Greedo

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"Going somewhere, Solo?"

―Greedo, to Han Solo —

Listen (file info)^[src]

Greedo was a male Rodian bounty hunter who grew up on Tatooine in Mos Espa. During the Clone Wars, he was hired by the Trade Federation to kidnap Chi Eekway Papanoida and Che Amanwe Papanoida, the daughters of Chairman Papanoida, but was forced by the chairman to lead him and his son Ion to them. He was occasionally hired by crimelord Jabba the Hutt for various mercenary jobs, including the capture of Han Solo, who killed the luckless Rodian.

Biography

Early life

Originally hailing from the swamp planet of Rodia,^[1] during his youth, Greedo relocated and lived on the desert planet of Tatooine. After the slave boy Anakin Skywalker won the famous Boonta Eve Classic, beating the renowned Dug racer, Sebulba; Greedo jumped to the conclusion that he had cheated. Angered by the false accusation, Skywalker consequently found himself entangled in a fight with the young Rodian. Wald warned Greedo that if he continued to pick on fights, he would eventually have a bad end.^[2]

Criminal career

PapanoidaIonNabbed SoI — Greedo and friends subdue Chairman Papanoida and his son Ion.

By the Clone Wars, Greedo was employed to Jabba the Hutt as a bounty hunter. At some point in the war, he and another mercenary were hired by the Trade Federation to kidnap Chairman Papanoida's daughters, Che Amanwe and Chi Eekway, to use as leverage for Pantora to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In the ensuing struggle, Che struck Greedo with an idol, covering it with the Rodian's blood. After finding this blood sample while investigating his daughter's kidnapping, Chairman Papanoida and his son Ion tracked the bounty hunter to Jabba's Palace and presented the evidence to Jabba and his son Rotta. Greedo was forced to bring the Pantorans to the cantina in Mos Eisley where Che was being held. In the ensuing firefight, Greedo managed to slip away while the family gunned down the rest of Che's captors.^[4]

Later, while continuing his work for Jabba, Greedo captured Figrin D'an of Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and delivered him to Jabba, after which D'an and his band entered into indentured servitude under Jabba, due to D'an being in heavy debt to him. During their time there, the group kept tabs on Greedo using their superior hearing abilities, seeing how he would bring in small-time criminals, help them to escape, then bringing them back to re-collect the bounty. At one point, they discovered Greedo bringing in one unfortunate Jawa three times. Upon gaining enough money to free themselves, the band told Jabba of these events, which made him furious. This resulted in a grudge between Greedo and the band. ^[5]

Death

"That's the idea. I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

―Greedo's last words^[src]

Greedo hunted Han Solo for the bounty Jabba placed on his head after the smuggler dropped a large shipment of illicit cargo owned by the Hutt to avoid arrest. Greedo was humiliated briefly at the Mos Eisley cantina when he was tripped by a piece of the instrument used by a member of the Model Nodes. He decided to ignore the insult, seeing payback against Solo as sweeter than revenge on the Nodes. He challenged Solo at the Mos Eisley Cantina, where, threatening Solo with his gun, he demanded that he pay the money to Jabba and/or to Greedo himself; or hand over the Millennium Falcon. When Solo replied that he would rather die than give up his ship, Greedo said that was the idea before announcing that that was something he had been looking forward to for a long time. As Greedo pulled his trigger, Solo shot Greedo dead from beneath the table with his readily prepared blaster.^[3] Greedo, being a poor shot, missed Solo completely. He had not originally planned to confront Solo alone, but was forced to improvise. His original plan, to use the thugs Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba as hired muscle, was shattered when Obi-Wan Kenobi retaliated with his lightsaber after they threatened Luke Skywalker.^[6]

Personality and traits

As a boy, Greedo was noted for his temper and tendency to pick fights with others, which his friend Wald warned would lead to trouble.^[2] In adulthood, Greedo was overconfident and slow on the uptake, and something of a poor shot with a blaster.^[3] He thought highly of himself as a "big time" bounty hunter due to his employment to Jabba the Hutt, though others saw him as unremarkable.^[2] He was a frequent customer of Chalmun's Cantina, considering it his base of operations and preferred venue for death deals. He was known for rotten luck, and that proved true for the main time of his life.^[2]

Behind the scenes

GreedoUnmasked — Maria De Aragon on the set as Greedo.

Paul Blake played Greedo in the shots that feature both Greedo and Han Solo in the same frame. For Greedo's close-ups, a new articulated head was built for pickups at the end of the shoot, and Maria De Aragon was enlisted to play the Rodian. During pickups, Greedo's costume vest changes significantly, as do his hands. In the original shoot, Greedo has long, suction-cup tipped fingers, and in pickups, he has swollen knuckles and shorter fingers. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series he was voiced by Tom Kenny. The Greedo mask and tunic are currently on display as part of the "Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television" in the Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA.^[7]

Greedo's manner of death has been subject to a number of retcons over the years. The most famous involves the question of who shot first, for in the original 1977 release of the film, as well as the script, Greedo did not shoot at Han at all. In the 1997 re-release of the film, Greedo gets a badly-aimed shot at Solo before Solo kills him. George Lucas has said that this change is to enhance Solo's overall heroism, making him seem less of a killer and more of a "cowboy" to viewers. This was a controversial decision and in the 2004 version the two shots are almost simultaneous, with Greedo shooting first. In A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy, there is no mention of Greedo firing a shot^[8] and author Alexandra Bracken, when asked, stated that Solo fired before Greedo could get off a shot.^[9]

Oddly, Greedo speaks Galactic Basic in Star Wars: The Clone Wars but seems to be speaking Rodian in the original series, possibly proving that he prefers to speak in his native tongue rather than Galactic Standard. However, in Star Wars: Battlefront he speaks Huttese similarly to some of the playable alien species in the game.