I have a question. I've been writing some fanfic and I've been trying to include Han and Leia in some of them. I've been trying to understand them more. I've always been more of a Anidala fan. Anyway, what I'm trying to figure out is what do Han and Leia have in common? Besides the obvious, fighting for the Rebellion and such.
There's the opposites attract element, but they're also both fiercely independent, self sufficient individuals who come to realise that they can better themselves by letting someone else into their lives.
Not much, except they are both attractive and strong-willed individuals who become bound by shared experiences and being emotional opposites. You know, the "opposites attract" sort of thing.
They're both very strong individuals, though their personalities and the reasons they do the things they do are different. Leia's perspective is far broader than Han's, as he's more self-serving.
Yeah, the ROTJ novelization hinted that there was a "they complete each other!" dimension to it. Han's outlook tended to be too self-interested, while Leia's was too selfless, in a way that made her care about people as a whole, but not about one person in the sense that a relationship would mean. (It's like... what the Architect from the Matrix was explaining about how the One is supposed to have a "deep attachment" to the rest of humanity: the earlier ones experienced it in a general sense, but Neo experienced it more specifically in his love for Trinity. Leia basically went from being the former to being the latter).
Leia was selfless but she was also someone who relied a lot on herself at first. Her intelligence, her education, her abilities. In ANH, she often appeared to be of the view that everyone else, even those rescuing her from impending death, were a bit of an inconvenience. It was almost a case of 'just get out of the way so I can save us all'. Whereas Leia relied on those things, Han was initially of the view that some credits and a good blaster would enable him to achieve what he wanted, without anyone else's help. So although they were very different, they were also somewhat similar at first, and developed similarly in the course of the films.
They both seem to have very similar temperaments. Both are strong-willed, and *very* independent. They both can verbally spar with the best of them, and are awesome with a blaster. They both seem to have pretty sketchy family trees. And while their backgrounds are very different, I feel like as personalities, they're actually pretty similar. And the differences they do have, seem to complement each other so it works. I dunno. What are you looking for exactly? I mean, besides character-trait similarities, Are you wondering what the two of them would do together in their spare time for fun? (Er, I mean besides the obvious). Who knows. But then again, I'm really not sure how Luke would spend his free time either, besides finally picking up those elusive power converters. Hmph. They're adorable though. So who cares?
It's a pity that the Leia and Han romance took a nosedive in ROTJ. I guess that was due to Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher's insipid performances.
Both fairly attractive-looking. Both act like petulant teenagers at times. Pretty much all I got--their "romance" (especially as portrayed in ESB) is not a highlight of the films for me.