Rescue of Han Solo/Legends

The Rescue of Han Solo was the campaign orchestrated by Luke Skywalker to rescue his friend, Han Solo, from Jabba the Hutt and free him from his Carbonite imprisonment. The first phase of the campaign, the Mission to Jabba's Palace, ended with the capture of Skywalker and most of his friends. They then improvised an escape in the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon. A third incident took place in space as members of Jabba's criminal empire attempted to run an imperial blockade of the planet Tatooine, a diversion which allowed the Rebels to escape the planet.
==The campaign==
Following the Battle over Coruscant, Luke Skywalker, along with Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca organized a plan to rescue Han Solo from the Hutt crime lord, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. The plan entailed several phases of infiltration of the palace. The Galactic Empire, knowing that Skywalker or other Rebels might attempt to stage such a rescue, positioned a battle group in orbit around Tatooine to capture any incoming Rebels. The group contained more than one Star Destroyer in addition to other starships. The blockade made it impossible for the Rebel Alliance to consider freeing Solo with a direct attack; therefore Skywalker had to form a plan to enter the palace in secret.
===Infiltration of Jabba's palace===
The first phase had Lando infiltrate Jabba's Palace, disguised as the guard Tamtel Skreej, as a contingency should anything go wrong. The second phase involved sending R2-D2 and C-3PO to the palace to peacefully offer Jabba the opportunity to release Han, with the droids themselves as a gift. When this failed, phase three involved Leia, posing as the bounty hunter Boushh, delivering a supposedly-captured Chewbacca to Jabba for a bounty. Leia would have then freed Han in the night, released Chewbacca and escaped with them and Lando. When Jabba saw through the attempted rescue and captured all three (excluding Lando, who remained in disguise), they were forced to move to the final phase. Luke Skywalker entered the palace and, by means of several Force techniques made his way to Jabba's throne room. He underestimated Jabba however and, after killing Jabba's pet rancor, wound up captured and sentenced to death, along with Han and Chewbacca.
===Trip to the Pit of Carkoon===
After being condemned to death in the gullet of the sarlacc, Luke, Han and Chewbacca were taken to the Pit of Carkoon in the Dune Sea. They were transported on a desert skiff while Jabba and his minions traveled on Khetanna, Jabba's luxury sail barge. Once there, Luke was able to free himself with the help of R2-D2, and after a pitched struggle that saw the destruction of Jabba and his criminal empire, as well as the supposed demise of Boba Fett, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Lando, and the droids escaped unharmed.The Mandalorian Armor
===Confrontation over Tatooine===
To cover the Rebels' escape, R2-D2 had earlier sliced into the data network in Jabba's palace to make it appear that Imperial Death warrants had been issued for Jabba's key surviving lieutenants. When members of Jabba's criminal empire saw this after their boss's death, they attempted to flee the planet en masse. A considerable flotilla of ships took off ready to blast their way past the Imperial blockade. The Imperial battle group intercepted the escaping ships, and a firefight erupted. This was enough to distract the Imperials as the Millennium Falcoln and Luke Skywalker's X-wing fighter left the atmosphere to make their way back to the Rebel Fleet.
==Behind the scenes==
The Rescue of Han Solo first appeared in the beginning of the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the final installment of the Star Wars original trilogy. Though popularly assumed that George Lucas thought up the opening, it was, in reality, the idea of writer and director Richard Marquand and Lawrence Kasdan. The fact was eventually revealed via transcripts of meetings from The Making of Return of the Jedi.The Making of Return of the Jedi The presence of the Imperial fleet, along with their battle against Jabba's fleeing minions, was added by Brian Daley for the Return of the Jedi radio drama.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
*LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Coloring Book (Luke Skywalker) 
*Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Coloring Book (Max Rebo) 
*Star Wars Word Puzzles
*Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Coloring Book (1984) 
*Heir to the Empire Sourcebook
*Star Wars Technical Journal of the Planet Tatooine
*The Last Command Sourcebook
*Star Wars Technical Journal
*Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi, Second Edition
*The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
*The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
*Return of the Jedi: The National Public Radio Dramatization
*Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook, Special Edition
*The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
*The Essential Chronology
*The New Essential Chronology
*
==Notes and references==
Category:Events of the Galactic Civil War
Category:Missions during the Imperial Era
Category:Missions to Tatooine
Category:Rescue missions