Han Solo: the story on HearLore

Original Trilogy Arc

In Star Wars 1977, Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca accept a charter to transport Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Tatooine to Alderaan on their ship the Millennium Falcon. Before they depart, Solo is cornered by the bounty hunter Greedo who threatens him. Solo shoots and kills Greedo then boards the Falcon with his passengers. They are attacked by Imperial stormtroopers but elude them by accelerating to light speed. When they arrive at their destination they discover that Alderaan has been obliterated by the Death Star. The Falcon is captured and brought aboard the Death Star but Solo and his companions avoid detection and infiltrate the station. When they discover that Princess Leia is being held captive Luke convinces Solo and Chewbacca to help him rescue her by promising Solo a large reward. After delivering Luke and Leia to the Rebel Alliance Solo collects his payment and prepares to leave. Luke asks him to aid the Rebels in their assault on the Death Star but Solo refuses. He returns unexpectedly during the battle saving Luke's life and allowing him to destroy the Death Star. Afterwards Leia presents Solo and Luke with medals for their heroism. In The Empire Strikes Back 1980 he is still with the Rebel Alliance serving at the headquarters on the ice planet Hoth. He intends to leave to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt but delays his departure when Luke goes missing. Solo rides alone into freezing temperatures and finds Luke nearly dead from exposure. He builds a shelter and they survive until they are rescued. Later Solo and Chewbacca destroy an Imperial probe droid but not before the Empire is alerted to the location of the Rebel base. Solo Chewbacca and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon and fly into an asteroid field. While repairing the ship Solo and Leia share a kiss. The group then seeks aid from Solo's friend Lando Calrissian in Cloud City. Under duress by the Empire Lando betrays them to it and Vader tortures Solo as part of his plan to trap Luke. Vader freezes Solo in carbonite and gives him to the bounty hunter Boba Fett who plans to deliver him to Jabba. Before Solo is put into carbonite hibernation Leia confesses her love for him. In Return of the Jedi 1983 Solo is still imprisoned in carbonite. A year has elapsed and the frozen Solo is a decoration in Jabba's palace on Tatooine. Leia enters the palace in disguise and liberates Solo from his hibernation but Jabba captures them both. When Luke arrives to bargain for Solo's life he too is imprisoned. Jabba tries to execute Solo Luke and Chewbacca by feeding them to a Sarlacc but they escape with the help of Leia and Lando. Returning to the Rebel fleet the companions discover that the Empire is building a second Death Star which is orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Solo now a general in the Rebel Alliance leads a strike team to disable the shield surrounding the battle station. After enlisting a tribe of Ewoks in a battle against Imperial forces the Rebels remove the shield which allows Lando and his team to destroy the Death Star. Solo then reunites with his friends on Endor to celebrate the fall of the Empire.

Prequel Origins

The 2018 standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story depicts a Han living as an orphan on the planet Corellia. He and his lover Qi'ra flee the White Worms criminal gang and attempt to leave Corellia on an outgoing transport but Qi'ra is apprehended before she can board. Han vows to return for her and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet. He is given the surname Solo by the recruiting officer due to his lack of a family. Three years later Solo has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination and now serves in the Imperial Army. While fighting on Mimban he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers. He wants to join them but their leader Tobias Beckett gets him arrested for desertion and thrown into a pit to be eaten by a Wookiee named Chewbacca. Able to understand Chewbacca's language Solo joins forces with him and the two escape. In need of additional crew members Beckett brings Solo and Chewbacca aboard his ship. The crew tries to steal a shipment of coaxium, a valuable hyperspace fuel, but the mission fails. Solo and Chewbacca then accompany Beckett to a meeting with his overseer Dryden Vos the leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. There Solo reunites with Qi'ra who is Vos's lieutenant. Solo suggests a plan to steal coaxium from the mines on the planet Kessel; Vos approves but insists that Qi'ra accompany the crew. Qi'ra leads them to Lando Calrissian an accomplished smuggler who she hopes will lend them his ship the Millennium Falcon. Solo challenges Lando to a game of sabacc with the ship as the wager. Lando cheats to win but agrees to join the mission in exchange for a share of the profits. The heist succeeds partly due to Solo's piloting skills during the dangerous Kessel Run. Before the crew returns to Vos they are intercepted by a group of pirates led by Enfys Nest. After a series of schemes and betrayals Vos and his guards lie dead and Beckett has fled with the coaxium and taken Chewbacca as a hostage. Solo pursues Beckett and kills him then gives the coaxium to Nest and her crew who are sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance. Solo declines Nest's offer to join the Rebellion instead returning to Lando's sabacc table for another wager. Solo prevents Lando from cheating this time and wins ownership of the Falcon. Solo and Chewbacca then depart for Tatooine where a crime lord is assembling a crew for a heist.

Expanded Universe Lore

Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company in 2012 most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced between 1977 and 2014 were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise. The Legends works comprise a separate narrative universe. In the Legends universe Solo's parents are Jonash and Jaina Solo and the Solo ancestry can be traced back thousands of generations. Three centuries before the events of Star Wars one of Solo's ancestors ruled the planet Corellia. He established a constitutional monarchy after which the lineage slowly lost power. Between 1979 and 1980 Brian Daley wrote a series of novels called The Han Solo Adventures which explore the smuggling exploits of Solo and Chewbacca before the events of the original trilogy. The 1994 Kevin J. Anderson novel Jedi Search explains how Solo incurred the debt to Jabba that haunts him throughout the films. The Han Solo Trilogy 1997, 1998 by Ann C. Crispin develops the character's backstory depicting him as a beggar and pickpocket throughout much of his youth. He becomes a pilot and after his love interest Bria Tharen disappears joins the Imperial Navy. He is dismissed when he refuses to skin Chewbacca for commandeering a ship trafficking Wookiee children; Chewbacca in turn swears a life-debt to Solo. The two become smugglers and Solo wins the Falcon from Lando in a card tournament. Tharen now a Rebel agent employs him Chewbacca and Lando then steals their valuables to aid the Rebellion. To recoup their losses Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot accept a smuggling job from Jabba but are forced to jettison their cargo. The trilogy ends with Solo meeting Luke and in Mos Eisley as depicted in Star Wars. Solo plays a central role in many stories set after Return of the Jedi. In The Courtship of Princess Leia 1995 he marries Leia and has three children with her: the twins Jaina and Jacen and a son named Anakin. In the 1999 novel Solo Command Solo is in charge of a New Republic task force assigned to track down an Imperial warlord. Chewbacca dies saving Anakin's life in Vector Prime 1999 sending Solo into a deep depression. Anakin dies in Star by Star 2001 which compounds Solo's despair. At the end of the series Solo accepts the losses of his loved ones and reconciles with his family. In the Legacy of the Force series Jacen falls to the dark side and becomes the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. He plunges the galaxy into a civil war and Solo disowns him. After Jacen's death Solo and Leia adopt his daughter Allana.

Who created the Star Wars character Han Solo?

George Lucas created the Star Wars franchise and wrote and directed the original Star Wars film. In the earliest version of the screenplay, Solo was an alien of the Ureallian race with green skin, enormous gills and no nose.

When did Harrison Ford play Han Solo in the first Star Wars movie?

Harrison Ford played Han Solo in Star Wars 1977. He was cast over many other actors who auditioned after George Lucas was won over by his performance during auditions for American Graffiti.

What happened to Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back 1980?

Vader froze Han Solo in carbonite and gave him to the bounty hunter Boba Fett who planned to deliver him to Jabba. Before Solo is put into carbonite hibernation Leia confesses her love for him.

How old was Han Solo when he joined the Imperial Navy in Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018?

Han lived as an orphan on the planet Corellia before joining the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet. Three years later Solo has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination and now serves in the Imperial Army.

Who are Han Solo's parents according to Star Wars Legends novels?

In the Legends universe Solo's parents are Jonash and Jaina Solo and the Solo ancestry can be traced back thousands of generations. Three centuries before the events of Star Wars one of Solo's ancestors ruled the planet Corellia.

Han Solo.

Casting Ford Legacy

Original Trilogy Arc

Sequel Tragedy

Prequel Origins

Expanded Universe Lore

Critical Reception

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