ST Harrison Ford (Han Solo) in TFA

They're on a first name basis with the guy. They trusted him enough to lone him 50,000 credits in the first place. Yes, he cheated them this one time. But he was a friend and a business partner. You'd don't gain that level of trust and access for nothing.

Again, what would you say about someone who was close personal friends with all the leadership of the Zetas, or the Gambino crime family? This is staring you right in the face. Stop looking away.

 

They were such close friends that the two factions were prepared to kill him in order to get BB8 for the FO rather than wait for Solo to finish hauling the rathtars and repay their investment.

 

He's been doing this ever since Rylo Ken turned to the Dark Side. Years at least. No one would work with him if he only defrauded people and failed to deliver. Even if they started out willing to give him a chance, they wouldn't keep making the same mistake over and over.

Why would they? They were getting 50,000 credits with interest in the best case scenario. It's easy to imagine the First Order was offering a more substantial reward than that .

 

So not really friendly then.

 

I don't know that I'd be happy without someone after they deliberately double-crossed me, no. But they were evidently on good terms before that moment to have struck such a deal in the first place. He got 50,000 credits from them without any sort of collateral. How many people do you trust enough to do that for?

 

He lead them on. He's a famous smuggler. He's a scoundrel. They needn't be pals because they want to exploit each other. Particularly if they have ulterior motives.

Han and Lando were friends and they knew not to trust each other. Before they became comrades in the rebellion command for a time.

 

So your example to show they weren't friendly is. . .two friends?

 

Showing that trust doesn't necessarily mean friendship and vice versa.

The two factions are mugs and deserve what's coming to them.

Yes Han's association with them at all is not becoming. But he pulls himself out of it.

 

I don't know if this has been discussed before, it probably has, in which case I'm super late to bring it up.

But when Han says to Rey and Finn that ever since Luke left people have been looking for him, I've always gotten a distinct impression from the way Han says it that he was one of those people who went looking for Luke. Just the heavy manner in which he delivers that line, I've always found there to be some subtext implying that it was more personal to Han.

Does anyone else think that? Perhaps at the request of Leia? Perhaps also in search of answers on what happened to Ben?

Which might have been Han's first long stint away from her after they got married, which he then continued and got back into his old lifestyle thereafter. Because when Leia says to Han "I lost you both", I also feel like there's a deeper implication there, in that losing both of them was directly linked and not just a one after the other kind of thing.

 

I haven't thought about that, but it does makes sense that he went looking for Luke for a time, since Luke was one of his best friends and he went out to save him in a Hoth and a few other times.

But it was not Han's first period away from Leia after they got married. After they married and the New Republic was formed, Han became the owner of a shipping company and also a racer (You can find info about that in The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary). In the novel Bloodlines (it takes places about 5 years before TFA), Han is away most of the time because he is sponsoring a race, while Leia is in Hosnian Prime doing her duty as a New Republic politician, and Ben is out training with Luke somewhere. But the novel doesn't make their relationship look bad, there's a lot of heart warming moments.

 

Is Han's "Oh, really, you're cold?" an improv line by Ford? I believe I heard it was but don't know what the source was. Kinda feels like one, anyway.

 

Thanks for that info. But even if it wasn't Han's first time away when he went looking for Luke and Kylo it still could have been that trip that ended up being his last that he didn't come home from. Just the deep manner and the almost specific vagueness in which Han and Leia separately deliver those lines has always made me think that Han was involved in the search for Luke and that it connects to Han's absence as well.

 

I always thought about that. I feel like if he had the map and was still alive he would have went to Luke with Rey. Damnit, why couldn't Harrison last one more movie?

 

Agreed, I was very sad that Han did not reunite with Luke...

 

There is a certain melancholy about Han Solo's role in this movie that I find rather haunting and very moving. I only fully realized it after several viewings but there is a certain sadness about this smuggler criminal who by happenstance got tangled up with these destiny forging Skywalkers and ultimately changes completely and sacrifices himself for the galaxy. His relationship with Leia is painted in a very emotional light. They definitely had something, despite all the issues, there was a real love there.

 

Yeah we can still get one in a flashback. I'm hoping he comes as force ghost or something unexpected like that. There's still time to if not 8 then in 9.

 

Every line Ford has in this movie is genius in the way he delivers it. Random Ford delivery I love today: "you know you can't trust those little freaks!"

 

Harrison Ford will return in Episode 9.

 

Agreed. I believe that purported scene from the leaked TFA shot list of Han & Leia sending young Kylo to Luke will find its way in 9 and whose to say JJ won't have other surprises up his sleeve in relation to a Ford appearance.

 

I would be so happy for just one flashback scene.

 

Ditto.

 

I'll guess I'll put this here. Just watching the scene when Finn screams as he watches Rey getting carried away by Kylo in TFA. What a great moment. Anyway, when he comes to Han and tells him Kylo took Rey, Han dismisses him with a, yeah, yeah, I know. Obviously he is preoccupied with the fact he is about to see Leia. But at the time, I couldn't help but think he knew something that made him less worried about Rey. I mean, he seemed to care about Rey, and he also seemed to understand his son was a killer. It would follow that Rey was in mortal danger, and I just can't figure out why Han wasn't more concerned. If I'm overthinking it, I'd argue the movie under-thought it.