Welcome to part six in our Journey to Solo: A Star Wars Story series.
We’ve read through all the major Legends stories surrounding Han Solo’s past, so
this week we’re going to shift gears to Lando Calrissian, since we know he’ll be
playing a significant part in the movie.
He only has three stories about his life before the films, and they were collected into the
Lando Calrissian Adventures by L. Neil Smith.
They are basically the Lando version of the Han Solo Adventures that we talked about a
few weeks back.
Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu picks up Lando’s story from another book
we’ve covered, the Hutt Gambit.
Lando heads to the Oseon system, where he wins a droid in a game of sabacc.
Unfortunately it’s in storage on another nearby planet, where an extremely valuable
resource called life-crystals are grown and harvested.
Lando picks up the droid, who is named Vuffi Raa, and the two are quickly grabbed by the
police and forced to search for a legendary artifact called the Mindharp of Sharu.
They are picked because they match some old myths about a traveler and his companion unlocking
the secrets to the Sharu, who were an extinct but highly advanced race.
They recover the mindharp, and its activation awakens the Sharu people and their hidden
civilization, which results in catastrophe for the planet and its life-crystals.
Lando and Vuffi Raa escape with the last load of crystals that will ever be harvested.
Their actions create an enemy in a sorcerer named Rokur Gepta, who was attempting to get
the mindharp for himself.
The Flamewind of Oseon picks up later, after they’ve grown rich off their life-crystal
cargo, but it’s clear someone is out to murder them.
Lando is invited to a high stakes game of sabacc, and while he’s there someone tries
to assassinate him.
He kills the man in self-defense, and is put in jail.
To get out, the local government demands he help apprehend one of the richest men in the
galaxy on drug charges during an event called the Flamewind, which makes flying in the Oseon
very dangerous.
When Lando attempts to arrest his target, he finds Rokur Gepta instead, seeking revenge
for the mindharp humiliation.
He tortures Lando, but is interrupted by a strange mercenary group seeking revenge on
Vuffi Raa, who they believe is responsible for their planet’s destruction.
Lando and his droid friend are able to escape, and steal twenty million credits from the
rich man’s house along the way.
The StarCave of ThonBoka follows Lando and Vuffi in a gamble to remove their pursuers.
They travel to an Imperial blockade, where billions of sentient creatures that live in
space are being starved to death.
They break through the blockade to offer hope to the dying Oswaft species, and to draw out
Rokur Gepta and the mercenaries, believing their quarry to be trapped by the blockade.
Lando rallies the Oswaft to fight against the Empire, who are handily defeated.
Rokur Gepta is killed, and the mercenaries learn that Vuffi Raa was not responsible for
their home’s destruction after all, but was under orders from an Imperial spy, who
also dies during the fight.
The Oswaft people give Lando a cargo hold full of gemstones, and he and Vuffi fly back
to Nar Shaddaa, where their story continues in The Hutt Gambit.
I’m gonna be honest, I was not a fan of these stories.
This was my first time reading them, and it was hard for me to get through them.
I think a lot of that can be chalked up to the fact that they were written in the early
eighties, a time when Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and the Han Solo Adventures were the only
Star Wars books published.
My biggest gripe was that they felt too big to be Lando stories.
Lando is a gambler and a scoundrel, and that’s where he thrives.
In fact, there are scenes where Lando is playing sabacc and when he’s in his element, the
stories improve.
But most of them are about saving entire worlds or civilizations, and he has this uber powerful
Force using sorcerer after him.
They just didn’t feel appropriate for Lando.
Everything felt like it was just a little bit off of what I expect from Star Wars somehow.
That said, I think we all owe L. Neil Smith for creating the basis of the rules for sabacc,
which are still used today.
I also liked how all three of these stories were independent, but built to a climax, which
is something I think the Han Solo Adventures could have benefited from more.
But let’s talk about the Lando Adventures in the context of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Will any elements of these stories make it into the movie?
Sabacc is an obvious one.
We will almost definitely see a game or two featuring Lando, and probably the one where
he loses the Falcon to Han.
Speaking of the Falcon, at this point in the Legends timeline, he still owns the ship.
He isn’t the best pilot, and relies on Vuffi Raa to handle most of the flying.
I could see that making its way into the film.
Lando uses the Falcon more as a party bus.
He’s an entertainer, not a hotshot pilot.
Maybe that’s why he has L3-37 helping him out.
And maybe that’s why we see Han in the pilot’s seat during what is probably the Kessel Run.
Another thing I liked about the book is how Lando views his wardrobe.
We know he’ll be flashy and stylish in the movie, because he always has been.
In these stories, Lando talks about his clothes a lot.
When something gets ripped or dirty, his reaction always made me laugh.
I think that could be a decent source of in character comic relief for the movie.
Other than those few things, my personal hope is that most of Lando’s Adventures stay
firmly planted in Legends.
I want Solo to be a much lower stakes film.
A group of scoundrels on a heist just trying to get a big score.
No galactic threats.
No Force using sorcerers, including Darth Vader.
Let’s keep it small and fast and fun.
That’s just my opinion, and no offense is intended if you love them, they just weren’t
for me.
Actually, if you loved these books, please let me know why in the comments.
I’d be interested to hear a different perspective.
But that’s it for today!
Next week we’re going to cover the history of the Millennium Falcon in the book...Millennium
Falcon!
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