ISBN 0553297988
• Star Wars: Dark Apprentice, (Book 2 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy), 1st edition paperback, 1994. Kevin J. Anderson, ISBN 0-553-29799-6
• Star Wars: Champions of the Force, (Book 3 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy), 1st edition paperback, 1994. Kevin J. Anderson, 0-553-29799-6
• Star Wars, Ambush at Corellia, (Book 1 of the Corellian Trilogy) 1st printing, 1995. Roger MacBride Allen, ISBN 0-553-29803-8
• Star Wars, Assault at Selonia, (Book 2 of the Corellian Trilogy) 1st printing, 1995. Roger MacBride Allen, ISBN 0-553-29805-4
• Star Wars, Showdown at Centerpoint, (Book 3 of the Corellian Trilogy) 1st printing, 1995. Roger MacBride Allen, ISBN 0-553-29806-2
• Star Wars: Vector Prime, (Book 1 of the New Jedi Order), 1999. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN 0-345-42844-7
• Star Wars, New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, (Book 5 of the New Jedi Order) 1st paperback printing, 2000. James Luceno, ISBN 0-345-42859-5
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, 2nd edition, 1994. Bill Slavicsek, ISBN 0-345-38625-6
• New Jedi Order Sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast: 2002. J.D. Wiker and Steve Miller, ISBN 0-7869-2777-1

External links

• Han Solo in the StarWars.com Databank
• Han Solo on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
• Template:Imdb character
• Han Solo at The World of Star Wars