HAN SOLO
(human male from Corellia)

If, at the height of his smuggling days, you told Han Solo that he would be a hero of the Rebellion, fall in love with an Alderaanian princess, and become a general in the Alliance, he would have had no shortage of smart remarks for you. But if anything is consistent in Solo's life, it is unpredictability.

"Found" on streets of Corellia by Garris Shrike when he was about 3 or 4 years old. Han lived with Shrike along with several other children whom Shrike used to carry out his scams and pick pocketing. During this time, Dewlanna, a 600 year old Wookie cared for him, when no-one else would. When he was about 19 years old, Han escaped the cartel and enrolled in the Imperial Academy. He excelled at the Academy, but he was ousted after he saved the life of an enslaved Wookie named Chewbacca. For this selfless act, Chewbacca swore a life debt to Han Solo and has remained at his side throughout numerous adventures.

Han and his Wookiee first mate and co-pilot Chewbacca had a variety of adventures throughout their long careers as smugglers. By hanging out on the fringe of galactic society, Solo not only made useful allies, but powerful enemies. Han eventually met up with a young gambler named Lando Calrissian. After a period of adventuring, Han won Lando's freighter, the Millennium Falcon in a heated sabacc game.

Han and Chewie made countless modifications to the dilapidated Corellian freighter, souping up the Falcon to become an incredibly fast and well-armed smuggling vessel. During a stretch of bad fortune, Solo was forced to jettison a cargo of contraband spice belonging to the gangster Jabba the Hutt. The gangster put a price on his head so large that bounty hunters across the galaxy would come searching for the Corellian and his Wookiee first mate. Desperate for cash, Solo took a charter to the Alderaan system. He was to transport Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio from Tatooine to Alderaan for the price of 17,000 credits.

When arriving at Alderaan, they discovered the planet destroyed, and were taken captive by the Imperial Death Star. Han agreed to rescue the captive Princess Leia Organa if he was to be rewarded, and rewarded well. After escaping from the Death Star, Han took the Rebels to their base on Yavin 4. Han decided not to participate in the Alliance's desperate attack against the Death Star, preferring to take his reward and leave. It was in mid-transit that Solo had a change of heart, and joined the battle just in time to cripple Darth Vader's ship, and allow Luke enough time to destroy the station. For his efforts, Han was awarded a medal of honor.

The number of enemies in Solo's past haunted him during his years with the Rebellion. Solo's debt to Jabba eventually accumulated to the point that the gangster placed a death mark on Solo's head, and sent a number of bounty hunters after him. Several bounty hunters almost succeeded in collecting during run-ins on Ord Mantell.

Han received an acting rank of captain in the Alliance, and accompanied the Rebels on numerous missions and adventures. His Millennium Falcon was stationed on Hoth's Echo Base during the Imperial attack there. When Princess Leia Organa was cut off from her transport vessel, she used the Falcon to escape from the besieged base. Despite a number of malfunctions, the Falcon was able to avoid the Imperial Fleet for a time. During quiet moments, when Solo set the Falcon down for repairs, he and Leia grew closer.

When the Falcon escaped Hoth, Darth Vader made it a priority to have it captured. Vader posted a reward, and dispatched a number of bounty hunters. One of them, Boba Fett, eventually captured Solo at Bespin's Cloud City. There, Solo was taken prisoner by Darth Vader, and underwent carbon freezing for transportation back to Jabba the Hutt. Han was encased in carbonite, where he remained in perfect hibernation. Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, and Luke planned a mission to rescue him from Jabba's fortress on Tatooine.

When his friends arrived at Jabba's palace, Han was freed from his carbonite coffin. He suffered from a mild case of hibernation sickness. A battle ensued wherein Han's friends ultimately destroyed the Hutt crime lord. With Jabba dead, Solo's debt was effectively erased. Solo also managed to knock Boba Fett into the gaping maw of the Sarlacc creature, ending that long-standing threat.

Rejoining the Alliance Fleet, Solo received the commission of General. He was put in charge of a strike team sent to the moon of Endor. Their mission was to destroy the shield generator that protected the second Death Star high in orbit. With the help of the native Ewoks, the Rebel strike force defeated the Imperial forces, and destroyed the generator, paving the way for the victory at the Battle of Endor. Han is overly confident and arrogant. He possesses a wry, sarcastic wit, and a reckless manner. This often gets him into predicaments that only his foolhardy courage can get him out of. Han is well traveled, and claims to have been from one side of the galaxy to the other.

For a time, Solo didn't believe in the Force, attributing it to simple luck. Han is pragmatic, some would say mercenary, and his personality often conflicts with Leia's idealism. Despite such conflicts (or perhaps because of them) the two eventually fell in love.

EXPANDED UNIVERSE

There is much rumor, speculation, and all-out falsehoods in records of Solo's past. He is the subject of several exploitative holofilms, false documentaries, and at least two bogus autobiographies. According to one account, Han Solo was abandoned by his parents who were rogue travelers and was raised by Wookiees from age seven to twelve.

In truth, Han spent most of his childhood in the service of Garris Shrike, the leader of a trading clan that used abandoned street urchins as beggars and petty thieves. Solo grew up on Shrike's ship, the Trader's Luck, often returning to Corellia for stopovers. Solo was mostly raised by a kindly female Wookiee named Dewlanna, who taught Han compassion as well as the Wookiee language.

Solo longed to learn more about his parents, but Shrike kept all information from him. The only tie to his family Han found was an unscrupulous cousin named Thrackan Sal-Solo, a cruel bully that Solo wanted little to do with.

Solo earned his keep for Shrike in a variety of unsavory jobs in his youth. He once joined a pirate group operated by cutthroats Lemo and Sanda. Solo made a name for himself racing dangerous repulsorlift swoops professionally and on the independent circuit. In these days, Solo made a blood enemy out of a young Corellian swoop jockey named Dengar.

At 19, Solo ran away from Shrike's group of brigands and began working for the Hutts. At the Hutt spice processing center on the paradise world of Ylesia, Solo fell in love with an enslaved worker named Bria Tharen. Solo rescued Tharen, and destroyed much of the Ylesian operation. The fact that Solo was using an alias at the time -- Vyyk Drago -- spared him the ire of the enraged Hutts.

Solo eventually joined the Imperial Academy, to better himself and his piloting skills. Solo's mentor during his Academy days was Badure, or "Trooper" as he was known. During a training drill, Han performed a daring landing maneuver with an aged U-33 transport that earned him the nickname "Slick." Sometime during his military career Han Solo earned the right to wear the Corellian Bloodstripe.

Despite promising skills, Solo was drummed out of the service when he defied orders and rescued a Wookiee slave, Chewbacca. Solo freed Chewbacca from his captors, and from that day on Chewbacca served as Han's protector and friend.

His military career in shambles, Solo returned to the fringe, joining a smuggling gang run by Roa. It was here that Solo had his first Kessel Run. He traveled with such notorious fringers as Shug Ninx, Mako Spince, Salla Zend, Katya M'Buele, Silver Fyre, Rik Duel and Lando Calrissian.

After winning the Millennium Falcon from Calrissian, Solo and Chewie worked in the Corporate Sector for some time, for crime-bosses like Big Bunji and Ploovo Two-For-One. It was on these assignments that Han often tangled with the Corporate Sector Authority. Han was responsible for destroying the secret Authority prison installation, Star's End, as well as helping expose a slave trade ring that extended to some very prominent Authority execs. Han then joined Badure on an ill-fated search for the lost treasure of Xim the Despot. During this search, Han sustained a knife injury that resulted in the signature scar on his chin.

After a falling out with many of his fellow smugglers, Solo was left stuck on Tatooine with a hefty debt and hunters on his tail. It was then that he took on the charter to Alderaan that resulted in him being inextricably tangled with the Rebellion.

After the Death Star crisis, Han and Chewbacca left the Rebel base at Yavin to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt. En route to Tatooine, the Millennium Falcon was waylaid by a pirate force commanded by Crimson Jack. The pirate robbed Solo of his reward money, leaving the two spacers destitute. The pair returned to the Rebel fold, having few options left. During the Alliance's evacuation of the Yavin Base, Solo and Chewbacca helped the Alliance obtain a power gem from the space pirate Raskar. This power gem was instrumental in getting past the Imperial blockade of Yavin.

Solo had some trouble adjusting to life after the Battle of Endor. He nonetheless aided the fledgling Alliance of Free Planets by visiting worlds, petitioning them for membership in the Galactic Congress, an important meeting that would determine the future of galactic government. As the New Republic emerged, Solo continued to be an important contact in the smuggler community, even though many had thought he had gone "respectable" and was no longer one of them.

Solo finally found time to openly express his love for Princess Leia. When Prince Isolder of Hapes appeared on Coruscant, proposing marriage to Leia to better both their governments, Solo sprang into action in typically reckless style. He eloped -- some would say absconded -- with Leia to the planet Dathomir, a world he won in an amazing game of sabacc. Proving his love for her, Han and Leia were wed shortly thereafter, and the couple started a family that has since grown to three children, all powerful in the Force: the twins Jaina and Jacen and the younger Anakin.

For a man born without one, family has become a growing concern for Solo. Many times his children have been threatened by enemies seeking to threaten him or Leia, or those looking to kidnap the Force-strong youngsters. Time and again, Solo and his allies have managed to defeat these threats, but each time, the pain of losing a loved one became all too real. Now that his children have grown capable of defending themselves, Solo for a time thought his family was safe. He couldn't have been more wrong.

During the initial Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, many lives were lost to the depredations of these sinister aliens. Using bizarre organic gravity well projectors called dovin basals, the Yuuzhan Vong dragged the moon orbiting Sernpidal down to its surface. While Han and Chewbacca helped evacuate the populace, Solo was forced to leave his oldest friend behind. Chewbacca died when the moon collided with the planet, and Solo held his son, Anakin, who was piloting the Falcon at the time, responsible.

With the shock of losing Chewbacca hanging over his head, Solo spiraled into depression and alcoholism. He returned to his fringer ways, leaving his family life behind. He eventually discovered that he could not run away from his loss, or from his loved ones. He is slowly making amends with his family, but with the galaxy tearing itself apart due to this new alien menace, it is all the more difficult.