New information about Han Solo (spoilers)

[Galvatron]

This is a man who gave up his career in order to rescue a few Wookiees from slavery.

Is that even still canon? If so, it always struck as me strange that Lucas himself apparently never wanted that story told.

[cmdrjones]

Geezuz. The EU, new or old, will do anything to cheapen Han's journey in the OT and make him the lovable rouge instead of the criminal, murdering, smuggler he was. Do people not understand his transition in the OT? I mean, is it more complicated than I think?

It's just how people cheapen Luke's journey by having every other Jedi fall do the Dark Side and get redeemed, or cheapen Anakin's journey by resurrecting Palpatine.

I hope it ends up as some marriage of convenience or some bet he won like Knife suggested. Or at least handle it like he was a complete prick with no excuses back in the day and now, with Leia, he understands what he did and apologizes for it.

This^ 1000 times. Here's to good story telling!!!

[Irbis]

Is that even still canon? If so, it always struck as me strange that Lucas himself apparently never wanted that story told.

Wasn't that heavily implied by ending of RotS? Lucas very specifically had Yoda say that name.

[Purple]

The more I think about the the more I think that the version I'd want to see is her being his wife from his days as an imperial officer. Can you just imagine it? She marries this rising officer guy who is going to go places and take her with him. And he ends up pissing it all away and running off with an alien leaving her with nothing but to flee lest she be branded a traitor or used as leverage against him. That'd be fun to read.

[Galvatron]

Is that even still canon? If so, it always struck as me strange that Lucas himself apparently never wanted that story told.

Wasn't that heavily implied by ending of RotS? Lucas very specifically had Yoda say that name.

Han's untold backstory was heavily implied by Yoda saying "Goodbye, Tarful. Goodbye, Chewbacca. Miss you, I will."

Or was there something from the novel that I overlooked?

[Mange]

This is a man who gave up his career in order to rescue a few Wookiees from slavery.

Is that even still canon? If so, it always struck as me strange that Lucas himself apparently never wanted that story told.

It appears it wasn't the story Lucas wanted to tell. He did have the idea of including a young Han (aged 10) at Kashyyyk in ROTS (and concept art was created for him. In the Art of Revenge of the Sith, concept artist Iain McCaig said:

It’s not in the script anymore, but we were told that Han Solo was on Kashyyyk and that he was being raised by Chewbacca. He’s such a persnickety guy later on – he always has to have the best of everything – so I thought it’d be great if when he was a kid, he was an absolute slob.

Han Solo was also to help locate General Grievous:

HAN SOLO
I found part of a transmitter droid near the east bay… I think it's still sending and receiving signals.

YODA
Good. Good. Track this we can back to the source. Find General Grievous, we might…

EDIT: Found the concept art online: Following the Nerd

[Galvatron]

EDIT: Found the concept art online: Following the Nerd

George Lucas wanted to include a 10 yr old Han Solo in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, but in a rare moment of leaving well enough alone, it was cut from the story.

I can only imagine the trifecta of suck that would have been young Anakin, young Boba and young Han in back to back to back films.

[Borgholio]

I can only imagine the trifecta of suck that would have been young Anakin, young Boba and young Han in back to back to back films.

[Havok]

The incessant need to connect EVERYTHING in Star Wars by the fans and even the creators is the one thing I absolutely hate about the franchise.

[Adam Reynolds]

The incessant need to connect EVERYTHING in Star Wars by the fans and even the creators is the one thing I absolutely hate about the franchise.

And it's not like the back story they come up with is ever even good in the first place. Look at the 90s Han Solo trilogy of novels. We had Han with a connection to Boba Fett and Han with a connection to the early Rebel Alliance and even the team that stole the Death Star plans(it was his love interest that stole them and died in the process, hence his dislike for their cause) both were also involved in his past dealings with Lando that ended badly*. He then learned about her death just before meeting Obi-Wan and Luke. Going by the film, that was just another day at the office for him. And there was little indication of his past dealings with the Rebel Alliance, he simply appeared desperate for money to deal with Jabba. I supposed one could argue that it was subtext, but Occam's razor generally works.

* Whatever happened, it wasn't really all that bad based on ESB. Given the ease with which Lando forgave him, it was likely just fallout over the Falcon. I forget which comic I read that showed this, but one interesting idea was that the reason for Lando's strange behavior was that he was attempting to convince Han to leave without altering Vader or breaking their deal. Rather noble if you think about it. And the ease with which Lando integrated into the Alliance in ROTJ doesn't fit any previous dealings with them.

[Galvatron]

The incessant need to connect EVERYTHING in Star Wars by the fans and even the creators is the one thing I absolutely hate about the franchise.

How do you feel about Corellian bloodstripes?

[Adam Reynolds]

The incessant need to connect EVERYTHING in Star Wars by the fans and even the creators is the one thing I absolutely hate about the franchise.

How do you feel about Corellian bloodstripes?

Can't speak for Havok, but it is rather absurd how they tried to connect yellow stripes to the red blood stripes. Come on. The fact that there happen to be stripes on Han's pants doesn't make them significant.

It is the same problem the EU has always had. Just because something shows up in the movies doesn't make it important.

[Simon_Jester]

I can only imagine the trifecta of suck that would have been young Anakin, young Boba and young Han in back to back to back films.

...What? Muppet Babies were AWESOME.

[Irbis]

Han's untold backstory was heavily implied by Yoda saying "Goodbye, Tarful. Goodbye, Chewbacca. Miss you, I will."

Yes? There was no reason to put Chewbacca there, it could be any (nameless) wookie. Conservation of details. Unless you wanted movie to imply, though, that he is about to be captured by Imperial forces with the rest of the planet, neatly fitting the bit about Han Solo freeing him later.

By the way, people drone how EU was bad but the bit on Han Solo being kid on wookie planet planned by Lucas is thousand times worse than even Crystal Star. He is lucky hack who has no idea how to tell good stories without very strong team that helped him put together EP IV and V, and it shows.

[Gandalf]

Sure there was a reason; Chewie is a popular character and putting him in means possibly more money for the film than if it was Nameless Wookiee #2.

[Irbis]

Sure there was a reason; Chewie is a popular character and putting him in means possibly more money for the film than if it was Nameless Wookiee #2.

Popular? He was killed in EU a decade prior and had no toys of him made in even longer time IIRC. As far as movies go, he has lesser presence in TOT than Lando and only slightly larger one than Ackbar or Jabba. At that point of series, I bet even Jar Jar was more recognizable and popular (after subtracting hatedom).

[The Romulan Republic]

But Chewbacca is still remembered by everyone who saw the Original Trilogy back in the day, more or less. And nostalgia is a powerful thing.

Edit: And Ackbar and Jabba were pretty much relegated to a few scenes in one movie. Chewbacca was always there, even if you couldn't tell what he was saying.

[Mange]

Well, perhaps soon we'll know the "official" version of Han Solo's past as the second Anthology movie will be about him (to be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord with a script by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan): StarWars.com

[SAMAS]

Anyone else notice that Han's reaction to this whole thing is not shock or fear, but a facepalm? I think that says a lot about what's gonna be on the next pages.

The incessant need to connect EVERYTHING in Star Wars by the fans and even the creators is the one thing I absolutely hate about the franchise.

How do you feel about Corellian bloodstripes?

Can't speak for Havok, but it is rather absurd how they tried to connect yellow stripes to the red blood stripes. Come on. The fact that there happen to be stripes on Han's pants doesn't make them significant.

It is the same problem the EU has always had. Just because something shows up in the movies doesn't make it important.

It's a Character Design thing, actually. Han's basic theme was "Space Cowboy". Seriously, look at his design. All it needs is a Stetson.

Now, a common background for many cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws in the Old West was that many of them fought in the Civil War, or served in the US Cavalry. Now, let's look at a couple of uniforms from around that time period:



You can look up "US Cavalry Uniforms" or "US Civil War Uniforms" on the net and find many more stripes, some red, some white, some yellow.

So, Han's outfit was given, deliberately or not, a costume cue from his originating theme that means "former soldier". That's why fans and writers tend to put that in his backstory; they're just following on his theme.