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The Main Heroes

    As a group 

The core group of Rebel heroes and main protagonists of the Original Trilogy.


  • Action Heroes: Obviously, Luke is a Jedi and Han is a smuggler. Even Leia, who is mostly a politician, is not afraid to grab a blaster.
  • Experienced Protagonist: In the Sequel Trilogy, obviously.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Of a sort; Luke and Leia seem to get along relatively quickly, but neither of them take to Han right away - a sentiment he fully returns. Their escape from the first Death Star is what helps bring them together, their combined efforts to see to its destruction turn them into the Power Trio we know and love now.
  • Happy Ending Override: The backstory and plot of The Force Awakens reveal that they ended up failing in their primary goals following the defeat of the Empire, with Ben Solo's betrayal of Luke and destruction of his Jedi disciples ruining all of their lives. This makes them regress as people. Han becomes a smuggler again, Luke becomes a hermit, and Leia goes back to being a Rebel Leader. That said, Bloodline reveals that they did experience over twenty years of relative peace following the defeat of the Empire. It was only following the corruption of the New Republic and Ben Solo's betrayal that everything went to hell again.
  • Heartbroken Badass: The power trio in the Original Trilogy all turned into this.
    • Han and Leia had a family in the 30 years that have passed, but they suffered a great loss that utterly broke them. This turns out to be Kylo Ren, actually Ben Solo, turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Thus, their relationship (already rocky, judging by their conversation before Han leaves for the Starkiller Base) completely imploded.
    • Luke Skywalker became one of these when his new Jedi Order was betrayed from within and destroyed by the Knights of Ren. Led by his nephew and failed student, no less.
  • Legendary in the Sequel: Han Solo is said by Finn to be a war hero for his actions in the Original Trilogy, Luke Skywalker is regarded as a myth, and it's implied that Leia has a comparable level of fame.
  • Living Legend: They are highly revered in the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Older and Wiser: They have definitely grown by the time of the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Power Trio: The core of the team is Luke's optimism, Han's cynicism, and Leia's realism.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The story starts with a farm boy and an old hermit coming into the possession of two hapless droids, recruiting an ace pilot smuggler and his right hand Sasquatch, so they can rescue a princess. The princess then recruits all of them as officers in the Rebel Alliance, the farm boy becomes Kung-Fu Jesus, and they evolve into a Badass Crew.
  • Sensitive Guyand Manly Man: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
  • The Team: Aside from R2 and 3PO being The Dividual, they are one of the most recognizable Five Man Bands, and the Trope Image for most of them. Luke is the archetypal Hero, who later becomes The Leader after learning the ways of the Force. Han is The Lancer as his foil and the cynical ace pilot. Leia is The Heart as the balance between her Love Interest Han and twin brother Luke and an Action Girl princess. Chewy is The Big Guy, a Genius Bruiser mechanic, and towering furry beast. C-3PO is a tall and skinny walking encyclopedia, and his counterpart R2-D2 is a short and stubby Gadgeteer Genius, making for a pair of Robot Buddy who are The Smart Guy. Lando is Han's old friend, initially untrustworthy, but later proves his loyalty to the team and becomes the Sixth Ranger.
  • True Companions: The Heroes of Yavin: Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids become as close as a family, with Lando joining in Return of the Jedi, which is especially true when Han and Leia actually become a family.

    Luke Skywalker 

Luke Skywalker

    Leia Organa 

Leia Organa

Han Solo

Species: Human

Homeworld: Corellia

Portrayed by: Harrison Ford (Episodes IV — VII, IX), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Mike Massa (stunt double in The Force Awakens)
Voiced by: John Armstrong (Battlefront II), AJ LoCascio (Forces of Destiny, young), Kiff Vanden Heuvel (Forces of Destiny, old) Foreign VAs 


    Tropes from the Solo Era 

Corporal Han Solo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solo_han_sticker.png
"I'm gonna be a pilot. Best in the galaxy."

"Look, I came up running scams on the streets of Corellia. I was boosting AV-21s when I was ten."

An orphan from the planet Corellia who sought to escape his hopeless homeworld at any cost. Initially hoping to become a pilot in the Imperial starfleet, his rebellious attitude got him reassigned to the front lines as an infantryman. Looking for a purpose, he deserted from the ranks of the Empire and joined Tobias Beckett's ragtag crew of criminals in service of the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Along the way, he forged a friendship with a Wookiee slave named Chewbacca and learned some harsh life lessons.


  • Ace Pilot: Apparently, it didn't take him very long to become a pretty damn good pilot.
  • Ambiguously Absent Parent: He was an orphan living on the streets by the time he was ten years old. However, while Han mentions his a father a handful of times in Solo and Most Wanted, with the implication being that he died, he never mentions his mother, so we can only assume she's also dead or was otherwise absent from her son's life.
  • Anonymous Benefactor: Unbeknownst to him, that coaxium he stole from Kessel and gave to Enfys Nest was the original capital used to fund the Rebel Cells, which eventually came together to form the Rebel Alliance and so on and so forth.
  • Appropriated Appellation: The surname "Solo" was given to him by an Imperial recruiter, mainly so that they could fill out his paperwork. He took the name in stride, and used it for the rest of his life.
  • The Artful Dodger: He claims to have been pulling scams on the streets and stealing landspeeders since the age of ten. And he had to pick pockets and steal stuff and bring it to Lady Proxima, like the other scrumrats.
  • Backup Bluff: When confronted by a band of marauders, he tries to bluff them by saying there are thirty armed men aboard the Falcon who will come running at his call. The Falcon promptly takes off.
  • Bad Liar: Lady Proxima doesn't buy his bluff about a rock being a thermal detonator. Ditto with his talk to Enfys Nest about 30 men being in the Falcon ready to attack, when Lando just flies away with it.
  • Bizarre Gambling Winnings: He famously won the Millenium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of sabacc.
  • Brandishment Bluff: Early in the film, he pretends a rock he's holding is a thermal detonator and makes a clicking sound with his mouth to mimic it being armed. Lady Proxima doesn't fall for it, mostly being baffled that he keeps on blatantly lying even when she calls him out.
  • Break the Cutie: Young Han is pretty dorky at times, but it's clear by the end that the events of Solo have completely shattered his upbeat idealism.
  • Brutal Honesty: From what we can see of his stint in the infantry, there's a reason he got kicked out of the Academy.
  • Cannon Fodder: After being kicked out of the Flight Academy, he became a trooper — cannon fodder for the Empire's conquests.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: He's had one with Qi'ra on Corellia. He ultimately ends up being an Unlucky Childhood Friend.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: He's been an orphan for quite some time when Solo starts.
  • Cool Starship: He got to pilot the Millennium Falcon for the first time about ten years before the Battle of Yavin, and eventually won it at Sabacc.
  • Cradling Your Kill: Downplayed. After fatally shooting Beckett, Han rushes to his side and holds his hand as he dies.
  • Cunning Linguist: He learned to speak Shyriiwook (the Wookiee language) even before meeting Chewbacca. This saves his butt when they first meet and earns him a friend for life.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Being betrayed by Beckett then abandoned by Qi'ra is what breaks his idealism. His initial interest in helping Enfys Nest is gone when she extends an offer for him to join, and he starts swaggering like a real scoundrel. Alden Ehrenreich even sounds more like the Han of the original trilogy in the ending.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His parents both died when he was quite young (and he implies that even then, he and his father were never close), he's lived on the crime-riddled streets of Coronet City from around the age of ten and is forced to steal stuff for the abusive Lady Proxima to survive...and this is before the events of the movie, all of which finally culminates into a Cynicism Catalyst for him.
  • Dating Catwoman: His relationship with Qi'ra is practically this. He seems to believe they can still be together and tries to talk her into leaving Crimson Dawn to start a new life with him. Unfortunately, Qi'ra decides she'd prefer to take Vos's place and abandons Han in the end...after first betraying him, then siding with him again as it suits her. He's clearly devastated by it, though he tries to hide it.
  • Defector from Decadence: After enlisting with the Empire in the hopes of bettering his life and doing good, he finds that the supposed glory of the Empire is a load of hogwash, and takes the first opportunity he can to desert.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: In the end Qi'ra ditches him to become the new head of the Crimson Dawn. Although, everyone knew it was coming.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Is a bit of one to Qi'ra when they're reunited, seemingly oblivious to (or deliberately in denial over) the fact she prioritizes her position as Vos's lieutenant above her affections for him and is not quite the same person he knew on Corellia.
  • Dork Knight: As opposed to the grimmer, snarkier version of Han we know from the original trilogy, this Han is a much more friendly, up-beat, puppy-dog of a man. He still snarks a bit, but more good naturedly.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: He steals and wears a Pyke Syndicate uniform in the mines of Kessel to steal unrefined coaxium.
  • Dub Name Change: In the Italian dub of the movies, he's renamed to Ian Solo.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: His reaction to being betrayed by Beckett and especially being abandoned by Qi'ra.
  • The First Cut Is the Deepest: It's implied that the way his relationship with Qi'ra ends contributed to him becoming a lot more cynical.
  • From Camouflage to Criminal: Technically, Han went from criminal to camouflage and then back to criminal again. He starts out as a street thief who enlists in the Imperial Navy and presumably got some training and experience in flying starships there, but gets booted out and is forced to serve as an infantryman (which may be where he learned how to fire a blaster, if nothing else). He deserts and ends up using his Ace Piloting skills to become a smuggler. And then, in the original trilogy he becomes a soldier yet again, though this time on the side of the Rebellion.
  • The Gambler: He can hold his own very well at Sabacc, when others don't cheat that is.
  • Generation Xerox: Not to the same extent of the Skywalkers, but he mentions that he and his father were never really close before he died. Han himself would go on to have a very difficult relationship with his own son.
  • The Glomp: His reaction to meeting Qi'ra again after three years apart, especially considering the last time he saw her she'd been arrested.
  • Guile Hero: Although he's fundamentally a good person, he readily and frequently uses deception, charm and thievery to achieve his goals or get out of trouble (whether or not this is actually successful is another story...)
  • I Just Want to Be Free: One of his driving motivations for escaping from Corellia and the Empire and getting his own ship is so he can live life on his own terms, not having to bow and scrape to jerks who want to exploit or abuse him for their own ends. This desire for freedom persisted his whole life; in the novelization of The Last Jedi, Leia even brings it up during her eulogy for him:
    "Han fancied himself a scoundrel" [...] "But he wasn't. He loved freedom — for himself, certainly, but for everybody else in the galaxy, too. And time after time, he was willing to fight for that freedom. He didn't want to know the odds in that fight — because he'd already made up his mind that he'd prevail. And time after time, somehow, he did."
  • I Just Want to Be Special: He enlisted in the Imperial Starfleet to escape from Corellia, but also as a way to become "the best pilot in the galaxy".
  • In Love with the Gangster's Girl: Played with. Han discovers his old girlfriend Qi'ra, whom he still loves, is now the right-hand woman of powerful gangster Dryden Vos, with both of them making it pretty clear Vos won't let her go without a fight. It's not made explicit that there's a romantic/sexual relationship between them, though some of Vos' behaviour towards Qi'ra indicates he doesn't just think of her as his employee. Han being Han, he ignores everyone's warnings to pursue Qi'ra anyway, offering to take her away from Crimson Dawn to begin a new life. It doesn't end well.
  • I Will Find You: He promises Qi'ra he'll come back to Corellia for her when they're separated and his main goal in the first act is to get money for a ship so he can be reunited with her. It's subverted, however, as it turns out Qi'ra managed to make her own way off of Corellia...by joining the Crimson Dawn syndicate. They coincidentally meet aboard the First Light when Han goes to meet Dryden Vos about a job.
  • Jaded Washout: He hoped to "make a difference" at the Imperial Flight Academy, but was kicked out for "having a mind of [his] own" and became an Imperial trooper, then turned to crime.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: He's firmly wearing a pair by the end of Solo due to the sheer amount of betrayal, trauma and manipulation he's gone through. He doesn't take them off until well over a decade later.
  • Justified Criminal: At the beginning of Solo, he initially gets into the smuggling business partly so he can return to Corellia to save his girlfriend from a life of poverty and abuse.
  • A Lesson Learned Too Well: Beckett's lesson about assuming everyone will betray him. Han reluctantly shoots Beckett mid-sentence after he betrays him, knowing he would just try to kill him – which a dying Beckett confirms. Subsequently, Han also turns into a cynical jerk who cares mostly about money; it takes him over a decade to finally learn to trust other people (besides Chewie) and to believe in something more than his next paycheck.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: While enlisting in the Imperial military on Corellia, Han is asked to give his name and simply says "Han", claiming that he's never had a surname. Since he's by himself, the recruitment officer improvises with Han "Solo".
  • Love Makes You Dumb: He is either naively ignorant or in flat-out denial about how long of a list of atrocities Qi'ra would have had to commit in order to get as far as she did in the Crimson Dawn syndicate.
  • Loving a Shadow: Downplayed in regards to Qi'ra. Han's feelings for her are genuine, but he fails to realize that she isn't the same girl he knew on Corellia after everything that has happened to her. He only starts to accept this near the end of the film and he still thinks they can be together; it's not until Qi'ra flies off without him – after promising she'd be right behind him – that it truly sinks in that it's over between them.
  • A Man Is Always Eager: Played for Laughs. While talking with Qi'ra aboard the Falcon, she asks him what they could do and he quickly suggests the nearby bed.
  • Morality Pet: To Qi'ra. Though she's usually quite ruthless and ambitious and betrays Han and abandons him to serve as the new head of the Crimson Dawn syndicate, she clearly still has feelings for him, saves him from Dryden Vos and also takes the time to pin Vos's death solely on Tobias Beckett, omitting Han's involvement and allowing him to escape unscathed.
  • My Greatest Failure: He initially regards being forced to leave Qi'ra on Corellia as this. For three years, his driving motivation beyond basic survival is get money and a ship to come back for her; even when he discovers she made it off of Corellia by herself, he reassures her he was coming back for her and starts talking about how he wishes he'd done things differently, until she cuts him off by saying he'd have been killed if he stayed and that she has no hard feelings over it.
  • New Meat: After being expelled of the Imperial Flight Academy, Han is reassigned as a trooper in the Imperial ground military. Suffice to say, such a life doesn't suit him one bit, given how disturbed and bumbling he is on the battlefield.
  • Noodle Incident: Whatever it was that Han did during the 3-years Time Skip to get himself kicked out of the Naval Academy at Carida and reassigned to the Imperial Army. When asked he only says that it involved him "having a mind of [his] own". A deleted scene explains that he disobeyed his superiors in order to save his wingman, crashing his TIE in the process.
  • Official Couple: With Qi'ra at the beginning of Solo. They get back together in the middle of the film, but we know it won't last.
  • The One Who Made It Out: He manages to escape from his crappy life on Corellia and eventually earn his freedom by bribing his way past a check-point (more or less), joining the Imperial Army and then deserting to become a smuggler. He attempted to take his girlfriend Qi'ra with him, but she was unfortunately captured.
  • Only Friend: He's the only true friend Qi'ra has (as well as being her love interest), both on Corellia and with the Crimson Dawn. Unfortunately, Qi'ra feels she no longer has any room in her life for love and friendship.
  • Only One Name: Growing up as an orphan, he never had a surname, simply going by "Han". He started going by "Solo" after an Imperial recruiter gave it to him in order to complete his paperwork.
  • Outlaw Couple: With Qi'ra on Corellia, with the two mostly carrying out scams and petty thievery for the White Worms and eventually making a break for it with stolen coaxium. They also briefly become this again for the coaxium heist on Kessel.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: After the Noodle Incident that got him kicked out of the Naval Flight Academy, he was reassigned to the Imperial Army as an infantryman on the hellish battlefield of Mimban.
  • Rebellious Spirit: Even as a scrumrat without a credit to his name, Han really doesn't like being told what to do, especially by assholes like Lady Proxima, his commanding officer and Vos. He only listens to Beckett because the man earns his respect and knows what he's doing, and is snarky and defiant to almost everyone else in a position of authority, also preferring to do things his own way. It's implied this is part of the reason he got booted from the Imperial Naval Academy.
  • Saved by Canon: Justified, seeing as Solo is his origin story.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender-flipped version; he's the upbeat, headstrong Energetic Guy to the sharp-witted and pragmatic Qi'ra's Savvy Girl.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • He did everything he could to escape his scrumrat life on Corellia, not wanting to be preyed on by Lady Proxima anymore.
    • The life of an Imperial trooper didn't appeal to him much more and he deserted at the first chance he got.
  • The Social Expert: Han can't lie to save his life (something that will remain true through the original and sequel trilogies), but when he's being honest and sincere, he can win people over. Witness how he won over Chewie, hatched an escape plan on the fly, and then convinces him to run to the airfield to escape on Beckett's ship.
  • Starcrossed Lovers: With Qi'ra. When they try to escape from Corellia together, she is captured and urges him to flee, and they only meet again by chance three years later, by which point Qi'ra is sworn into the service of Dryden Vos and can't just run off with Han without endangering them both. By the time they could actually be together due to Qi'ra killing Vos, she ends up choosing Crimson Dawn over Han and flies away without him.
  • Street Urchin: Lived in the streets since at least the age of ten. Street urchins of Corellia are called "scrumrats".
  • Sympathy for the Devil: For Tobias Beckett, his mentor and the closest thing he has to a father figure, even after he betrays him. Han is not happy that he has to kill him and rushes to comfort him in his dying moments, greatly saddened that he was forced to kill a man he considered his mentor, partner and friend.
  • Time-Shifted Actor: Harrison Ford being evidently too old to play a younger version of Han, the character is played by Alden Ehrenreich. Interestingly, Ehrenreich's and Donald Glover's respective ages are consistent with the respective ages of Ford and Billy Dee Williams.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Han's DL-44 pistol came from his mentor and father-figure Tobias Beckett, despite the fact that he betrayed him.
  • Took a Level in Cynic: Han is initially what Luke is when he meets him ten years later. He is an ambitious young man who wishes to leave his home planet with his girlfriend for a brighter future. While he succeeds in leaving the planet, he is separated from Qi'ra and doesn't meet her again until three years later. While he kept his feelings for her all these years, it is clear that Qi'ra has somewhat moved on with her life and she ultimately leaves him in order to take over Crimson Dawn. Along with being abandoned by Lando and betrayed by Beckett, Han becomes the cynical, snarky Only in It for the Money man we are introuduced to in A New Hope.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: At the start of the film, Han is still rather cocky and has few moral compunctions about stealing and lying to get by, but he's also quite a friendly and idealistic guy, who will go out of his way to help people - this is particularly noticeable when he chooses to give the coaxium to the Cloud Riders after learning what the Crimson Dawn did to them, even though this is going to seriously piss off Dryden Vos and put a target on Han's back. His comments on Mimban also show he doesn't agree with the Empire's values and sympathises with the rebels. However, by the end of Solo, his experiences have caused him to harden; he becomes increasingly selfish, apathetic and unscrupulous, well on his way to resembling his older self in A New Hope, though as Qi'ra points out, he's actually still a good person deep down
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Qi'ra tells him she thinks he's really "one of the good guys" deep down, despite his insistence that he's not.
  • Young Gun: Comes off as this in Solo; he's youthful and inexperienced, but shows talent with a blaster, and is taken in by veteran gunslinger Tobias Beckett, who at one point warns him that if he comes with him he's in this job for life. After being betrayed by Beckett and realising he intends to kill him, Han knows he can't beat him in a fair fight and so shoots him down mid-sentence before he can even draw. Beckett is actually proud of him for finally taking his advice.

    Tropes from the Original Trilogy Era 

General Han Solo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/han_cantina.png
"Never tell me the odds."

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

By the time of the all-out war between the Empire and the Rebels, Han has become an experienced smuggler and quite the scoundrel, smuggling goods for Jabba the Hutt for a couple of years. He and Chewbacca were hired by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker on Tatooine to provide them transport to Alderaan on the Millennium Falcon, but those plans soon went awry. Initially only aiding the Rebellion to pay off his debt to Jabba, Han shelved much of his cynicism, proved his heroism and became a Rebel leader.


  • '70s Hair: Han has long seventies-style hair typical of the era of the Original Trilogy's production.
  • Ace Pilot: Han's skills as a pilot are so honed that he was able to fly through an asteroid belt without getting himself killed.
  • Adaptational Self-Defense: In the original cut of A New Hope, he shot Greedo before Greedo could kill him; in later versions of the movie, he fires a split-second after Greedo does, and Greedo proves himself to be a lousy shot. To add further confusion, a revised Special Edition has them shoot at almost exactly the same time, leaving it ambiguous who shot first.
  • Age-Gap Romance: With Leia Organa. According to the official timeline, Han was born c.32 BBY, meaning he is around thirty-two when he first meets Leia, who is just nineteen, making for a gap of thirteen years. However, while Han is clearly attracted to her, they don't actually get together until three to four years later, when he's about thirty-five/thirty-six and she's about twenty-two/twenty-three.
  • Age Lift: A slight example. In Legends, Han was born in 29 BBY, making him 29-33 years old in the Original Trilogy. In Canon, he's aged up three years; he was born c. 32 BBY, making him 32-36 years old in the Original Trilogy.
  • Amazon Chaser: Seems to be one in regards to Leia; after she snatches Luke's blaster, shoots a hole in the garbage disposal panelling to make an escape and simultaneously holds off several Stormtroopers, he remarks:
  • And I Must Scream: He gets frozen in carbonite at the end of Empire Strikes Back, by the time they find him in Return Of The Jedi, he's been frozen for a year and has been conscious the entire time. How he isn't Driven to Madness is anyone's guess.
    • Him being conscious whilst frozen in carbonite is dubious, since it was said so in a deleted scene and a non-canon novelization of the movie. A writer could easily come along and say that he was comatose whilst in carbonite.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: His absolute glee at Luke's destruction of the Death Star and its crew at the end of the Battle of Yavin: "Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!"
  • Anti-Hero: Han starts out as an Unscrupulous Hero in A New Hope. He eventually becomes a Knight in Sour Armor.
  • Asteroid Thicket: See Ace Pilot. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han, deprived of his hyperdrive, has to slalom through densely packed asteroids to evade an Imperial fleet.
  • Audience Surrogate: While Luke Skywalker was intended to be this too, part of the reason for Han Solo's popularity was that he actually reflected the average mindset of the '70s moviegoer better than Luke did. Unlike the other Star Wars characters who were genre archetypes from fantasy, science-fiction, and war movies, Han looked and sounded like an average '70s American in Space. Han's mocking and irreverent attitude to the Jedi and the Force ("hokey ancient religion") also reflected the bemusement felt by most of the older and non-geeky audiences who didn't share Lucas' Nostalgia Filter for the old serials or his esoteric concepts and his Character Development from neutral to rebel was intended as a vehicle by Lucas for winning over the naysayers.
  • Badass in Distress: Is rescued by Luke and his companions after being frozen in carbonite and mounted in Jabba's palace.
  • Badass Longcoat: During the mission to the Forest Moon of Endor, Han wears a long coat camouflaged to blend into the forest environment.
  • Badass Normal: A skilled pilot and gunslinger fighting alongside a Magic Knight with telekinesis and other nifty abilities and an alien who can effortlessly toss a man with one arm. Also one of the few characters to punk Vader, shooting down one of his wingmen and causing the other to crash into his TIE.
  • Bash Brothers: With Luke. They have brotherly relationship and always watch each other's backs. Plus, they become Best Friends-in-Law after Han marries Leia.
  • Battle Couple: With Leia in Return of the Jedi; although they'd fought together before and clearly had feelings for each other, it wasn't until the last film that they officially got together.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Leia. Dear God with Leia. This is especially the case in The Empire Strikes Back; they spend half their time arguing and snarking to cover up their feelings - Han outright accuses Leia of being angry with him because she wants him to stay with her. In The Force Awakens, it's indicated this continued even after they got married.
  • Best Friends-in-Law: Eventually with Luke; they were already best friends when he marries Luke's sister Leia (although the three of them only discovered Luke and Leia were siblings late in the trilogy).
  • Big Brother Instinct: Develops one towards Luke. Despite always calling him "kid" and having doubts about Luke's plans, Han becomes fond of Luke early on and often goes out of his way to protect or rescue him. In The Empire Strikes Back, he risks his own life by going out into dangerously low temperatures to find Luke after he doesn't return to the rebel base.
  • Big Damn Heroes: A classic one towards the end of A New Hope. Han swoops in and shoots at Darth Vader just before Vader is able to gun Luke down.
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: The little guy to Chewbacca's big guy. At around six feet, Han is slightly on the tall side for a human — but Chewie dwarfs him at seven and a half feet.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: Han apparently speaks (or at least understands) a variety of languages, including Huttese, Rodian, and Shyriiwook.
  • Breakout Character: Han is generally more popular than Luke is, which is no small feat. It gets to the point that he becomes the only Original Trilogy cast member to receive a major role in The Force Awakens, receiving top billing while Leia is the Supporting Leader and Luke only has a cameo at the end. He eventually got to star in his very own standalone movie too.
  • Bromantic Foil: With Luke. Han is a cynical mercenary, while Luke is an idealistic farm boy.
  • Butt-Monkey: He does get some Amusing Injuries from time to time, especially in The Empire Strikes Back when the toolbox falls on his head.
  • The Captain: Of the Millennium Falcon.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid: Luke and Han come to odds over the attack on the Death Star. Luke is the young idealist, ready to die for a cause. Han is the old cynic who sees it as suicide. When Han saves Luke from Darth Vader at the last minute he grows as a character, finding his loyalty to his Fire-Forged Friend is important enough to risk his life for.
  • Character Development: He goes from a cynical smuggler with a focus solely on money to fighting for a cause and becoming one of the Rebellion's pivotal members. By the time of The Force Awakens, he ends up being the one who assures Rey and Finn that the Jedi and the Force are real, a far cry from his introduction where he brushes off those things as hokey religions and cheap tricks.
  • Conscience Makes You Go Back: At the end of A New Hope, but there are a couple of other examples.
  • Cool Starship: The Millennium Falcon.
  • Combat Pragmatist: While not a Jedi, he is not completely incompetent without his blaster. In Return of the Jedi, he was able to take out a Scout Trooper with his bare hands.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: Han becomes noticeably angry when Leia kisses Luke in front of him out of spite and cuts right in between her and Lando when the latter begins to flirt with the former.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Against Vader on Cloud City. Han instantly draws his blaster and fires, but Vader easily repels the blaster shots and levitates the blaster away in the span of three seconds. He only survived because Vader needed him as bait for Luke.
  • The Cynic: Initially in A New Hope contrast to Luke's Wide-Eyed Idealist. He lost a great deal of it when joining the Rebellion.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The original (and most famous) one in the Star Wars franchise. He's got so much sarcasm in him that even his love confession to Leia is sort of a snark.
  • Distressed Dude: The beginning of Return of the Jedi finds him frozen in carbonite and hanging on Jabba the Hutt's wall. He takes a lot of rescuing.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The original version of his encounter with Greedo (shooting him before he could aim his weapon) was meant to show that he was a ruthless Combat Pragmatist.
  • The Ferryman: In A New Hope, Han explicitly only signs on to give Luke and Obi-Wan a ride to the planet Alderaan to take the Death Star plans to Bail Organa, and for a considerable fee at that. He gets caught up in the rest of the adventure when they are captured by the Imperials and he ends up helping rescue Princess Leia.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: He does not see eye-to-eye with Luke and Leia for most of A New Hope, but by the time the Death Star has been blown up they've all become good friends.
  • Foil: To Luke in A New Hope. Luke is young and naïve, empathetic, believes in the Force, hasn't seen much of the galaxy, but is a great pilot; Han is slightly older, very self-centered, a Flat-Earth Atheist, has clearly seen more of the galaxy, and is also a great pilot.
  • Four-Star Badass: In Return of the Jedi, he gets promoted to general; see also Frontline General.
  • Frontline General: In Return of the Jedi he becomes a general and leads the strike team that disables the theatre shield protecting the Death Star II. He resigns his commission a few months after Endor in order to liberate Kashyyyk after the New Republic determined it was not high on their list of priorities.
  • Gallows Humor: A master at this.
    • In A New Hope, when they were trapped in in a closing trash compactor:
      Han: One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner!
    • During his rescue from Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi:
      Threepio: His high exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated immediately.
      Han: Good, I hate long waits.
  • The Gentleman or the Scoundrel: Until they were revealed to be twins, Luke was set up as a possible Love Interest for Leia along with Han. Leia calls Lovable Rogue and smuggler Han a Scoundrel, while Luke is the Gentleman, he being a courageous Nice Guy who always strives to do the right thing. By Return of the Jedi, it's made pretty clear she prefers Han, although he had also Took a Level in Kindness and Idealism to become a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. It's just as well, considering in the same film Leia learns Luke is her brother.
  • Good Guns, Bad Guns: Han's signature DL-44 is really a rebuilt broom handle Mauser, normally a "bad guy" gun. Then again, it is often overlooked that Han Solo is not initially a hero — he's a smuggler. A smuggler with a bad-tempered partner (known to pull people's arms off if beaten at dejarik), a highly illegal ship, and who has mastered the art of the subtle draw in order to be able to blow away the amateur bounty hunters that come after him if he screws up a smuggling job (no matter which version you believe, Han was definitely drawing his gun under the table and pointing it at Greedo's crotch for several seconds while Greedo talked). This was another clue that Han is NOT a nice guy.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Mostly in A New Hope, where he is helpful to Obi-Wan and Luke, but makes it clear that he couldn't care less if they got killed. Thankfully, he begins to change for the better.
  • Good Luck Charm: A set of golden dice used in a Corellian version of sabacc. Han has owned them since his youth and tends to hang them over the dashboard of any ship he's currently piloting. He used these dice to win the Falcon off Lando and they stayed hanging up in the Falcon ever since. At one point he lent the dice to his girlfriend Qi'ra as they were preparing to flee Corellia and she returned them to him three years later. His son Ben would also play with the dice as a young child.
  • Guile Hero: Like his ship, he's full of surprises.
  • The Gunslinger: He was modeled after the cowboy archetype.
  • Has a Type: Each of the women Han was with, mostly in the EU, has had an A as the last letter of their name. Furthermore, the two women Han loved the most - Qi'ra and Leia - are both petite, beautiful brunettes who are tough, smart and believe he's more than just a money-grubbing scoundrel.
  • Hate at First Sight: "Hate" may be a strong word, but he grimaces dismissively when C-3PO first attempts to greet him as they board the Millennium Falcon, and their relationship remains distant and strained right up to the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chewie, who owed a life debt to him. He also becomes one to Luke through the course of A New Hope, treating him like his kid brother, and in The Empire Strikes Back, he risks his life to march into the bitter cold to save him.
  • Hollywood Atheist: Han evidently doesn't believe in the Force, but his tone seems to be relatively less contemptuous than Motti'snote , though the consequences to Solo for such contempt would clearly be milder. This may be typical of the times he lives in, as the Empire has done its best to suppress knowledge of the Force. By the time of The Force Awakens, he has gotten out of this mindset, stating to Rey that the legends about the Force and the Jedi are all real.
  • Human Popsicle: Of the Carbonite variety. Vader was using him as a guinea pig before intending to try it on Luke later on. Han gets transported to Jabba's palace in the block and is later freed by Leia.
  • Imaginary Love Triangle: In Return of the Jedi, he thinks he's in a love triangle with Luke and Leia — who find out that they're siblings. Leia informs him of this at the end of the movie.
  • Insecure Love Interest: Implied to be one to Leia. In A New Hope, Han is attracted to Leia, but doesn't openly pursue her and instead privately asks Luke "You think a princess and a guy like me...?" suggesting he feels that Leia is too good for him. It's implied this is part of the reason Han is so snarky with her in The Empire Strikes Back. In Return of the Jedi, he quickly gets defensive when Leia won't tell him why she's upset and assumes she prefers Luke over him (who is more traditionally heroic); even though Leia had told him twice at this point that she loves him, Han still doesn't seem to truly believe it until the end of the trilogy.
  • Intrepid Merchant: In theory he's not a hero, just a businessman. In illegal goods, under a totalitarian regime. So he has to be pretty intrepid just to avoid getting shot.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In Return of the Jedi, Han has no idea at first that Luke and Leia are twins, and tells Leia that he won't get in the way if Leia prefers Luke. Leia quickly explains the truth about her and Luke's relationship.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Han starts off as an uncaring, cocky hotshot, but eventually reveals that he has a soft spot for Leia and proves himself to be a loyal friend to Luke. Even after his Character Development, he's still a jerk, but he's a lot nicer about being a jerk.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: After he joins the Rebel Alliance. Han definitely becomes one by the end of A New Hope; and he fills a Sour Supporter role for the rest of the Original Trilogy.
  • The Lancer: He's a sourpuss mercenary with a blaster to contrast the noble farm boy with the lightsaber. He also states this trope when Leia says he should follow her orders from now on.
    Han: Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person, me
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Mostly when he's trying to escape from the Death Star in A New Hope, and Luke (somewhat of a Leeroy Jenkins himself) calls him out on it. Han's response? "Bring 'em on! I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around!"
  • Like Parent, Like Spouse: Zigzagged. Like his father-in-law, Anakin, Han is an exceptional anti-heroic, Ace Pilot with a bad boyish demeanor, who is the main love interest for the main female character of their respective trilogy. Also, while said female character was attracted to the bad boyish attitude, they also like the better qualities. However, Han doesn't go as amoral as Anakin did.
  • The Load: Except for the end of A New Hope, and the start of The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo tends to be this in the OT. In the Death Star sequence in A New Hope, he doesn't contribute practically to escaping, Leia gets them away from the stormtroopers in the prison block and Luke did everything else, he was also the Distressed Dude at the start of Return of the Jedi and stumbled through the battle at the forest moon.
  • Loveable Rogue: Han seems to be so lovable that all the pretty rotten things he has done seem so justifiable that they don't seem to sink in.
  • Loving Bully: Downplayed. He teases Leia a lot and likes to mockingly call her "your worship" and the like even though it annoys her. He really does like her though, and is most likely doing this because he has feelings for her and is somewhat immature in general.
  • Manchild: Han is the oldest of the original trio but is noticeably the most immature, reckless, and thoughtless. He gets better.
  • Marriage of Convenience: It turns out Han used his wedding to Sana as a cover so he could pull off a heist. Sana is less than pleased with this and considers their marriage to be legally binding, although it turns out she's playing it up because she wants her cut, which he didn't give her.
  • Meaningful Name: He's a lone wolf star pilot who only looks out for himself and Chewie, as his surname would imply.
  • Muggle–Mage Romance: Han's a Badass Normal human while Leia has an untapped potential in the Force.
  • Never Tell Me the Odds!: The Trope Namer, when being told You Have No Chance to Survive during a particularly daring Indy Ploy.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The "mean" (albeit a Jerk with a Heart of Gold) to Luke's "nice" and Leia's "in-between".
  • The Nicknamer: He has a habit of giving nicknames to those close to him, calling Luke "kid", Chewbacca "Chewie" and Leia "Your Worshipfulness" or some variation thereof (although in Leia's case it's more to rile her up than anything else). Upon meeting Finn in the Sequel Trilogy, he starts calling him "Big Deal" due to Finn's insistence he's a "big deal in the Resistance" (Han can tell right away he's lying about being in the Resistance).
  • Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Roguish to Luke's Noble.
  • No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Dinner with Vader in Cloud City.
  • Noodle Incident: Several — Saving Chewbacca to earn a life debt, making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando 'fair and square,' , dropping Jabba's cargo at the first sign of trouble. The first three are featured in the film Solo, though the last one we still haven't seen on screen.
  • Not in This for Your Revolution: The Trope Namer. The sole reason he agreed to fly Luke and Obi-Wan to Alderaan in the first place was purely for the money Obi-Wan was offering and cared very little about the Rebellion's plans. Luke is able to use this trait of Han to his advantage by telling Han that if he saves Leia, she will reward him with plenty of cash due to being a princess. Eventually he decides that the revolution is worthwhile after all as he saves Luke from being sniped by Vader. Even then, he mostly sticks around because he wants to protect and be around his friends and loved ones.
  • Official Couple: After two movies of Belligerent Sexual Tension, he becomes this with Leia in Return of the Jedi; although she had actually confessed her love for him in The Empire Strikes Back and it was clear he reciprocated, he has trouble saying it back to her and also thinks she prefers Luke. Once Leia reveals Luke's actually her Long Lost Sibling, they make it official; the expanded universe confirms they got married some time before the Galactic Civil War ended.
  • Only in It for the Money: At the beginning of his character arc, which is justified, as the large sum of money did equate to his life, as otherwise, Jabba the Hutt would have kept the death mark on his head or worse.
  • Out of Focus: In Return of the Jedi, he is much less important to the overall narrative than in the previous two films, and has no real arc other than being rescued.
  • Percussive Maintenance: While trying to escape Hoth, Han tries to bring the engines online, and they promptly die. So he hits the panel with his fist, and they come back on.
  • Polyglot: Though not as reliable as C-3PO, being able to interpret Chewbacca's bellowing and Jabba's belches definitely counts for something.
  • Relationship Upgrade: With Leia. They begin as begrudging allies before transitioning as friends in A New Hope then have a heavy case of Belligerent Sexual Tension before sharing a Big Damn Kiss in The Empire Strikes Back and both properly become an Official Couple in Return of the Jedi. They married sometime after the war and had a son.
  • Rescue Romance: Eventually with Leia, although nothing was further from his plans at the time.
  • Second Love: Turns out to be this for Leia; Leia, Princess of Alderaan reveals she once dated Kier Domadi, a fellow Alderaanian and member of the Apprentice Legislature years before she met Han.
  • Secret Relationship: Before and during the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, he was apparently married to a woman named Sana.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: His relationship with Leia, even after they got married.
    Han: That's why I left, so you'd miss me.
  • The Smart Guy: He comes up with more than a fair share of Indy Ploys to save the day.
  • Sour Supporter: Mostly in A New Hope, and to a lesser extent in The Empire Strikes Back. He drops this by Return of the Jedi.
  • Stealth in Space: Han's successful attempts at hiding from Star Destroyers in The Empire Strikes Back. Somewhat realistic, as he simply flies into the Star Destroyer's blind spot and turns off most of the power to the ship, which makes it incredibly difficult to detect.
  • Talented Princess, Regular Guy: The Regular Guy to Leia's Talented Princess. He's just a smuggler and outlaw, while she's a Force sensitive princess, politician and rebel commander, as well as a dead shot with a blaster. That being said, Han himself is decent with a blaster and an excellent pilot, and eventually gets promoted to the rank of general within the Rebel Alliance, but Leia's CV is comparatively more extensive. He is very snarky, but Leia can match him in that area.
  • Talking Your Way Out: He insists that he's good at this, and it works some of the time. Not so much in The Force Awakens.
  • Temporary Blindness: He finds himself with this problem after he was freed in Return of the Jedi.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of the trilogy - though it's especially noticeable in Return of the Jedi - Han has become a lot more selfless, considerate and willing to put himself at risk to help others. He actually volunteers to lead the strike team on Endor, which clearly surprises and impresses Leia.
  • True Companions: With Chewie, Luke, Lando, C-3PO, R2-D2, and especially Leia throughout the Original Trilogy.
  • Unluckily Lucky: As demonstrated numerous times throughout all three trilogies (and the EU), Han has a knack for getting himself out of whatever bad situation he's gotten himself into. There's a reason he's the Trope Namer for Never Tell Me the Odds!. Unfortunately, his luck finally runs out near the end of The Force Awakens.
  • Venturous Smuggler: Han is one of the best-known examples of this archetype: a Lovable Rogue who is Not in This for Your Revolution and whose Cool Starship is famous for making a notoriously difficult smuggling run in twelve parsecs.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Luke spend a lot of A New Hope butting heads, but care for each other a great deal. Becomes Heterosexual Life-Partners as of The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Wartime Wedding: According to the EU, he married Leia in a small ceremony on Endor near the end of the Galactic Civil War (after the Battle of Endor and before the Battle of Jakku).
  • Watch the Paint Job: Han's very reluctant to hand over the keys to the Falcon.

    Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy Era 

Captain Han Solo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/han_solo_empire.png
"That's not how the Force works!"

"People are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us!"

Following the Battle of Endor, Han married Leia and continued serving in the New Republic military before eventually having a successful business and racing career. Sadly, personal tragedy resulted in him becoming separated from his two great loves - Leia and the Millennium Falcon - and Han returned to life as a scoundrel alongside Chewbacca. However, when fate leads him to find the Falcon in the hands of Rey, Finn, and BB-8, Han is once more drawn into a galactic struggle.


  • Ace Pilot: Old age certainly hasn't dulled his edge, proven when he pulls the Falcon out of hyperspace in between Starkiller Base and the forcefield surrounding it.
  • Achilles in His Tent: Han Solo turned his back on Leia and the Resistance to go back to smuggling sometime before the film's events due to his son Ben facilitating the massacre at Luke's new Jedi Temple and becoming Kylo Ren. His story arc is about him finally returning to action, reuniting with Leia, and confronting Ben to try and talk him out from under Snoke's dark influence.
  • Action Dad: Han Solo is old enough to have an adult son, but that hasn't stopped him from running a smuggling operation across the galaxy. The only thing that stops him is the chance to turn his own son, Kylo Ren, back to the light.
  • Babies Ever After: He and Leia had a son, Ben Solo, after the original trilogy. He was actually born on the day the Galactic Civil War formally ended and the New Republic emerged victorious. It's subverted however, as a series of unfortunate events leads to Ben falling to the Dark Side and becoming one of the primary antagonists of the Sequel Trilogy. Han is eventually killed by his own son in The Force Awakens just to add salt to the wound.
  • Beard of Sorrow: Han has a lot of stubble, showing his age and the state of his personal life.
  • Bumbling Dad: Comes off as one in Last Shot (which is partly set in 7 ABY), which was apparently a recurring theme throughout Ben's childhood. Although he clearly loves Ben and tries to be a good father, he is woefully incompetent at times. To be fair to him, Han never expected to settle down and be a family man; his own parents were largely absent from his life, he spent most of his life smuggling goods across the galaxy and he and Leia had only been married for around a year when she had Ben, leaving him quite unprepared for fatherhood. It's deconstructed / Played for Drama, as it's strongly indicated Han's ineffectiveness as a parent - especially to an unstable, Force-sensitive child like Ben - inadvertently contributed to his son's many issues (by The Force Awakens, Kylo and Han both think he was a crappy father and things are so strained between them that they haven't seen each other since Kylo was a teenager, to say nothing of what Kylo ultimately does to Han).
  • Can't Stay Normal: Although he dearly loves his wife and son, Han struggles with settling down and having a nornal, peaceful life, missing the adventurous lifestyle that was all he'd ever known. He ends up becoming a starship racer or managing races, before eventually returning to smuggling after Ben fell to the Dark Side and his relationship with Leia broke down.
  • Cassandra Truth: He tells Kylo Ren that Snoke is only using him for his power and will "crush [him]" once he's gotten what he wants. Kylo carries on as Snoke's apprentice anyway, insisting he is a wise master, though by The Last Jedi, he has come to realise his father was right.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Old age has left Han not as fast or skilled in hand to hand combat as he used to be, so his fighting style is exclusively this. Exemplified in his escape from the Eravana, when fleeing from the rathtars, Han deals with a Kanjiklub thug by punching him and then throwing him into the Rathar's mouth. It's the most badass thing ever.
  • The Conscience: Han posthumously serves as this to Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker; following a 'conversation' between him and a mental projection of his late father, Ben Solo rejects his Kylo Ren persona and returns to the Light Side.
  • Cool Old Guy: In The Force Awakens. He's still the biggest Deadpan Snarker in the galaxy, has mellowed out quite a bit since his youth, and mentors Rey and Finn, offering the former a job and helping prod the latter into doing the right thing. It says something that Han, the guy who was originally only in it for himself, Chewie, and the money, is now the one insisting they press on for the sake of the galaxy.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He's even more deadpan if it's even possible and has become even funnier with age.
  • Death by Adaptation: In the Legends continuity, Han was still alive four and a half decades after A New Hope. In the New Canon, he is killed in 34 ABY, during in the first installment of the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Downtime Downgrade: Han and Leia are quite obviously as much in love as ever, if not even more so, but grief over their son's turn to the Dark Side has separated them, as they both return to "the only things they were ever any good at." It's hinted that they may be willing to reconcile; Han, at the least, mainly seems to be staying away from Leia due to his belief she doesn't want to see him but this sadly never comes to pass due to Han's death.
  • Due to the Dead: In The Last Jedi novelization, Leia holds a brief memorial service for him. She knows that Han himself never much cared for these kinds of formalities, but she feels it's only right and also uses Han's memory to try and inspire the Resistance. She honors the memory of other fallen Resistance fighters in the same memorial. There's also a deleted scene that was included in the novelization where Luke privately grieves for Han after learning of his death from Rey and Chewbacca.
  • First-Name Ultimatum: Han gets Kylo Ren's attention when he calls him by his true name, Ben.
  • Grumpy Old Man: The passing years have made him even snarkier than he was in the Original Trilogy if that's even possible, and he and Chewie end up quarreling almost constantly Like an Old Married Couple.
  • Happily Married: Zig-Zagged. He and Leia were married for over two decades. While they loved each other, their relationship was far from perfect due to Han's restlessness, their various duties and work commitments, and personality clashes. When their son turned to the Dark Side, the strain was apparently too much and they became estranged. However, it's telling that despite this they remained married for around six years afterward and it's obvious when they are reunited that they’re still in love. Han all but admits to Maz Kanata – who tells him he belongs where Leia is – that he left because he thought he'd only hurt Leia more and he dies trying to fulfil her request to bring their son back home.
  • Heartbroken Badass: A past tragedy had a huge effect on him, to the point that it strained his relationship with Leia and resulted in him leaving the Resistance. It's revealed in The Force Awakens that this tragedy was the loss of his son, who fell to the Dark Side and turned on his family, which Han feels at least partly responsible for.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: Han Solo has apparently taken to wearing a black leather jacket in place of his iconic black vest from the original trilogy.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: He doesn’t think of himself of being a very good father and it's implied he partly blames himself for what happened to Ben; when Leia urges him to try and bring their son home, he says "If Luke couldn't reach him, how could I?" Despite this, he's willing to try anyway.
  • House Husband: He was this for the first two years of Ben's life after resigning as a general, staying home with Ben while Leia was working in the New Republic Senate. It is hinted at – and made explicit in the novel Last Shot – that Han didn't like this much, finding it extremely dull and ill-fitting to his adventurous personality. His utter lack of experience in playing house didn't help matters, either.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: By Kylo with a lightsaber, just as Han is trying to convince him to leave the dark side.
  • Living Legend: If Rey and Finn's reaction upon realizing who he is is any indication. "The Rebel general?!" "The smuggler?!" "The war hero?!"
  • The Lost Lenore: Han becomes this for Leia, as his death in The Force Awakens greatly saddens her.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: After assisting the new heroes and teaching them about the Force, and how it is real, Han Solo and Chewbacca end up separated from them so that the heroes have to prove themselves against Kylo Ren with no older characters to bail them out. Like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, Han is killed by the villain before the heroes engage in the final battle.
  • Messianic Archetype: Goes deep into enemy territory to redeem a prodigal son and then dies on a cross of sorts. His last act is a gesture of forgiveness.
  • Mirror Character: As a Deconstruction of the Lovable Rogue, D.J. is very similar to a pre-Character Development Han Solo. He teams up with the heroes for the money, while constantly reminding them that he's Not in This for Your Revolution and telling the younger, naive heroes the rebellion/resistance is a lost cause and they be better off abandoning it. The similarities emphasize the difference that Han decides to help the rebels out and save Luke when the chips are down, while D.J. happily sells the Resistance out to the First Order when they make him a better offer.
  • No Body Left Behind: Han's remains are incinerated along with the rest of Starkiller Base.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Makes a heartfelt, pleading appeal for his son to come home. It even seems to be working, until Ren ignites his lightsaber and completes his journey to the Dark Side.
  • Old Hero, New Pals: He and Chewbacca get the most focus out of the original trilogy characters in The Force Awakens and are separated from Leia, Luke, Lando, R2-D2 and C-3PO for most of the film (R2-D2 has shut-down and only wakes up near the end, and Luke – who is missing - also only appears right at the end after Han has died, while Lando doesn't appear at all). Instead, Han and Chewie are mostly travelling around with new characters Finn, Rey and BB-8.
  • Old Soldier: With his greying hair and thirty years of adventure under his belt, former general Han Solo is able to pilot a ship at lightspeed with pinpoint accuracy and gun down Stormtroopers without even looking at them.
  • Parental Substitute: Quickly becomes one for Rey, who was abandoned by her parents. During his interrogation of her, Kylo Ren sees from her thoughts that she thinks of him as "the father [she] never had", only to remark that "he would've disappointed you". Han, for his part, seems fond of Rey and is impressed enough by her skills to offer her a job on the Falcon. We never do see how this would've panned out due to Han's untimely death, which leaves Rey distraught.
  • Parents as People: Han apparently wasn't the best parent ever, with his own son calling him a disappointment and there being implications he was neglectful, but he clearly loves his son deeply and tries to make amends. He refuses to give up on Kylo, saying it isn't too late for him to come home; even when Kylo stabs him through the chest, all Han does is gently touch his son's face, he being the last thing he sees. Rey later lampshades this whilst she's ranting at Kylo for killing him, saying that whatever mistakes Han made, he still "gave a damn" about Kylo.
  • Parents Know Their Children: Even though he hasn't seen him since he was a teenager and he's wearing a mask at the time, Han instantly recognizes Kylo Ren on Takodana.
  • Passing the Torch: In The Force Awakens, Han teaches Rey how to pilot the Millennium Falcon. He even offers her a job as 2nd Mate, not knowing she would take over as captain after his death.
  • Posthumous Character: A given in future installments after The Force Awakens, since he was murdered by his son in the movie.
  • Present Absence: Somewhat in The Last Jedi, mostly in regards to Kylo Ren's arc. Kylo is clearly affected by his murder of Han, with Snoke outright stating it "split [his] spirit to the bone". His internal conflict only becomes worse; he is unable to also kill his mother and talks a bit about his father with Rey, revealing he didn't really hate him and that he considers himself a monster for what he did. Subsequently, Rey comes to empathise with Kylo and he with her, and she believes he could be redeemed. Finally, when Luke confronts Kylo on Crait, he warns him that if he strikes him down in anger, he'll always be with him "just like [his] father"; Kylo's last scene shows him staring forlornly at an illusion of Han's golden dice, indicating Luke was right.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Han Solo, despite his age, still manages to hold his own against enemy forces thanks to his Plot Armor inherited from the original trilogy. This makes it especially shocking when Kylo Ren kills Han in the third act of The Force Awakens and creates more suspense in Ren's battle with the new characters.
  • Seen It All: Nothing can surprise him by the time of The Force Awakens. He sees through Finn's bluster even before finding out about his true past.
  • Skeptic No Longer: By the time of The Force Awakens, Han has come to believe in the existence of the Force, telling Rey and Finn that all of the legends relating to it, the Jedi and The Dark Side are all true. Not bad for someone who once claimed that he had flown from one side of the galaxy to the other and had found nothing that convinced him of a mystical energy field that controlled his destiny. The fact that his wife, his brother-in-law and his son are all Force-sensitive probably helps.
  • Tempting Fate: He insists that he always succeeded in talking his way out of things. This backfires really badly against his son, who then murders him.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: Though he's still occasionally cynical, he's much less so than he was in the original trilogy; he is willing to drop everything to help out the Resistance and believes it to be a cause worth fighting for. And despite his comments about Kylo Ren's similarities to Darth Vader, he still believes he can be redeemed; see also Wide-Eyed Idealist.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: By the events of The Force Awakens, he's essentially mellowed out with age, and is now a mostly polite but bold individual.
  • Tritagonist: Behind Rey and Finn, who juggle the positions of Hero and Deuteragonist until the end where Rey becomes the focal protagonist. Han is the third main focal character of The Force Awakens.
  • Walking Spoiler: The biggest plot twists from The Force Awakens involve him.
  • We Really Do Care: When he's trying to convince Kylo to return home, Han tells him how much he and Leia miss him. Kylo seems genuinely emotional over this, especially considering he felt unwanted by his parents his whole life, but unfortunately he feels it's too late and that his place is with the First Order, resulting in Han's murder.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: In regards to what he thinks of Kylo Ren, according to the various novelizations of The Force Awakens. He believes that he is not beyond redemption. In spite of everything, he loves his son that much. This is symbolized in the film by him touching Ben's face as he dies.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: His reaction when Finn reveals he doesn't actually know how to lower the shields around Starkiller Base and just worked in sanitation...while they're already on the planet.
    Finn: We'll figure it out. We'll use the Force!
    Han: That's not how the Force works!
  • You Remind Me of X: According to Han, every time Leia looks at him she's reminded of their son Ben. Leia indicates this is true but that she doesn't want to forget about Ben; she wants both her son and her husband to come back to her. Han himself states to Leia that he believes their son has "too much Vader in him", but in spite of this he still believes he could be redeemed.

Chewbacca

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chewbacca_7.png
"Rawr..."

Species: Wookiee

Homeworld: Kashyyyk

Portrayed by: Peter Mayhew, Joonas Suotamo note 
"I see your point, sir. I suggest a new strategy, Artoo: let the Wookiee win."
C-3PO

Chewbacca was a Wookiee warrior from Kashyyyk. During the Clone Wars, Chewbacca was a lieutenant in the Wookiee military and served as a combat engineer. At one point during the war he was captured by Trandoshan slavers and held captive on Wasskah, but he worked with a fellow captive Ahsoka Tano to escape. He later helped command Wookiee forces in the Battle of Kashyyyk alongside the Grand Army of the Republic, led by Jedi Master Yoda. During the battle, Yoda's clone troopers received Order 66 and turned on the Jedi and Wookiees. Chewbacca aided Yoda's escape from Kashyyyk and the destruction of the Jedi Order.

Chewbacca was imprisoned on the muddy planet Mimban by the Empire at some point ten years after the Clone Wars. Han Solo ended up in the same cell as him, and after a brief fight, the two devised an escape then joined Tobias Beckett's crew. They became friends for life along the way. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Chewbacca was Han's trusted first mate, co-pilot and friend aboard the Millennium Falcon. After the liberation of Kashyyyk from the Empire, Chewbacca reunited with his wife Malla and son Lumpawaroo. He stayed with his family for years until returning to the side of Han, who returned to smuggling after his life with Leia fell apart.


    Tropes from the Prequel Trilogy Era 
  • Badass in Distress: During the Clone Wars, he was abducted by a guild of Trandoshan hunters to partake in their game of hunting sapient species. When he gets stranded on Wasskah, he befriends and forms an alliance with the Jedi Padawans led by Ahsoka (who were also abducted by the Trandoshans) to defeat their hunters and escape the planet.
  • Barbarian Hero: The Wookiees are a high-tech civilization, but they're certainly more primitive in most technology than many of the other space-faring races in the Republic, are highly physically active and live in woodlands as tribal clans.
  • The Cameo: His only appearance in Revenge of the Sith is an extended cameo on Kashyyyk, fighting off the Separatist droid invasion and later escorting Yoda off-planet.
  • Connected All Along: The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith respectively reveal that he met and helped Ahsoka Tano and fought alongside Yoda in the Battle of Kashyyyk, actually helping Yoda escape following the execution of Order 66.
  • The Engineer: He was a combat engineer in the Wookiee militia that defended Kashyyyk during the Clone Wars.
  • Four-Star Badass: Chewbacca was a leading officer in the militia and on a first-name basis with Yoda. It was Chewbacca himself that got Yoda safely out of Kashyyyk as the planet was being overrun by clone troopers.
  • Odd Friendship: The reveal that he and Yoda were close friends during the Clone Wars may certainly come off as this, seeing as they have no interactions at all in the Original Trilogy.
  • Percussive Maintenance: In The Clone Wars episode "Wookiee Hunt", he hit a Trandoshan in the head to get his brain to cooperate after resisting a Jedi Mind Trick.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: In Revenge of the Sith, he helps Yoda escape Kashyyyk after Palpatine executes Order 66, ensuring Yoda survives to help train Luke Skywalker decades later.
  • Those Two Guys: He shares all of his scenes in Revenge of the Sith with the Wookiee General Tarfful (and Yoda), seemingly acting as his second-in-command.

    Tropes from the Solo Era 
  • Ace Pilot: Proves he is a damn good copilot alongside Han when they have to navigate the Millennium Falcon in the unnavigable Akkadese Maelstrom. He explains to Han that, being nearly 200 years old, he's had a lot of time to develop his piloting skills.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Gained his "Chewie" nickname before the Train Job on Vandor-1 courtesy of Han, because it's easier to say than "Chewbacca" on a regular basis.
  • The Big Guy: Easily the strongest guy among Tobias Beckett's crew.
  • Dehumanization: He's been captured by the Empire on Mimban (or brought there) and treated like a beast just good enough to kill/eat deserters after being starved.
  • Fed to the Beast: The mudtroopers on Mimban locked Chewie in a cell and starved him for a couple of days, expecting him to eat or at least maul deserters they throw in.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: The first time on Dryden's yacht, when Chewbacca sees Han chatting with Qi'ra against Tobias's explicit instructions, the Wookie's reaction is to snort in disbelief and then down two glasses of... something in quick succession.
  • I Owe You My Life: Han helped Chewbacca escape the Empire on Mimban, and thus the Wookiee followed him. The movie doesn't quite make the "Wookiee Life Debt" thing clear at any point, but the book Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (which is canon) says he swore one to Han. Han does save Chewie's life at one point, when Chewie is about to fall from the Conveyex during the Train Job.
  • Made a Slave: He was enslaved by the Empire some time after the Clone Wars ended, with Han helping to free him during Solo. It's because of this he becomes best friends with Han.
  • Noodle Incident: How and why he ended up prisoner of the Empire on Mimban is not explained.
  • Older Than They Look: Han is surprised to learn that Chewie is 190 years old by the time Solo takes place.
    Han: A hundred and ninety years old? You look great!
  • Only Friend: He's the only person Han can trust completely in Solo, making him an exception to Beckett's "Assume everyone will betray you" rule.
  • Sore Loser: Even ten years before A New Hope, he didn't take losing at Dejarik very well.
  • Token Nonhuman: After Rio Durant bites it during the Conveyex heist, he's the only organic non-human in Tobias Beckett's crew.
  • Undying Loyalty: He's the only character who never betrays or abandons Han.

    Tropes from the Original Trilogy Era 
  • Badass Adorable: Resembles a teddy bear... an eight-foot-tall teddy bear who can rip your arms off as easily as breathing. If you're a friend, however, expect to be greeted with happy howling and plenty of hugs. If you're Leia, prepare for it to be big smooshing hugs!
  • Badass Bandolier: It carries spare ammunition for his bow caster.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: If you do anything to hurt his friends, he will make sure you hurt.
  • BFG: His bowcaster. While it gets a few shots off in Return of the Jedi to destroy an escaping speeder, attention is brought to how brutally effective Chewie's bow caster is when used on people in The Force Awakens. To make absolutely sure the target dies, it's a explosive quarrel rail gun blaster, and can blast people off their feet even from proximity blasts, to say nothing of what happens to those sustaining a direct hit. This is to say nothing of the bolt itself, which is akin to an oversized crossbow bolt, tipped with a grenade, and wrapped in a massive blaster bolt.
  • The Big Guy: He's huge and strong and carries a big blaster. Peter Mayhew got the role simply by politely standing up as George Lucas entered the room. Lucas craned his head back to look him in the eye, and said, "I think we've got it."
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: At seven and a half feet tall, Chewie dwarfs his human partner-in-crime Han Solo.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: He speaks Shyriiwook and Han speaks Basic, and they understand each other fine. A Justified Trope in that Wookiees do not have the vocal chords to speak anything other than Shyriiwook, and multilingualism is a surprisingly common trait in most people in the Star Wars universe.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Once Chewie likes you, he isn't shy about showing it through massive hugs and other affectionate gestures.
  • Cowardly Lion: While Chewbacca is brave and vicious when he's angry, he's also easily scared by certain things such as alarm noises.
  • Cuddle Bug: Chewie really likes to hug the people that he loves, and is no less manly in doing so, to the point that he gives a big furry hug to somebody in each of his starring movies. It also makes him a good warm-up blanket to any friends of his who were recently unfrozen and still chilled to the bone.
  • Did You Just Have Sex?: When walking into a room where Lando and Holdo were staying together, Chewie suddenly stop and looks at them with a Quizzical Tilt of his head. Holdo tries to cover and asks if Chewie had something he needed, but Lando tells her to stop and that Wookiees always know.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Han says that if you were to beat him in a board game, he would tear your arms off. There's some implication that Han and Chewie were just teasing C-3PO, though.
  • Expy: Of George Lucas's dog Indiana, who always sat in the front passenger seat of his car.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: Just be glad Wookiees have so much hair.
  • Genius Bruiser: He may look uncivilized, but Chewbacca is a decent pilot and really more technologically inclined than Han. He plays dejarik (the Star Wars equivalent of chess), if not at R2-D2's level of skill. Yet he's fully capable of ripping arms off when angered.
  • Gentle Giant: As evidenced by his decision to repair C-3PO.
  • The Glomp: When he's happy to see someone, Chewie tends to envelop them in a massive furry hug.
  • Happily Married: To his wife Malla, whom he tries to visit whenever possible. The Empire's control over Kashyyyk makes that difficult, and once the Empire is in the process of falling Chewbacca makes it his prority to get the New Republic to liberate his homeworld so that he can permanently reunite with his family.
  • Intelligible Unintelligible: He speaks Shyriiwook, a Wookiee language that's unintelligible to viewers, but Han has no trouble understanding him.
  • I Will Tear Your Arms Off: Han implies that he's prone to do this when he loses a game. That being said, the way he said it implied that he was kidding. It's shown in the Marvel comics, though, when an angry Chewie rips off both arms of 0-0-0, Darth Vader's personal assassin droid. He also pulls one of Unkar Plutt's arms out on Takodana in The Force Awakens, a deleted scene from the movie that appears in full in the novelization.
  • Monster Roommate: To Han Solo. Of course, from a Wookiee's point of view, Han would be Chewie's Monster Roommate.
  • Morality Pet:
    • Even in the beginning, when Han is almost a Nominal Hero, Chewbacca is the stalwart friend who knows Han can be a better person if he tries. He's also the one character Han was always infallibly kind to despite being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to everybody else.
    • In A New Hope, immediately after Han rebuffs Luke's offer to join the Rebels in the strike on the Death Star, Chewbacca gives his partner a sorrowful look and low growl that seems to say "Dude, really?", and it clearly bothers Han. This was probably a big factor in Han's decision to return.
  • Mr. Fixit: He's able to repair C-3PO on his own. And before that in The Clone Wars, he built a long-range transmitter IN A TREE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS! and it worked.
  • Nice Guy: In spite of his anger issues, and working with a smuggler, he's one of the most sweet-natured characters to grace a Star Wars movie.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: To Han.
  • Number Two: Of the Millennium Falcon, second to Han.
  • Older Sidekick: Chewbacca is about 200 years old by A New Hope, compared to Han's likely early 30s. Following Han's death, he becomes this to Rey as he allows her to take command of the Millennium Falcon, and accompanies her to find Luke.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Chewbacca is 234 years old at the time of The Force Awakens, and that's not even considered approaching middle-aged by Wookiee standards, meaning Chewie is still considered a young man by his own people.
  • Sensitive Guyand Manly Man: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: The Chewbacca limited series from Marvel shows that he sometimes has traumatic flashbacks to his capture and enslavement. Tight, enclosed spaces seem to be his major trigger, which adds a whole new level of sadness to his unwillingness to go down the Death Star garbage chute.
  • Sidekick Ex Machina: Chewbacca (and two Ewoks) hijack an Imperial walker and rescues Han and Leia during the Battle of Endor. That one move was the pivotal moment that led the Rebels and Ewoks to victory: From there, they turned the tables on the Imperial ground forces, tricked the remaining garrison to open the back door, allowing them to blow up the shield generator, opening the way for the besieged fleet in orbit to finally do what they went there to do: destroy the second Death Star.
  • Silent Snarker: If you pay attention to how people react to what he says, Chewie's probably one of the most sarcastic characters in the franchise.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Or rather, the Star Wars equivalent of it, dejarik.
  • Sore Loser: Han jokes that if he loses in a game, he rips the winner's arms off.
  • Tools of Sapience: Chewbacca wears a bandolier over his shoulder and handles various repair tools and weapons, which helps visually affirm that he's a technology-using alien and not some sort of bipedal beast in spite of his only vocal sounds being grunts, growls and roars.
  • The Unintelligible. Chewie's only lines are growls, barks, and grunts. The script actually had lines of dialogue for Peter Mayhew to recite in order to make the other characters' reactions to him more genuine.
  • Ursine Aliens: Wookiees look like a cross between bears and apes, or possibly Bigfoot.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: His work with Han and later the New Republic often kept Chewie away from his family, which was accepted as normal by Wookiees due to their long lifespan and assumption that there would always be time to spend with loved ones. However, his son Waroo did end up developing issues with his father's long absences and held some resentment towards his father for it.

    Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy Era 
  • Ace Pilot: The sequel movies showcase exactly why Han chose him as his co-pilot; in The Last Jedi, he threads the needle through the crystal caverns of Crait like he's knitting a warm Christmas sweater, without co-pilot assistance (whereas Rey struggled to do so in The Force Awakens). And that was with a flock of Porgs crowding his console!
  • Annoying Patient: He nearly killed Finn six times when Finn was trying to patch up his blaster wound. He's a better patient for Dr. Kalonia, though.
  • Ascended Extra: In the original trilogy, he is a supporting character and in the prequels, he is a minor character. But in all three films in the trilogy, he is one of the main characters.
  • The Atoner: Lets a flock of Porgs nest inside the Millennium Falcon...because he ate and roasted some of them.
  • Babysitter Friendship: Had one with Ben Solo when he was a little boy, since Chewie would look after him when Han and Leia were occupied with their respective careers. Suffice to say, this does not last into the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Badass Normal: He is the one of the few non-Force-sensitive character to have ever landed a clean hit on a Force-user with a blaster weapon. Killing Han was a big mistake, Kylo...
  • Beware the Nice Ones: There is a reason that it was suggested that people "let the Wookiee win". Chewbacca is a nice guy, who likes hugs and nice ladies like Leia, but when you really make Chewbacca cross that line, he will end your existence... and blow up your base in the process! And survive it without a scratch. Not many people can say that.
  • BFG: Chewbacca's "bowcaster" (a maglev crossbow that coats its darts in plasma) gets a lot of focus in The Force Awakens, where it blows a Stormtrooper (or gangster) across the room with a direct hit. Han gives it a try, and loves it. Kylo Ren would be done for had he not been helped by the Force to sustain the hit and the subsequent wound.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Arrives with the Millennium Falcon in time to get Finn and Rey off of Starkiller Base at the end of The Force Awakens.
  • Big "NO!": Per the franchise's tradition, his roar when Han is killed is quite clearly meant to be this.
  • Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: Inverted. Chewie, the Big Guy of the Original Trilogy, is the only humanoid out of the original four Rebel Alliance heroes to survive the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Quite literally. The Force Awakens makes a big deal of how powerful Chewie's bowcaster is. In the climax, a good shot from it to Kylo Ren's abdomen proves pivotal to Rey's victory in her duel against him.
  • Cool Old Guy: As mentioned above, he's young for a Wookiee, but being centuries older than his younger companions Rey and Finn, he serves as this to them.
  • Disney Death: Suffers one in The Rise of Skywalker. Rey appears to accidentally destroy a ship he was captured on with Force lightning. However, he shows up live and well (but still captured) not too long after.
  • Easily Forgiven: While Han and Leia have some issues to work out upon their reunion, Leia is delighted to see the Wookiee again after several years and they share a big hug, proving there's no bad blood between the two at all.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • Falls into a brief one after the destruction of Starkiller base, mourning the loss of his best friend in absolute silence following the completion of the mission.
    • After the death of Leia, Chewie falls to his knee and roars in grief, having loss almost all his friends, and shoves everyone's attempt to console him.
  • Honorary Uncle: Ben was fond of Chewbacca, calling him "Uncle Chewie". Chewie in turn taught Ben how to fly a speeder and sometimes babysitted him when Leia and Han were busy. This makes it more heart wrenching when he cries out in horror after Kylo kills Han and shoots him, as if he realizes that the Ben Solo he once knew is gone.
  • Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: His bow caster is by far the most effective handheld weapon in the film, sometimes taking out multiple troopers with a single shot, and crippling Kylo Ren during his fight with Finn and Rey. Bowcasters do use blaster energy, forming the distinctive red laser, but the primary source of damage is the explosive quarrels that get shot out of a railgun barrel.
  • One-Man Army: Unleashes furry hell upon the Stormtroopers of Starkiller Base following Han Solo's death, blows up the base's Achilles' Heel (allowing the Resistance's starfighters to destroy the base/planet), and returns to the Falcon no worse for wear.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chewie is screaming in pure agony and quietly retiring to a corner? Something is clearly wrong, that something being the death of Han.
  • Prefers Raw Meat: Averted. Chewie makes sure to roast a dead Porg over a makeshift campfire before eating it. Right in front of its friends and family, who all stare in horrified silence.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the tragedy on Starkiller Base, he actually lands a shot on Kylo Ren, blitzes through dozens of Stormtroopers, lights off the demo charges, and vanishes for the next ten or so minutes. Note - he's implied to still be inside the exploding base when it finally has the big boom and there's not even a single singed hair on him when he finally turns up.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Chewbacca was notably the only member of the Original Trilogy's movie heroes to die in Legends. He had a moon dropped on him in 25 ABY, trying to evacuate as many people as possible but being unable to escape. In the new Disney canon, he shows up perfectly fine in 34 ABY when the first two films of the sequel series take place, and along with Lando and the droids, is in fact one of the few classic heroes to survive to the end of the Sequel Trilogy.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Chewie's bowcaster is upgraded to BFG-level stopping power, blowing Stormtroopers across the room and destroying door panels. Han even marvels at it so much that he asks to borrow it on a few occasions.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Does not take Han's death very well at all.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Han snark a little with each other, like when Chewbacca, who is entirely wrapped in fur, complains that he's cold to Han, who's wearing just a coat, but it's as clear as day from the absolutely furious roar of rage he gives when Han dies that, actually, he and Chewbacca are the best of friends.
  • We Used to Be Friends: With Ben Solo, who would later become Kylo Ren. After Ben kills his father, Chewie blasts at him in rage.

C-3PO (See-Threepio)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c3po_rots.png
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."

Model: 3PO-series protocol droid

Portrayed by: Anthony Daniels Foreign VAs 

C-3PO, sometimes spelled See-Threepio and often referred to simply as Threepio, was a 3PO unit protocol droid designed to interact with organics, programmed primarily for etiquette and protocol. He was fluent in over seven million forms of communication, and developed a fussy and worry-prone personality throughout his many decades of operation along with accompanying the heroes on their various adventures, often against his will and to his great suffering. He was also rarely seen far from his counterpart and friend, R2-D2. Created by Anakin Skywalker from salvaged components to be a household companion for his mother, Shmi Skywalker, C-3PO was given back to Anakin by his stepfather after his mother's death. Anakin subsequently gave C-3PO to Padmé Amidala as a wedding present, and he served his new mistress faithfully in an official role until the destruction of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, when he was given over to Senator Bail Organa. In this role, he was a constant companion to Leia Organa, secretly Anakin and Padmé's daughter, and was thus instrumental in her rescue and the ultimate destruction of the Empire.


    Tropes from the Prequel Trilogy 
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  • Apologetic Attacker: He continually apologizes to the Jedi he is unwillingly shooting at while his head is stuck to an autonomous Battle Droid's body during the Battle of Geonosis.
  • Been There, Shaped History: He hasn't racked up as much as R2-D2, but he does have a fairly impressive history under his belt, including serving all members of the Skywalker family.
  • Connected All Along: It turns out he was built by the future Darth Vader himself.
  • Cranial Processing Unit: Averted. He's able to function even after getting his head knocked off.
  • A Day in the Limelight: In The Clone Wars, he had a focus episode Once a Season that was either on his own or with R2-D2.
  • Demoted to Extra: C-3PO gets next to no scenes of importance in Revenge of the Sith, which he lampshades by stating how helpless he feels regarding everything going on around him.
  • Foil: He and his best pal, R2-D2, have a number of opposing factors. C-3PO is a humanoid protocol droid, very polite and created by Anakin Skywalker himself but choosing not to side with Darth Vader. His main skill is translation, and if his masters want something of him then he'll do his best to satisfy them, yet is the one most prone to memory wiping. R2 is an astromech droid who cannot speak English, but hides a rather crass but laid-back attitude. He was created to serve the Republic, but sadly joined Darth Vader during his attack on the Jedi Temple. R2 also never got a single memory wipe and remembers the events of everything he's been through.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: In Attack of the Clones his head is knocked off his body and attached to that of a B1 battle droid, which starts affecting his personality to the extent that at one point he shouts "Die, Jedi dogs!" before coming to his senses. The B1 battle droid head attached to his body is confused as to why it can only shuffle forward and its arms are moving so slowly.
  • Large Ham: He's a robotic manifestation of effeminate British Stuffiness, and gets even more exaggerated when he's afraid or angry.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Threepio gets his memory wiped to keep him quiet about what transpired throughout the Prequel Trilogy (Artoo gets spared this fate because he can't speak Basic or any other languages). This explains how he can't remember Tatooine in A New Hope after being built and living there for nine years in the Prequel Trilogy.
  • Loose Lips: In "Evil Plans", he's kidnapped and tortured by Cad Bane, who wanted to get the blueprints of the Senate from him. To Bane's annoyance, it turned out Threepio doesn't have that kind of information and he gave voice to this, claiming the droid to be useless. Hearing that, Threepio immediately revealed to him that blueprints were always stored inside R2's memory.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: In some of the installments set in the Prequel Trilogy’s era, C-3PO got an armor upgrade. In Attack of the Clones, he got utilitarian gray plating to cover the "naked" form he had back in The Phantom Menace. In The Clone Wars, he gets gold plating, which he retains in Revenge of the Sith.
  • Nested Ownership: Anakin built him to help his mother, who was a slave at the time.
  • Noodle Incident: So far, the exact details of how his right leg became discolored from the rest of his gold plating (which occurred sometime between Revenge of the Sith and Rebels) has been left unexplained. The official statement from Lucasfilm is that it had to do with a similar incident to what happened to him in The Empire Strikes Back. Conversely, the story of how his left arm was destroyed and replaced with a red arm between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is covered in a one-shot comic.
  • Pose of Silence: A lampshade is hung on this when C-3PO leans over in an "overly conspiratorial" fashion in a novel.
  • Pungeon Master: About 80% of his dialogue in Attack of the Clones consists of him making groan-inducing puns about the situation.
    C-3PO: (R2 drags his head to his body) Oh, I'm quite beside myself.
  • Secret-Keeper: He is one of the only characters who knew of Anakin and Padmé's secret marriage (and was one of only two attendants at their wedding, the other being R2-D2), knew of Padmé's pregnancy and the survival of Luke and Leia. However, at the end of Revenge of the Sith he gets his memory wiped to ensure he doesn't reveal any of this for the twins' protection.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Incidentally gets the least amount of screentime in the darkest theatrical film in the Canon.
  • SkeleBot 9000: The Phantom Menace depicts the unfinished Threepio as a "naked" skeleton with his "parts" showing, as Artoo quips. In Attack of the Clones his head is knocked off his body and briefly attached to that of a B1 battle droid.
  • Super-Powered Robot Meter Maid: Zigzagged. His linguistic skills aren't really special for protocol droids, but given that he was made to be a housekeeping and general assistance bot, and that there are many other models of droid that Anakin could have built or salvaged for that purpose (like LEPs and DUMs, to name two), he seems rather overqualified for his intended role.

    Tropes from the Original Trilogy 
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: In Rebels, Threepio has an altered design from The Clone Wars; his head and eyes are smaller, the circular engraving on his chest is smaller and his shoulders are narrower.
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: Threepio is the big guy to Artoo's little guy.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: Much of his banter with Artoo involves him switching to some of the alien languages he has under his belt.
  • Butt-Monkey: He is never safe from abuse in the Canon. Forms of abuse include R2 dragging him (sometimes literally) into various bizarre adventures, switching heads with a Battle Droid and suffering personality-takeover from his new body, being hit by a tram, teamed up with Jar Jar Binks, kidnapped and tortured by Cad Bane, kidnapped and sold by Jawas, getting his arm clubbed off by a Tusken Raider, being blasted apart on Bespin and then rebuilt the wrong way, becoming Jabba the Hutt's personal translator after learning what happened to his previous translator droid, getting one of his eyes chewed out by Salacious Crumb, etc.
  • The Cameo: Alongside R2-D2, C-3PO has a brief appearance in Rogue One as the characters leave the Rebel base.
  • Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: It's clear that without R2 around, C-3PO tends to end up being captured, partially disassembled, or thrown on the scrap pile within a day.
  • Captain Ersatz: He and R2 were based in the peasants, Tahei and Matashichi from The Hidden Fortress.
  • Captain Obvious: C-3PO provides lines such as, "It's quite possible that this asteroid is not entirely stable."
  • Character Catchphrase: Always introduces himself (or tries to, at any rate) with, "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations." Also says "We're doomed!" at least Once per Episode when faced with moments of great peril.
  • Characterization Marches On:
    • A retroactive case. In A New Hope, C-3PO says, "I'm not much more than an interpreter, and not very good at telling stories." Either he was being modest, or he got better at it in the years between the two films (or actually had some stories to tell), because he does a gripping-enough Ewokese retelling of the trilogy so far (complete with sound effects!) that he gets the tribe to fight to the death on the side of the Alliance. It is probable that his storytelling skills suffered after being mind wiped. He saw the rise and fall of the Empire and Darth Vader, his original master and creator, but had all the interesting parts up from his mind to hide Leia and Luke. By the time of Return of the Jedi, he has a new set of interesting stories to tell.
    • Inverted in the case of his attitude towards travel via starships; in Revenge of the Sith Threepio pilots Padmé Amidala's personal ship quite competently, remarking "I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this flying business". But in A New Hope, when he and the rest of Luke Skywalker's group make a hasty escape from Mos Eisley Spaceport aboard the Millennium Falcon, Threepio exclaims: "I've forgotten how much I hate space travel!" As the protocol droid had suffered a mindwipe between Episodes 3 and 4, his capacity and comfort level for piloting spacecraft was most likely expunged.
  • The Comically Serious: While he's usually the comic relief, he often sees himself as an incredibly serious individual often panicking when the worst is about to happen.
  • Cowardly Sidekick: No Star Wars film goes without C-3PO saying "We're doomed!" at least once. And his face seems to be permanently stuck in the "We're doomed!" expression as well.
  • The Drag-Along: The heroes keep bringing him along, discovering that he's not much use in the current situation, and end up having to save him. He finally gets a payoff in Return of the Jedi when it turns out that speaking Ewok (and being gold-plated) is the difference between getting eaten and being worshiped.
  • Eye Lights Out: His eyes fade out if he loses consciousness, be that through running out of power, being shut down, or being blown to bits.
  • The Finicky One: The most neurotic and uptight perfectionist in the entire franchise and he's also pretty rational and intelligent for a hapless robot.
  • Flanderization: He becomes more cowardly, insecure, and whiny in The Empire Strikes Back despite the fact that in A New Hope, he was much calmer and could be wily around the enemy. By the time of the Sequel Trilogy, however, he's become more level-headed as he was during A New Hope.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed, but he seems to be considered more of a hindrance or an annoyance to the main three than a friend. Even Artoo (apparently) and Luke find him insufferable at times.
  • Glowing Mechanical Eyes: Unlike most such eyes, they're not very menacing. Maybe it's the little louvres.
  • God Guise: In Return of the Jedi, Threepio is mistaken for a god by the primitive Ewoks and, with a little help from Luke's Jedi powers, is able to command their respect and gain their support for the Rebellion.
  • Guile Hero: In spite of whiny and pretentious, he can be pretty wily on occasion. In A New Hope, he pulls a Bavarian Fire Drill and escapes being captured by Stormtroopers by asking politely to leave. In a deleted scene in The Empire Strikes Back, he tears down warning signs around Echo Base so Stormtroopers run headfirst into Wampas while the rebels try to escape. And finally, in Return of the Jedi, he pulls Look, a Distraction! so the Ewoks can mount an ambush.
  • Happiness in Slavery: He's perfectly happy to be talked down to by Owen when he attempts to give a sales pitch on himself, and he tells R2 that they can trust Luke, as he's their new master only minutes after meeting him. As he was programmed for politeness and protocol, it makes sense.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: He says he's not much of a storyteller, but his recounting of the story so far to the Ewoks was apparently good enough to convince the little furballs to throw themselves fully into the rebel cause. It paid off in that the Ewoks were a critical factor in the ground side portion of the Battle of Endor.
  • Honor Before Reason: This trait goes hand-in-hand with the rules of robotics and not fighting his programming. When he is initially worshiped as a god, he refuses to play into the deception because it would be unethical and goes against his programming. This infuriates Han who points out that they are going to be eaten if he doesn't try. Luke convinces him to make an attempt anyway, either indicating that he's very flexible in his programming or very loyal to his masters, or both.
  • If My Calculations Are Correct: C-3PO annoys Han Solo with his tendency to, for example, tell him the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: His full name is sometimes spelled out phonetically as "See-Threepio".
  • Kid-Appeal Character: A bumbling servant full of helpful-but-useless advice.
  • The Load: Somewhat justified, however, in that he's freely admits he's "little more than an interpreter."
  • Losing Your Head: This happens to Threepio in Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Made of Iron: Pun aside, he's surprisingly durable: Back in Attack of the Clones, he gets his head callously knocked off and accidentally hardwired onto a battle droid's body, but this has no adverse effect on his hardware in the long run, and Artoo is able to remove and rewire his head back to his normal body with a simple tool on hand. Back in The Clone Wars, he gets hit by a fast-moving tram without getting smashed to pieces. In The Empire Strikes Back, he gets blown to pieces by a laser blast, only to be assembled back together no worse for wear with no real tools on hand.
  • Moment Killer: He has a strong tendency to do this, particularly with Han and Leia. He interrupts their first kiss to report that he's found the backup power coupling in Empire; then in The Force Awakens, leans into the shot while they're having an emotional reunion just to say hi.
  • Nervous Wreck: There's hardly ever a time when he isn't worrying about what could go wrong in a situation. If ever something seems out of hand, chances are he'll have a pessimistic comment or two to dish out.
  • Never My Fault: After having a nasty argument with R2 and taking off on his own, he comes to the conclusion Artoo tricked him into it.
  • Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Noble Male to Artoo's Roguish Male, at least if their banter is to be believed—Threepio is refined and well-mannered to the point of neurosis, Artoo is laid-back, snarky and apparently has a rather dirty mouth.
  • Non-Action Guy: Since he is a just a protocol droid, he has no combat skills whatsoever, and would prefer to be nowhere near the action.
  • Omniglot: His primary function is as an interpreter, being fluent in over six million different forms of communication. This is initially a throwaway character trait just to get Luke's uncle Owen to buy him and thus become a part of Luke's life (and to interpret what R2-D2 is saying). It does eventually become important in Return of the Jedi, where he is seen as a god by the Ewoks and gets their support in defeating The Empire. By the time period of The Force Awakens, he is fluent in nearly seven million forms of communication.
  • Pet the Dog: He's shown comforting a distraught R2-D2 after the droid is forced to help the newly anointed Darth Vader.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Despite his cowardice, he's always eager to be of help in any capacity that doesn't involve getting shot at.
  • Refuge in Audacity: He manages to convince a squad of Imperial Soldiers in A New Hope that he and R2-D2 were just a pair of innocent droids taken hostage by Luke, Han and the others and thrown in a closet, and gets them to let them go. They were the droids that the Empire had been searching for the entire film.
  • Regular Character: In the foreword of the Star Wars novelization, George Lucas writes that his intention was for C-3P0 and R2-D2 to be The Ishmaels of the story, narrating the greater adventures of the galaxy at large and being present for almost every important event in the saga. Appropriately, they have appeared in every single theatrical film save Solo: A Star Wars Story; and for the sequences of The Force Awakens where they are not present, BB-8 is.
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: He's bossy, conceited, and whiny, but also has a heart of gold.
  • Robot Buddy: Starts out as one to Luke; but the way things develop, he's usually teamed up with Leia.
  • Series Mascot: He and R2-D2 form a dual series mascot, second only to Darth Vader himself.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: C-3PO is very wordy. This is justified since he's a linguist and an interpreter.
  • The Smart Guy: He's able to interpret various codes and languages, and serves as a source of exposition.
  • Supporting Protagonist: The first third of A New Hope has C-3PO dragged along for the ride while R2-D2 sets out on his mission to deliver the Death Star plans to Obi-Wan.
  • Those Two Guys: Along with R2-D2 throughout the Canon.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: He manages to catch a break in Return of the Jedi when he is worshiped as a god by the Ewoks and helps forge an alliance with them, resulting in a decisive Rebel victory against the Empire.
  • Translator Buddy: Threepio serves as this for Artoo, at least in the theatrical films. In The Clone Wars, more people seem to be able to understand "astromech babble" without needing this service.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Although he's constantly haranguing R2-D2, they're obviously friends and partners of long standing. Conversely, he seems to get along pretty well with BB-8.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has a recurring discomfort with flying on starships throughout the Canon. Funnily enough, he says he's finally starting to get the hang of flying in Revenge of the Sith, and is even able to pilot a ship... before he gets his memory erased, that is.
  • With Friends Like These...: He's not really a lot of help, and has a tendency to lament how his "friends" tend to get involved in dangerous situations he'd really rather avoid.

    Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c3po_sw_st.png
"If this mission fails, it was all for nothing. All we've done. All this time."

Having continued to serve Leia during her tenure as a New Republic senator, C-3PO joins her when she founds the Resistance against the First Order. Serving as Droid Communication Chief for the Resistance, C-3PO plays a vital role in the fight against the First Order.


  • Ascended Extra:
    • In contrast to his diminished role in the Prequel Trilogy and especially Revenge of the Sith, his presence in The Force Awakens greatly overshadows R2-D2's — a first for the franchise. Downplayed in that he really doesn't do anything.
    • The Rise of Skywalker gives him much more screen time and importance to the plot then the previous films.
  • Converse with the Unconscious: Threepio is noted to talk to the unresponsive R2, as well as somehow manage to get into arguments with him.
  • Demoted to Extra: The Last Jedi reduced Threepio to "a table decoration" as his actor Anthony Daniels put it. He shows up a few times and contributes even less to the plot.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Eventually agrees to let the group subject him to a potentially permanent memory-wipe when it appears to be the only way to access a key translation in the forbidden Sith dialect that may be the only way for them to find where the returned Palpatine has hidden his Final Order fleet (although Artoo is later able to restore his memories from a relatively recent back-up).
  • Hidden Depths: The C-3PO: The Phantom Limb comic reveals many of his philosophical thoughts about a droid's lot in life as he attempts to lead a group of droid survivors of a Resistance ship crash (including a First Order droid they had taken prisoner) to safety on an inhospitable planet, struggling with the losses they take in the process.
  • If My Calculations Are Correct: He gets shushed by Poe while trying to talk about the odds of the Resistance finding another exit to the Crait base among its many winding tunnels.
  • Irony: In The Rise of Skywalker, Threepio - who has for decades been incapable of shutting up when anyone wants him to - is not allowed to use his translation abilities the one time they actually want him to. Everyone's aware of the irony, and they don't appreciate it one bit.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia:
    • He undergoes one in The Rise of Skywalker. In order to translate a text in Sith Language that his programming prevents him from speaking, Threepio has to undergo a memory wipe. Fortunately, Artoo has his memories backup into his hard drive, allowing Threepio to regain them and reunite with his friends.
    • Notably in his comic one-shot, Threepio reveals his databanks has remnant imagery of his lost memories from the prequel era, though he has no idea of their context. Their presence is equated to something of a phantom limb.
      C-3PO: ...I see flashes - for just a moment... places. Rocks... a factory of droids... an arena, in the middle of a battle... my body not my own... a green world with hills... underwater cities... a single city spread far as my optical sensors could see... a temple on fire... smoky mountains of magma and fire. Suffering. Yes... I have memories [...] and sometimes I allow myself to wonder about them...
  • Moment Killer: Han and Leia are staring at each other, reunited for the first time in years... and C-3PO inserts himself between the two, apparently under the impression that Han had forgotten who he was.
  • No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me: Parodied when C-3PO meets Han for the first time in many years, and Threepio thinks Han might not recognize him with his new red arm. Han just glares at him, leading him to shut up and walk away.
  • Noodle Incident: He somehow lost his left arm and could only get it replaced with one of a different color.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When his memory is wiped to reboot him as a Sith language translator in The Rise of Skywalker, his eyes become red. Though in this case that absolutely doesn't mean he attacks people on sight, but he still has a deep and scary voice when translating the Sith message. Then he's rebooted back to normal, although without memories of his life and friends.
  • Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Tries fleeing during Poe's mutiny, since it's against his programming. He doesn't get far before Leia blasts the door down anyway.
  • Shout-Out: Threepio's red arm was a nod to Venom Snake from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, as Hideo Kojima and J. J. Abrams are friends in real life. Similarly, The Phantom Pain allows players to unlock a gold arm akin to Threepio's. Which, if you're not aware of the shout-out, raises the question of why one of the most famous droids in the New Republic would have a damaged arm replaced with what appears to be whatever arm happened to be lying around.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: He is able to communicate with certain animals, inciting them to attack First Order troops.
  • The Spymaster: His main job for the Resistance is to manage the large number of droid spies and informants they have scattered throughout the galaxy. Thanks to his network, the Resistance learns about BB-8 being on Takodana and send forces there just in time to save the heroes from a First Order assault. Yes, the droid who in previous decades was subject to memory wipes because of his inability to keep a secret is now in charge of espionage for the Resistance. Must've gotten a programming upgrade.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He is now in charge of the Resistance's droid spies. His standalone comic also shows that he can be calm and decisive under pressure.
  • Tragic Keepsake: According to supplementary materials, the red arm Threepio sports in The Force Awakens is a memento of the sacrifice that Omri, a fellow droid, made. By the end of the movie, however, he's since re-obtained his gold arm.

R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/r2d2.png
"Beep-boop!"

Model: R2-series astromech droid

Portrayed by: Kenny Baker (1977-2015), Jimmy Vee (2017-)

R2-D2, pronounced Artoo-Detoo and often referred to as R2 (Artoo), was an R2 series astromech droid who aided the heroes with his superb mechanical skills and fighter pilot assistance. He formed an unlikely but enduring friendship with the fussy protocol droid C-3PO. R2 had masculine programming, so he wouldn't be addressed as 'it'. Originally part of the squad of astromechs tending to the Naboo Royal Palace's hangar, he was instrumental in Queen Padmé Amidala's escape when Naboo was conquered. When Anakin Skywalker became a Jedi Knight, Padmé gave R2 to Anakin and the astromech droid served loyally on the front lines throughout the Clone Wars, even being involved in his own secret mission to recover a Separatist decoding chip. Alongside C-3PO, he was given to Senator Bail Organa and came to serve first Leia Organa and then Luke Skywalker, serving as the young Jedi's astromech much as he had done for Anakin before the senior Skywalker's fall to the Dark Side.


    Tropes from the Prequel Trilogy 
  • Badass Adorable: He is a very adorable astromech droid that is very intelligent and skilled to the point where you should not mess with him. In The Phantom Menace, he manages to repair the Naboo royal starship's shield generator while all the other astromechs get blasted away in the vacuum of space. In The Clone Wars, he set a Separatist astromech droid called R3-S6 on fire and sent him hurtling to a flaming, explosive doom. In Revenge of the Sith, he destroys two Super Battle Droids by spraying them with oil and firing his thrusters.
  • Been There, Shaped History: He was involved in the key moments of the galactic history in the Canon during the events of The Phantom Menace and onward. Since his memories weren't wiped like C-3PO's, he can remember everything that's happened in the theatrical films and The Clone Wars and has worked with (or against) every major figure in the Canon. And despite all this, he probably doesn't show up in any holo histories because nearly everyone outside of the circle of heroes views him as just another astromech droid.
  • Beneath Notice: Throughout his entire lifespan, he has repeatedly put a wrench in villains' plans (and helped the heroes in their darkest hours) just from the fact that they pass him off as just another astromech droid and underestimate him. Rule of thumb: if Artoo is along for the ride, chances are that he's going to prove helpful at some point, even if he doesn't have a heavy presence in the story he's in.
    • In The Clone Wars episode "A Friend in Need", Death Watch assigned him to droid maintenance duty, only for him to gain the droids' gratitude and make an army to use against Death Watch to help him save Ahsoka and Lux.
    • During the Zygerrian Slavers arc in The Clone Wars, he was the only one of the heroes to not be taken into slavery. He disappeared in the last act of "Slaves of the Republic" and didn't show up again until the first act of "Escape from Kadavo" to help Anakin escape from his captors.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: R2 can only speak in "astromech babble", an arrach of mechanical chirps, whistles, warbles and beeps. So, it's very hard to understand what he's saying - fortunately, C-3PO can understand "astromech babble" and can translate for us. The Sequel Trilogy reveals that Luke can understand this too.
  • Blowing a Raspberry: If you listen closely when he beeps, R2 sometimes makes a robotic version of blowing a raspberry while bickering with other characters, especially C-3PO.
  • Break the Cutie: Not only did all of his siblings brutally died while trying to repair the shields for the ship fleeing Naboo, but he later ends up assisting Anakin in both the attack on the Jedi Temple and the assassination of the Separatist leaders, which he is clearly distraught by if his conversation with C-3PO is of any indication.
  • Can't Use Stairs: Attack of the Clones shows R2-D2 getting slowed down by Naboo city steps, but he still manages to keep up with the humans.
  • Captain Ersatz: He and C3PO were based on the peasants, Tahei and Matashichi from The Hidden Fortress.
  • A Day in the Limelight: He gets an episode of focus in The Clone Wars Once a Season, either on his own or with C-3PO.
  • Do-Anything Robot: The whole reason for being for astromech droids like R2-D2; to be droid repairmen with a host of tools integrated into their body. Their strongest forte in that purview is aboard spacecraft (hence astro-mech).
  • Dub Name Change: The Italian dub of the movies renamed him to C1-P8, as the entire R2 series was remamed as C-series droids (years before this kind of droid, such as Chopper, were introduced into canon).
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted in "Point of No Return" in that said sacrifice didn't completely destroy him. He stays behind on a Republic cruiser filled with enough explosives to blow up a gathering of the Republic fleet to prematurely detonate it from afar (according to the Super Tactical Droid in charge of the attack, the countdown couldn't be stopped once it started). He barely survived this explosion, with his body badly damaged to the point that he was shut down, and all it took to get him up and running again were a salvage crew and a repair job.
  • Made of Iron: In The Clone Wars, he survives (point-blank) an explosion intended to blow up a Republic fleet gathering, with only his outer body damaged.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Briefly. He ran at least two missions with a Sith Lord, staying by Darth Vader without complaint as he massacred both the Jedi Temple and the Separatist hideout on Mustafar. Granted, as soon as Obi-Wan and Padmé landed, he had a way out and didn't look back.
  • Older Than They Look: One would think he's the younger between him and C-3PO, thanks to being a Kid-Appeal Character, but The Phantom Menace reveals that he was fully operational while Anakin was still building Threepio.
  • The Only One: As the protagonists are trying to escape the Trade Federation blockade in The Phantom Menace, all the other astromech droids are blasted away by laser fire, leaving R2 to repair the shield generator alone. It's just the first of many times he saves the day.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He is a small astromech droid that shouldn’t be messed with by anyone. In Revenge of the Sith, he proves that he can take care of two Super Battle Droids that are twice his size with some oil and flame thrusters.
  • Secret-Keeper: Ends up keeping quite a number of secrets for several characters.
    • He is one of the few characters who is privy to Anakin and Padmé's Secret Relationship (along with C-3PO, he was one of the only two attendants at their wedding) and also knows the truth about Luke and Leia. Unlike C-3PO, he doesn't get his memory wiped and still never says a word about any of this for decades.
    • Accompanies Yoda to Dagobah, the Wellspring, and Moraband during his quest for enlightenment late in the Clone Wars. R2 keeps their destinations a secret from everyone, including Anakin, allowing Dagobah to be utilized as Yoda's hideaway following Order 66.

    Tropes from the Original Trilogy 
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: Artoo's design in Rebels is altered slightly from his design in The Clone Wars; in the former it's closer to his appearance in the films. The blue panels on the front of his body have softer edges, he has more lines and panels on his body and they are colored blue instead of white.
  • Beneath Notice: Throughout his entire lifespan, he has repeatedly put a wrench in villains' plans (and helped the heroes in their darkest hours) just from the fact that they pass him off as just another astromech droid and underestimate him. Rule of thumb: if Artoo is along for the ride, chances are that he's going to prove helpful at some point, even if he doesn't have a heavy presence in the story he's in. For example, in Return of the Jedi, nobody on Jabba's payroll bothered to check if he was carrying something that might prove useful to the heroes, as he had smuggled Luke's lightsaber in as part of his elaborate gambit to rescue Han. No one noticed him slip away onto the barge's flight deck to get in position to deliver it, either.
  • Big Damn Heroes: He saved the heroes more times that he could count. This includes saving them just before the trash compactor crushed them, leading them to safety in Cloud City by unlocking the door to the landing platform, then uses his fire extinguisher as a smoke screen to cover their escape, fixed the Falcon's hyperdrive right before the Imperials lock on with a tractor beam and gives Luke his new lightsaber during the battle against Jabba. He also does this many times in the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars.
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: The little guy to C-3PO's big guy.
  • Bilingual Dialogue: R2 can only speak in "astromech babble", an arrach of mechanical chirps, whistles, warbles and beeps. So, it's very hard to understand what he's saying.
  • Blowing a Raspberry: If you listen closely when he beeps, R2 sometimes makes a robotic version of blowing a raspberry while bickering with other characters, especially C-3PO.
  • Breakout Character: R2-D2 is perhaps one of the most merchandisable and popular characters from the Original Trilogy.
  • The Cameo: Alongside C-3PO, R2-D2 has a brief appearance in Rogue One as the characters leave the Rebel base.
  • Child-Like Voice: R2-D2's signature "astromech babble" was created by sound designer Ben Burtt making baby noises and putting them through a synthesizer. This could be said to emphasize R2-D2's kid appeal, eccentricity, and curiosity, despite being older than his companion C-3PO.
  • Cute Machines: He's small, adorable, plucky, and confident.
  • The Fake Cutie: He's an adorable little astromech droid, but his "astromech babble" hides a dirty mouth, a bundle of snark and some scathing insults when he wants to make a point.
  • The Gadfly: To C-3PO, and Colonel Gascon during the D-Squad arc. He really likes to mess with those that have big egos.
  • Guy in Back: R2-D2 serves as such during the Space Battles in The Phantom Menace, Revenge of the Sith, and A New Hope. To add to the drama, he is badly damaged during the final trench run in A New Hope.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: R2-D2, particularly if viewed as specifically C-3PO's sidekick, is far more useful in the heat of the action than Threepio, and is shown a number of times to be particularly brave and determined. Even viewed as the sidekick to the heroes as a whole, R2's ability to save the day either by hacking the operating systems around him or fixing mechanical problems on the heroes' ships makes him probably the most valuable member of the team besides Luke.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Like Threepio, his full name is sometimes written as "Artoo-Detoo". And in Latin America, he's sometimes referred to as "Arturito" (Little Arthur) among fans, due to the similar pronunciation.
  • Kid-Appeal Character: He shares this role with C-3PO in the Original Trilogy, by virtue of being small, cute and plucky.
  • Narrator All Along: Animation director Rob Coleman says that George Lucas told him that the Opening Scroll to each movie is actually R2D2 explaining the story to the keeper of The Journal of The Wills 100 years after Return of the Jedi.
  • The Navigator: One of Artoo's functions as an astromech droid is to calculate hyperspace jumps using coordinates he's stored for the ship he's plugged into.
  • Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Roguish Male to Threepio's Noble Male, at least if their banter is to be believed—Threepio is refined and well-mannered to the point of neurosis, Artoo is laid-back, snarky and apparently has a rather dirty mouth.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Serves as a beeping Robot Buddy for Luke in the original trilogy and Anakin in the prequels.
  • Only Sane Man: R2-D2 seems to cater to this, especially considering he never had his memory wiped and is fully aware of everything that has taken place since The Phantom Menace.
  • Plot Coupon: The Death Star plans and a message from Princess Leia he carries in A New Hope.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Less so than C-3PO, but still, he's good for breaking tension.
  • Robot Buddy: Has a seemingly endless supply of gadgets for every conceivable task.
  • The Scream: R2 has his own distinctive robotic scream. UWAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!!!
  • Secret-Keeper: He's the only hero who knows the events from every era, being featured in all nine main films so far and appearing in most spinoffs. Threepio has the same attendance record but got his memory wiped in between the prequels and originals. In particular, he hides the truth of Luke and Leia's parentage and relationship from them so that Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Bail's plan can succeed. He also hides the truth about Anakin from Ahsoka after she joins the Rebellion.
  • Shock and Awe: Though hardly built for combat, his electro-welder can be used as a pretty effective makeshift taser, and he does so repeatedly throughout his appearances in The Clone Wars.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke and Artoo go to Cloud City to rescue the others. When Luke enters a room to have a dramatic confrontation with Darth Vader, Artoo gets locked out.
    • Anakin orders Artoo to stay with his ship on Mustafar as he makes his way to slaughter the Separatist leaders and duel Obi-Wan to the death in Revenge of the Sith.
  • Silent Snarker: Artoo, judging by C-3PO's reactions to what he's saying, is quite the Deadpan Snarker.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: If Threepio is anything to go by, Artoo can have quite a dirty mouth... er... vocoder. The fact all of his speech is rendered in beeps has certainly lent itself to Memetic Mutation in this regard, though not without precedent.
    0-0-0: My, what language. He certainly is a foul-mouthed little astromech.
  • The Smart Guy: He's the one to provide technological assistance when the heroes need it, whether it be hacking computer systems, repairing starships, or keeping his masters' starships flying.
  • Smart People Play Chess: R2 is shown playing chess against Chewbacca in A New Hope. After Han tells them what Wookiees do to others when they lose, Threepio suggests he should let Chewie win.
  • Super-Toughness: In A New Hope, R2 takes a direct hit from a TIE fighter laser and lives to tell the tale, despite getting some clearly visible (but repairable) damage from it. The same thing happens again in Return of the Jedi, once again surviving a laser blast while trying to open the blast doors to the Death Star shield generator bunker.
  • Supporting Protagonist: The first third of A New Hope focuses mainly on his attempts to deliver Princess Leia's message to Obi-Wan before he ends up in Luke's ownership.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: He has tons of hidden gadgets built inside him, including rocket boosters, a taser, several pointy manipulator arms, a sawblade, etc.
  • Those Two Guys: With C-3PO, and they are always very happy to see each other after any time they get separated.
  • Undying Loyalty: To the main heroes, specifically the Skywalkers. Luke's disappearance in The Force Awakens puts him in a Heroic BSoD.
  • The Unintelligible: He communicates through beeps and whistles. Though C-3PO is usually there to interpret for him, others are able to get the gist of what he's saying through his abundant personality alone. This helps conceal the fact that he knows a lot more about the Jedi Order and Darth Vader than he lets on, compared to C-3PO who had his memory wiped to stop him from telling anybody.
  • Unreliable Narrator: George Lucas has said (occasionally) that the movies are the story as told by R2-D2 to an alien race. This probably explains why he gets a lot more heroic moments in scenes where he's alone.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With C-3PO. Despite their bickering, they are always very concerned about each other's safety. The sequel trilogy hammers this home - C3PO's first words to R2 are to say how much he "missed" him.
  • We Do Not Know Each Other: The reveal in the prequels that he had friendships with both Obi-Wan and Yoda alters his interactions in the original films into R2 pretending not to know them personally in order to avoid revealing his past with Anakin to Luke as part of their plan to have Luke become a Jedi and kill his father. This makes his and Yoda's conflicts in Empire Strikes Back funnier, as it turns R2 into an active participant in Yoda's trolling of Luke.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Mostly averted by his close friends who treat him more than just an astro-droid. Played straight with other characters. Obi-Wan Kenobi views droids as just machines, although R2 seems to be an exception if the novel of A New Hope is to be believed.

    Tropes from the Sequel Trilogy 
  • Chekhov M.I.A.: In a sense in The Force Awakens. Yes, he is physically present, but he shut himself off for most of the film and only reactivates near the end just in time to reveal that he already got most of the map on Luke's whereabouts.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: He apparently lets a big one loose on Luke in The Last Jedi, who chides him for doing it on a sacred planet.
    Luke Skywalker: Hey, sacred island; watch the language!
  • Crazy-Prepared: Keeps a backup of Threepio's memories just in case. Comes in handy when Threepio gets all of his memories wiped in Rise of Skywalker.
  • Demoted to Extra: R2-D2 is only shown in the latter half of The Force Awakens and spends nearly all of his screen time in "low-power mode", but holds the key to finding Luke: the rest of the map. He has a slightly bigger role in The Last Jedi however. It's him who convinces Luke to train Rey by showing him the old hologram of Leia calling for Obi-Wan Kenobi's help, and he helps Rey and Chewbacca onboard the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Crait. He gets put back on the shelf a bit in Rise of Skywalker, but is the one who restores 3PO's memories and actually replaces BB-8 in Poe's X-Wing during the Battle of Exegol due to the latter being with Finn on the ground mission.
  • Good Old Robot: Artoo's over seventy years old, he's kept around because of his connection to Luke. However, it's noted that even if he wasn't in his "coma" he'd still be showing his age, and be outpaced by newer, more advanced models of astromech droid.
  • Heroic BSoD: One bordering on Despair Event Horizon in The Force Awakens. After Ben Solo's betrayal and Luke's departure, R2-D2 essentially shut down and hasn't spoken with anyone in years. He ultimately gets over it by the end of the film. Assuming his "shutdown" wasn't planned by him and Luke to make sure that Luke was never found.
  • Morality Pet: Even in the depths of his Took a Level in Jerkass tendencies, Luke still remains very friendly with R2-D2.
  • Plot Coupon: Like in the Original Trilogy, he's carrying a hologram needed to advance the plot.
  • Small Role, Big Impact:
    • Without his timely reactivation in The Force Awakens, the Resistance would never have found Luke.
    • To boot, if he hadn't tagged along on the trip to find Luke in The Last Jedi, then Rey (and Yoda) never could've convinced him to join the fight.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Supplemental materials state R2's fame is all that's saving him from being melted down to save resources.

Baron Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III

Species: Human

Homeworld: Socorro

Portrayed by: Billy Dee Williams (Original Trilogy, Rebels, The Rise of Skywalker), Donald Glover (Solo)
Voiced by (English): Billy Dee Williams (most video games), Chris Jai Alex (young Lando, Battlefront II (2017)) Foreign VAs 

    In General 
  • Adaptation Name Change: His Classy Cane in the Sequel era gives his full name as Landonis Balthazar Calrissian IIInote  where Legends was content leaving him as Lando.
  • Badass Cape: One of the main parts of Lando's signature style is his collection of fabulous capes. He has a wardrobe on the Falcon that is filled entirely with capes and continues to wear them throughout his life, even incorporating one into his Rebel Alliance uniform. Lando continues to wear his capes even while depressed and in exile on Pasaana.
  • Badass Normal: Like Han, Lando is a regular human with no connection to the Force like Luke and Leia, alien strength like Chewie, or the robotic tricks of the droids. He more than proves that he doesn't need any of those things with his charm and improvisation getting him out of numerous scrapes, and when he cannot avoid them his skill with a blaster and amazing piloting ability allow him to survive easily.
  • Character Development: As a younger scoundrel, Lando was a cheater, thief, and his accomplishments were highly exaggerated. As he grew older his charm became more effective, but the life of crime wore on him, particularly after losing two of his best friends to heists gone wrong, with L3-37 being uploaded into the Millennium Falcon and Lobot's personality being locked away after beseeching Lando to be better. The latter incident led to Lando's first major development, becoming the Baron of Cloud City and seeking to make it an independent haven from the war. When that failed and he was forced to betray Han, Lando took another hard look at his life, helped the Rebellion reform in the aftermath of Hoth, and rescued Han from Jabba before joining the Rebellion for good as a general. While he retained his charm and poise from his younger days, Lando stopped looking after just himself and his closest friends and developed a sense of responsibility to those around him and the galaxy at large.
  • Con Men Hate Guns: He invokes this several times throughout his career, attempting to paint himself with a reputation of someone who does not like guns and isn't good with them. This is so that people underestimate him and let their guard down so he can shoot them dead if he needs to.
  • Cool Starship: He has two throughout the series.
    • During the events of Solo, he still owns the Millennium Falcon and has made various modifications to it to make it even cooler. He is not pleased when the ship gets trashed during the Kessel run and he loses it to Han by the end.
    • Shortly after the Battle of Endor he bought the Lady Luck, a personal luxury yacht that he had outfitted according to his preferences.
  • Extreme Omnisexual: According to Word of Gay, his taste includes men, women, aliens, and L3, a robot. He spends a good chunk of Solo flirting with Han, and prior to the Battle of Endor flirts with Wes Janson.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Downplayed with his friendship with Han, who Lando is only eleven years older than, but with Luke and Leia he is twenty-four years older than both but strikes up a lifelong friendship with them after joining the Rebellion. He is on the other end of this trope with Chewbacca, who is around two-and-a-half centuries older than Lando.
  • Momma's Boy: Type 1. He tells Han that although he wasn't very close to his father growing up, his mother was "the most amazing woman" he'd ever known. The Rise of Skywalker visual dictionary notes that the aurodium ring Lando wears has her name carved into it.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: He is called Landonis once in the films, and everyone else in practically every medium just calls him Lando.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: When you look at his life as a whole, it becomes clear that every time it began to get better something happens to ruin it for Lando.
    • His partnership with L3-37 and life as a successful card shark came to abrupt end with the Kessel heist, with L3 being uploaded to the Falcon, which Lando then subsequently lost to Han after trying to cheat him once more.
    • Lando found a new partner and best friend in Lobot, but was stuck in near constant debt that he had to take risker and risker jobs to pay off, culminating in a failed heist of Palpatine's yacht that left Lobot's personality locked away.
    • Inspired by Lobot's final words and searching for a way to help him, Lando becomes a legitimate businessman and runs Cloud City for a couple years as a successful and independent mining outpost in which his workers are his number one priority. Then the Empire comes along, strongarms him into betraying yet another friend, and then takes over anyway. Lando is forced to flee to the Rebellion and leave the city occupied.
    • The end of the war sees him liberate Cloud City and he eventually marries and has a child, while his friends Han and Leia do the same with Lando being an uncle to Ben. But then his past as a rebel hero makes him a target for the First Order to kidnap his daughter while his best friend's marriage falls apart when Ben turns to the dark side. He and Luke then fail to stop Ochi from murdering Rey's parents and lose her, causing Lando to feel as though he has failed two little girls and settle on Pasaana to continue his search, isolated from many of his friends and the wider galaxy.

    Solo Era 

Captain Lando Calrissian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lando_solo.png
"Everything you've heard about me is true."

Once a famed smuggler and outlaw, Lando Calrissian moved on to the life of a card shark and sportsman, travelling the galaxy aboard his luxurious starship, the Millennium Falcon, alongside his partner L3-37. Nonetheless, he was drawn back into the criminal underworld for one last job by Qi'ra, Tobias Beckett and Han Solo, who requested his aid in stealing a large shipment of raw hyperfuel from the mines of Kessel.


  • Agent Peacock: Downplayed. He's always dressed in stylish and colourful outfits and rather flamboyant, and he can kick ass too, though he'd rather stay out of the fighting if he can. Not only that, but he completely freaks out when Qi'ra tries to use one of his capes to put out a fire. However, he really starts fighting back on Kessel when Pyke syndicate mooks damage the Falcon and he runs straight into the thick of combat to rescue L3 when she's shot.
  • Badass Boast: Upon meeting Han for the first time:
    Han Solo: I heard a story about you; I was wondering if it's true.
    Lando Calrissian: Everything you have heard about me is true.
  • Badass Longcoat: He wears a large fur mantle at times.
  • Butt-Monkey: Joining the heist on Kessel brings him much trouble. It includes having his ship turned into a "pile of junk" in the Kessel Run, watching Qi'ra trying to smother a fire with one of his pricey and fashionable capes, losing L3-37, and not getting any money from the job, ultimately. And, last but not least, he gets his comeuppance for all his cheating, losing his ship in a Sabacc game against Han.
  • Cheaters Never Prosper: Cheating at Sabacc paid off for quite some time for him... until he met Han Solo. In the last scene of Solo, Han steals the card he kept up his sleeve, and wins the Millennium Falcon fair and square in their second Sabacc duel.
  • Curse Cut Short: After the Falcon's engines suddenly fail while next to the Maw but before they kick back in.
    Lando: Ohhh, sh
  • The Dandy: He always strives to look fashionable, and has an enormous number of capes in his closet. When Qi'ra uses one to put out a fire, he immediately starts protesting that it's "custom ordered!"
  • Everyone Has Standards: A cheater he may be, but Lando mutters that mining operations are the worst when they arrive at Kessel.
  • Fixing the Game: He cheats at Sabacc.
  • The Gambler: He is an avid Sabacc player. It's a card game that's quite popular throughout the galaxy. Although he's quite the cheater.
  • "Good Luck" Gesture: Lando and L3 exchange one before jumping to hyperspace for Kessel. It comes off as a pre-flight ritual that the duo has done many times.
  • Guns Akimbo: Briefly (but effectively) wields two blasters (his chromium-plated SE-14r blaster pistol and Han's DL-44 heavy blaster pistol) during the escape from Kessel.
  • Heroic BSoD: He goes into a brief one after L3-37 dies and he is shot in the arm trying to save her. He's left holding her, sobbing and telling her it'll be okay. However, he actually allows Han to pilot the Millennium Falcon because he knows he's in no state to do it himself, and doesn't let himself be overwhelmed by grief during the Kessel Run.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: He and L3 bicker and banter constantly, in a good-humored way that reinforces their clearly close-knit bonds.
  • Lovable Rogue: Yeah, he'll lie and cheat, but he’s just so damn charming!
  • Malicious Misnaming: In the form of an In-Joke. Billy Dee Williams tended to mispronounce Han's name with a hard-A in the original trilogy. Solo implies that this is actually something of a nickname: originally, Lando starts doing it to condescend to Han when, while trying to hustle him, Solo intentionally mispronounces "sabacc" the same way. When he sees how much it bugs Han, it sticks.
  • Pimped-Out Cape: A few of his capes are rather fancy looking (including one that was "custom ordered") and he's got enough of them to almost rival Padmé Amidala's wardrobe.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: He pauses between words when saying "Everything you heard about me is true."
  • Robosexual: If there's any truth in what L3-37 says about Lando, that is...
  • Robosexuals Are Creeps: Qi'ra is noticeably unnerved by Lando and L3-37's relationship, particularly when L3-37 says their relationship "works."
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Well, when somebody trashes your most prized possession, Lando's of course being the Millennium Falcon, you'd be a little eager to leave, too.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Let's just say that his relationship with Han Solo was... a little rocky in the beginning.
    Lando: (seeing the damage Han has done to his beloved Falcon) I hate you.
    Han: I know.
  • Time-Shifted Actor: Billy Dee Williams being evidently too old to play a younger version of Lando, the character is played by Donald Glover. Interestingly, Alden Ehrenreich's and Donald Glover's respective ages are consistent with the respective ages of Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.

    Original Trilogy Era 

General Lando Calrissian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lando_rotj.png
"Yeah, I'm responsible these days. It's the price you pay for being successful."

"This deal is getting worse all the time..."

Years after his first adventure with Han, Lando and his newest partner Lobot became involved in a disastrous heist to steal the Emperor's personal yacht, which trapped Lobot's personality within his cyborg construct. Inspired by his friend's final words to do better, Lando left his criminal life behind him and became Baron-Administrator of Cloud City on Bespin, doing his best to govern the tibanna gas mining colony and keep it out of the Galactic Civil War. He reluctantly betrayed Han to protect the city from the Empire, but redeemed himself by joining the rebellion and helping rescue his old friend, eventually rising to the rank of General in the Rebel Alliance.


  • Ace Pilot: His skills at flying rival Han's, as seen during the Battle of Endor, particularly the flight through the Death Star in the Millennium Falcon which even smaller starfighters had trouble doing.
  • Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: He notably says Han with a noticeable emphasis on the A of his name. While this was genuinely how Billy Dee pronounced the name, Solo mends this to be a very deliberate action on his part.
  • Age-Gap Romance: His brief relationship with Amilyn Holdo is one, with him being at least twenty years older than her.
  • Age Lift: Unlike Legends, where Lando was stated to be a mere three years older than Han, he is now a full decade older and 46 by the time of The Empire Strikes Back, bringing him more in line with Billy Dee Williams' age at the time of the film's release.
  • Anti-Villain: The only reason he cooperates with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back is to ensure the safety of the people of Cloud City. He eventually gets out of this and becomes a hero once he figures out that Darth Vader is lousy at keeping his end of the bargain.
  • The Atoner: He joins the Rebellion due to his guilt over selling out Han.
  • Benevolent Boss: As the Baron-Administrator of Cloud City, Lando's number one priority is the workers and citizens who live there. When funds are running short, he uses his own personal stash of credits that he was holding back just in case he needed an escape plan from the job to pay the miner's wages.
  • Bizarre Gambling Winnings: He managed to win Cloud City from someone while playing sabacc.
  • The Charmer: Despite him being known to be a bit of a jerk, he's got a way with words that make it hard for many to not listen to what he's saying.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: He flirts with every lady he meets (including Sabine), but is also polite and never presses if it's clear the interest is unreturned.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He is especially good with mixing this with Condescending Compassion, much to Ezra's chagrin.
  • Deal with the Devil: He gets forced into one with Vader to keep the people of Cloud City safe.
  • Default to Good: Lando ran Cloud City, which didn't fall into Imperial jurisdiction at first. Only after making the deal and seeing how horrible the Empire was did Lando join the Rebel Alliance.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Never thought that Vader would alter the deal after getting what he wants.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Subverted. He claims that he rarely carries a blaster and tells people who ask about it that he thinks blasters are "for people with no imagination" — but it's all a bluff. He will happily shoot people if the situation calls for it; Lando just likes having people think he won't so that they underestimate him.
  • Fire-Forged Friendship: While tensions between him and the main cast were initially tense and uneasy due to his betrayal, Lando eventually gets his own rather strong bond with them after he works to redeem himself by helping the Rebellion and then participating in Han's rescue from Jabba.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes:
    • As far as his appearance in Rebels goes. He ends up pissing off nearly the entire Ghost crew in one way or another and manages to con his way out of paying them aside from a fuel canister he let Chopper steal. The only reason they didn't trade him off to Azmorigan is because Hera wouldn't allow it. He did at least return Chopper, though, and wrote off the fuel drum they stole from him as "payment" for their services.
    • He's this with the rebels for obvious reasons in The Empire Strikes Back. Chewbacca is ready to crush Lando's windpipe (with Leia coldly supporting it) until he points out he can save Han. After he makes good of his word in Return of the Jedi however, he seems to be on better grounds and averts this trope completely.
  • Frontline General: He makes general in Return of the Jedi and leads Gold Flight during the attack on the Death Star II. Applies to on-foot combat too, as evidenced by the one-man spree of destruction he wreaks on the Imperial weapons factory on Sullust in Battlefront 2.
  • Genius Bruiser: He's quite smart both business wise and socially speaking, and he's been proven to kick ass in a fight if needed.
  • "Good Luck" Gesture: Lando gives one to Han after his friend lends him the Falcon for the assault on Death Star II in Return of the Jedi. This scene has added poignancy after seeing that Lando and L3 often shared that salute as well in Solo.
  • Groin Attack: He suffers a brutal one from Hera in "Idiot's Array" after he neglected to mention that his plan involved him faking selling her into slavery. He speaks with an Instant Soprano for a few lines afterward.
  • Guile Hero: While he is more than capable of shooting his way out of a situation, Lando would rather charm his way out or stall a dangerous situation until he can find an angle to exploit and even the odds. He later admits that he has absolutely no issue with solving a problem with his blaster, he simply likes to claim that he isn't very good with one to cause his opponents to underestimate him.
    Lando: I fight my own way. With this. [points to his head] Blasters are for suckers. People with no imagination.
  • Ham and Deadpan Duo: Lando is a flashy charming rogue who likes to make a statement with his actions and sense of style, while Lobot is more serious and dourer while trying to keep Lando's schemes from spiraling out of control.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Lobot, who is Lando's closest friend and partner-in-crime. After Lobot's implant overwrites his personality, Lando never stops seeking a method to undo that damage and restore his friend. Once he finds a way to restore Lobot, he does so even though it exposes that Lando betrayed the Alliance to settle a debt with Jabba. He is fine facing whatever consequences come for him, and is simply relieved to have restored his friend.
  • Hidden Depths: While his flashy personality portrays him as someone with upmost confidence who doesn't care what others think, Lando admits to Amilyn Holdo that he worries all people will know and remember about him are the stories of his exaggerations, swindling, and betrayals, and that he hopes to leave a different legacy behind.
  • Intrepid Merchant: He is willing to run an Imperial Naval blockade to set up a mining operation after all.
  • I Let You Win: He knew that Chopper stole some fuel and supplies from him in the scuffle on Lothal. He was perfectly okay with it because he considered it his way of paying the crew for their service (instead of actually paying them).
  • Loveable Rogue: Particularly in his Rebels appearance: he may be a conman and smuggler, but he's got style.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: He won't hesitate to flirt with anyone that catches his eye, and he's so suave and charming, his attempts at flirtation usually pay off.
  • The Mole: In Return of the Jedi, he disguises himself as one of Jabba's guards, and ends up being crucial in the skirmish over the Great Pit of Carkoon.
  • Nerves of Steel: He's one of the few people that can talk back to Vader a couple of times despite knowing how powerful the Sith happens to be, even if Vader intimidates him to compliance, the fact he's able to openly criticize Vader's approach at all takes guts.
  • Neutral No Longer: Cloud City was a Neutral territory, but after the events of Empire Strikes Back he and the city join the Rebellion.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • Whatever happened between him and Han Solo. As Han puts it:
      Han: Well, that was a long time ago; I'm sure he's forgotten about that. I hope.
    • What got him promoted to General by the time of Return of the Jedi, which Lando speculates was something he did during the Battle of Tanaab.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: A favored tactic of his. During one of his heists, he claims that he doesn't know how to use a blaster. He's lying to lure the rest of the crew into thinking he is harmless so if they betray him he can shoot first and gain the upper hand thanks to their underestimation of his skills.
  • Oh, Crap!: He gets a fantastic look of horror on his face when he realizes that not only are the second Death Star's shields still up, but there is also an Imperial fleet nearby as well. Later has another moment when the Death Star opens fire and destroys a Rebel ship.
    "How can they be jamming us if they don't know... (pause as the full weight of the realization hits him) ...that we're coming?"
    • Not much longer after that...
    "That blast came from the Death Star! That thing's operational!!!
    • He has a smaller version of this earlier in the movie when he's grabbed by the Sarlacc and realizes that Han who is still essentially blind is going to try and save him by shooting the tentacle. Luckily, Han hits his target without any misfortune.
  • Older and Wiser: Technically inverted since Solo was released after the original trilogy, but Lando in The Empire Strikes Back is a far better man than he was in Solo or Rebels.
  • Planet Baron: Lando Calrissian is the baron administrator of Cloud City on Bespin, and it is the only inhabited colony on the gas giant. He basically controls the tibanna gas extraction on it.
  • Professional Gambler: When Han describes him to Leia, he specifically mentions that Lando is a card player and gambler. We see him win a game of sabacc against an otherwise-unbeatable hand in Rebels and the only reason Han beats him when they play for the Falcon in Solo is because they forced Lando to play fair.
  • Prospector: In Rebels, Lando's trying his hand at some wildcat mining on Lothal; something the Empire doesn't approve of.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: As Han and himself note, he's much more responsible by the time he's put in charge of Cloud City, and he does all he can to make sure the citizens remain safe when the Empire occupies it. He even tries to help Chewie, Luke, Leia and 3P0 and Artoo to the best of his abilities. He's also a very intuitive leader when he joins the Rebel Alliance.
  • Reformed Criminal: He went from being a smuggler like Han to the leading figure of a major city. It's suggested that this turn was kickstarted by Lobot's last message to him before his implant took over, which encouraged Lando to be better than the swindling schemer he had been up to that point and do something with his potential.
  • Regretful Traitor: When the Empire arrives in Cloud City, Lando is forced to betray Han, Leia, and Chewie by setting them up to be captured. But when is Han frozen in carbonite (and handed over to Boba Fett), that proves to be the tipping point. He later makes up for what he did by giving Leia and Chewie time to escape.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: The sharpest in the galaxy. He dresses way more stylishly than anybody else in the Original Trilogy. This even carries over to his Rebel uniform, which has a cape.
  • Ship Tease: While stuck in No-Space on a mission, Lando and Amilyn Holdo exchanged some flirtation and slept together. After returning to the fleet Holdo notes admiringly that Lando referred to himself and the Rebellion as "us", while he looks back at her fondly as she walks away, suggesting that there may be more than just a casual fling between the two.
  • Sixth Ranger: He starts off as a Sixth Ranger Traitor, but becomes this later on.
  • Sniper Pistol: Quite literally, with his weapon being the scoped X-8 Night Sniper blaster pistol.
  • The Social Expert: Unlike Han, who's a bit too unreliable and bullheaded to not get himself in trouble, Lando is fantastic at recognizing what people want or need and capitalizing on it, which means he's typically pretty good at finding himself in situations where he wins.
  • The Stool Pigeon: He made a deal to keep the Empire out of Cloud City, and that led to Han's capture.
  • Supporting Leader: He leads the assault on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Han himself. Lando's appearance was calculated to replace Harrison Ford should he choose not to return. As it turned out, Lando still ended up piloting the Falcon into another Death Star.
  • Talking Your Way Out: Although he's an excellent shot with a blaster, Lando much prefers to talk things out and avoid needless violence.
  • Token Minority: Lando was the only major black character until the Prequel Trilogy was released.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: His appearance in Rebels depicts him during his smuggling days as a manipulative jerk, contrasting from the more heroic Lando in the original trilogy.
  • Vitriolic Best Friends: He won't hesitate to snark or take a jab at Han, which he does in turn, but when it comes down to it, the two trust each other very much and won't hesitate to cover the other's back.
  • You Said You Would Let Them Go: His protest when Vader orders Leia and Chewie detained in Cloud City. Vader's response: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

    Sequel Trilogy Era 

Lando Calrissian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lando_vanity_fair.png
"But there are more of us Poe. There are more of us."

"We had each other. That's how we won."

Following the liberation of Bespin, Lando stepped down as Baron-Administrator and started Calrissian Enterprises, which specialized in the manufacturing of droids. Eventually settling down and marrying, Lando had a daughter named Kadara, who was one of many children of rebel heroes who was kidnapped in the post-war period. He later helped Luke search for the Sith assassin Ochi of Bestoon, but gave up the search and settled on Pasaana as a hermit to bury the memory of his lost family. Years later, Lando aids the Resistance in their last stand against the First Order.


  • Ace Pilot: Lando may have claimed his flying days are over, but he still remains one of the best starfighters around.
  • All There in the Manual: The supplementary material reveals that Lando has a daughter who was kidnapped by unknown culprits in 15 ABY when she was only 2 years old. In time, he learned that the First Order was behind the kidnapping.
  • Ambiguously Related: To Jannah. The Visual Dictionary for The Rise of Skywalker mentions he had a daughter who was kidnapped by the First Order as a toddler, in 15 ABY. Jannah is an ex-stormtrooper who was taken by the First Order as a child; according to the Visual Dictionary she's in her early twenties in 35 ABY, so the timelines match up. At the end of the film, Jannah mentions she has no idea who she is and Lando smiles and says "Let's find out", though it's never made explicit that she might be his daughter.
  • Back for the Finale: Moviewise, he reappeared in The Rise of Skywalker, the Grand Finale of the Skywalker Saga, after being absent from the first two Sequel Trilogy films.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In the closing moments of The Rise of Skywalker, just when everything seems bleakest and even Poe Dameron has given up all hope, Lando and Chewie show up in the Millennium Falcon, leading a whole goddamn armada of ships to thwart the Final Order and save the galaxy's bacon.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Subverted. In the new Sequel Trilogy, it is the Black Lando who outlives Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa-Solo, making him the last survivor of the humanoid protagonists of the Original Trilogy.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Even though the Resistance had sent out a desperate plea to rally forces against the First Order, this was shown as largely ineffectual to which no one was reported as joining their forces. However, Lando somehow managed to rally an entire fleet of his own to join the Resistance off-screen to follow him into a battle against a planet destroying fleet led by Palpatine.
  • The Bus Came Back: He didn't show up (and wasn't even mentioned) in either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi, but eventually returned for The Rise of Skywalker. Justified as the guy had become a hermit like Luke.
  • Call-Back: His outfit is reminiscent of the one he wore decades back in Solo.
  • I Choose to Stay: Lando decided to remain on Parsaana in case Ochi resurfaced, but also to use it as a sort of base while he keeps searching for his daughter.
  • Classy Cane: In his old age, Lando has taken to carrying a gilded cane with his full name and title engraved on the pommel. The cane even resembles Cloud City.
  • Cool Old Guy: He may be older now, but he's lost none of his previous charm and piloting skills, and is still a great shot.
  • Demoted to Extra: Lando has the least focus and screentime of the original cast, not even being mentioned by name (let alone appearing) until The Rise of Skywalker, but even then, he has far less to contribute than Han, Luke, Leia or Chewbacca.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: It becomes a bit of a Running Gag in Shadow of the Sith that Lando is a bit annoyed that being the guy who blew up the second Death Star does not make any headway with New Republic bureaucracy.
  • Honorary Uncle: He was this to Ben Solo. It's revealed in Last Shot that little Ben even used to call him 'Unca Wanwo'. Lando, for his part, was clearly very fond of Ben as well, nicknaming him "little starfighter".
  • Interspecies Romance: He had one with Kaasha Bateen, a Twi'lek, although it is unclear if she was the mother of his daughter as his wife's name is never mentioned in Shadow of the Sith.
  • Ladykiller in Love: During his smuggling days he met the Twi'lek strategist Kaasha Bateen while supplying a rebel group. They had a brief fling, and Lando could never get her out of his head. When they met again a few years after the Battle of Endor, they start a relationship.
  • My Greatest Failure: He never managed to forgive himself for the kidnapping of his daughter and spent years trying to find her, sadly to no avail. He also later feels this way about being too late to save Rey's parents from being murdered by Ochi.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Lando using his considerable charisma, reputation, leadership talent and cunning to convince and rally a massive armada of ships to take on Palpatine's powerful fleet could make for its own movie.
  • Refusal of the Call: Lando initially declines Poe's offer to join the Resistance, stating that his flying days are over. After receiving news of Leia's death however, he changes his mind.
  • Supporting Leader: He gathers and leads the improvised starfleet against Palpatine's Final Order destroyers.

Alternative Title(s): Star Wars Chewbacca Character Sheet, Star Wars Lando Calrissian Character Sheet, Star Wars Han Solo Character Sheet

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