Star Wars: The Galaxy’s Most Smoothest Smuggler – Lando Calrissian Breakdown
This old smoothie is one of the most famous and beloved characters in Star Wars history. This week we’re talking about Lando Calrissian.
Landonis Balthazar Calrissian was born on Socorro, and became a well-known smuggler, gambler, and Sabacc player in his youth. The original owner of the Millennium Falcon and partner of a self-made piloting droid, L3-37, Lando had his fair share of adventures before he ever met Han Solo and much before his involvement in the Rebellion.
Courtesy of Lucas Films
Who is Lando Calrissian?
Even before officially joining the Rebel Alliance, Lando has always been a character with a good heart. With the encouragement of L3, he has a history of helping liberate some of the galaxy’s slaves, both organic and droid.
After a few adventures with L3 and the Falcon, Lando decided that he was in a good position to take an early retirement on Vandor. It was here that his old friend, Qi’ra introduced him to Han Solo and his Wookie companion, Chewbacca, looking for a fast ship to use to steal coaxium from the Pykes on Kessel for Vos.
This mission ended with a fair amount of damage to the Millennium Falcon and an angry Lando. Shortly after, Han and Chewbacca would find their new friend hustling at Sabaac again and win with Falcon in a bet. Of course, everyone at the table was cheating; Han just managed to out-cheat Lando this time around.
Courtesy of Disney
Later, Lando decided to take his career in an entirely new direction, becoming the Baron Administrator of Cloud City. Here he helped the Empire set a trap to capture Luke Skywalker and take Han into carbonite custody. With the plan altered too much to tolerate, Lando ordered an evacuation of the city to give the Rebels a chance to escape.
Joining the Rebellion
After this, Lando joined the Rebellion and helped locate and liberate Han from Jabba the Hutt‘s palace. He became a Rebel General and volunteered to lead the assault on the second Death Star during the Battle of Endor.
After the fall of the Empire, Lando settled down once more. He even tried to start a family and had a daughter. Tragically, while she was an infant, she was kidnapped by the First Order. Despite years of searching and joining Luke on missions to find the source of new darkness in The Force, he wasn’t able to find his lost child.
In Star Wars tradition, Lando decided to move to Pasaana and live a mostly solitary life. Even with his hermit lifestyle, he kept contact with the Solos. He was eventually asked to join the Resistance in the fight against the First Order.
Lando’s humor, cape collection, and general likeableness made him an immediate fan favorite. He’s made appearances in multiple movies, including Han’s origin story, and had a number of comics follow his solo adventures. And we’re looking forward to seeing more of his hustles in the future.
What’s your favorite Lando venture? Do you want to see more of his story post-Empire or Pre-Cloud-City? Which of his capes would you like to add to your closet? Let us know in the comments!
Courtesy of Lucas Films
May The Force Be With You, Adventurers!
