by

A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 8: Han Solo

H is for — Han Solo from Star Wars A2Z-BADGE-0002015-LifeisGood-230_zps660c38a0

Some of my favorite characters are good-hearted rogues. Their good sides may be well hidden, and they may not always be on the right side of the law, but when it’s all on the line, the good shines through.

Perfect example: Han Solo. He’s a good-looking guy — a smuggler, soldier-of-fortune-type, cocky and cynical. He’s in it for the money. Just pay him, and he’ll ask no questions. He and his sidekick, Chewbacca the Wookie, travel the galaxies, dodging the authorities and bounty hunters, in his souped-up ship, the Millennium Falcon. He’s proud of his exploits and brags of them to Luke Skywalker, when Luke and Ben Kenobi want to hire him to take them to another planet.

When things go wrong and he gets tangled up with the Rebels, he extricates himself as quickly as possible, takes his money, and leaves. He wants no part of the rebellion against the Empire. He finds, though, that Luke’s and, particularly, Princess Leia’s regard is more important to him than he wants to admit, and that good side of himself, buried deep, begins to emerge.

I saw the original Star Wars movie in the theater, and my favorite moment was right at the end where Luke is careening down the trench, pursued by Darth Vader and the TIE fighters. Vader is just about to blast Luke into oblivion, when from out of nowhere, laser fire shoots into the trench, takes out the TIE fighters and sends Vader spinning through space. Han in the Falcon is yelling, “Yahoo!” and everyone in the audience, including me, is cheering along with him. Han the rogue became Han the hero, a key member of the rebellion, and I became a Star Wars fan for life.

 

 

Photo Credit: Star Wars Wikia

Photo Credit: Star Wars Wikia

 

 

 

 

 

© Lori L. MacLaughlin and Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams, 2015. All rights reserved.

33 thoughts on “A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 8: Han Solo”

    • I’m not sure which one you saw. I have a revolving header with five castles: the ruin on an island in a lake is Castle Kilchurn in Scotland, Urquhart Castle ruin on Loch Ness, Scotland, the castle with the round towers and moat is Bodiam Castle, England, the angular one with the round tower on the left is Arundel Castle, England, and the distant ruin with trees/vines on and around it is my ancestral Lachlan Castle. The photos were taken on our trip to Britain in 1995.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. Aww, this post will make any true Star Wars fan shed a tear. So true. You really captured Han Solo, and the reason we love Star Wars. I also saw this in the theaters, because my mom has always been a Trekkie sci-fi nerd. Yay, Mom!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. I read that Harrison Ford wasn’t that keen on the role – actually a lot of the actors weren’t too keen in the beginning and never expected Star Wars to become the success that it was. Han Solo seems to have become a favourite though, he’s fun and cocky but this makes it all the more meaningful when he comes back to help even though he isn’t obligated to. That ending where he shoots down the Tie fighters is pretty awesome.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. What a moment that was! Han’s my favourite character from Star Wars – when you think about it, he’s the one that goes through the most significant character arc. Looking forward to seeing what they do with the upcoming movie – I’m crossing my fingers it’s a good one!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. You’ve captured my favorite character from the “Star Wars” films so well here… and I think the moment you’ve described is one of the greatest movie moments of all time! What a great turnaround for this character!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Pingback: “Star Wars” Giveaway – Winner Announced! | The Artistic Christian

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.