Solo (family)

"We lost our son&hellip; Forever.''" "No, Han. It was Snoke. He seduced our son to the dark side, but we can still save him. Me. You." "If Luke couldn't reach him, how could I?" "''Luke is a Jedi. You're his father."

- Han Solo and Leia Organa, on repairing their broken family

The Solo family was the family of Han Solo, a Corellian smuggler who became a general in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. Though allegedly the descendant of Prince-Admiral Jonashe Solo, a member of the ancient Corellian royalty, Han was in fact born into obscurity as the son of a Corellian Engineering Corporation employee. Abandoned at a young age by his father, Han survived on the streets by working as a Scrumrat for the White Worms gang. Ultimately, he managed to join the Imperial Navy after leaving his home planet of Corellia. Lacking a family name at the time of his enlistment, Han was given the surname "Solo" by an Imperial Recruitment Officer, Chief Drawd Munbrin. Despite his desire to become a pilot, his superiors deemed him reckless and insubordinate, and therefore transferred him to the Imperial Army. Disillusioned by his experience as a mudtrooper of the 224th Imperial Armored Division, Solo deserted the Imperial Military in favor of becoming a smuggler alongside his newfound Wookiee friend, Chewbacca.

By 0 BBY, Solo encountered Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, who hired the smuggler to transport them to the Core World Alderaan. Seeking to repay his debt to the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, Solo accepted the commission, resulting in a chain of events that culminated in the Battle of Yavin where Solo helped save the Alliance to Restore the Republic by destroying the Death Star. Over the course of the Galactic Civil War, Solo became an increasingly committed member of the Alliance, all the while falling in love with Princess Leia Organa&mdash;an Alderaanian politician and the secret twin sister of Skywalker.

Solo and Organa married each other following the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. Their union produced a son, Ben Solo, who was born a year later on the day the Galactic Empire officially surrendered to the New Republic. Having inherited the Skywalker family's raw strength in the Force, Ben proved to be Force-sensitive on his mother's side. As a result, Organa beseeched her brother to take Solo's son and train him in the Jedi arts, hoping that the Jedi way would fortify Ben's stance in the light side of the Force. But like his maternal grandfather before him, Ben was seduced by the dark side of the Force and, in turn, prevented the rise of a new generation of Jedi.

Even before Ben rejected his Jedi heritage and family, Solo and Organa led separate lives due to their busy schedules, causing their son to develop feelings of abandonment and isolation. Ben's fall to the dark side, however, caused his parents to drift even further apart, with Solo returning to a life of smuggling while Organa formed the Resistance in response to the rise of the First Order. Solo was reunited with his wife for a short time in the aftermath of the Hosnian Cataclysm, but was later murdered by his estranged son whom he attempted to reconcile with prior to the Resistance fleet's attack on Starkiller Base. After the death of his father, Kylo Ren&mdash;the dark persona of Ben Solo&mdash;killed his master, Snoke and became the new Supreme Leader of the First Order. Like his grandfather, the fallen Sith Lord Darth Vader, the son of Solo felt that it was his destiny to rule over the weaker beings of the galaxy. As such, he envisioned himself at the head of a new galactic order&mdash;one that would rise up and succeed the Jedi Order, the Sith, and all that came before.

Origin
"What's your name, son?''" "Han." "Han what? Who are your people?" "I don't have people. I'm alone." "''Han&hellip;Solo."

- Drawd Munbrin and Han "Solo"

Though it was later made known how Han Solo obtained the surname that defined his family, it was later believed, at least by a Snivvian bounty hunter, that "Solo" was already his surname as he was the alleged descendant of Prince-Admiral Jonashe Solo, a member of the ancient Corellian royalty. A human native of the planet Corellia, Han was born around 32 BBY &mdash;thirty-two years before the Battle of Yavin &mdash;towards the tail end of the Galactic Republic. His father worked for the Corellian Engineering Corporation building YT-1300 light freighters, all the while dreaming of leaving Corellia on one of them but could never afford to do so. Orphaned by the death of his father, whom Han had never been close to, Han became involved with the White Worms gang.

It was during this point in his life when he entered into a relationship with Qi'ra, a fellow Corellian who also dreamed of making a better life offworld. The two planned to leave Corellia together, but Qi'ra was separated from Han and apprehended by the gang with the help of Imperial stormtroopers. Vowing to return for Qi'ra, Han left Corellia by enlisting as a naval cadet of the Galactic Empire. When asked for his surname by Chief Drawd Munbrin, an Imperial Recruitment Officer, Han responded that he did not have a family. Taking Han's lack of a background into consideration, Munbrin named the young man "Han Solo." As a cadet in the Imperial Navy, the name marked Han as someone without a family to his fellow cadets and drew the ire of those such as 404-913, who believed it proved Han was nothing more than a scrumrat who didn't belong in the Imperial Navy. Despite his aspirations to be a pilot in the Imperial Navy, Solo was forced to become an Imperial Army mudtrooper in the 224th Imperial Armored Division for failing to adhere to the Empire's code of uniformity.

From smuggler to rebel
"Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I'm in it for the money. I expect to be well paid.''" "''You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive."

- Han Solo and Leia Organa

Solo deserted the Imperial Military in 10 BBY and, at the same time, freed Chewbacca from slavery, an act which marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the Corellian pilot and Wookiee warrior. After winning the ownership of a YT-1300f light freighter, the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian, Solo and Chewbacca made a living on Tatooine as smugglers employed by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. In 0 BBY they became involved with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, with Solo expecting financial compensation for his part in the rescue of Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Despite his mercenary pursuits, Solo gradually became a committed member of the Alliance all the while growing closer romantically to Organa. They became husband and wife shortly after the Rebel victory on Endor in 4 ABY; a year later, the couple welcomed a son, Ben Solo, on the same day when the Empire surrendered to the New Republic, marking the official end of the Galactic Civil War.

A house divided
"I know every time you&hellip; Every time you look at me, you're reminded of him.''" "''You think I want to forget him? I want him back!"

- Han Solo and Leia Organa, on their fallen son

Although Solo was not Force-sensitive, his son gained the Skywalker family's inherently powerful connection to the Force through his mother &mdash;the daughter of the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker. Fearing that Ben could potentially fall prey to the dark side of the Force like his maternal grandfather before him, Solo and Organa turned their son over to the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, Organa's twin brother, in the hope that a Jedi lifestyle would prevent Ben from becoming the next Darth Vader. Skywalker trained the younger Solo along with a dozen students in the ways of the Force, but grew increasingly concerned by Ben's potential for darkness. Sensing the dark future that awaited Ben, Skywalker initially moved to kill his nephew while he slept but could not follow through with the act.

As a result of Skywalker's hesitation, Ben awoke to see his uncle's lightsaber drawn. Convinced that his uncle meant to murder him, the apprentice reacted by destroying his master's training temple along with half of the students while the rest sided with him. Skywalker survived the massacre, but lost his nephew to the dark side along with the new generation of Jedi. His plans ruined, Skywalker disappeared into exile while Ben adopted the persona of Kylo Ren&mdash;Master of the Knights of Ren, warlord of the First Order, and apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke.

Han Solo's family fell apart, a lasting consequence of Ben's transformation into Kylo Ren. He was unable to face his wife, believing his presence would only serve as a painful reminder of the son they lost to Snoke. Solo coped with the loss by returning to his former profession as a smuggler while Organa organized the Resistance as a force of opposition against the rising power of the First Order. Their separation ended when circumstances brought them together once more on Takodana; in the wake of the Hosnian Cataclysm, Solo agreed to aid the Resistance in their effort to destroy the First Order's superweapon on Starkiller Base.

Organa also implored him to take the opportunity to reason with Ben, hoping that the father could succeed where Ben's uncle and Jedi Master failed. Despite his own belief that Ben was too far gone to return to the light side of the Force, Solo confronted his son as Organa requested, attempting to reach the side of Kylo Ren that was still Ben Solo. Although Ren confessed to his inner struggle between darkness and light, in the end the dark warrior struck his father down with a crossguard lightsaber, not out of hatred but desperation to end the conflict within him. However, this act of patricide failed to strengthen Ren's allegiance to the dark side, leaving him more conflicted than before. In the aftermath of Starkiller's destruction, the Resistance held a funeral service in honor of the late Han Solo.

Legacy
"Yes. There it is. You have too much of your father's heart in you, young Solo.''" "I killed Han Solo. When the moment came I didn't hesitate." "''And look at you. The deed split your spirit to the bone."

- Snoke and Kylo Ren

Although Ren regarded his father as weak and foolish, as well as a lowly smuggler, Han Solo was remembered as one of the greatest heroes of the Rebellion and New Republic. Returning to his master in defeat, Ren was derided as a sentimental, failed apprentice by Snoke, who saw too much of the elder Solo's compassion in the fallen Jedi. Ren resolved to prove his worth by destroying the last of the Resistance, including his own mother, yet he could not bring himself to kill Organa during the First Order Navy's attack on the Resistance fleet.

Meanwhile, the Force-bond between Ren and Rey, an aspiring Jedi who defeated Ren in the forest of Starkiller Base, began connecting their minds across the galaxy, allowing them to see, hear and touch in spite of the light-years between them. Rey confronted Ren about the latter’s patricidal actions, unable to comprehend how a son could murder his own father. Although Ren did not hate Solo, he believed that the only way to achieve his full potential was by destroying every connection to his past, and he implored Rey to do the same. Ultimately, the two began to find common ground through their shared sense of loneliness and abandonment by their families.

With Rey's help, Ren overthrew his master and claimed the mantle of Supreme Leader for himself. Rey had hoped to rekindle the light within Ren, but Ren was convinced that, as the grandson of Darth Vader, it was his destiny to rule over the weaker beings of the galaxy. He entreated Rey to join him, offering to share the galaxy with her as joint rulers of a new galactic order. Instead, Rey chose to help her friends and Ren vowed to destroy her along with the Resistance, the last Jedi, and everyone who opposed him.

In the ensuing battle on Crait, Ren confronted his uncle who told him that he would always be with his nephew, just as the memory of Solo continued to haunt Ren. After their confrontation, Ren and his stormtroopers marched on the Resistance base only to find that the survivors had eluded the First Order. While searching the base, Ren found Han Solo's dice &mdash;the same dice that he once played with as a toddler, inspired to become a pilot just like his father. By the end of the battle, Ren had become the new Supreme Leader, all but wiped out his mother's organization, and Luke Skywalker was dead. However, he had lost Rey in spite of their ongoing Force connection. For all that he had accomplished, Ren did not feel victorious.

Behind the scenes
The Solo family first appeared through Han Solo in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The 2018 Star Wars Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story revealed that Han was not born with the surname "Solo." The replica journal book Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor, released that same year, alleges that Han is the descendant of Jonashe Solo.