Organization: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Monday, 13 Apr 1992 23:17:28 EST
From: SCOLENO <ACPS0685@RyeVm.Ryerson.Ca>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Star Wars canon stuff. Stop it please
 <1992Apr12.101810.24285@en.ecn.purdue.edu> <92103.213518EAO102@psuvm.psu.edu>
 <SS.92Apr13073107@sparkplug.WPI.EDU>


>>    Hey guys, I have a question that's been bothering me for many years.
>> Why didn't Han Solo use a lightsaber.  He was a jedi knight after all.

>Well everyone has been flaming this guy, but I'd like to know his
>reason for asking this question, or did he just post it on purpose to
>start a flame war. I any case I'd like to point out that in the book
>"The Art of Star Wars" there are early Han Solo sketches in there, that
>show Han holding a light saber. I am speculating that Lucas's original
>idea was to have the light saber as the main weapon in the Star Wars
>universe to give it a more Swashbuckler kind of feel. Kind of like in
>Ice Pirates (great movie).

Actually the idea of Han Solo being a Jedi isn't a new one.  I don't
know where the original poster got his, but I remember there was a
Starlog (or maybe Fantastic Films) contest a year or so before ROTJ came
out which asked readers to send in their ideas about what they
THOUGHT would happen in the next film.  Now before I get flamed to
death, please note, this is definitely NOT canon! So all of you
canon-obsessed purists can just junk the rest of this post! :-)

Anyhow one of the most interesting speculations, IMHO, had
Han Solo being *THE OTHER*.  The person's reasoning was that
Han was an illegitimate son of Vader's, and Luke's half-brother.
Han never knew who his parents were, of course (Lucas once said
something about Han being abandoned by space gypsies as a child...
don't remember where I read it though).
And although Han, already in his late 20's or early 30's, would be too old to
become a Jedi, his children might be strongly gifted with the Force.
Yoda said there was another HOPE, not another JEDI. (I'm pretty sure this
last line is an exact quote from the article).

I know this has no relevance to the SW world since Lucas' story
turned out to be different, but I kind of liked this plotline.  It seemed to
avoid a lot of stuff, like the Luke-Leia-Han triangle which turned
out to be a bit weird in retrospect, once Luke and Leia were revealed
as brother and sister.

They didn't have to be twins.  Han's past was appropriately
shady, as opposed to Leia's which was very public
and exposed (she had direct dealings with Vader!).  And Han was an
excellent pilot, very intuitive, a good marksman, etc... all of these
could be traits indicating the Force, which he never had the
opportunity to develop.  Having Han and Luke be brothers would make
the Han/Leia/Luke triangle infinitely more interesting.  Han and Luke
could remain "rivals" in this area even after ROTJ, with Leia choosing
Han over Luke (and hey, who could blame her!) and Luke choosing
to live his life in total devotion to the Force (as perhaps Ben did?).

I wish I could recall the magazine it came from.  Although just speculation,
some if the ideas made for interesting reading.  When ROTJ came out, I was
actually a bit disappointed that Han and Luke didn't turn out to be
brothers.

---------------------- "FLY  CASUAL!" --------------------------------
Sylvie Coleno
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Canada
ACPS0685@RyeVm.Ryerson.CA
----------------------------------------------------------------------