I never cared that they made Greedo shoot first. So I guess I’m with Harrison Ford on that one.
Reading more about it on a Star Wars fandom wiki, it seems like in the original script it was to just be a flash of light in a close-up shot of them arguing, with Greedo laying dead and Han walking away, with it being unclear from the flare of blaster fire whether Greedo fired at all. But George Lucas didn’t want to make Solo seem cold-blooded or ruthless. Maybe giving Han a little back story prior to this would have softened the blow? But they didn’t want to make big changes, just little ones, and this one little change ended up being big with the fans.
My issue with all that is, I don’t define Han by shooting first or second, I define Han by showing up in the trenches when he could have taken the money and ran. I think the last scene works better with Han being the cold-blooded killer who shot Greedo dead with only verbal provocation. Han is not a lawful good paladin hero — that’s what Luke is meant to be. Han is barely chaotic good — he’s more chaotic neutral at the start, but he gets good — or he falls for Leia. I think it’s more to do with the latter. He has a brotherly antagonism toward Luke — evidenced by the blasters vs lightsabers discussion — but he’s gonna have Luke’s back in a pinch if he’s got a reason to be there. But with Leia it’s love at first sight, and seeing her warm to Luke before him gives him that competitive inspiration which is a big part of why he showed up at the end. So I’m totally fine with him shooting first.
Yeah, I mean that’s the meme I was referring to.
I never cared that they made Greedo shoot first. So I guess I’m with Harrison Ford on that one.
Reading more about it on a Star Wars fandom wiki, it seems like in the original script it was to just be a flash of light in a close-up shot of them arguing, with Greedo laying dead and Han walking away, with it being unclear from the flare of blaster fire whether Greedo fired at all. But George Lucas didn’t want to make Solo seem cold-blooded or ruthless. Maybe giving Han a little back story prior to this would have softened the blow? But they didn’t want to make big changes, just little ones, and this one little change ended up being big with the fans.
My issue with all that is, I don’t define Han by shooting first or second, I define Han by showing up in the trenches when he could have taken the money and ran. I think the last scene works better with Han being the cold-blooded killer who shot Greedo dead with only verbal provocation. Han is not a lawful good paladin hero — that’s what Luke is meant to be. Han is barely chaotic good — he’s more chaotic neutral at the start, but he gets good — or he falls for Leia. I think it’s more to do with the latter. He has a brotherly antagonism toward Luke — evidenced by the blasters vs lightsabers discussion — but he’s gonna have Luke’s back in a pinch if he’s got a reason to be there. But with Leia it’s love at first sight, and seeing her warm to Luke before him gives him that competitive inspiration which is a big part of why he showed up at the end. So I’m totally fine with him shooting first.
The whole point of his character is that he’s a scoundrel. If you keep retroactively making him nicer, he has no arc.