A Gunslinger Versus the Evil Wizard
This is one of those articles. A post about the scene where Han Solo first meets Darth Vader came across my Tumblr dashboard and got me to thinking about how different that moment is now, in hindsight, than it was in 1980—and how it works. So, Star Wars nerding? Yeah, let’s do this.
Han Solo: smuggler, scoundrel, and rogue. Sure, he can be brash and arrogant, especially when defending his friends. Even with all the criminal schemes and intergalactic skullduggery he’s surely been a part of, the universe looks simpler to Han Solo than it does to many. He’s been from one end of this galaxy to the other, seen a lot of strange stuff, and he’s never seen anything that’d make him believe in some all-power force.
“No mystical energy field controls my destiny,” Han said. Presumably he believes his destiny is in his own hands. (Or maybe Jabba’s.) When Luke Skywalker lands a killing blow on the Death Star, Han says “that was one in a million!” (But, you know, never tell him the odds.) Han’s not exactly wrong, either—from a certain point of view.
Years later, Han Solo meets the notorious enforcer of the Empire, Darth Vader, in Cloud City and gets himself deeper into the saga of the Skywalkers and their mystical dynastic drama. The doors open, Vader stands, and Han Solo draws his blaster. In a flash, Solo puts one hand behind him for Leia and the other forward to blast Vader.
This is how Han Solo controls his destiny.
It’s a quick-draw artist against an evil wizard—Han as gunslinger versus Vader as mystic master—and the bout goes to the wizard. Han’s ray-gun proves no match for the Force.
Seeing that he’s beat, Han resumes his cool demeanor and steps inside, alongside his allies, to meet the sinister figure. And the doors slide shut on the scene.
I think a lot about what must happen afterward, in that sterile dining hall with stormtroopers and Boba Fett on overwatch. What do Vader and Leia have to say to each other here? Is there a moment where everyone postures, going through civilized niceties, before Han is dragged away to be tortured? I used to imagine ways that might have played out. It’s tantalizing.
(If there’s expanded universe coverage of those moments, I don’t want to see them. I want the imagination space here. I want to wonder.)
That moment, when Han takes aim at the Dark Lord of the Sith, shows him acting without hesitation, reckless and even heroic in his way—but I think the beat plays even better when we consider the surprise of it. This moment is plot, character, and world-building in a finely wound knot.
The plot point here is clear: Lando’s betrayal has gotten Han, Leia, and Chewie are captured by Vader.
The character beat is simple, direct: Han Solo is an interstellar gunfighter, a space cowboy with skill and daring. He takes the shot. If it’d worked, and he’d blasted Vader down, the galaxy would be changed forever—but that’s not why he did it. His other hand reached for Leia.
The world-building elements are meaningful, too: Vader can thwart blaster bolts by hand and casually use the same telekinetic abilities that Luke struggled to use earlier in the movie.
This is important! We don’t know what Vader’s capabilities are, really, when we first see this film. We’re unsure what the Jedi and their ilk were able to do with the Force. How many people in the room were surprised to see Vader deal handily with Han’s barrage? I don’t know. I like to wonder.
The surprise in this moment is full of dramatic energy. First, we get a great, iconic expression of Han Solo. Second, we show his character in a way that doesn’t undermine the menace we need Vader to project throughout the story here—Vader becomes more of a badass in the same beat. Third, in the text of the films alone (without any tie-in materials), this is the moment when Han Solo faces the power of the Force—and is literally disarmed by it.
Is this where Han must confront and reconsider his agnosticism regarding the Force? How does this encounter with Darth Vader inform the way we read Han’s attitude in the rest of the film, as a prisoner of the Empire?
(In The Empire Strikes Back, the pacing of this character beat is part of the cliffhanger, in my opinion, but it’s one of the failings of Return of the Jedi that Han’s relationship with the Force and the Skywalkers isn’t more fully explored. Thankfully, The Force Awakens does pick up this thread.)
While Han is under the heel of the Empire, the wise old master, Yoda, teaches his new pupil essential philosophical and spiritual lessons. Luminous beings are we. Always in motion is the future. And: Do or do not. There is no try.
Do or do not. There is no try.
Through Yoda’s lens, we have to say that Han does.
He may have been outmatched. But he stood up to the evil figure who killed Obi-Wan Kenobi, tortured the woman he loves, and tyrannizes the galaxy.
When it didn’t work—when it proved not to be enough—he didn’t change sides or give up on his friends. He played the hand he was dealt, watched and waited for a new moment to act and, when the moment didn’t come, he went gracefully to a fate that could have been permanent. He was frozen in stone. He took action, and he failed, but he remained Han Solo.
