Redemption. Star Wars is all about it- the rise, fall, and rebirth of Anakin Skywalker, the repudiation of tyranny, the return of the Jedi. A new hope comes, but only after the Sith have their revenge. To redeem something essentially means that you are buying it back. It is an exchange, something of value given so that some other thing of worth can be obtained. In Christianity, it is the life of Christ given for the hope of life for the rest of humanity. In Star Wars, it is the life of Anakin Skywalker sacrificed for his son, and by extension, for the galaxy at large.

But I notice that in all the the "great" redemption stories, a catagory in which I definitely include our beloved saga, the greater the ideal, the greater the sacrifice that must be given. In order to succeed, the writer must establish a certain credibility with the audience; specifically, we must believe that the goal to be achieved is worth the cost.

It is for this reason more than any other, I think, that Lucas decided to make the PT. (That, and of course, the bezillion dollars he knew he would make from the project. LOL!) He has stated as much, and as a fan, I certainly agree that the events of at Endor are undoubtably more poignant having now seen the PT. We now have a better appreciation of the redemption taking place because of the "humanization" of the once inscruitable Dark Lord. And that's a very good thing. It strengthens the whole of the story tenfold.

But recently I was thinking about the "other" redemption story in the OT, that of everybody's favorite scoundrel, Han Solo. It's been well documented that Harrison Ford felt that his character should not survive the carbonite chamber at Bespin. He argued that the audience needed Solo's death for reasons not unlike I wrote of earlier. Even within the context of The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda speaks to the cost of ideals:

Luke: And sacrifice Han and Leia?

Yoda: If you honor what they fight for, yes.

Ford was right. The death of Han Solo would have accomplished something- it would have shown the price necessary for the audience to "buy in" emotionally to the Rebels' struggle and would have I think been in the "back of our minds" as we watched the duel at Endor.

But Lucas disagreed. And I'm glad he did. Because what he chose to do, while perhaps more subtle, is to me much more profound. Instead of making Solo as sacrifice, Lucas made him a prototype of this redemption we've been talking about. He showed us in Han what would eventually be accomplished in Anakin. See if you agree...

With PT hindsight, doesn't Han really fit the Anakin mold better than Luke did? The brashness, the swagger, the headlong rush to pursue what he wants, or who (Leia, his Padme) he wants? A great pilot, an adventurer, with a solid prioritization of self above all else?

Even regarding the Force, their attitudes are remarkably similar in the midst of their contrast. For Anakin, the Force exists, as a tool, to accomplish what he wants. For Han, he's never seen a Force that works as well as a "good blaster" (tool) at his side.

Idealism? Neither one of these guys have much. Let one "wise" person run things says Anakin, while Han makes it clear to Leia that he "didn't sign on" for her "revolution".

But that changed for Han in Bespin. Faced with his own mortality, and the first real love that we suspect he ever found in his life, his friendship with Chewie not withstanding, the scoundrel is actually "saved", redeemed, through sacrifice.

Is it moving? You betcha! Somewhere I still have a copy of a letter in response to one I sent the old Bantha Tracks in about 1982. Apparently I used my best adolescent nagging skills, because the letter was one simple sentence: "Yes, yes, yes Han will live!" Gotta love it.

The Han we see in ROTJ is a different man. More sober, but actually freer, with the "sins of the past" now gone. The biggest of them all strangled to death by his love in the first act- Ha! Actually, Han becomes the greatest kind of hero- the one with dents in his armor. The "scoundrel" who ends up being the guy, the "nice man" we all knew he was deep down inside. Now, does it compare to the cosmic, colossal, galactic stakes that Anakin Skywalker faced? No, but aren't you glad the Corellian gambler won that particular hand of carbonite Sabacc? I sure am.