Solo: A Star Wars Story is right around the corner...
...and looks to reveal some of the mystery surrounding everyone's favourite smuggler...
...before the events of the original trilogy.
So as we build up to big day itself - aka May 25 -
we here at TheCancrizans aim to answer a number of questions regarding Han Solo,
Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, the Millennium Falcon...
...and basically every other thing that we forgot to list just there.
First up in this series is a detailed look at the backstory of Solo himself,
at least according to Star Wars Legends.
Orphaned at an early age, having been born on Corellia in 29 BBY,
Han Solo's earliest memories consisted of begging, pickpocketing, stealing and other illegal activities –
all of which were taught to him by bounty hunter-turned-crime lord Garris Shrike.
During the youngster's tenure as part of this criminalised crew,
he met and befriended a Wookiee named Dewlanna.
She and Shrike offered Solo the sense of family he so often desired, albeit in different ways.
For example, Garris often showed him tough love,
and would refrain from revealing Han's family name as a means of maintaining control.
Dewlanna – on the other hand – well, she lacked such restraint.
Unfortunately, Solo never took the revelation well,
nor was he enamoured to find out his aunt and cousin were both cruel and a little bit deranged.
And as a result, it wasn't until adulthood that he uncovered the truth of his parents,
Jonash and Jaina Solo.
Under the command of Shrike, Solo utilised every one of his dastardly skills to earn his keep.
And while this lifestyle came at the expense of an education,
he still found a way to pick up some knowledge of history, mathematics and physics alike.
In fact, Han managed to set himself apart from his fellow criminals,
given their elementary tuition...
A bit like me... Wait, what?!
But as he grew older,
Han sought something far more fulfilling than racing swoop bikes and infiltrating pirate gangs.
There was just one problem:
leaving Shrike and his gang was a task easier said than done.
Thankfully, Dewlanna's sacrifice allowed her figurative son to stow away aboard a droid freighter.
And with that, Han waved goodbye to his previous life,
all while swearing to somehow repay the debt of his late Wookiee friend.
In the following years, Solo worked as a pilot on the very ship in which he escaped,
fell in love with a pilgrim named Bria Tharen,
and gained a huge bounty upon his head after indirectly destroying a powerful Hutt administrator.
C'mon, we've all been there.
However, he did eventually try his best to lead a relatively normal life.
He did so by travelling to Coruscant to enlist in the Imperial navy,
using a referral from Tharen's father to immediately qualify for the entrance examinations.
Solo went on to perform poorly in the advanced mathematics and cultural portions of the test,
although he excelled in technical knowledge and piloting.
And so, despite his unorthodox methods,
he soon found himself on his way to Carida to embark upon a two-year-long training programme...
So what happened next?
How did Solo go from a competent Imperial pilot to an unassuming hero of the Rebel Alliance?!
Well, as the bearer of bad news,
you'll just have to tune into the next episode in this mini-series,
as his defection directly ties in with an encounter with a certain Wookiee.
Until then, however, feel free to let me know your opinion of the recent teaser trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story,
as well as any thoughts you may have on Alden Ehrenreich as the smuggler himself,
by leaving a comment down below.
If you learned something new from today's video, be sure to leave a like.
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press that subscribe button and notification bell to keep it locked here to TheCancrizans!