Han Solo and the Princess is a musical theme composed by John Williams and played by the London Symphony Orchestra for The Empire Strikes Back.
It is the love theme of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa, most prominently played during those characters' romantic encounter aboard the Millennium Falcon in the belly of the space slug. It is reused in a more dramatic manner as Solo is frozen in carbonite in Cloud City. It is played in Return of the Jedi when Leia reveals herself to Han after freeing him from the carbonite in Jabba's Palace, and also immediately following the destruction of the Second Death Star, when Leia reveals to Han that Luke Skywalker is her brother, effectively ending whatever competition Han thought may still have existed between the two for Leia's affections. It is reprised in "Han and Leia," a track from The Force Awakens. This rendition of the motif plays when Leia arrives on Takodana to pick up Han, Chewbacca, and Finn, during Han and Leia's time at the Resistance headquarters on D'Qar, and finally when Leia and Rey sadly embrace upon the Resistance's return from Starkiller Base, where Han was murdered by his and Leia's own son. It returns briefly in The Last Jedi when Luke hands Han's golden dice to Leia on Crait.
The love theme is considered a complementary expansion of Princess Leia's Theme, the theme of Princess Leia, first heard in A New Hope, and also begins on a major sixth. Whereas Princess Leia's Theme represents a pure innocence of the Princess, Han Solo and the Princess trades in this innocence for a new element of maturity in her personal character.
Behind the scenes
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In Star Wars: Battlefront II the theme is played when playing as Han Solo.
AppearancesEdit
- Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
- Music from the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition
- Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
- Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
