Alignment: Han Solo is Neutral?

[Vegepygmy]

In the original movies, Han definitely undergoes an alignment change - in fact, I'd say it's one of the most clear examples of alignment shift out there.

I agree. The only question in my mind is whether he starts out TN or CN, and frankly there's just not enough information in Ep4 for me to decide.

 

[Felix]

And remember that for a scoundrel and smuggler, and even for all his bragging - HE'S NOT VERY GOOD AT IT.

Why would you say he's no good at it? Because he owes a debt?

Why should he feel obligated to pay a debt to a criminal who might indeed want to have him killed rather than have the money at this point?

Maybe because, "A death mark is not an easy thing to live with." I always figured he went to pay Jabba back because, "the bounty hunter on Oord Mandel changed [his] mind", and not because of any breach of honor. He just wants to stop getting shot at.

By the time of Return of the Jedi those neutral tendencies are all but entirely eliminated and he's easily seen as LG

My mileage most certainly does vary on this point. Han? Lawful Good? Why? Becasue he's considerate to his friends? Because he joins an organized rebellion?

 

[RainOfSteel]

Complete Scoundrel says Han Solo was N. Here's my question on that:

Is this the Han Solo of "Greedo shot first" or the original (and real) "Han shot Guido" version?

Regardless of what alignment you believe Han Solo was in A New Hope, shooting Greedo first wasn't an evil or even chaotic act. Greedo had a gun on him at the time! Shooting Greedo was self defense, and nothing else.

Personally, I saw him as a hard-nosed character who no longer believed in anything other than himself, Chewie, and money. Part of the movie was about dragging Han back from the brink of total cynicism.

 

[VirgilCaine]

What about being a smuggler in the era of the Empire makes you non-good?

I'd say CG from the outset, perhaps trending NG as things come along. Han's "selfishness" largely seems to be a pose; it's part of the "roguish hero" or "reluctant hero" archetypes. After all, he gives Luke encouragement ("May the Force be with you") even though he's a skeptic; he shows up to help Luke at the Death Star; he comes back to get the Princess out of the Hoth base; etc etc. At least that's the impression I have.

All the stories about Han I read (the very early-1979!-Han Solo Adventures and the more recent Han Solo Trilogy) never (Well, maybe hardly, hardly ever, haven't read them in a long while, might've missed something besides the orphans in Rebel Dawn below) show him making sacrifices for other people. He's going after a treasure or paid to do something and THEN something happens to get him personally involved, like Chewie being kidnapped. Sure, he doesn't run slaves and doesn't kill people in cold blood (see how he meets Lando and Boba Fett in the Han Solo Trilogy) but other than that he has very few qualms. He's neutral... edging to Good at the end of Rebel Dawn.

The real crisis of conscience for Han is at the rebel base when he gets his reward. Although he's now FREE of the underworld life that he'd gotten himself into he's likely been too long in the habit of acting Neutral or CN (and thus effectively being Neutral/CN) to make the alignment shift yet. But it's not long before he changes his mind - and possibly his alignment - and comes back to help save the day.

He's not free. He doesn't have a steady, clean job--he's just out of debt.

IIRC from Rebel Dawn, He originally got into debt to Jabba because he had to dump a load of spice to avoid being picked up by Imperials...while he was ferrying, IIRC, some orphans to a better place to live. He could choose the orphans or the spice and he chose the orphans. He dumps the spice, the Imperials search the ship, he's just an honest spacer helping some kids, he gets them wherever he had worked out they were going to go, and then he can't find the spice when he goes back to try and find it afterwards. Thus, one lost shipment. Everything before this, IIRC, is all solidly Neutral actions.

IIRC, the amount lost would have been covered by Obi-wan's offer--he could either sell the Falcon or find another way to pay the debt...thus, why he needed to take Luke & co.'s offer.
As for Han's skills: From the information in all these books, he's a good-to-excellent blaster shot, pilot, ship tech, swoop rider, vibroblader, did a stint as a con artist, he's got good streetwise skills...list goes on. Also knows several languages. He just had one bad incident.

 

[Turanil]

Han is CG. Right from the beginning.

This is also my opinion.

 

[billd91]

I'm throwing my hat into the neutral ring. I don't see him valuing personal freedom enough to warrant specifically labeling him chaotic. We don't have enough information.

But as far as neutrality goes, sure. He works as a smuggler for a notorious criminal empire and is motivated by money rather than any sense of altruism... until he manages to make a personal connection with someone in need of help (Luke attacking the Death Star).
That connection brings Han, over the course of the next 2 movies, into the light to the point that he actually fights for good principles rather than cash.

 

[Hussar]

I can certainly see the argument for neutral, whether I agree with it or not. Han does what is in his own interests. He helps because he's getting paid. Besides, being CN means that Han would go out of his way to actively disrupt the status quo. Being Good would mean that he would actively help those around him in need without the reward.

He's pretty neutral. Not neutral in the "all things in balance sense" but, neutral in the "I don't really have any strong convictions, so, I'll just do what's best for me" sense.

I will heartily agree that he undergoes an alignment shift by the end of the trilogy. By Return, he's voluntarily undertaking missions for which he will not receive any payment solely for the benefit of others. This strikingly displays a good alignment. That he wants to personaly lead the mission to Endor and not stand back and be a good general shows his Chaotic streak.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Just because the Empire is a tyranny doesn't mean that anyone flouting its laws is automatically good.

HAN: I've outrun Imperial starships, not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you. I'm talking about the big Corellian ships now. She's fast enough for you, old man. What's the cargo?
BEN: Only passengers. Myself, the boy, two droids, and no questions asked.
HAN: What is it? Some kind of local trouble?
BEN: Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements.
HAN: Well, that's the trick, isn't it? And it's going to cost you something extra. Ten thousand in advance.

"No questions asked." Since he doesn't seem too particularly concerned about precisely what it is he's being contracted to smuggle, just so long as he stays away from the Empire's clutches, I'd say Han seems more Neutrally inclined than Good.

Except that, the Empire being a tyranny and all, "no questions asked" is more non-Lawful than non-Good.

If we're actually going to analyze specific dialogue elements right now, it's worth noting that the Empire is pretty unambiguously labeled "evil" from the start. Luke gives Ben an "of course I hate it" answer about the Empire, and the opening narrative establishes the same thing. Just because Han bends the law doesn't mean he *expects* the consequences of his actions to be anything other than non-evil.

This does, however, illustrate a problem in approaching alignment: Namely, the tension between the omission of evil acts and the commission of good acts. I tend to go with the more generous approach. Han doesn't do anything particularly bad, ever, in the movies, unles it's milking Luke and Ben for a pot of money. (Granted, if you shift around the moral universe of the films to assume that Luke and Ben easily could be a pair of crazed serial killers escaping their crimes, the story might be different. But I don't think that's a fair hypothetical conclusion to raise.) Moreover, where the choice is between the not-so-good and the good, he generally chooses the good.

 

[Klaus]

When he starts out, the Movie Han (I'll be ignoring the Extended Universe Han because that's a) non-canonical, and b) not known to most) is:

- A smuggler, someone who makes aliving out of breaking the law.
- Someone who works for well-known and ruthless crime bosses (namely, Jabba).
- Someone who, as Greedo puts it, "jettisons his cargo at the first sight of an Imperial ship", as to not get in trouble with the Law (if he can help it).
- Someone who, when given the opportunity to settle his debt in exchange for his ship, refuses, even though that might save his life and that of his best friend.
- Refuses to help an old man and a boy, until they tempt him with tons of money.
- Refuses to rescue a Princess, until they tempt him with tons of money.
- Flies by the seat of his pants (sometimes literally), making stuff up as he goes.

Saying "May The Force Be With You" to Luke at Yavin IV doesn't mean he's going Good. It means he's becoming friends with this farm-boy. Coming back to save Luke at the Death Star also doesn't make him Good. His actions through the Original Trilogy make him Good when he starts to sacrifice himself to help others beside his friends (the highpoint being when he volunteers to the Endor mission).

 

[delericho]

If we're using the movies only as the reference point, I have to place Han as N (possibly CN) at the start of Star Wars, shifting to NG (possibly CG) when he returns to save the day. (The reason for the possibly Chaotic assignment is that he does generally seem to have problems with authority, but these seem to just be words rather than actions, "I take orders from just one person. Me.")

If external sources are admitted, then he's Good from the outset - as was mentioned in the other thread, he threw away a promising career to help Chewie, a stranger to whom he had no personal bond. That's a pretty strong indicator of Good.