ANATOMY OF HAN SOLO
(No, it's not what you think)

Rebel Dawn Author Ann Crispin gets Captain Solo on the couch
(so to speak) and finds out what makes him tick.

Interview by Jeff Carter

Let's face it, folks.  Han Solo has to be the coolest guy in the galaxy.

     The reckless bad boy, the rebel; the scoundrel with the cocky grin and a gleam in his eye. He makes the evil guys tremble and the ladies swoon. What thrill-seeking girl in her right mind would choose someone like Luke Skywalker who plays it safe when they could have the older, more mysterious Han taking them off to exotic ports, breaking the rules and risking their lives?

     Han Solo is the Fonz, the James Dean of the Star Wars universe. He can con his way out of any situation, fix any mechanical problem, gamble and swindle people out of their life's holdings, steal the most heavily guarded valuable, fly his way through any obstacle, and fight with the toughest of enemies, and at the end of the day...worm his way into a woman's heart with a simple wink and a flash of pearly whites.

     But how does he do all of this? What is the secret of Han Solo; what makes him what he is? We set out to answer all of these difficult questions, and who better to ask than author Ann C. Crispin who has, in a way, become Han Solo's psychologist as she did intensive research for the best-selling "Han Solo Trilogy." Now that the final installment, Rebel Dawn, has hit the stands, Ms. Crispin has elected to bypass doctor/patient privilege and grant this exclusive ECHO STATION interview about the mysteries of the man they call Han Solo.   In cases where Han has demonstrated behavior to warrant the question, we'll include that in [bolded brackets.]

ES: First off Ann, Star Wars has its roots in mythology and classic stories from the past. Its characters represent certain legends and icons throughout history...what iconic role does Han Solo take on in the Star Wars trilogy?

AC: Most epic tales include the figure of a somewhat "morally ambiguous" warrior with a mysterious past. That's Han's role in the Star Wars trilogy. Another famous fictional character that fits into this role is Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkein's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.

HOW WELL DOES HAN PLAY WITH OTHERS?
ES: Does Han have difficulty with all authority figures or only female ones? ["Let's get one thing straight... I take orders from just one person: me!"]

AC: I believe that Han does, indeed have problems with authority figures, and ESPECIALLY female authority figures. There are two reasons for this:

1. First and foremost, Han has been messed over by a whole lot of women...coerced, bamboozled, flim-flammed, manipulated...and, in some cases, painfully dumped. These women include Salla Zend, Xaverri, Jessa, and, especially, Bria. So it's no wonder he reacts negatively to Princess Leia trying to take command.
   
2. The reason Han does better with male authority figures, I think, traces back to his time in the Imperial military. There he was taking orders from men in authority, and he got used to that. Notice that Han obeys Ben Kenobi's order to stay in the guards' observation room when Ben leaves, even though he grumbles about it. As we know, women officers in the Imperial Navy were so rare that Han probably never had to take orders from one -- but he certainly took orders from many male officers.

ES: Why does Han seems to dislike droids? [His look of disgust when Threepio introduces himself in ANH]

AC: This is a question I answered in The Han Solo Trilogy. There, Han meets up with two droids and has unpleasant encounters with them. The first is the R2 astromech droid aboard The Ylesian Dream. Han has so much difficulty communicating with that droid that he winds up crashing the ship, and is lucky to survive the experience. And then, in Rebel Dawn, I fleshed out the "character" of the clanky old droid ZeeZee who was first introduced in Dark Empire. ZeeZee is a total pain -- twittery, incompetent, fussy, noisy, and always underfoot. Han winds up cussing out ZeeZee several times, and he's always stubbing his foot on the darned droid. <g>

ES: What about Han makes him so quick to act  ["prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around"]? Even though he seems to appreciate subterfuge in ROTJ ["back door, eh?"] he still rushes ahead to handle the scout troopers. ["hey.. it's ME!"]

AC: Han Solo is possessed of excellent reflexes and a quick eye. Over the years, he's learned that a straight-on assault frequently confuses the enemy long enough to allow him to prevail. I first established this tendency to "react first, then think about it later" in The Paradise Snare where Han launches himself at the bank manager who has just frozen Han's hard-won (translation: stolen) assets and has called for the Imperial stormtroopers. Han has learned that the best defense is an all-out offense!

ES: Why does Han have such an intense aversion to things of a religious or spiritual nature (i.e. The Force)? ["Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."]

AC: I based the major plot thread of the "Han Solo Trilogy" on this one line. In The Paradise Snare, Han is introduced to the planet Ylesia where religious "pilgrims" are turned into slaves by greedy Hutts, and their minions, the t'landa Til "priests." They've actually created a fake religion to scam people into becoming their slaves. Han sees their fake religion up close and personal, and it's not surprising that he equates the Ylesian scam with ALL religions and spirituality from that point on. Han believes that the Ylesian pilgrims are credulous fools, and that's the way he sees everyone who believes in religion.

THE REDEMPTION OF HAN SOLO
ES: In his early years, Han Solo seemed to be character that had a deep caring for others, often risking his life and his career. How does this attitude change to one of only caring about money and other selfish needs?

AC: Throughout the writing of "The Han Solo Trilogy," I worked hard on showing Han's "evolution" into the character we see in SW: ANH. When The Paradise Snare begins, he's only 19, a wary street kid, but still capable of love and trust. As the book progresses, he learns to be more cynical and selfish, especially after Bria leaves him. This "downward" character trend continues throughout The Hutt Gambit, and into Rebel Dawn, to wind up showing a Han who would betray his friends for his own selfish gain... even Lando, his best human friend. The only person he would never betray at that point is Chewbacca. He's learned that money and Chewie are the only things you can count on...

ES: What causes him to be "redeemed" from this outlook at the end of A New Hope?

AC: The seeds of a good person were always there, and, faced with people who were good and true and willing to risk their lives for their comrades, Han began to regain the "good self" he'd buried over the past 10 years. Luke risking his life to save Leia, Ben's sacrifice to save all of them, the Rebel pilots sacrificing themselves in on that "suicidal" mission to destroy the Death Star...all of that, obviously had a profound effect on Han's buried decent side.

Also, don't forget, Wookiees have a very highly developed sense of honor. So Chewie knew what was right, and you can bet that the Wookiee was nagging Han to do The Right Thing the whole time after they took off in the Millennium Falcon to escape from Yavin Four! <g>

ES: When Han was leaving at the beginning of TESB to pay off Jabba... would he have come back after if not interrupted?

AC: I believe that if Han hadn't been interrupted, he would indeed have gone back to his smuggling ways after paying off Jabba. Without being in Luke and Leia's presence, he'd have reverted to "out of sight, out of mind."

ES: Does Han experience a "spiritual rebirth" after he is released from his carbonite prison in ROTJ?

AC: Yes, I think so. It's a revelation to him to discover just how much his friends truly care about him. And he was obviously very glad to regain his friendship with Lando...

HAN SOLO DE MARCO?
ES: What is the strange power, the strange charisma...the strange effect Han Solo has on women...and especially women in power and wealth? Why do women love him so much?

AC: Well, the main power Han Solo had over women was that he was played by Harrison Ford, a very attractive, charming and charismatic actor who has a killer lopsided grin. Aside from that, women can't resist rogues and scoundrels, at least in art. Satan is a MUCH more interesting and fascinating character in Paradise Lost than God (something that John Milton found most annoying!). The tradition of the handsome, charming, swashbuckling rogue with a heart of gold beneath that sarcastic, cynical exterior is well-established in literature: Sidney Carton, Scaramouche, Captain Blood, Sir Percy Blakeney, Zorro, even Heathcliff...they all charmed women right and left.

Personally, I think Han managed to charm them whether they were rich or poor, and that's how I portrayed him...

ES: What did Han find SO attractive about Leia that he was willing to give up his "solo" life for her?

AC: I think it was her youth and relative innocence. After pairing off with a string of strong, competent, hard-edged women who were about his own age or older, and were just as tough as he was (Xaverri, Salla, Jessa, Hasti, Fiolla and Bria) Leia must have seemed like a breath of fresh, young air. True she was competent and smart, but life hadn't scarred her the way it had Han's older paramours.

ES: Besides Leia, which of Han's girlfriends did he love the most?

AC: Bria Tharen, of course. No contest.

ES: What are the similarities (and differences) in the women in Han's life - what made them attractive to him?

AC: Han, like most men, is attracted first by how a woman looks. All of his paramours have been attractive, though in vastly different ways. He also values intelligence. I can't imagine Han taking up with a "dumb broad" no matter how pretty she was. He likes a woman with "spirit" and he values competence. Also see above answer...

HAN SOLO BY DEFINITION
ES: How is the trust Han develops with Lando, Luke and the rebels justified for someone who has been betrayed by just about everyone he has ever met? What makes these characters integral to this change?

AC: I think Han's first exposure to the Rebels in Rebel Dawn prepared him for people that were capable of betrayal, but not for the same kind of reasons he'd ever encountered before among his smuggling "buddies." Many of those people would betray each other for very little, and they lived an amoral life. In Rebel Dawn, Han was exposed for the first time to people who were willing to fight and die for a cause. Even though he was ultimately betrayed by them, I think this must have been a revelation to Han. He'd never before met people like that -- certainly the Imperial soldiers didn't feel that way, for the most part, about the Empire or their Emperor.

Also, it's a fact that the members of the Rebel Alliance were just BETTER people than the scum Han hung out with on Nar Shaddaa. That was strictly a dog-eat-dog existence. The Rebels were nobler, kinder, braver people. Han's smart enough to see the difference between them and the people he'd known before in his life...

ES: Is there a pivotal moment, a scene perhaps; a line of dialogue,or even a "look" that "defines" the character of Han Solo?

AC: First...I would have to say that the carbonite scene and the "I know" line is pretty definitive of Han's character for the film trilogy. There he is, about to be frozen, and he's still his cocky self. <g>  A scene from the SE only that would embody Han is when he runs into the guardroom and finds himself facing nine hundred stormtroopers. Heh, heh. Loved that addition... almost made up for the revised Greedo scene.

I would also say the moment where he says, "Kid, I've flown from one side of the galaxy to the other, seen a lotta strange stuff..." That moment is priceless Han. I watched that scene over and over to get the sense of Han for my books.

As for my books...There is one scene in each where I believe I managed to capture Han. In each case, LFL commented on it positively, "This is pure Han!"

For example:

First scene, from The Paradise Snare, when Han is trying to shut down the communications for the colony. He yanks wires and rips up the beneath the console works. Then, when the comm board stubbornly stays functional, he loses it and blasts it to smithereens, muttering "Stupid board!"

That was a deliberate prequel, of course, to the wonderful moment on the Death Star, which comes as close as any to being THE DEFINING MOMENT as any. The "We're all fine here...how are you? Boring conversation!" moment. Priceless, pure Han.

That moment in The Hutt Gambit comes when Han plots that desperate microjump so he can give the phantom fleet real teeth and drags his friends along, so they can charge straight at the Imperial fleet. <g>

And in Rebel Dawn...that moment comes during the Battle for Ylesia. But since your readers haven't read it yet, I'm not sure I should be specific.

ES: So Ann, in one word..."Who is Han Solo'?

AC: I resist reducing a human being to one word. <g> I could give you ten.

ES: Okay, ten words.

AC: Han Solo = cocky, competent, bumbling, callous, tender, aggressive, brave, self-protective, wild, loveable.

(Jeff Carter is ECHO STATION's resident Bounty Hunter/Interviewer, so if you have any professional association with any aspect of Star Wars, no matter how obscure, expect a call, card or Email soon!)