Lando Calrissian
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
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| Lando Calrissian | |
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1.77 meters[3] |
| Hair color |
Black[4] |
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Brown[4] |
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- "He's a card player, gambler, scoundrel. You'd like him."
- ―Han Solo to Leia Organa[src]
Lando Calrissian was a professional gambler, entrepreneur, smuggler and long-time associate of Han Solo. Calrissian, born on Socorro, went on to become the Baron Administrator of Cloud City for a time before it was taken over by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. Subsequently, he joined the Rebel Alliance and successfully led the dangerous mission to enter the second Death Star's core and destroy its reactor.
Afterwards, Lando continued to serve the New Republic in times of need, but spent most of his time pursuing various business ventures, specializing in mining. In 18 ABY, Lando met Tendra Risant, marrying her soon after the Bastion Accords were signed. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Lando continued to aid the New Republic through his leadership and the deadly YVH 1 droids that his company, Tendrando Arms, produced. Lando, along with his wife Tendra, continued to manage Tendrando Arms following the war. His YVH droids would play significant roles in the subsequent Dark Nest Crisis, Swarm War, and Confederation-Galactic Alliance War. During the latter conflict, Lando aided his friends Han and Leia Solo in their efforts against their son Jacen Solo until he was informed that his wife Tendra was pregnant.
[edit] Biography
- "I'll pour the wine, and you tell me what you like best about me."
- ―Ben Skywalker impersonating Lando[src]
[edit] Early years
Calrissian's early years were obscured by history and Calrissian's own fabrications.[7] He was originally a Socorran,[8] leaving him with a hint of a Corellian accent[9] thanks to the Corellian origin of that planet's settlers.[10] His own memories pointed to his having a stable family life until at least the age of seventeen[11], and he had a vivid enough memory of his mother to recall her ability to memorize hundreds of songs and poems.[12] A reference to having servants indicates he may have come from a wealthy background, which he gave up in order to live an adventurous life.[11]
Early in his career, Lando, with the aid of a droid named Flek, impersonated a Jedi Knight in a scam attempt on the Meek people, who wanted him to slay a rancor. Lando knew that the rancor in the area had already been slain by poachers, so he used a rancor's tooth and a recorded rancor's cry as proof of his combat with the beast. However, he was surprised to find that there was a rancor. Having heard that rancors were incapable of swimming, he jumped into a nearby lake. Before the rancor could wander off, though, he attracted its attention with the decoy rancor cry and then tossed the decoy into the water, hoping to lure the rancor to its doom. To his surprise and dismay, the rancor swam off. Nevertheless, Lando returned to the Meek village and collected his reward of valuable artifacts from the Meeks, but later found out that he had been given fakes.[13]
The earliest reliable accounts of his life date to 4 BBY, when Calrissian was around the age of twenty-seven. Already a professional gambler, Calrissian won a battered YT-1300 freighter called the Millennium Falcon in a high stakes game of sabacc. As he had no piloting experience, Lando sought out a tutor by the name of Han Solo.[7]
[edit] Adventures in the Centrality
[edit] The Mindharp of Sharu
Solo, after Lando saved him from Boba Fett, eagerly taught him the basics of starship piloting, and Calrissian used this knowledge to fly the Falcon to the Centrality. While on Oseon 2795, he won an exuberant droid called Vuffi Raa from Ottdefa Osuno Whett, but had to travel to Rafa IV to acquire it. Before he could depart, Calrissian was arrested for charges trumped up by Governor Duttes Mer, who forced him to aid Rokur Gepta, a Sorcerer of Tund, to locate the Mindharp of Sharu.[11]
Provided with a transdimensional key, Calrissian chose to begin his search on Rafa V, location of the largest Sharu pyramid in the Rafa system. He was ambushed by several Toka, who tied him to one of the crystalline lifetrees, hoping he would freeze during the night. Resourceful as always, despite the fact that the lifetree was robbing him of intelligent thought, Lando was able to free himself. His feet, however, were severely frostbitten and required light bacta treatment in a portable gel-bath kept on the Falcon. Calrissian and Vuffi Raa investigated the largest pyramid and located the Mindharp, and were promptly teleported back to Rafa IV. Vuffi Raa, who in fact had been programmed to betray Calrissian before he had even been "won," promptly turned Calrissian in to Governor Mer. Mer greedily took the Mindharp and sentenced Calrissian to a lifetime of hard labor. However, Vuffi Raa, having fulfilled his imperative to betray Calrissian, rescued the gambler just as Mer activated the Mindharp. As the two fled Rafa IV, the transdimensional artifact's subharmonic emanations restored the Toka into the Sharu that they once were, and the great pyramids of the Rafa system crumbled, leaving alien cities in their wake. In doing so, the Mindharp released the Sharu from their imposed primitive nature, and Lando earned a reward.[11]
Leaving the restored planet, Lando and Vuffi Raa entered hyperspace with a cargohold full of the last Rafa life-crystals. This valuable cargo netted Calrissian nearly 250,000 credits.[11] After returning to Nar Shaddaa, he bought a used-starship lot from a Duros. To his dismay, he discovered the business was expensive and difficult to run. He debated whether he should either sell it or keep running it when the Galactic Empire arrived in the criminal-ridden system. To fight the intruders, Calrissian donated his inventory of ships to his fellow outlaws. He and Vuffi Raa piloted the Millennium Falcon deftly in the resulting Battle of Nar Shaddaa. During the battle, Lando flew alongside noted smugglers such as Salla Zend, Han Solo, and Mako Spince. The attack was diverted, but less than ten percent of his stock was still spaceworthy. As a result, Calrissian sold 90 percent ownership in what was left of his lot to Roa at a loss.[14]
[edit] Setup on Oseon
As Calrissian sought a way to recover his losses, he saw an opportunity in the regional sabacc championships that were soon to be held at Cloud City's Yarith Bespin casino. In order to raise the ten thousand credit buy-in, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa returned to the Centrality and attempted to haul legitimate cargo. However, tariffs, fees, and licensing cost him more than he made, leaving him with nothing. Thus, when an opportunity to play sabacc in the Oseon system during the arising of the Flamewind, Calrissian accepted.[15]
Soon after arriving at Oseon 6845, Calrissian was assaulted and forced to shoot his assailant in self-defense with his stingbeam. The Administrator Senior of the Oseon system, Lob Doluff, was required to inform Calrissian that the penalty for possessing a deadly weapon was death by exposure. Since the administrator admired Calrissian, he offered a solution to avoid execution. Doluff arranged for Calrissian to participate in a drug bust against the lesai-addicted, wealthy industrialist Bohhuah Mutdah. Posing as Mutdah's dealer, Calrissian transported two agents, Bassi Vobah and Waywa Fybot, through the maddening radiation of the Flamewind to Oseon 5792.[15]
Unfortunately, Mutdah, who turned out to be Rokur Gepta in disguise, promptly killed the two agents and planned to kill Calrissian. Rokur forced the gambler to endure torture by chagrin, which made him relive all the painful moments of his life. Luckily, Calrissian was saved by the timely intervention of Renatasian starfighters whose goal was to kill Vuffi Raa. During the impending chaos surrounding his escape, Calrissian grabbed Mutdah's drug payment: a whole twenty million credits.[15] He deposited small sums in banks on several worlds, including fifty thousand credits into the Bank of Aargau, which he planned to use for covering the entry fee for the Bespin sabacc tournament. Unfortunately, his attempt to deposit the bulk of the money on the Centrality's primary financial planet, Dela, interrupted a pirate attack being committed by the "pirate queen" Drea Renthal. Despite Lando's charm, Renthal kept that large fraction of Mutdah's money.[7]
[edit] Saving the Starcave of ThonBoka
Soon after, Calrissian encountered Lehesu, a young member of the space-dwelling, hyperjump-capable Oswaft species, whose curiosity had carried it from its home in the ThonBoka Nebula to a desolate part of the Centrality. He came in contact with Calrissian's ship, and after several halting attempts at communication, Lehesu finally conveyed his need for sustenance. Calrissian emptied the contents of the ship's recyclers into space, which Lehesu eagerly gobbled up.[16]
Some months later, the Empire blockaded the entrance to the sack-shaped ThonBoka with five hundred capital ships whose intention was to starve the entire Oswaft race into extinction. The ships were mostly Carrack-class light cruisers that were modified to contaminate the "interstellar plankton" drifting into the nebula. Lehesu used a transceiver provided to him by Vuffi Raa to contact the Millennium Falcon and plead for help.[16]
Lando managed to penetrate the blockade, using the ruse that he was a trader plying his wares to the very ships he sought to evade. Because of the fact that no one below the rank of Admiral was informed of the reason behind the blockade, the Falcon was inspected. The ship was allowed to continue for no one suspected that the ship's real cargo was anything but the ordinary waste carried in its trash and toilet recyclers. After working his way to the front of the blockade, Lando made a break for the mouth of the ThonBoka. Once inside, he contacted Lehesu and the Oswaft Elders, and they began making plans while other Oswaft went to negotiate with the picket fleet. The Empire's goals were complete extermination, however, so the Empire merely executed the negotiators. In the process, though, one of them 'shouted' at the unshielded cruiser Courteous, destroying it with its maser voice-stream. The fleet, seeking retribution, raised their shields and began to enter the Nebula, but were called back by Gepta, who sought to destroy Calrissian himself.[16]
When Gepta arrived, the fleet remobilized and entered the nebula. Fortunately, their suspension had given Calrissian time to suggest a battle plan. The Oswaft excreted heavy metals from their pores and then jumped to hyperspace, leaving decoys placed between the enemy cruisers, resulting in massive Imperial casualties resulting from friendly fire. Meanwhile, the Oswaft 'shouted' at the starfighters, destroying them with their powerful masers. After the fleet's forces had been reduced by about eleven percent, the battle ceased, and Gepta offered Lando an ultimatum: engage Gepta in personal combat, or he would fire an electromagnetic torpedo into the nebula, killing all life therein.[16]
Calrissian and Vuffi Raa (who was allowed to participate because Gepta believed he could reprogram the droid to betray his master) faced off against the Sorcerer of Tund in the vacuum of space. After much maneuvering and several ploys, Calrissian landed a stray shot in Gepta's ankle. The Sorcerer's form withered as he cried out and by pure chance hit Vuffi Raa. Calrissian searched the space suit and found an injured Croke—Gepta's true form—then proceeded to kill him.[16]
At that, the battle renewed, but for only a moment. Out of nowhere, a multitude of fifty-kilometer diameter sentient droids suddenly appeared, demanding on all channels "Cease fire immediately or be destroyed!" They were the Silentium, the creators of Vuffi Raa, and they had come for their offspring.[17] The Imperial fleet, faced with thousands of gigantic ships, retreated. Vuffi Raa's progenitors repaired the little droid and departed with him into the Unknown Regions. Afterwards, Lando departed the ThonBoka with a hold filled with valuable Oswaft-synthesized gemstones.[16]
[edit] Failure and success
- "No Human in the galaxy has a right to be that lucky."
- ―Barpotomous Drebble[src]
Unfortunately, his turn of good fortune was once again countered with bad luck, as his investment in a berubium mine in the Borgo asteroid belt turned out to be worthless. He was left with nothing except fifty thousand credits in his Aargau account and partial ownership of the Nar Shaddaa starship lot. During this time, he struck up a brief relationship with Drea Renthal, the very pirate who had stolen millions from him before.[7]
To ease his desperate need for cash, Calrissian stole a treasure cache from the Glottalphib criminal Nandreeson, which earned him Nandreeson's undying hate and promise of sure death if the gambler ever returned to Smuggler's Run.[18] Soon after, Calrissian entered the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament along with Solo. However, he wound up in second place to his friend Solo. During the final round Calrissian had placed a marker for any ship on his used starship lot as part of his bet. Unexpectedly and much to the gambler's dismay, Han chose the Millennium Falcon, the ugliest but most efficient ship in the lot, and Calrissian's favorite.[19]
Lando, somewhat annoyed over the loss of his ship, nevertheless accompanied Solo to a nearby cantina, where he devised a scheme to recoup some of his losses from the rather inebriated Corellian and his partner. Lando and his friend Marshak informed Solo of the dangerous Kessel Run, a milestone accomplishment for a spacer, that involved circling thirteen planets to retrieve valuable Kessel birds while dodging unfriendly fauna and local patrols. Solo, his ego and piloting prowess challenged by Lando's insistence that the run was too dangerous, insisted on going. Calrissian and his comrades were able to convince Solo to buy a map that allegedly led to prearranged drop sites and avoided the space patrols so that Solo could finish the Kessel Run in a record number of parsecs. They also set up the drop sites with traders and trappers, each of whom traded the Kessel birds to Solo for a tidy sum. Solo took off and doggedly pursued his quest, not knowing that the entire thing was a scam. The supposedly rare Kessel birds were actually vermin and the money Solo paid out at each stop was divided between Calrissian and his friends.[20]
Lando, who was nearly broke after the tournament, managed some successful 'ventures' as he recouped his losses. He successfully scammed the governor of Pesmenben IV and later replaced the Falcon with the sleek Cobra. Free from any ventures to tie him down, he also spent a lot of time on cruise ships, slowly acquiring money through card games and sabacc.[source?] While traveling on the Queen of Empire, Lando encountered Bria Tharen—a Rebel agent and Han Solo's former girlfriend. He tried to strike up an acquaintance with her, but was captured by Boba Fett along with Bria, the real bounty. As Fett was taking his two prisoners off the Queen, the ship was boarded by Drea Renthal, who paid Fett more than his current employer in exchange for letting his prisoners go.[19]
Some time during this period, Lando made several highly profitable runs to Chandrila. His smuggling was made possible through some skillful bribery of local customs officials. On these runs, Lando would first encounter Hiram Drayson, an officer in the defense force who later became part of the New Republic.[12]
[edit] Fallout with Solo
Some time later, Lando assisted Han Solo in an attack on the Hutt spice and slavery operations on Ylesia, which Han was involved in due to being in love with Rebel agent Bria Tharen, the mastermind of the attack. Consequently, Solo recruited several smugglers for the strike, including Lando. The role of the smugglers was to pilot the Rebels through Ylesia's turbulent atmosphere and then help defeat the guards. After meeting unexpectedly stiff resistance, they eventually were successful in destroying the Hutt operation and freeing the slaves. Bria changed plans, however, and kept the spoils for the Rebellion. This left Han with nothing to pay Lando and the smugglers, and created a large rift between Solo and Calrissian.[19]
Shortly thereafter, Lando found himself on another treasure hunt sponsored by a trio of Hutts eagerly hunting the fabled Yavin Vassilika, a priceless, gemlike statuette, having been saved by Bib Fortuna after losing a game of Sabacc. The chase pitted him against some of the Underworld's most notorious bounty hunters, including Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88. Unfortunately, it also threw him in unwilling partnership with Han Solo again, which made for an uneasy alliance following the recent Ylesian spice fiasco. Since the rewards were considerable, they managed through it, bickering most of the way. In time, however, all parties realized they were being used again. This time, it was one of the Hutts' assistants, a woman named Jozzel Moffet. Unknowingly, this assistant was being directed by none other than Bria Tharen herself on behalf of the Rebellion. The Vassilika was the key to opening a Massassi temple, a place that would become a strategic Rebel outpost once opened. After the Vassilika had been found, and the dust settled on this adventure, Solo and Calrissian parted ways, their anger tempered to a mere distrust and agreement to stay on their own ends of the Galaxy.[21]
Lando was on the luxury liner Star of Empire in 1 BBY searching for gambling opportunities. While onboard, he met Kyle Katarn and Governor Dol Donar II of Derra IV. Lando engaged Donar and other passengers in games of sabacc. Lando was able to win considerable amounts of credits from the governor, including a ring that the governor's wife had given to Donar for an anniversary.[22]
[edit] Celebrity and Administrator
Five months after the Battle of Yavin, after shipping a cargo of denta beans to Taanab, he was caught up in a Norulac Freebooters raid. While in a Pandath cantina, Calrissian boasted that he could defeat the pirates. A drunken cantina patron named Gathal Danager, an employee of a Clendorian brewery, accepted the wager that Calrissian could pull it off. Thus, the gambler hid in the ice rings of Taanab's moon, and when the pirates approached their marks, he dumped his cargo of Conner nets into the midst of their fleet, temporarily disabling their ships. While they attempted to extricate themselves from the nets, he tractored ice chunks from the rings into their cockpits. He then led Taanab's orbital defense fleet in a mopping up operation. As a result, Calrissian single-handedly destroyed nineteen of the remaining vessels and crippled the pirate's two supporting corvettes. The ships were captured with all hands, thanks to Calrissian using yet more Conner nets to secure the escape pods. After TriNebulon News carried the story, Calrissian became a minor celebrity.[23]
Calrissian continued his gambling ventures, though, showing up on Naboo to ply his trade. While there, he encountered Dusque Mistflier, a female Imperial bioengineer, but although she allowed him to show her the basics of sabacc, she was not interested in his advances.[24]
Later, while on Cloud City, Lando played a game of sabacc against the Baron Administrator of the facility, a man named Dominic Raynor after his success at gambling had caught the eye of the administrator. Lando quickly found himself in a very high stakes game, with millions of credits and his Cobra on the line, which he lost. Because an anonymous benefactor had advanced Calrissian five million credits, the gambler bet four million and his lot on Nar Shaddaa against Raynor's administrators post, and won not only his ship back, but the whole game and became the new Baron Administrator of Cloud City. The unknown benefactor turned out to be Cloud City's cyborg liaison, Lobot, who had obtained the credits from the pooled funds of thousands of Ugnaught workers to ensure Raynor's departure.[25]
Calrissian took his job as Baron Administrator seriously, working closely with Lobot for over two years. He deflected both the Mining Guild and the eyes of the Empire from the city, scouted new Tibanna plumes, hired pilots to protect the city from raids, repealed restrictive anti-alien immigration laws put in place by Raynor, and increased Tibanna gas profits by over 35%.[26][9] In one incident, Cloud City's security chief, the droid EV-9D9, was found to have been torturing other droids, going so far as to dismantle a quarter of the city's droid population. She escaped on a stolen ship after being exposed, planting explosive charges that nearly destroyed Cloud City and Lando. The disaster was avoided, though EV-9D9 escaped; Calrissian and his new chief of security, Sarl Random, enacted new security procedures in the wake of this incident.[27]
[edit] Entering the Galactic Civil War (3 ABY–4 ABY)
- "Yeah, a Tibanna gas mine. Lando conned somebody out of it. We go back a long way, Lando and me."
"Can you trust him?"
"No. But he has no love for the Empire, I can tell you that." - ―Han Solo and Leia Organa[src]
[edit] Trap at Cloud City
As it was a key source of Tibanna gas, Cloud City was a lucrative target for the Galactic Empire, though Lando had so far managed to keep his operation beneath the attention of both the Empire and the Mining Guild. This was changed when Boba Fett and Darth Vader, in pursuit of the Millennium Falcon and its Rebel crew, reached Cloud City before the Falcon did. In order to preserve his independence, Lando agreed to help detain the Falcon's crew until Luke Skywalker arrived and was captured by Vader.[28]
Playing the part of a congenial host, Lando greeted his old buddy Han and his companions Chewbacca, Leia Organa, and C-3PO. He gladly agreed to help fix the Falcon's damaged hyperdrive while they enjoyed Cloud City's hospitality. The travelers, however, did not trust Lando entirely, especially after the disappearance of C-3PO. Not long after their arrival, Lando invited the Rebels to refreshments and led them to Darth Vader and his stormtroopers, where Han, Leia, and Chewbacca were captured. Much to Lando's chagrin, Vader considerably altered the original deal. The Dark Lord insisted that Leia and Chewbacca remain on Bespin and decided to test the carbonite-freezing chamber (normally used to prepare Tibanna gas for shipment) on Han Solo, hoping that the same apparatus could be used on Luke to transport him to the Emperor. Lando, increasingly unhappy with the arrangement, which now included the torturing of Han Solo, informed Han and Leia of their fate, telling them "I had no choice." Han did not take this well, and punched the Baron Administrator.[28]
Lando personally supervised Solo's freezing, and announced that the freezing had been successful: Han was in perfect hibernation, encased inside a slab of carbonite.[28] The experience deeply affected Lando, who years later would still suffer the occasional nightmare based on the events in the chamber.[18] Fett removed Solo and left the chamber, and shortly after Vader altered the deal further by taking Leia and Chewbacca as Imperial prisoners. Lando realized that the Dark Lord had no intention of making good on his promises and, via Lobot, summoned a group of the Wing Guard to help free Leia and Chewbacca from the Imperial stormtroopers.[28]
Though they had been freed, Leia and Chewbacca did not trust Lando, but went with him to try and rescue Han. As they evaded stormtroopers and pursued Fett, Lando announced the takeover of Cloud City by the Empire and ordered its evacuation. Unfortunately, Lando, Leia, and Chewbacca barely missed catching Fett, and the bounty hunter escaped with his frozen prize.[28]
Meeting up with R2-D2 and retreating to the Falcon, they took off under fire from stormtroopers and were almost immediately pursued by Imperial TIE fighters. As they escaped Bespin, Leia received Luke's call for help through the Force and had Lando return to rescue him. Under threat from Chewbacca, Lando flew the ship back and pulled the wounded Luke into the ship via the top hatch. While trying to escape Bespin, it was realized that while the hyperdrive had been repaired, it had been deactivated by the Imperials. R2-D2 reactivated the hyperdrive and Lando piloted the Falcon to the Rebel rendezvous point.[28]
[edit] Cody Sunn-Childe's dream
- "I wonder how long your "truth" would hold up if the war you ran away from came knocking on your front… door…?!"
- ―Lando Calrissian to Cody Sunn-Childe, suddenly interrupted by an Imperial attack[src]
Feeling guilty for what had happened to his old friend and coming to view the Empire as evil, Lando joined the Rebel Alliance, allying with Chewbacca and using the Millennium Falcon to search for Han Solo. One day, while utterly lost, the pair stumbled across a dimensional rift inhabited by Cody Sunn-Childe, a former Rebel Alliance operative and a hero of Lando's who had used strange powers he'd gained during his travels to construct a City of Dreams in a dimensional rift. Angered by Sunn-Childe's abandonment of the Rebel cause, Lando threw a punch at him, only to be attacked by several creatures—manifestations of the darker side of Sunn-Childe's power—which were immediately absorbed by Sunn-Childe, lest they cause injury to Lando.[29]
The former Rebel's city had a hypnotizing effect on its inhabitants as they were enthralled by the phantasmagoric surroundings, even Chewbacca. The Wookiee, spellbound, even seemed to forget the search for Han in favor of the city's distractions and had roughly punched Lando for speaking ill of the city. As Lando walked back to the Falcon, the city was attacked by an Imperial fleet led by Captain Plikk, who had also become trapped in the rift. The attack caused many, Chewbacca included, to snap out of their charmed state. Lando and Chewie piloted the Millennium Falcon against the Imperials, but the battle was cut short when Sunn-Childe, who had at first allowed his mysterious manifestations to attack the Star Destroyers, made no further attempt to stop the Imperial bombardment of the city, letting the fleet utterly destroy it and all its citizens, himself included. The Falcon then escaped through the rapidly closing dimensional gate, but the Imperials, lacking the hyperdrive power to escape because of their excessive bombardment, were forever trapped in Sunn-Childe's dimension.[29]
[edit] Skywalker's affliction
- "Something terrible has happened. Terrible enough to send me combing the Galaxy for you two… and have you abandon the search for Han."
- ―Leia to Chewbacca and Lando[src]
Lando and Chewbacca's frantic search for Han was again cut short as Leia Organa summoned them to a Rebel base on Golrath. Once there, they were informed that Luke Skywalker had caught a deadly disease known as the "Crimson Forever" after boarding an Imperial vessel and finding its crew crimson-colored and dead. Suspecting a red-glowing stone aboard the ship to be the source of whatever killed the Imperials, Luke rushed back to the Rebel headquarters, but he was already infected. In a short time, Luke was lying comatose, his eyes turned scarlet red. Leia remembered a story Han Solo had told her about the Red Nebula that featured a pair of stones similar to the one that infected Luke. Chewbacca regaled the tale, and the group came to the conclusion that the "Crimson Forever" stone was indeed one of those Chewie and Han had encountered—when the two stones were separated, they were extremely lethal. Following up on the lead, Chewbacca, Lando and Leia piloted the Millennium Falcon to the Red Nebula, only to find a seemingly abandoned House of Tagge spaceship. Lando and Leia boarded the vessel while Chewbacca waited in the Falcon and immediately saw victims of the "Crimson Forever". Convinced that it was nearby, they started looking for the second stone. Their search was cut short, however, when they were captured by a gang of bounty hunters employed by Domina Tagge.[30]
Tagge explained that the stones were part of her plan to kill Luke Skywalker as revenge for the death of her brother, Orman Tagge, which Darth Vader had falsely accused Luke of being responsible for. She had hired the bounty hunters to retrieve the stones once word of the deadliness of the red-glowing rocks reached her. Bombing the planet where the stones had been held, she soon had them in her grasp. Tagge and company were surprised by an Imperial warship, however, and the Tagge ship was boarded by stormtroopers. Not wanting to risk her plan, Tagge at first allowed the Imperials to seize one of the stones—encased in a protective canister—and even told them the location of the Rebel Alliance's base on Golrath. Provoking a firefight, Tagge's bounty hunters forced the stormtroopers to retreat back to their own ship and jump to hyperspace, heading for Golrath. Unbeknownst to the Imperials, Tagge had tinkered with the canister of their stone, making it burst open when it was placed under the pressure of hyperspace travel. By the time they arrived near Golrath, they were all dead, and the ghost ship trap was set for Skywalker. However, a priest the bounty hunters had captured to get information about the stones from released the stone in Tagge's ship from its canister as well, killing many. Domina and a few bounty hunters were able to seal themselves away on the ship, avoiding certain death, but lacking space suits to shield themselves from the disease, they were trapped.[30]
Escaping Tagge and her crew by jumping through an airlock, Leia and Lando were picked up by the Falcon. Realizing that they needed the stone to cure Luke, Leia struck a deal with Domina—the Rebels would save her and her bounty hunters from the "Crimson Forever"-infested ship, and in return, she would hand over her stone so they could stop the plague. As the crystals were reunited on Golrath, Luke was cured. Domina and her accomplices flew off in an escape ship per the agreement, and the stones were loaded aboard the Imperial ghost ship, which was sent straight into Golrath's sun.[30]
[edit] Destruction of the Tarkin
- "They left me out of this mission because they thought I couldn't be trusted. But stowing away so I could be their ace-in-the-hole should prove that—"
- ―Lando Calrissian's thoughts interrupted by an approaching stormtrooper patrol[src]
Informed by an operative that the Empire was constructing a new superweapon—the Tarkin—the Rebellion ordered Chewbacca and Lando to stop their search for a new planet on which the Alliance could establish a new headquarters and return to the temporary base, where they were briefed on their new mission—to destroy the Tarkin. A small commando team, consisting of Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2, were to sneak aboard the superweapon dressed as workers and strike at its reactor with a proton grenade. Lando, whom both Leia and General Rieekan thought of as untrustworthy, was "left out" of the mission but the gambler stowed away on the Falcon that the commando team piloted to Hockaleg, the planet over which the Tarkin orbited. Lando hoped to make himself useful by staying with the Falcon, ready to rush to the superweapon to save his friends.[31]
Unbeknownst to the commando team, Darth Vader was also present at the space station, having sensed that Skywalker had infiltrated it. Believing the Rebels' plan was to destroy the Tarkin's reactor, Vader personally saw to the protection of that area, delegating the rest of the security personnel to potential escape routes. However, just as he was en route to catch Luke, a group of high-ranking Imperial officers attempted to kill the Sith by opening an airlock, sending Vader into space. The plan was foiled by Vader himself—using the dark side of the Force he was able to pull himself back into the Tarkin from the vacuum of space. This distraction helped Luke barely escape the Dark Lord. In the meantime, Leia had wired the superweapon's ion cannon to fire upon itself—something that would utterly destroy the station.[31]
Meanwhile, on Hockaleg, Lando was approached by a stormtrooper patrol, but he was able to "bribe" them with two kilos of what he said was Gannarian narco-spice—in reality, it was simply slime yeast from the Falcon's provisions. At the same time, on the Tarkin, the Rebel commando team prepared to flee the space station, aborting their original mission. Just as they rocketed off the station, they were followed by two TIE fighters. They had little chance of survival until Lando appeared with the Millennium Falcon, blasting the enemy craft and bringing the group aboard the YT-1300. Darth Vader boarded his personal modified TIE and gave chase, but he was ultimately outmaneuvered by Luke when the young Jedi jettisoned the Falcon's water supply into space, creating an instant ice barrier that Vader crashed into. Seeing that the Rebels were about to escape, the officers aboard the Tarkin decided to fire the superweapon on the lone freighter. However, thanks to Leia's wiring of the ion cannon, the space station exploded violently. The Rebels escaped to safety while discussing Princess Leia's ion cannon-tinkering.[31]
A short while later, while investigating an incredible power source on Ventooine, Lando, Luke and C-3PO discovered a giant golden statue of Han Solo as they were being chased by Imperial stormtroopers. The statue had been erected by Vetter Piin, a man Solo had helped in the past. After listening to the tale of Solo's escapades on the planet through a memory stone, the three defeated the pursuing stormtroopers by tricking them into a room with a specific mineral composition that put them into suspended animation.[32]
[edit] The search for Leia
- "I hate to disappoint you, ugly—but this is as far as you go!"
- ―Lando to Sk'ar[src]
Some time later, Princess Leia went missing while on a mission to investigate Imperial activity in the Shiva system. Luke, Chewbacca and Lando embarked on a desperate search for her before finally finding her on Shiva IV—a technologically primitive planet. Unable to leave the planet due to its lack of space technology, she had gotten tangled up in a conflict between the Calian Confederacy and the Galactic Empire. The Empire, lead by General Sk'ar, sought to invade Shiva IV by destabilizing the Confederacy—wiping out cities using anti-matter bombs, and kidnapping Aron Peacebringer, the Warlord of the Confederacy, as well as Leia.[33]
Lando, Chewie and Luke found Leia just as she was being assailed by Ygal Delois, a Calian Imperial sympathizer, while attempting to defuse an anti-matter bomb meant to destroy the Confederacy's capital, Illÿriaqum. As Chewbacca and Luke fought Delois, Lando landed the Millennium Falcon only to discover a fleeing General Sk'ar. Lando fired at the General, but the enormous man carried a personal anti-blaster shield, so the blaster bolts had no effect. Unable to defeat Sk'ar in close combat, Lando pretended to be knocked unconscious after being slapped to the ground. Luckily for the Rebels, Lando later spotted spotted Sk'ar's escape ship, prompting Chewbacca to throw a large piece of metal shrapnel at it, causing it to explode. With Sk'ar's forces defeated, the Rebels were hailed as heroes in a large celebration, where Lando was the center of attention for several Calian women.[33]
[edit] Return to Cloud City
Afterwards, as the Rebel Alliance was establishing its new base on Arbra, Lando made a return visit to the Imperialized Cloud City. Upon arrival, he was flabbergasted by the apparent abandonment of the city. Unable to locate a single person, he queried the city's central computer, which informed him that all of Cloud City's residents had been evacuated to the artificial surface located below the city itself. Upon learning this, he was attacked by Lobot, who sprang from the shadows behind him. Lobot had somehow identified Calrissian as an "intruder" and "threat to the city," and was set on destroying the returned Socorran. Lando took several punches, and was hurled around a few times by the cyborg, but eventually escaped. Wandering around Cloud City, he soon happened upon an Imperial patrol, led by Captain Hugo Treece. As Treece informed his men of the task that lay before them, Lando learned that the city had been evacuated due to a bomb threat from disloyal Ugnaught workers. The Imperial patrol was to make sure any bombs were defused. Spotting a chance to divert Lobot's attention from himself to the Imperials, Lando opened fire, killing a stormtrooper. Treece immediately ordered his men to attack their assailant. Lando lured the pursuing stormtroopers into Cloud City's carbon-freezing room, then knocked them all into the freezing pit. He dedicated the following carbon-freezing of the stormtroopers to Han Solo. Meanwhile, the remainder of Treece's men were attempting to defuse a bomb. This failed horribly, and caused a sizable explosion which rocked the city itself. Concerned about the explosion, and hoping to escape the wrath of the impending Lobot, Calrissian fleed the carbon-freezing room. Shortly after, he stumbled upon the site of the explosion, and found all the Imperials dead—save one. Hugo Treece had survived without a scratch, and pulled a blaster on Lando—an action mirrored by Calrissian. Realizing their predicament, the two agreed to temporarily work together for the benefit of their mutual survival. Treece elaborated on the Ugnaught bomb threat, while Calrissian conjured up a plan to save the city.[34]
Calrissian acted as bait, and tricked Lobot into the grasp of a loading claw operated by Treece. Realizing that not even such a tight grip could hold the cyborg, Lando removed Lobot's motivational programming capsule, rendering the crazed automaton unconscious. Before long, Calrissian had fixed Lobot's broken programming, and the three went about disarming the rest of the Ugnaught-planted bombs. When that task was completed, Lando appealed to Treece, asking that he treat the Ugnaught workers with respect. Treece promptly refused, and kicked Calrissian off the ledge of Cloud City.[34] As Treece watched Lando plummet towards the artificial surface, Lobot deduced that the Imperial officer had become a threat to the city, and seeing as Calrissian was the one most likely to defeat him, it was imperative that he be rescued. He swiftly grabbed a jetpack, hurled himself off the city's edge, and soon caught up with and grabbed Calrissian.[35]
The two landed in a swamp on the artificial surface, right next to a boat laden with a Ugnaught team of journalists that were hoping to catch the destruction of Cloud City on film. They were initially helped aboard the boat, but as the Ugnaughts recognized Calrissian, suggestions were made to lynch the former Baron Administrator. Such thoughts were cut short as two Imperial skimmers attacked the Ugnaught vessel. Calrissian reacted quickly and, despite the reluctance of the journalists, made an improvised slingshot that sent a camera flying straight into one of the skimmers, causing it to explode. The Ugnaughts retreated, and led Lobot and Lando to their city. There, the Ugnaught leader, King Ozz, told Lando of the poor working conditions that had been established on Cloud City during the Imperial reign. This greatly upset Lando, who immediately hatched a plan to reclaim the city.[35]
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Shira Brie had arrived on Cloud City, only to find themselves pinned down by Imperial fire. Luckily for them, Lando arrived with the Ugnaught journalists, and informed the Imperials that if they didn't flee the station, he would order Lobot to re-arm the Ugnaught explosives. Treece promptly shot Lobot in the head. However, Skywalker was able to create a set of mock explosions that frightened the Imperials into leaving. Following this, the Ugnaught population moved back into Cloud City, and held a large celebration in which Calrissian, Skywalker, Brie, and the repaired Lobot participated. As the celebrations continued, Lando and his fellow Rebels returned to their base on Arbra.[35]
[edit] Revolution on Drogheda
Not long after, Lando was unknowingly used as both commander and decoy in a civil war on Drogheda. Initially summoned to the planet by Queen Sarna, who was an old flame of his, he led royalist forces to defeat a small band of revolutionaries. After that, and learning that the revolutionaries were fighting for democracy, Lando attempted to leave the planet, but was halted by the Queen's guards who saw him as a traitor. While the guards were preoccupied with chasing Lando, a large group of revolutionaries conquered the royal palace and dethroned Sarna. Revolutionary leader and sister of the Queen, Danu, promptly kicked Lando off the planet, and forced him to take Sarna with him.[36]
[edit] Business on Bazarre
- "…that monster's gonna learn… there's no such thing as a free lunch! 'Specially not when it's Lando Calrissian!"
- ―Lando Calrissian[src]
On a mission to acquire black-market TIE fighters for the Alliance, Lando, Chewbacca and Luke journeyed to the space station and trading post Bazarre to meet with Orion Ferret, the administrator of the station. Lando, due to prior dealings with Ferret, was suspicious of him.[37] Upon arrival, Luke and Lando were accosted by a gang of merchants who mistook them for merchandise, but that matter was settled once Ferret approached them. He informed them that he had been able to scrape together enough parts from damaged Imperial ships to reconstruct four TIE fighters. For security reasons, he had stored the spacecraft on the garbage planet Patch 4. Ferret offered Lando and Luke his own private shuttle, which was programmed with the coordinates for Patch-4. Distrustful of Ferret, Chewbacca stayed behind to keep the administrator from betraying their agreement.[38]
Shortly after landing on Patch-4, Skywalker spotted the TIE fighters. As he and Lando approached them, they were attacked by a large creature that seemed nearly impervious to their weapons. Forced into retreating to the nearby caves, Luke and Lando discovered a community of vagabonds that had settled there. One of the inhabitants, Serja Kesselrook, informed the two Rebels that the creature was controlled by a sonic pacifier on the ship they had been given, which meant that Ferret had been controlling it and had betrayed them. Returning to confront the beast, Lando distracted it by shooting while Luke went to the ship and used the sonic pacifier to put the beast to sleep. Then, they retrieved the fighters, returned to get the Falcon and Chewbacca, and returned to Arbra.[38]
Some time later, Luke came under suspicion of killing Shira Brie. Lando offered his assistance, helping Luke to "steal" the Millennium Falcon so he could investigate the case.[39]
[edit] Encounter with Black Sun
Lando continued the search for Han Solo, hiring a guide who knew where Boba Fett had been hiding. Flying the Falcon, Lando, Leia, and Luke attempted to intercept Boba Fett and rescue Han at Gall, but their guide, Dash Rendar, abandoned them, and the opposing Imperial forces were too numerous for the Rebels to pursue Fett's fleeing Slave I.[40]
Lando was with Leia and Chewbacca when they met with the Black Sun representative Guri. With the Wookiee's help, he discovered that Guri was actually a droid. When Leia and Chewbacca went to Coruscant with Guri, Lando eventually met up with Luke and sneaked into the capital world to find the Princess and the Wookiee. When Chewbacca told them of Leia's capture by the lustful Xizor, Lando and the others journeyed through the sewers into the sub-sub-basement levels of Xizor's Palace. Once inside, they worked their way up and were reunited with Leia, who had escaped as well. Finding themselves surrounded by Xizor's guards, and the Prince himself, Lando pulled out a thermal detonator, set it to explode after five minutes and dropped it into the garbage chute. In the ensuing chaos of fleeing guards and employees, the Rebels made good their escape, boarding the Millennium Falcon (which had been brought to the castle by R2-D2 and C-3PO). With Lando safely back at the controls, they flew off Coruscant, pursued by Xizor's considerable forces. However, the timely interference of both Rogue Squadron and the Imperial Navy allowed the Falcon to escape.[40]
[edit] Trouble on Stenos
After Xizor's death, Lando returned to the Rebel base on Arbra. Leia had received information regarding Han Solo: The bounty hunters Dengar, IG-88 and Bossk, was aware of where Boba Fett was storing the Corellian. In light of this, Lando traveled to The Wheel, accompanied by Luke and Chewbacca. While there, he was informed that IG-88 and Bossk had been spotted on Stenos.[41]
Leaving Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon, Luke and Lando searched Stenos for any clue of Solo's whereabouts. They eventually spotted a metal storage block similar to the one Solo was frozen in being carried into a building. As they broke into the building, they discovered that the metal casket contained Chihdo, a Rodian, and was merely bait for a trap set by Bossk and IG-88. As the two bounty hunters cornered Lando and Luke, Rik Duel and Dani, friends of Chihdo, rushed to their aid. Despite their efforts, the four were eventually rounded up. While about to be frozen in carbonite, Chewbacca and a band of native Stenaxes charged, causing Bossk and IG-88 to flee.[41]
[edit] Finding Argo and Vanis
- "My plans involve secrecy… subtlety… subterfuge…"
- ―Lando Calrissian[src]
Soon after, Lando, Luke, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and Dani—who had sneaked aboard the Falcon as it left Stenos—teamed up with Leia Organa and C-3PO on a new mission.[41] The group was charged with tracking down the undercover Rebel operatives Yom Argo and Tay Vanis, who were tasked with finding the plans of the second Death Star. Pursuing Argo first, they found records of him crashing on the planet Lahsbane. Closer investigation revealed that Argo had died in the crash, along with a native Lahsbee. The natives kept the tapes from Argo's starship—the Death Star plans included—to themselves, to honor their fallen kinsman. Leia and Dani were fortunately able to retrieve the tapes from The Forbidden City.[42]
Tracking Tay Vanis to the planet Iskalon, the group soon got involved in the delicate conflict between the Galactic Empire and the other planets in the sector. They were informed by the leader of the Iskalonians, Primor, that Vanis's old K3PX droid was present on Gamandar, a heavily fortified Imperial planet not far from Iskalon. Hoping to find clues to Vanis's whereabouts through his droid, Lando, together with Chewbacca, Mone, C-3PO and R2-D2 flew the Millennium Falcon to Gamandar.[43] They purchased the K3PX droid from the Imperials,[44] but unbeknownst to the Rebels was that K3PX had been turned into an espionage droid employed by Darth Vader himself.[45] Even though they were captured, R2-D2 saved them when he returned from pursuing another lead of his own.[44]). Fleeing Gamandar, they picked up Leia and Luke on Iskalon. The mission ended as a failure, with no information about Vanis recovered.[45]
Returning to the Arbra base to report their failure, they were informed that a third Rebel operative apparently had gotten hold of the Death Star plans: Han Solo. Although it seemed impossible that the Corellian had escaped Boba Fett, Lando and Chewbacca were nevertheless sent to investigate,[46] but were apparently unable to find anything.
[edit] Mission to Yinchorr
- "Luke, it could be nothing. Maybe…"
"No, Lando, there's trouble -- and it feels like the Empire." - ―Lando and Luke after receiving Leia's distress call[src]
In an effort to gain more support for the Rebellion and its fight against the Empire, Princess Leia organized a diplomatic mission to the planet of Yinchorr. Wanting to foster a sense of trust between the Rebellion and the Yinchorri, Leia decided to go on the mission by herself, and unarmed, so as not to threaten the Yinchor leaders. Though he did not agree with Leia's stance on the subject, Luke gave her an emergency beacon which she could trigger if any problems arose. Luke, meanwhile, boarded the Millennium Falcon, along with Lando and Chewbacca, to rejoin the main Rebel fleet.[47]
Once on Yinchorr, Leia soon discovered that she had been betrayed by the Yinchorri, who planned to hand her over to the Empire. Having been shot down by Imperial TIE fighters, Leia activated her emergency beacon, hoping that Luke and Lando would reach her in time—or at all. Eventually, Leia was confronted by Moff Marcellin Wessel and his stormtroopers, but at that moment, Lando, Luke, and the Falcon arrived to rescue the Princess. With the help of Lando and Luke, Leia boarded the Falcon and was able to rendezvous with Alliance forces.[47]
[edit] Hutt guardsman
Lando learned that Solo had been delivered to Jabba Desilijic Tiure while undercover on Arcan IV,[48] and put into motion plans to infiltrate the crimelord's base. On Blimph 3, he visited Quaffug the Hutt in hopes of winning him over to the Rebel cause. Quaffug was uninterested in this and decided to execute Calrissian by having several high-profile bounty hunters chase the Socorran down. Calrissian not only escaped the bounty hunters, but he ended up saving Quaffug's life. In return, Quaffug gave his support to the Rebel Alliance and arranged for Lando to be accepted into the Hutt Guardsman's Guild.[49] Adopting the pseudonym Tamtel Skreej, Lando infiltrated Jabba the Hutt's organization as a guard in Jabba's throne room.[27]
However, this was not enough to gain the Hutt's trust and so, hoping to prove himself and impress the Hutt, Lando volunteered to enter Jabba's demolition games. He offered to take the controls to one of Jabba's modified desert skiffs in order to participate. It was during this time that Lobot also came to Jabba's palace, hoping to dismantle the rogue droid EV-9D9. Though Jabba was planning on feeding the cyborg to his rancor, Lando suggested that Lobot instead be placed in the games with him. As Lobot did not know that the disguised Tamtel Skreej was in fact Lando, the two became opponents.[50]
Lando was present as each member of the rescue team—R2-D2, C-3PO, Leia (disguised as Boushh), Chewbacca, and finally Luke Skywalker—arrived. Deciding to wait until all the team was in place, Lando remained in his role even as Han Solo—released from carbonite by Leia—and Chewbacca were imprisoned and Leia's identity was revealed, resulting in her enslavement. Even after Luke arrived, Lando remained the "ace-in-the-hole" as the Jedi defeated Jabba's monstrous rancor.[6]
When Luke, Han, and Chewbacca were sentenced to execution in the Great Pit of Carkoon, Lando was a guard on the same skiff as the prisoners, ready to spring them on Luke's cue. At the Pit of Carkoon, as Luke received his lightsaber from Artoo and fought off the other guards, Lando helped free the other prisoners. In the process, he was nearly knocked into the maw of the sarlacc. Only the timely intervention of a partially blinded Han Solo and Chewbacca saved him from the Sarlacc. After Luke defeated the guards and rescued Leia from the