The first fanfic I ever wrote was about the daughter of Han Solo and Princess Leia. She was a gifted pilot. Force sensitive but didn’t want to be a Jedi or have much of anything to do with them. She shared traits with both Jaina Solo and Rey but she was my OC. She was unabashedly based on ten year old me and I planned to play her in the movie.
I often say Star Wars, and specifically Return of the Jedi, defined love for me. I mean Luke and Vader. But I don’t not mean Luke and Leia, and Han and Leia, too. I love stories about siblings. About twins and secret twins and messy feelings and Force connections and the very special bond between a brother and a sister. And Han and Leia were my blueprint for romance for years.
Han Solo
But if you read that first paragraph again, you’ll notice I modeled myself a Solo far more than an Organa or Skywalker. Han Solo doesn’t have it all together and he doesn’t pretend to. Luke and Leia are heroic idealists who want to make the galaxy better, and believe they can. Han is a guy trying to survive in a galaxy gone mad. He doesn’t have a plan to fix it but he follows his own moral compass and he does the next right thing.
Han Solo was, and is, my hero.
Han and Leia were my first OTP. But I’ve never gotten a handle on the singular part of that classification. I ship Han with Leia, Luke, Lando, Hera, and of course Qi’ra. I adore Qi-ra and their relationship contains so many of my favorite beats. They met as kids and are each other’s first love. They are on the run and have to play act. There is pluck and desperation and betrayal. It’s complicated and I love it.
I think, perhaps, Han has always been my favorite of the original leads, but in the new ‘Disney’ era he certainly is. His interactions with Rey in The Force Awakens reminded me of my ten year old dreams and I love SOLO: A Star Wars Story with my whole heart. If I were to choose a Star Wars boyfriend, it would be Han Solo.