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- "That faint, black speck in that swirling cloud over there is where Han camps out these days—Han Solo's personal stomping grounds in the sky."
- ―Lando Calrissian, to Ken
Han Solo's sky house was the dwelling of Rebel hero General Han Solo and his Wookiee companion Chewbacca, designed and built personally by the pair. Solo and Chewbacca had long had the dream of settling in a sky house—a concept of their own design—before they finally got the chance in 5 ABY, when Cloud City Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian offered his old friend Solo a lease on a parcel of sky near Cloud City on Bespin. Solo and Chewbacca took a leave from the Senate Planetary Intelligence Network in order to construct the home in a rented Cloud City warehouse. The sky house was elaborate, a unique feat of engineering which boasted modern conveniences, luxurious furnishings, and such striking features as a rotating living room, a domed kitchen, a full engineering workshop, docking facilities for Solo's ship Millennium Falcon as well as a two-cloud-car garage, outdoor observation areas, and a plethora of bedrooms.
The home was swiftly completed, and Solo and Chewbacca threw a festive housewarming party which many galactic figures attended. Solo received many presents from his friends, most notably KT-18, a housekeeping droid to manage the residence. The intervention of claimant to the Imperial throne Trioculus and vengeful Zorba Desilijic Tiure, foes of Solo and his friends, on Bespin immediately after the party made life there untenable, and Solo was forced to abandon the house only hours after the housewarming party concluded. Solo harbored fond hopes of returning to his dream house, but time ultimately found him dwelling on Coruscant, not Bespin.
Occupants
- "Han Solo knows nothing about keeping a huge house clean. He'll need help desperately. He can't expect Chewbacca to be cleaning up after him all the time!"
- ―C-3PO, to Luke Skywalker
Famous Corellian smuggler and New Republic general Han Solo was the owner of the sky house, but his Wookiee partner Chewbacca would be living in the sky house as well, as he had a life debt to Solo and the two were inseparable friends.[1] The sky house was intended as a residence for the pair, but its many bedrooms could also host guests such as Lando Calrissian, who oversaw Cloud City nearby, or Leia Organa, Solo's girlfriend. They also provided room should Solo settle down with Organa and raise children.[2]
For a housewarming gift, Luke Skywalker, at the advice of Ken and C-3PO, purchased Solo a housekeeping droid from the Droidfest on Tatooine. KT-18, known as "Kate," would be able to clean the dwelling; she specialized in stain removal, dishwashing, and window cleaning. Solo and Chewbacca were both capable cooks, and could manage that aspect of household living, but Solo's friends were convinced that the pair would keep a messy home without the droid's help.[1]
To Solo's disappointment, he was unable to reside in the house. Immediately after his housewarming party, he and his friends, as well as KT-18, were forced to leave due to the heavy presence of the Galactic Empire and the proximity of the vengeful Zorba Desilijic Tiure, whose son Jabba Desilijic Tiure Organa had killed.[1]
Description
- "I've been from one end of this galaxy to the other, and I've never seen another house like this one. It's a new concept of mine—houses that float in the sky. If you don't like the cloud you're living on, you just drift off to another one."
- ―Han Solo, to Luke Skywalker
Han Solo's sky house was located approximately 3.2 kilometers from Cloud City. Repulsor technology allowed it to float, as the larger and older Cloud City did. Its location was troubled by "braze"—a foul, polluted brown haze—produced by a factory barge on the Rethin Sea operated by Trioculus, an Imperial warlord who claimed to be Galactic Emperor Palpatine's three-eyed son. When the braze got to be too much, Solo would move the house, which was capable of altering its altitude, to a higher location.[1]
Han Solo speaks with Lando Calrissian from the bedroom of his sky house.
Designed by Han Solo and Chewbacca, who together invented the concept of a sky house, the domicile was regarded as a mansion, "huge" in size. Its exterior was blocky and multi-layered, with vertical projections ventrally and dorsally. Several marker lights made the house more visible, so that passing craft would not strike it at night or in a cloud. Its front door opened onto a yard platform, where cloud cars could be docked for transportation.[1] There were also multiple observation decks open to the air.[2] For greater convenience, the sky house was equipped with a two-cloud-car garage, where Solo's personal craft were safely stored.[1][2] The residence also had docking facilities for Solo's famous Millennium Falcon. Solo had a private bedroom, which was equipped with an ultra-high-density household communication screen.[1] Chewbacca had his own bedroom, and there were several spare bedrooms besides. The home's circular living room could rotate to face any direction, and the kitchen had a view to the heavens, being under a transparent dome. A workroom provided an area in which Solo and Chewbacca could tinker with technology and repair equipment even as large as airspeeders.[2]
Circular windows provided a view outside, and small tables and flower arrangements decorated the hallways and rooms. At least some doors were not rectangular, but instead irregular pentagons.[1] Luxurious, the home was equipped with many modern conveniences, such as two of the ultra-high-density household communication screens, floating beds, a nanowave stove, a trash compactor and recycler, a cooling chamber for food, an answering machine for messages, the most comfortable chair ever designed, and a remote-control opener for the door to the cloud car garage.[1][2]
History
- "After Chewie and I drop off the droids in the meteor pod on Kessel and take Lando back to Cloud City…well, I don't know exactly how to put this…I'm not planning on coming back for a while."
"But, Han, you know how important you are to SPIN."
"Maybe so, but Lando's offered me a lease on a piece of sky near Cloud City. I've always dreamed of having a place of my own, and I figure it's about time Chewie and I built my dream sky house."
"Can't you put it off until we know what's going on with the new Emperor?"
"Princess, there's always something important that seems to come up before I can take care of my own dreams. Time is running out. And a man's got to do what he's got to do." - ―Han Solo and Leia Organa
General Han Solo had long had the urge to settle down in a home of his own, and over time he and his partner Chewbacca had dreamed up the idea of a sky house, a floating dwelling. Finally, in 5 ABY, Solo and Chewbacca saw the opportunity to bring their dream to life. Solo's old friend Lando Calrissian, who had returned to his duties as Baron Administrator of Cloud City, offered Solo a lease on a tract of sky near Cloud City. Solo decided that he ought to accept.[3] Solo and his friend and roommate Chewbacca took advantage of repulsor technology to pioneer the concept of a sky house, building a floating domicile. Solo eagerly looked forward to having a place of his own to live.[1] Solo and Chewbacca rented space in a warehouse in Cloud City's Port Town district, where they, skilled mechanics and engineers, constructed the home themselves.[2] They had to take a brief break to assist their friend Luke Skywalker, but the house was still completed in short order.[1][2]
Han Solo's sky house hangs in the distance as the Jedi Prince Ken points it out in discussion with Lando Calrissian.
Finally, when the house was ready, Solo threw a housewarming party. He invited many of his friends, who regarded Solo's acquisition of a private dwelling as a significant event. Major public figures such as Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, Solo's girlfriend and New Republic Minister of State Leia Organa, Supreme Commander Ackbar, and the Jedi Prince Ken attended; General Calrissian was invited to the party but was unable to attend. Less-notable individuals, including many of Solo's smuggler friends, were also present at the bash, which featured a plentiful supply of zoochberry juice and dancing with a live band that specialized in Corellian folk dances, including the Space Pirate Boogie.[1]
After the party wound down, Solo was contacted by Calrissian to explain why he had not attended: Cloud City was now under new management. Zorba Desilijic Tiure had won control of Cloud City in a sabacc game. Tiure, whose son Jabba Desilijic Tiure had been killed by Organa, was out for vengeance and Solo's sky house and its inhabitants were in danger. In the wake of that news came more bad news—Solo's brand-new housekeeping droid, KT-18, had fallen while cleaning outside. Skywalker and Organa leaped into a cloud car and rescued her before she could strike anything, but were themselves shot down by the defenses at Trioculus's weapons platform. Solo and Chewbacca had to depart to rescue them. They returned to the sky house only briefly, to pick up the droids and their personal effects, before Solo abandoned his home.[1] Some vital items were left behind in the rush, such as Solo's birth certificate.[4] The Empire and Tiure were simply too close and too powerful for Solo to feel secure remaining at that point in time.[1] Both Solo and Organa hoped to return to the sky house and believed that they would settle down there, but it was not to be.[4][5] Eventually, when the New Republic conquered Coruscant, Solo, compelled by marriage to Councilor Organa Solo, spent his life on that world, the center of government.[6]
Behind the scenes
- "You haven't had a chance to enjoy your sky house yet, Han. I'm sorry you have to leave like this."
"Your safety comes first, Princess. For the time being, I'm leaving behind the life-style of a homeowner. I'm officially a traveling man again." - ―Leia Organa and Han Solo
Han Solo's sky house was first mentioned by Jedi Prince series authors Paul and Hollace Davids in the 1992 children's book The Glove of Darth Vader. In that book, the married authors had Solo speak of his longstanding desire for a sky house and intent to begin building one. The house appeared under construction in the sequel, The Lost City of the Jedi, and was completed by the opening of the third book, Zorba the Hutt's Revenge. In that book, Solo threw a housewarming party before being forced to abandon his sky house regretfully. However, further books Queen of the Empire and Prophets of the Dark Side established that Solo and his future wife, Leia Organa, intended to return to the sky house in the future, where they would raise their family. Despite this occurring very early in the renaissance of the Expanded Universe, after 1993's Prophets of the Dark Side, the final book of the series, the sky house was never seen or heard of again in all further canon. Instead, the previous novels of the Thrawn Trilogy and future stories such as The Black Fleet Crisis, the Corellian Trilogy, The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, and The New Jedi Order: Traitor firmly established that the Solos spent their life on Coruscant once that planet was taken by the New Republic.
Appearances
- The Glove of Darth Vader (First mentioned)
- The Lost City of the Jedi (First appearance)
- Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
- Queen of the Empire (Mentioned only)
- Prophets of the Dark Side (Mentioned only)
