Good points. I can see the appeal of the idea - Han's one attempt at going respectable failed, he got burned and distrusts governments even more forever, etc. - but I have a hard time seeing him and military discipline working out. (Besides, assuming he left the Navy in his early 20s, that only gives him and Chewie a few years to get established as smugglers good enough to be "the best" in major crime boss Jabba's opinion before falling from his graces. They must be awfully good.) Shipping something or flying a transport on contract probably works lots better.
But this brings up another point I don't think the EU addressed well: everything I read in the EU had Han and Chewie pegged as being extremely anti-slavery. Yet they worked for Jabba, and as we saw, Jabba keeps slave women chained up and ready to feed to his pet rancor if they don't dance to his liking. So... how desperate were they to work for him? Is he the best of a bad lot? Did their scruples erode over time as they got sick of being broke? Did they not have such strong scruples to begin with? What gives? Maybe they really didn't like him much, and that's why they were so quick to dump that shipment - and to stay with the Rebellion instead of using that reward to pay Jabba back (at least, until it got too nearly-fatal to ignore him anymore).
ETA: Lando having been in the Navy neatly provides an explanation for the "little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab." (I know there's an EU explanation involving pirates vs. the Empire or something, but this works just as well if not better.)
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2009-05-27 06:56 pm (UTC)But this brings up another point I don't think the EU addressed well: everything I read in the EU had Han and Chewie pegged as being extremely anti-slavery. Yet they worked for Jabba, and as we saw, Jabba keeps slave women chained up and ready to feed to his pet rancor if they don't dance to his liking. So... how desperate were they to work for him? Is he the best of a bad lot? Did their scruples erode over time as they got sick of being broke? Did they not have such strong scruples to begin with? What gives? Maybe they really didn't like him much, and that's why they were so quick to dump that shipment - and to stay with the Rebellion instead of using that reward to pay Jabba back (at least, until it got too nearly-fatal to ignore him anymore).
ETA: Lando having been in the Navy neatly provides an explanation for the "little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab." (I know there's an EU explanation involving pirates vs. the Empire or something, but this works just as well if not better.)