CT Why didn't Han use his reward in ANH to pay off Jabba?

In ANH, Han makes an agreement with Obi-Wan, who is acting in service of the rebellion, that he should receive 17,000 Republic credits if he gives Obi-Wan and Luke passage on his freighter. He doesn't exactly deliver them to Alderaan since it's blown up. Instead, he does a lot better. He helps save the princess and takes the R2 unit with the Death Star plans directly to the Rebel base. So, Han has clearly upheld his side of the deal.

The film also makes it very clear that Han gets paid in full. When he tells Leia he's in it for the money, Leia tells Han: "If money is all that you love then that is what you shall recieve." Then, just before the attack on the Death Star, Han is shown loading containers that are presumably filled with Republic credits on the Falcon, given that Luke says to Han: "So, you got your reward and you're just leaving then?" So, it's clear Han has received at least 17,000 credits, maybe more, which Han indicated earlier in ANH was enough to pay off Jabba. Then, at the start of TESB set 3 years later, it's clear that strangely enough Han hasn't paid off Jabba and things have gotten so bad between them that he now has a death mark on his head.

So, what is the explanation for why Han hasn't paid off Jabba? He was given the money. He's had 3 years to get it Jabba. And if there is an explanation for this, why isn't it given to us on-screen since not addressing this leaves opens up a pretty huge plot hole with no obvious explanation?

Just curious if there is an explanation for this dicrepancy out there in the novels or in the EU and also curious if you guys think this is as glaring of a plot hole as I do...

 

Actually he was given valuable metals which he was going to hock for the money. But as explained in the Marvel comics series, his ship was boarded by Crimson Jack and his band of pirates who had stolen the treasure, leaving Han and Chewie with nothing but a price on their heads.

As to why it's not explained in the movies... I don't know.

 

I've always thought it was a bit of a plot hole. I'm sure many explanations will be forthcoming, however.

 

Well, plot hole revealed

 

Add it to the list!

 

From what I gather, drug smugglers are not the most savvy when it comes to money. That and the fact that he was always doing modifications to the Falcon, I'm sure he spent some of the money on ship maintenance and parts.

 

I think joining the Rebellion and their hard works cause that maybe he didn't find time to that, and yes he should but well, this is Han...

 

Alone, Empire Strikes Back is a near-perfect film, though when viewed with the rest of the trilogy, this is the only weak part in its writing. I mean, this went from being one of Han's top priorities in the previous movie, to being completely forgotten about. Plus, without any other sources, are we supposed to believe that Han just pocketed the money?

 

In the canon - no reason is given. I guess we could assume he paid other people off and not Jabba (he has old debtS he had to pay off).

The EU has given several reasons.

 

He paid Jabba off with the reward. Being frozen in carbonite was due to him stepping on Jabba's tail.

 

I think also Han was always looking for a reason to stay with Liea and the Rebels.

Also from the dialog from Empire it seems Han decided to stay with the Rebels up to a point right before Hoth.

LEIA I thought you decided to stay.

HAN Well, the bounty hunter we ran
into on Ord Mantell changed my
mind.

Han does seem to still have the money due to this land about going to pay off Jabba. It seems from the movies he just never got around to it. Mostly cause he wanted to stay with the rebels and Liea.

RIEEKAN I'm sorry to hear that.

HAN Well, there's a price on my head.
If I don't pay off Jabba the Hut,
I'm a dead man.

 

greed
....and Leia



"I dropped off the money exactly as per... look, man, I've got certain information, all right? Certain things have come to light. And, you know, has it ever occurred to you, that, instead of, uh, you know, running around, uh, uh, blaming me, you know, given the nature of all this new ****, you know, I-I-I-I... this could be a-a-a-a lot more, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, complex, I mean, it's not just, it might not be just such a simple... uh, you know?"

 

I just always assumed that after the Death Star he kinda got swept up in the Rebellion for awhile. And then he started to fall for Leia, so he didn't *want* to leave anymore. He wanted to say in his "Leia/Rebellion bubble" and didn't want to worry about it, until he ran into that bounty hunter and reality came crashing back in.

 

A coffee here, some jewelry there, flowers now and again. You can eat through it pretty quick when you're dating someone with princess tastes.

 

Stuff like this is, in part, why you'll never see a RLM takedown (or whatever the equivalent) of the Original Trilogy: it would shatter their rhetorical realities.

 

He got played by Kenobi..

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

 

In this essay - a person comments on how many of the RLM-type rhetorical techniques were being used in some reviews of ESB when it came out:

http://acertainpointofview.net/?p=1479

 

It's amazing how these great things pass unnoticed. And uncommented.

 

I would have agreed with you . . . until a few years ago. It's still one of my two top favorites. But I just can't view it as "near perfect" anymore.

By the way, wasn't Han's post-ANH problems with Jabba explained in a novel?

 

More in Marvel comics than in novels - though the very recent novel, Scoundrels, does reference those comics.

 

This is one of those things where it is obvious that Lucas kind of dropped the ball on. Even though the other posters are right that the EU explains it, but...meh. If you have to go to other mediums to explain plot points, I find that weak. Star Wars isn't the only one guilty of this.

Anyways, I supposed we're supposed to assume that Han was robbed and his money was stolen. It is peculiar that his "friend" Leia, a princess, did not procure more money for him. But one could assume she was a "princess" in name only since her "kingdom" had been blown up by the Death Star. Any resources the fledgling Rebel Alliance had probably went to maintaining their fleet, buying spies, etc. So they couldn't just pay off Han again. So my guess is in the three years between ANH and ESB, he worked with the Rebels both as a means to procure money (had to work his way back up to what he had been originally given) plus it allowed him to hide out from Jabba's thugs. There is also of course the incentive that he got to stay close to Leia.

 

That's pretty much how it tends to be portrayed. Han did end up managing to send Jabba a huge sum between ANH and ESB- in The Rebel Thief:

Jabba: "Hmmph! I accept Solo's most generous gift! As for calling off the bounty- fat chance!"

 

Hah really? While it is nice that it shows how low Jabba is, then why does Han bother to try and pay him later on? Clearly - it's Han's head that he wants and not money.

 

That story was written after ESB though.

Han's probably hoping that, with enough placatory gifts above and beyond the original amount, Jabba will eventually decide on profit over revenge.

 

Good point. It might be easier to keep Jabba happy then to disappear and have him hunting you for the rest of your life.