Han Solo was an infamous Corellian smuggler who became a hero of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War.
History[]
Early life[]
Born around 29 BBY to Jonash Solo, Han was orphaned at an early age and later found by the rogue bounty hunter Garris Shrike, who raised Han to become a criminal like himself. For many years, Shrike kept Han's family name a secret from him in order to keep the orphan under his control. However, after discovering his family history, Han escaped from Shrike's crew and sought out his cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo. Thrackan, however, turned out to be just as abusive as Shrike had been and Han soon found himself back in Shrike's clutches.[1]
At the age of nineteen, Solo was able to escape from Shrike's crew by stowing away on the Ylesian Dream as it was bound for Ylesia. Once there, he became a pilot for the Ylesian priests, smuggling spice for the Hutts. While there, he met and fell in love with the pilgrim Bria Tharen. After uncovering the scam that was the priests' so-called "paradise", Solo and Tharen escaped Ylesia along with the Togorian Muuurgh and his mate Mrrov. After dropping the Togorian couple off on Togoria, Solo and Tharen made their way back to Corellia, where Tharen was reunited with her family.[1]
When Han's past as a thief and con artist came to light, he and Tharen departed Corellia for Coruscant, where Solo had transferred funds after selling items stolen from Ylesia and planned to enroll at the Imperial Academy. However, when he tried to access the funds, he discovered that they had been frozen after the Tharens had sold him out to CorSec. After escaping from stormtroopers and making it back to Bria Tharen, she decided to leave him so that he could pursue his dream of joining the Imperial Navy while she dealt with her lingering addiction to the Exultation of the Ylesian priests. Heartbroken, Solo managed to scrub his record and successfully enrolled at the Academy. Shortly after making it as a cadet, he was confronted by Garris Shrike, who had tracked him down after hearing about what had happened on Ylesia. After a scuffle, Shrike was killed by a competing bounty hunter and Solo killed the bounty hunter, switching clothes with him to make it look like Shrike had died killing him. Solo then joined his fellow cadets in departing Coruscant for the Imperial Academy on Carida.[1]
Imperial career[]
Training at the Academy of Carida, Solo served as part of a squad of cadets under the guidance of flight instructor Yurib Nakan.[2] He was later assigned to Onyx Squadron only to be expelled after disobeying direct orders in order to save a fellow pilot, leading him to be transferred to ground duty. In 7 BBY, he took part in the Battle of Mimban, where he encountered the gunslinger Tobias Beckett, disguised as an Imperial soldier along with the rest of his crew. When Solo approached Beckett and told him he knew that Beckett was not a true Imperial officer, the gunslinger ordered the other Imperials to throw Solo into a cage with "the Beast." Said beast turned out to be a Wookiee named Chewbacca, whom Solo convinced to help him escape. The pair then joined up with Beckett and convinced the gunslinger to let them join in on their operations.[3]
Following a failed heist on Vandor, which saw to the deaths of Beckett's partners Val and Rio Durant, Solo, Chewbacca, and Beckett returned to Beckett's superior Dryden Vos, the leader of criminal organization Crimson Dawn. Vos gave Beckett a chance to make up for his failure by performing a coaxium heist at Kessel and assigned his assistant Qi'ra to help them. After recruiting the smuggler Lando Calrissian for transportation, Solo and the crew successfully pulled off the heist and brought the coaxium to Savareen. While on Savareen, the encountered Enfys Nest and her Marauders, whose story convinced Solo to give coaxium to them while giving fake coaxium to Vos. This prompted Beckett to sell Solo out to Vos, leading to a clash in which Beckett was killed by Solo while Qi'ra took out Dryden Vos. Qi'ra then departed from Savareen aboard Vos's yacht the First Light, stranding Solo and Chewbacca on Savareen.[3]
After making their way off Savareen, Solo and Chewbacca went their separate ways and Solo returned to Imperial service with the cover story that he had tracked down and killed the false Imperial agent Beckett. This story was convincing enough to get him reinstated in the Imperial Navy, where he served under flight instructor Pter Nyklas. In 5 BBY, while working for Commander Nyklas, Solo once more crossed paths with Chewbacca, who was among the enslaved Wookiees that Nyklas had put to work. After saving Chewbacca's life by stunning Nyklas, the Wookiee swore a life debt to Solo and joined the Corellian as he returned to a life of smuggling after being dishonorably discharged from Imperial service.[4]
Hero of the Rebellion[]
In 0 BBY, Han Solo and Chewbacca were visiting Chalmun's Cantina on Tatooine when they were approached by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, seeking passage to Alderaan. After agreeing to transport the pair and their droids aboard the Millennium Falcon for a sizable reward, Solo traveled with them to the Alderaan system only to discover that the planet had been destroyed by the Death Star. The space station proceeded to draw in the Millennium Falcon with its tractor beam, forcing Solo and his newfound companions to find a way off the Death Star as well as to free the captured Princess of Alderaan Leia Organa.[5]
General of the New Republic[]
Although the second Death Star had been destroyed and the Emperor had been vanquished, the Rebel Alliance's fight was not yet over. As the Alliance—now reestablished as the New Republic—struggled to retake Coruscant from the Empire's control, Solo joined his companions in dealing with Imperial warlords that had risen to take the Emperor's place.
During the early days of the New Republic, Solo's popularity led to the rise of holothrillers depicting his adventures both before and during the Rebellion, many of them featuring fictitious accounts. Among these films was Han Solo and the Pirates of Kessel, which depicted an exaggerated account of Solo's adventures with Tobias Beckett and his encounter with Crimson Dawn. Due to popular demand, the creators of the holothriller conflated these adventures with Solo's performance of the Kessel Run as well as his purchase of the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. Solo allowed them to get these details wrong, not wanting his entire life story to be public knowledge.[6]
Behind the scenes[]
Han Solo's background story in the Destiny Universe incorporates elements from his Canon counterpart into his Legends history, using them to fill out or expand details of his Legends story while chalking up inconsistencies to conflation of events thanks to fictional accounts in-universe. Many ideas for this reconciliation are derived from Joseph Bongiorno's idea of fitting the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story into Han's Legends story.[7] Other discrepancies between Solo and Legends regarding such events as the Kessel Run and Solo's acquirement of the Millennium Falcon are explained by the existence of the Han Solo and the Pirates of Kessel holothriller first mentioned in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.
Appearances[]
- The Paradise Snare
- The Hutt Gambit
- Rebel Dawn
- Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
- Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
- Episode VI Return of the Jedi
- The New Republic
- Rise of the Dark Empire
- The Emperor's Wrath
- Calm Before the Storm
- Seeds from the Past
- The End of All Days
- First Order of Business
- The Lost Hero
- Terrors of the Underworld
- Judgment Day
- The Final Destiny
- The Corellian Conspiracy
- Walkers in the Sky
- The Seventh Heir