Cold blooded killer

[Metryq]

[J-Sun]

That's hilarious but it's no exaggeration - George "Delusional" Lucas says Han NEVER shot first.

[Metryq]

It's liberal Hollywood—there's a galaxy-wide civil war brewing, and Lucas is wringing his hands over Solo defending himself. (Everyone knows Han should have run, given Greedo whatever he wanted, right?) Like the line from Aliens, "What does he expect us to use, harsh language?"

There are many reasons why Han shot first:

* Greedo drew a weapon on Han first, and was very vocal about how Solo was a dead man. (This is the part that makes Han a cold-blooded killer.)

* This scene establishes Solo as a very sketchy character who gets himself into such situations in the first place. This should make the audience nervous that Solo might either abandon his passengers, or even turn them in to the empire if things get too tight. ("Jabba has no need for a smuggler who dumps his cargo at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser.")

* Solo eventually did run out on Luke and company when things got difficult. This makes his return all the more important a character development. (Or did Chewie argue with him the way he argued with R2 over the chess board?) But I suppose Han did not actually shoot that TIE fighter that was Vader's wingman. In the next iteration of the movie, that will be changed, too. It will probably turn out that the TIE pilot was smoking, or something else equally evil and deserving of death.

[Rodders]

I like the idea of Han as a cold blooded killer. It adds another dimension to his character that he can care for something such as the Rebellion and someone such as Luke and Leia.

He's a smuggler in a dangerous galaxy. Besides, it's not the shooting that makes him so cold, it's the attitude as he leaves the cantina.

[Metryq]

Originally Posted by Rodders

I like the idea of Han as a cold blooded killer. It adds another dimension to his character that he can care for something such as the Rebellion and someone such as Luke and Leia.

I think we have different definitions of "cold-blooded killer." To me it is someone who kills without a second thought or moral qualm—and probably for very little reason. Defending yourself against someone who is already threatening your life is hardly "cold-blooded"—except to liberals, who always weep for the perp and forget the victim. I have a license to carry, and I sincerely hope I never have to use it, even on some low-life scumbag who is threatening my life over pocket change.

You may have noticed that Han wears the same military outfit seen in the blockade runner sequence at the beginning of Star Wars. The books may go into detail on this, but movie-goers will be left wondering. Was Han in the military, or does he just like to affect a tough, military air? If he was in some service, was it voluntary or conscripted, and was he honorably discharged? If he was not honorably discharged, what were the circumstances?

My own interpretation?

Han had been in the military for his home system, which was annexed by the growing empire. At that point he got out when his tour was up, or maybe assaulted some imperial CO he took a disliking to. Scrounging for some kind of existence, he won the Falcon in a card game (as revealed in Empire). I would assume he made one of the biggest bluffs in his life and got lucky by winning.

After that he set up shop taking any kind of work that might p*ss-off the empire, especially since even "honest" work was growing increasingly difficult under their oppressive rule. Unfortunately, this meant working for the most vile criminals to get the highest payoff. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I can imagine the cynical Solo having a very weak moral rudder, reducing his horizons to just himself and Chewbacca.

Then he ran into Luke, a youthful idiot with naive and idealized notions of "rightness," stoked by the mystic old fool. Odds are Han is not old enough to have ever met a Jedi in their heyday, and thus bases his opinions on aging folklore. After all, how good could they be? They were wiped out in short order. Little did Han know that Kenobi had been at the center of the action, once upon a time. (Incidentally, Kenobi's age in the prequels does not dovetail very well with Luke's apparent age in the original movie. Kenobi should have been at least 20 years older in Phantom Menace.)

So Han is not a bad person, but he is not a good one, either. I think he came back more for Leia than for Luke, but either way, the rebellion gave him a sense of purpose, of belonging. Maybe he was impressed by Luke's brass in rescuing the Princess, and then taking on the Death Star. That's crazy in any book, but it might have been enough to convince Han that it's better to go down fighting than cowering and running.

All of that is lost if Han graciously allows Greedo to fire first, expecting that he will miss at point blank range. (And he'd have to miss because only in the idealized fairyland of Hollywood are the "bad guys" such lousy shots.)

[Interference]

I agree with Rodders, it is his readiness to defend himself in the frontier worlds that provides insight into his motivational drive to protect his interests.

[Starbeast]

Did anyone else notice that the laser discharge came from above the table instead of below the table where Han had his weapon?

As for Mr Solo being the only cold-blooded killer in the saga, I don't think anyone in the series (good or bad) had any problems killing the opposition.

[springs]

to put a female perspective on this one, he's the slightly dangerous one, the unpredictable one and the attractive one. That he shot first, that he has the guts to do it and not apologise for his actions, that's just fine.

[mosaix]

Originally Posted by Starbeast

Did anyone else notice that the laser discharge came from above the table instead of below the table where Han had his weapon?

To me, it looks like Greedo's weapon backfires.

I don't think it matters who fires first. I think this scene was Lucas playing homage to the typical Western bar scene where the slightly dubious anti-hero is faced with the incredibly bad bad-guy and does what he needs to do - a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

[TheTomG]

It's like the Clint Eastwood characters, all of whom go around murdering people. Just so happens those people are bad people so we can root for him, and Han is a similar case. He isn't shooting someone down just to steal their money or for some personal gain; he's killing a bounty hunter who is out to kill him.

And I thought retcons were only for fanfics - amazing to see high end directors go in for that sort of thing too. I think we should just replace Han's blaster with a whip, so he has a non-lethal weapon. Or just go all ET on it and replace the gun with a flashlight.

[C Of K]

Originally Posted by Metryq

You may have noticed that Han wears the same military outfit seen in the blockade runner sequence at the beginning of Star Wars. The books may go into detail on this, but movie-goers will be left wondering. Was Han in the military, or does he just like to affect a tough, military air? If he was in some service, was it voluntary or conscripted, and was he honorably discharged? If he was not honorably discharged, what were the circumstances?

I'm not sure how much of this answer was created by George Lucas, and how much of it was developed by Star Wars Extended Universe people, but here goes...

Han was in the Imperial Military. I can't remember what rank he attained, but I'm pretty sure he graduated from the Imperial Academy. As far as his exit from the military is concerned, if it wasn't for his treasonous activities with the Rebel Alliance, Han would probably be scheduled for a court martial Apparently when he had to choose between his loyalty to the Empire, and his moral values regarding Wookie slave labor, he chose to betray the Empire, and help Chewbacca escape slavery.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TheTomG

It's like the Clint Eastwood characters, all of whom go around murdering people. Just so happens those people are bad people so we can root for him, and Han is a similar case.

If Star Wars had been a Spaghetti Western...

I'm imagining now the Mos Eisley Chalmun's Cantina as Luke, Han and Ben leave. Ben takes out his pocket watch and says "When the chimes finish, begin." Shortly after, the whole Cantina is shot, one by one. A one armed 'Manco', 'I don't like you', is dead at the bar; 'I don't like you either' lies in another corner. The barman is blasted against the wall, the two guards dead, Greedo is dead at the table, and the band of musicians are slaughtered.