Lando Calrissian/Legends

"He's a card player, gambler, scoundrel. You'd like him."

- Han Solo to Leia Organa

Lando Calrissian was a professional gambler, entrepreneur, smuggler and long-time associate of Han Solo. Calrissian, born on Socorro, went on to become the Baron Administrator of Cloud City for a time before it was taken over by Imperials during the Galactic Civil War. Subsequently, he joined the Rebel Alliance and led the dangerous mission to enter the second Death Star's core and destroy its reactor.

Afterwards, Lando continued to serve the New Republic in times of need, but spent most of his time pursuing various business ventures, including mining on the super hot world of Nkllon and other such innovative endeavors. In 18 ABY, Lando met Tendra Risant, marrying her soon after the Bastion Accords were signed. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Lando continued to aid the New Republic through his leadership and the deadly YVH 1 droids that his company, Tendrando Arms, produced.

Biography
"I'll pour the wine, and you tell me what you like best about me."

- Ben Skywalker impersonating Lando

Early years


Calrissian's early years were obscured by history and Calrissian's own fabrications. He was originally a Socorran, leaving him with a hint of a Corellian accent thanks to the Corellian origin of that planet's settlers. His own memories pointed to his having a stable family life until at least the age of seventeen. A reference to servants indicates he may have come from money, which he gave up in order to live an adventurous life. The earliest reliable accounts of his life date to 4 BBY, when Calrissian was around the age of twenty-seven. Already a professional gambler, Calrissian won a battered YT-1300 freighter called the Millennium Falcon in a high stakes game of sabacc. As he had no piloting experience, Lando sought out a tutor by the name of Han Solo.

Adventures in the Centrality
Solo, after Lando saved him from Boba Fett, eagerly taught him the basics of starship piloting, and Calrissian used this knowledge to fly the Falcon to the Centrality. While on Oseon 2795, he won an exuberant droid called Vuffi Raa from Ottdefa Osuno Whett, but had to travel to Rafa IV to acquire it. Before he could depart, Calrissian was arrested for charges trumped up by Governor Duttes Mer, who forced him to aid Rokur Gepta, a Sorcerer of Tund, to locate the Mindharp of Sharu.



Provided with a transdimensional key, Calrissian chose to begin his search on Rafa V, location of the largest Sharu pyramid in the Rafa system. He was ambushed by several Toka, who tied him to one of the crystalline lifetrees, hoping he would freeze during the night. However, Lando, resourceful as always despite the fact that the lifetree was robbing him of intelligent thought, he was able to free himself, though his feet were severely frostbitten and required light bacta treatment in a portable gel-bath kept on the Falcon. Calrissian and Vuffi Raa investigated the largest pyramid and located the Mindharp, and were promptly teleported back to Rafa IV. Vuffi Raa, who in fact had been programmed to betray Calrissian before he had even been "won," promptly turned Calrissian in to Governor Mer. Mer greedily took the Mindharp and sentenced Calrissian to a lifetime of hard labor. However, Vuffi Raa, having fulfilled his imperative to betray Calrissian, rescued the gambler just as Mer activated the Mindharp. As the two fled Rafa IV, the transdimensional artifact's subharmonic emanations restored the Toka into the Sharu that they once were, and the great pyramids of the Rafa system crumbled, leaving alien cities in their wake.

Leaving the restored planet, Lando and Vuffi Raa entered hyperspace with a full hold of the last Rafa life-crystals. This valuable cargo netted Calrissian nearly 250,000 credits. After returning to Nar Shaddaa, he bought a used-starship lot from a Duros. Unfortunately, to his dismay, he discovered the business was expensive and difficult to run. He debated whether to sell it or not when the Galactic Empire arrived in the criminal-ridden system. To fight the intruders, Calrissian donated his inventory of ships to his fellow outlaws; and he and Vuffi Raa piloted the Millennium Falcon deftly in the resulting Battle of Nar Shaddaa. During the battle, Lando flew alongside noted smugglers such as Salla Zend, Han Solo, and Mako Spince. The attack was diverted, but less than ten percent of his stock was still spaceworthy. As a result, Calrissian sold 90 percent ownership in what was left of his lot to Roa at a loss.

As Calrissian sought a way to recover his losses, he saw an opportunity in the regional sabacc championships that were soon to be held at Cloud City's Yarith Bespin casino. In order to raise the ten thousand credit buy-in, Calrissian and Vuffi Raa returned to the Centrality and attempted to haul legitimate cargo, but tariffs, fees, and licensing cost him more than he made, leaving him with nothing. Thus, when an opportunity to play sabacc in the Oseon system during the Flamewind arose, Calrissian accepted.



Soon after arriving at Oseon 6845, Calrissian was assaulted and forced to shoot his assailant in self-defense with his stingbeam. The Administrator Senior of the Oseon system, Lob Doluff, was forced to inform Calrissian that the penalty for possessing a deadly weapon was death by exposure. However, since the administrator admired Calrissian, he arranged for Calrissian to instead participate in a drug bust against the lesai-addicted, wealthy industrialist Bohhuah Mutdah. Posing as Mutdah's dealer, Calrissian transported two agents, Bassi Vobah and Waywa Fybot, through the maddening radiation of the Flamewind to Oseon 5792.

Unfortunately, Mutdah, who turned out to be Rokur Gepta in disguise, promptly killed the two agents and planned to kill Calrissian. Rokur forced the gambler to endure torture via a machine that made him relive all the painful moments of his life. Luckily, Calrissian was saved by the timely intervention of Renatasian starfighters whose goal was to kill Vuffi Raa. During the impending chaos surrounding his escape, Calrissian grabbed Mutdah's drug payment&mdash;a whole twenty million credits. He deposited small sums in banks on several worlds, including fifty thousand credits into the Bank of Aargau, which he planned to use for covering the entry fee for the Bespin sabacc tournament. Unfortunately, his attempt to deposit the bulk of the money on the Centrality's primary financial planet, Dela III, interrupted a pirate attack being committed by the "pirate queen" Drea Renthal. Despite Lando's charm, Renthal kept that large fraction of Mutdah's money.

Soon after, Calrissian encountered Lehesu, a young member of the space-dwelling, hyperjump-capable Oswaft species, whose curiosity had carried it from its home in the ThonBoka Nebula to a desolate part of the Centrality. He came in contact with Calrissian's ship, and after several halting attempts at communication, Lehesu finally conveyed his need for sustenance. Calrissian emptied the contents of the ship's recyclers into space, which Lehesu eagerly gobbled up.

Some months later, the Empire blockaded the entrance to the sack-shaped ThonBoka with five hundred capital ships (mostly Carrack-class light cruisers that were modified to contaminate the "interstellar plankton" drifting into the nebula), whose intention was to starve the entire Oswaft race into extinction. Lehesu used a transceiver provided to him by Vuffi Raa to contact the Millennium Falcon and plead for help.

Lando managed to penetrate the blockade, using the ruse that he was a trader plying his wares to the very ships he sought to evade. Though the Falcon was inspected, because of the fact that no one below the rank of Admiral was informed of the reason for the blockade, no one suspected that the ship's real cargo was anything but the ordinary waste carried in its trash and toilet recyclers. After working his way to the front of the blockade, Lando made a break for the mouth of the ThonBoka. Once inside, he contacted Lehesu and the Oswaft Elders, and they began making plans while other Oswaft went to negotiate with the picket fleet. However, as the Empire's goals were complete extermination, the Empire merely executed the negotiators. In the process, though, one of them 'shouted' at the unshielded cruiser Courteous, destroying it with its maser voice-stream. The fleet, seeking retribution, raised their shields and began to enter the Nebula, but were called back by Gepta, who sought to destroy Calrissian himself.

When Gepta arrived, the fleet remobilized and entered the nebula. Fortunately, their suspension had given Calrissian time to suggest a battle plan. The Oswaft excreted heavy metals from their pores and then jumped to hyperspace, leaving decoys placed between the enemy cruisers, resulting in massive Imperial casualties resulting from friendly fire. Meanwhile, the Oswaft "shouted" at the starfighters, destroying them with their powerful masers. After the fleet's forces had been reduced by about eleven percent, the battle ceased, and Gepta offered Lando an ultimatum: engage Gepta in personal combat, or he would fire an electromagnetic torpedo into the nebula, killing all life therein.

Calrissian and Vuffi Raa (who was allowed to participate because Gepta believed he could reprogram the droid to betray his master) faced off against the Sorcerer of Tund in the vacuum of space. After much maneuvering and several ploys, Calrissian landed a stray shot in Gepta's ankle. The Sorcerer's form withered as he cried out and by pure chance hit Vuffi Raa. Calrissian searched the space suit and found an injured Croke where his shot had landed—Rokur Gepta had not been a human, but a small, nasty alien shapeshifter from a planet in the Unknown Regions that Lando had once visited. Calrissian squeezed the alien until the last Sorcerer of Tund was little more than a stain on his gloves.

At that, the battle renewed, but for only a moment. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a multitude of fifty-kilometer diameter self-aware droids appeared, demanding on all channels "Cease fire immediately or be destroyed!". They were the Silentium—creators of Vuffi Raa, and they had come for their offspring. The Imperial fleet, faced with thousands of gigantic ships, retreated from their genocidal mission. Vuffi Raa's progenitors repaired the little droid and departed with him into the Unknown Regions. Afterwards Lando departed the ThonBoka with a hold filled with valuable Oswaft-synthesized gemstones.

Failure and success
"No human in the galaxy has a right to be that lucky."

- Barpotomous Drebble

Unfortunately, his turn of good fortune was once again countered with bad luck as his investment in a berubium mine in the Borgo asteroid belt turned out to be worthless. He was left with nothing but the fifty thousand credits in his Aargau account and the Nar Shaddaa starship lot. During this time, he struck up a brief relationship with Drea Renthal, the very pirate who had stolen millions from him before.

To ease his desperate need for cash, Calrissian stole a treasure cache from the Glottalphib criminal Nandreeson, which earned him Nandreeson's undying hate and promise of sure death if the gambler ever returned to Smuggler's Run. Soon after, Calrissian entered the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament along with Solo. However, he wound up in second place to his friend Solo. During the final round Calrissian had placed a marker for any ship on his used starship lot as part of his bet. Unexpectedly and much to the gambler's dismay, Han chose the Millennium Falcon, the ugliest but most efficient ship in the lot, and Calrissian's favorite.

Lanod, who was nearly broke after the tournament, managed some successful 'ventures' as he recouped his losses. He successfully scammed the governor of Pesmenben IV and later replaced the Falcon with the sleek Cobra. While traveling on the Queen of Empire, Lando encountered Bria Tharen&mdash;a Rebel agent and Han Solo's former girlfriend. He tried to strike up an acquaintance with her and inadvertently complicated Boba Fett's in his kidnapping Bria for her bounty. As Fett was taking his two prisoners off of the Queen, the ship was boarded by Drea Renthal, who paid Fett more than his current employer in exchange for letting his prisoners go.

Some time later, Lando assisted Han Solo in an attack on the Hutt spice and slavery operations on Ylesia, which Han was involved in due to being in love with Rebel agent Bria Tharen, who was the mastermind of the attack. Consequently, Solo recruited several smugglers for the strike, including Lando. The role of the smugglers was to use their piloting skills to land the Rebels on Ylesia and then help defeat the guards. In the end, they were successful, but Bria decided to keep the spoils for the Rebellion, leaving Han with nothing to pay Lando and the smugglers, and creating a large rift between Solo and Calrissian.



Shortly thereafter, Lando found himself on another treasure hunt sponsored by a trio of Hutts eagerly hunting the fabled Yavin Vassilika, a priceless, gemlike statuette. The chase pitted him against some of the Underworld's most notorious bounty hunters, including Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88. Unfortunately, it also threw him in unwilling partnership with Han Solo again, which made for an uneasy alliance following the recent Ylesian spice fiasco. Since the rewards were considerable, they managed through it, bickering most of the way. In time, however, all parties realized they were being used again. This time, it was one of the Hutts' assistants, a woman named Jozzel Moffet. Unknowingly, this assistant was being directed by none other than Bria Tharen herself on behalf of the Rebellion. The Vassilika was the key to opening a Massassi temple, a place that would become a strategic Rebel outpost once opened. After the Vassilika had been found, and the dust settled on this adventure, Solo and Calrissian parted ways, their anger tempered to a mere distrust and agreement to stay on their own ends of the Galaxy.

Five months after the Battle of Yavin, after shipping a cargo of denta beans to Taanab, he was caught up in a Norulac Freebooters raid. While in a Pandath cantina, Calrissian boasted that he could defeat the pirates. A drunken cantina patron named Gathal Danager, an employee of a Clendorian brewery, accepted the wager that Calrissian could pull it off. Thus, the gambler hid in the ice rings of Taanab's moon, and when the pirates approached their marks, he dumped his cargo of Conner nets into the midst of their fleet, temporarily disabling their ships. While they attempted to extricate themselves from the nets, he tractored ice chunks from the rings into their cockpits. He then led Taanab's orbital defense fleet in a mopping up operation. As a result, Calrissian single-handedly destroyed nineteen of the remaining vessels and crippled the pirate's two supporting corvettes. The ships were captured with all hands, thanks to Calrissian using yet more Conner nets to secure the escape pods. After TriNebulon News carried the story, Calrissian became a minor celebrity.



Later, while on Cloud City, Lando played a game of sabacc against the Baron Administrator of the facility, a man named Dominic Raynor. Because an anonymous benefactor had advanced Calrissian five million credits, the gambler bet four million and his lot on Nar Shaddaa against Raynor's administratorship, and won not only his ship back, but the whole game, and became the new Baron Administrator of Cloud City. The unknown benefactor turned out to be Cloud City's cyborg liaison, Lobot, who had obtained the credits from the pooled funds of thousands of Ugnaught workers to ensure Raynor's departure.

Calrissian took his job as Baron Administrator seriously, working closely with Lobot for over two years. He deflected both the Mining Guild and the eyes of the Empire from the city, hired pilots to protect the city from raids, enacted new security procedures after the rogue droid EV-9D9 dismantled a quarter of the city's droid population, repealed restrictive anti-alien immigration laws put in place by Raynor, and increased Tibanna gas profits by over 35%.

Entering the Galactic Civil War (3 ABY – 4 ABY)
"Look at you, a general!"

- Han Solo



As it was a key source of Tibanna gas, Cloud City was a lucrative target for Imperial nationalization. When Darth Vader and Boba Fett arrived in the Bespin system, Calrissian sought to retain its independence by making a covert agreement with Vader to assist in the capture of Luke Skywalker, Lando's longtime associate Han Solo, as well as the Alderaanian Princess Leia Organa, who were to be detained until Luke arrived.

Lando reluctantly fulfilled his part of the agreement, which was altered to include testing the carbonite-freezing process (normally used to prepare Tibanna gas for shipment) on Han Solo. Darth Vader intended to use this method, if it was found feasible, to transport Skywalker to the Emperor. Lando played the cordial host when the Millennium Falcon arrived, offering them the hospitality of Cloud City while the Falcon was repaired.

Han did not trust Lando completely, especially since Lando was trying to charm Leia. Lando led the Rebels to Vader and his stormtroopers, who then captured them. Later, Lando tried to explain to Han that he had had no choice, but Han wouldn't hear of it and all Lando received was a punch in the face.

Lando later supervised the freezing of Solo, announcing that the smuggler was in perfect hibernation inside the carbonite slab. However, the terms of the deal worsened and it became clear that Darth Vader intended to take control of the floating city regardless of his promises, so Lando ordered the evacuation of the city and assisted the Rebels in their escape. Leia and Chewbacca were suspicious, to say the least, of Lando's rescue, but they accompanied him to try and reach Han before Boba Fett left Cloud City. They were unsuccessful and fled on the Millennium Falcon, pursued by stormtroopers and TIE fighters.

On their way off the planet, Leia heard Luke Skywalker's call through the Force, and commanded Lando to fly the ship over to where Luke was hanging. Lando agreed and pulled the injured Jedi into the Falcon. Together, they escaped Bespin in the Falcon, narrowly avoiding Imperial starships.

The search for Han Solo
Feeling guilty for what had happened to his old friend and coming to view the Empire as evil, Lando joined the Rebel Alliance, allying with Chewbacca and using the Millennium Falcon to search for Han Solo. Scouring the galaxy for any sign of the Corellian, the two stumbled upon a number of adventures. One day, while utterly lost, the pair stumbled across a dimensional rift inhabited by former Rebel Alliance operative Cody Sunn-Childe. They were present in Sunn-Childe's City of Dreams as it came under Imperial attack. Lando and Chewbacca flew the Falcon into battle to stop the Imperials, but the battle was cut short when Sunn-Childe, who had at first used his mysterious powers to attack the Star Destroyers, made no further attempt to stop the Imperial bombardment of the city, letting the fleet utterly destroy it and all its citizens, himself included. The Falcon then escaped through the rapidly closing dimensional gate, but the Imperials, lacking the hyperdrive power to escape because of their excessive bombardment of the city, were forever trapped in Sunn-Childe's dimension.

Lando and Chewie's frantic search for Han was again cut short as Leia Organa summoned them to a Rebel base on Golrath. Once there, they were informed that Luke Skywalker had caught a deadly disease known as the "Crimson Forever" after boarding an Imperial vessel and finding its crew crimson-colored and dead. Tracking the source of the disease to the Red Nebula, visited by Han and Chewie years earlier, Lando and his Wookiee partner traveled with Leia to find a cure for the affliction. Not far from the Nebula, they found the ship of Domina Tagge, who had hired bounty hunters to retrieve one of the stones from the sole planet in the Nebula as part of an elaborate plan to kill Luke. The disease, however, had spread to her own ship, and she and her mercenaries were trapped in a small room. Through negotiation the Rebels and Tagge came to an agreement&mdash;she helped them cure Skywalker, and in return the Rebellion let her and her crew go. Informed by an operative that the Empire was constructing a new superweapon&mdash;the Tarkin&mdash;the Rebellion issued a new mission to Chewbacca, Leia, Luke, C-3PO and R2-D2. They were to infiltrate and destroy the space station. Lando was deemed too "untrustworthy" to participate, but snuck aboard the Millennium Falcon to be ready to help his friends. The execution of the mission was a disaster&mdash;the Rebels barely managed to tamper with the Tarkin ' s ion cannon, and escaped only due to Lando's sudden appearance. Ultimately the Rebels succeeded in their task&mdash;as they escaped, the Tarkin fired its broken ion cannon at the Rebels, exploding violently.

Subsequently, Lando helped find and rescue Princess Leia from the planet Shiva IV, where she had crash-landed weeks earlier. In the process he, Chewbacca and Luke managed to foil an attempted Imperial coup of the planet, and were hailed as heroes by the native Calian Confederacy in a large celebration, where Lando was the center of attention of several Calian women. Afterwards, Calrissian made a return visit to Cloud City, now Imperialized, where he was nearly killed by his old assistant, Lobot, who had gone out of control after suffering damage to his cybernetic module. Calrissian was able to repair the module however, and together they repaired the damage Cloud City had sustained since Lando last sat foot on the mining colony. On a mission to acquire black-market TIE fighters for the Alliance, Lando, Chewbacca and Luke journeyed to the space station Bazarre to meet with Orion Ferret, the administrator of the station. Lando, due to prior dealings with Ferret, was suspicious of him. Ferret gave them a ship and the location of the garbage planet Patch 4, where the fighters were located. Leaving Chewie and the Falcon on Bazarre, Lando and Luke journeyed to Patch 4. After searching the refuse and rubble, they located the TIE fighters, but were attacked by a large creature. Retreating into the nearby caves, Luke and Lando discovered a community of vagabonds living inside the caves. One of the inhabitants, Serja Kesselrook, informed the two Rebels that the creature was controlled by a sonic pacifier on the ship they had been given, which meant that Ferret had been controlling it and had betrayed them. Returning to confront the beast, Lando distracted it by shooting while Luke went to the ship and used the sonic pacifier to put the beast to sleep. Then, they retrieved the fighters, returned to get the Falcon and Chewie, and returned to Arbra.

Lando assisted in the search for Han Solo on The Wheel and Stenos with Skywalker and Chewbacca.

Encounter with the Black Sun
Flying the Falcon, Lando also attempted to intercept Boba Fett and rescue Han at Gall, but their guide, Dash Rendar, abandoned them, and there were too many TIE fighters to continue the pursuit.

Lando was with Leia and Chewbacca when they met with the Black Sun representative Guri. With the Wookiee's help, he discovered that Guri was actually a droid. When Leia and Chewbacca went to Coruscant with Guri, Lando eventually met up with Luke and sneaked them into the capital world to find the Princess and the Wookiee. He was also instrumental in the infiltration of Prince Xizor's fortress on Coruscant to rescue Leia, destroying the castle with a thermal detonator placed in a garbage chute.

Further missions
After Xizor's death, Lando assisted a Rebel Alliance force consisting of Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO in tracking down the undercover Rebel operatives Yom Argo and Tay Vanis who were tasked with finding the plans of the second Death Star. Pursuing Argo first, they found records of him crashing on the planet Lahsbane. Closer investigation revealed that Argo had died in the crash, along with a native Lahsbee. The natives kept the tapes from Argo's starship&mdash;the Death Star plans included&mdash;to themselves, to honor their fallen kinsman. Leia and Dani were fortunately able to retrieve the tapes from the Forbidden City.

Tracking Tay Vanis to the planet Iskalon, the group soon got involved in the delicate conflict between the Galactic Empire and the other planets in the sector. Informed by the leader of the Iskalonians, Primor, that Vanis's old K3PX droid was present on Gamandar, a heavily fortified Imperial planet not far from Iskalon. Hoping to find clues to Vanis's whereabouts through his droid, Lando, together with Chewbacca, Mone, C-3PO and R2-D2 flew the Millennium Falcon to Gamandar. They purchased the K3PX droid from the Imperials, but unbeknownst to the Rebels was that K3PX had been turned into an espionage droid employed by Darth Vader himself. They were captured, but saved shortly after by R2-D2 (who had wandered off pursuing a lead of his own earlier). Fleeing Gamandar, they picked up Leia and Luke on Iskalon. The mission ended a failure with no information about Vanis recovered.

Hutt guardsman
Lando learned that Solo had been delivered to Jabba Desilijic Tiure while undercover on Arcan IV, and put into motion plans to infiltrate the crimelord's base.

On a moon of Blimph, he obtained a recommendation from Quaffug the Hutt to become a member of the Hutt Guardsman's Guild after a harrowing ordeal, adopting the pseudonym Tamtel Skreej. He infiltrated Jabba's organization and after a few months of reconnaissance, helped Skywalker rescue Solo from the crimelord's clutches. Lando was the "ace-in-the-hole" for the team of Alliance heroes trying to rescue Solo.

Lando was on same skiff as Luke, Han, and Chewie when they were taken to the Pit of Carkoon to be executed. While Luke dealt with Jabba's guards, Lando helped free the prisoners but nearly became a meal for the sarlacc in the process.

The Battle of Endor


In preparation for the attack on the second Death Star, Calrissian was promoted by the Alliance to Restore the Republic to general, based largely on the laurels of his victory at Taanab. At the Battle of Endor, General Calrissian commanded the Rebel starfighter contingent as Gold Leader from the cockpit of his old ship, the Millennium Falcon, alongside copilot Nien Nunb.

When the Alliance discovered that the battle was orchestrated by the Empire as a trap, Calrissian's unorthodox strategies were vital in keeping the flailing Alliance forces from collapsing. He suggested taking the fleet's Mon Calamari Star Cruisers into point blank range of the Empire's Star Destroyers, exposing them to the Empire's warships but protecting them from the far more dangerous superlaser of the unexpectedly operational Death Star. At one point in the battle, while pursuing two TIE Interceptors, Calrissian approached a Super Star Destroyer too closely; rather than flee, Calrissian flew the Falcon into the hangar bay of the massive ship, flew through an interior access corridor, and, after blasting away at the unarmored innards, flew back out the way he came ahead of a sensor-obscuring fireball, saving the ship and crew from what otherwise would have been certain death.

Eventually, the strike team on the surface of Endor was able to bring the shield protecting the Death Star down. Calrissian, along with Wedge Antilles, led the starfighter assault into the battle station to destroy it. After evading TIEs and having close run-ins with the station's superstructure resulting in the loss of the Falcon's long-range sensor dish, Calrissian fired concussion missiles into the Death Star's reactor core, destroying the station; for the second time that day, Calrissian rode a fireball from inside an Imperial structure to safety.

The destruction of the second Death Star, along with Luke and Anakin Skywalker's victory over the Emperor, effectively sealed the fate of the Empire, and Calrissian was hailed a hero.

Under the New Republic (4 ABY – 25 ABY)
After the Battle of Endor, Calrissian continued to serve the Rebel Alliance and its successor governments—the Alliance of Free Planets, the New Republic, and the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances—usually as a civilian, but intermittently taking up his general's commission. Unfortunately, he had lost control of Cloud City to Jabba the Hutt's father, Zorba, the same way he got it—in a game of sabacc. Calrissian tried his hand at several businesses, including administrating Hologram Fun World.

Nomad City
He had some success with mining on the super hot world of Nkllon. Nkllon was raided in an Imperial raid led by Grand Admiral Thrawn in 9 ABY to steal his mole miners, despite the best efforts of Luke, Han, Leia, and his own defense forces. While his three friends were at Nkllon, Lando helped identify an old beckon-call for Luke and had Threepio reprogrammed to sound like Leia as part of a decoy operation. Then Lando and Han went to Abregado-rae to meet a representative of Talon Karrde's, Fynn Torve. Torve sent them to Myrkr to meet with Karrde. While on Myrkr, Lando and Han became the first members of the New Republic to see Thrawn in person when they spied on him with a pair of electrobinoculars. Lando also deduced that Karrde had been holding Luke Skywalker hostage and participated in the subsequent ambush of the Imperial forces on Myrkr that rescued Luke. He had a tense moment with one of Karrde's associates, Aves, who was helping with the ambush, over the timing of the ambush and was wounded in the attack.

Thrawn would use the mole-miners he stole from Lando in attempt to steal a large number of Rebel capital ships at Sluis Van. Returning to Sluis Van from Myrkr, Lando, Han, and Luke were caught up in the middle of the battle. After realizing what the Imperial admiral was planning, Lando used his command codes to drive the mole-miners into the ships to cripple them in order to prevent the ships' theft. At Sluis Van, Lando also confronted starship thief Niles Ferrier, preventing him from making his own grab at New Republic ships.

After this, Lando and Han Solo, operating off of a lead garnered at New Cov while looking for evidence of Borsk Fey'lya's private operations, made contact with and recruited Garm Bel Iblis for the New Republic after Bel Iblis's private Dreadnaughts helped save them from an Imperial attack. While at Bel Iblis's base, Lando deduced that the ships that Bel Iblis was using had been part of the Katana fleet. In the race to reach the lost Dreadnaught fleet, Lando and Han searched out a contact named Hoffner on the Coral Vanda, but were ultimately unsuccessful in reaching him before the Empire did. Lando journeyed with a small team to the remaining ships, participating in the Battle for the Katana fleet from the Katana itself, fending off Imperial boarding teams.

Lando returned to Nkllon, but before he achieved much more progress he was attacked again by Thrawn's forces, who stole his entire stockpile of metals and severely damaged his complex. He and his miners were evacuated by Garm Bel Iblis, but the Nkllon complex was doomed. Returning to Coruscant, Lando was at the Imperial Palace when an Imperial Intelligence team penetrated the palace, intending to capture Leia Organa Solo's twins. With the help of Mara Jade and Garm Bel Iblis, Lando and the Palace Security defeated the intelligence team.

At the end of Thrawn's campaign, Lando played an important role in the destruction of the Imperial stronghold at Mount Tantiss on Wayland. In this mission, Calrissian would accompany Talon Karrde, Princess Leia, and a pair of vornskrs on the Wild Karrde to rescue Han, Luke, Mara Jade, R2-D2 and C-3P0. With the help of Chewbacca, Lando rigged an arrthymic detonation reaction that destroyed the complex, ending the threat of the clones grown there.

Palpatine reborn
"I guess I just wasn't cut out to command Star Destroyers!"

- Lando

During the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine in 10 ABY, Lando accompanied Luke Skywalker on a hit-and-run mission to weaken the Imperial forces battling each other in the battle of Coruscant. They were shot down, however, and were stranded in the midst of battle. Luckily, Han Solo and Leia Organa rushed to save them, only to find Luke unwilling to leave the planet. As a Force Storm attacked the party, Lando and the others escaped in the Millennium Falcon, leaving Luke behind to battle the storm. Soon thereafter Lando and Wedge commanded the Rebel fleet in the Battle of Mon Calamari against the Imperial World Devastators. Unbeknownst to Lando, Luke had fallen to the dark side of the Force, and was in fact commanding the Imperial fleet. The Rebels were near defeat when the Falcon arrived, carrying amongst others R2-D2, who had acquired a code to shut the World Devastators down. As the gargantuan superweapons collapsed, the Rebel Alliance defeated the remaining Imperial troops.

Lando informed the New Republic leaders about a cargo of large X-1 Viper war droids being shipped from Balmorra to the Imperial headquarters on Byss. Lando led a group that included Wedge Antilles and New Republic commandos that hijacked a shipment of the new Vipers and hid in their cramped innards. After the Vipers were unloaded on Byss, the commandos activated them and advanced on the Emperor's Citadel. They were able to defeat the Imperial forces until huge mutant chrysalides were released. The New Republic force fled the droids to seek cover before the Vipers were defeated. Lando, Wedge and other surviving New Republic personnel were evacuated by Salla Zend and her friends as a chrysalide closed in.

Later Lando, Wedge Antilles, Kam Solusar, and R2-D2 would infiltrate Palpatine's flagship, Eclipse II over Onderon, in an attempt to destroy the massive vessel after boarding it using the Millennium Falcon. While dozens of Rebel starfighters launched a diversionary assault, the Rebel team successfully took control of the helm and R2-D2 jumped the ship back to the exact coordinates of Palpatine's Galaxy Gun orbiting Byss. As the two massive weapons collided, Lando and the other Rebels extracted under fire from the Imperial crew as the Galaxy Gun fired a final projectile into Byss, setting off an unstoppable nucleonic reaction. As Lando and rest of the Falcon's crew flew away, Byss was destroyed, as were the two most dangerous superweapons to date.

Later in 11 ABY, Lando would help Luke Skywalker search for Force-sensitives to study at Luke's Jedi Academy. During the search, Lando, along with C-3P0 and R2-D2, was led to the Umgullian Blob races in search of a possible Force-sensitive. The candidate, Dack, turned out to be a cheater on the blob races, and Lando helped expose him. Rather than suffer the usual death penalty for cheating, Dack was returned to his wife Mistal, the Duchess of Dargul. As a reward for Lando's help in returning her husband, Mistal gave him one million credits, which Lando later planned to invest in the spice mines of Kessel.

Lando was later called in, along with Luke Skywalker, to help find Han and Chewie after they disappeared following a diplomatic mission to Kessel. They posed as businessmen seeking to invest in the mines. With this cover, they investigated the moon and its administrator, Moruth Doole. Finding the Millennium Falcon in Doole's private fleet, the two ersatz "businessmen" took the ship and fled. They were pursued by the rest of Doole's ships and fled towards the Maw Cluster when the Sun Crusher—piloted by Han, Chewie, and Kyp Durron—burst out, followed by Admiral Daala's fleet. The New Republic heroes escaped in the confused brawl that ensued. During this time, he gained control of the spice mines on Kessel, partnering with Mara Jade. At the same time, Lando and Han also traded control of the Falcon three more times over games of sabacc. In the third and final game they played, Lando won the prized ship from Han, but gave it to him forever in order to impress Mara Jade, who he was smitten with. Lando and Jade had just finished taking over the mines when the Death Star prototype blew up Kessel's moon. Leading the smugglers and pirates, Lando and Mara attacked the Death Star, but were unable to keep it from re-entering the Maw Cluster. Despite this setback, they continued mining operation and Calrissian installed Nien Nunb as the mines' new administrator.

Run-in with the Imperial Remnant
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm sitting in a cell. How about you?"

- Lando Calrissian to Kyle Katarn



In 13 ABY, Cloud City was overrun with mercenaries, criminals and thugs. Lando took it upon himself to track down their leader. After a few card games and bar fights, he was led to Reelo Baruk on Nar Shaddaa. The moment he heard of a Remnant agent called Desann, Lando was captured and placed into one of Reelo's holding cells. Fortunately for Lando, Kyle Katarn was also looking for Reelo Baruk. He freed Lando Calrissian from Baruk's hold and eventually Katarn and Calrissian managed to find the Lady Luck and refuel her using pipelines. When they were about to make their escape from Nar Shaddaa, Reelo attacked them with a handful of mercenaries. The criminal used a gun platform to hit the ship while his thugs boarded the ship, but Katarn leaped into the laser turret of the Lady Luck and shot down the gangster. Lando, finally able to call for help, signaled the New Republic with the news that the Imperial Remnant were on Cloud City. Lando dropped Kyle off at the lower levels while he organized the security forces to drive Reelo's remaining thugs and the Remnant off.

Black Fleet Crisis


During the Black Fleet Crisis in 16 to 17 ABY, Lando worked with New Republic Intelligence along with Lobot, R2-D2, and C-3P0 trying to determine the mystery of the Teljkon Vagabond. After fending off several Imperial attacks and navigating the innards of the mystifying 1500-meter ship, Lando eventually realized that the ship was the last remnants of the Qella.

Almanian crisis
During the Almanian Crisis in 17 ABY, Lando ran into Nandreeson&mdash;now a local crime lord&mdash;on Smuggler's Run. Nandreeson had put a considerable bounty on his head due to the weapons cache Lando had raided twenty years earlier. The Glottalphib had captured Lando and was slowly drowning him when a rescue party, including Han Solo and Chewbacca arrived and saved him. After this incident, Lando sold the Kessel mines to Nien Numb, taking up other ventures instead.

First Corellian Insurrection
As of 18 ABY, Lando used his business sense for more altruistic purposes when he created Dometown—safe, affordable subterranean housing on Coruscant. That same year, with the reluctant help of Luke Skywalker, Lando set up a series of visits with wealthy women in order to find one to marry. One of them was Karia Ver Seryan of Leria Kerlsil, a "life-bearer" (or "life-witch"), who had the power to give men very good health for a time—usually 3-5 years—with the tradeoff that they would die as soon as the period ended. Lando almost unknowingly bound himself to the life-witch when R2-D2 and C-3P0 arrived and explained the truth to Lando. Rather shaken, Lando continued his search for a prospective bride, but his next prospect turned out to already be married. To forestall any further "surprises", Lando made a holocomm call to his next prospect: Tendra Risant of Sacorria. Upon meeting her, Lando was very impressed and definitely wanted to deepen the relationship, although he was surprised to find he liked her for more than just money. However, the governing Sacorrian Triad had made it illegal for a Sacorrian to marry an offworlder and the Triad chased Luke and Lando off the planet, but not before Lando was able to provide Tendra with a radionics communication device.

Luke and Lando returned to Coruscant with the disturbing news of the Corellian interdiction field. The two would return to the Corellian system on board the Bakuran war fleet dispatched to find out what was happening in the system. Approaching Centerpoint Station, Lando, Luke, R2-D2, C-3P0, Gaeriel Captison, and Belindi Kalenda boarded the massive structure in an attempt to figure out why it was destroying stars. Upon reaching the center of the station, once known as Hollowtown, they realized that the whole area was heating up and would soon be lethal to humans. Lando's toxic air training came in handy as he was the first one to reach the elevator car they would use to escape the increasingly hot and toxic atmosphere.

Lando would later rescue Tendra, who was single-handedly providing the New Republic and the Bakuran fleet with intelligence on the Triad fleet from her ship Gentleman Caller. She was code named "Source T" by intelligence operatives. They escaped the ensuing battle unscathed and spent more time together on Selonia.

Caamas Document Crisis


Following his subsequent marriage to Tendra, Lando opened an underwater mining/tourist attraction on Varn, but had difficulty finding ways to protect his shipments from pirates. Lando, while on Bothawui, gave Diamala Senator Porolo Miatamia a ride back to his homeworld after he was cut off from his ship. En route, they were interdicted by the Empire and the Lady Luck was brought onboard an Imperial Star Destroyer, where Grand Admiral Thrawn reappeared to them. Thrawn, after a short discussion, released them. Lando took this report back to the New Republic, which alarmed the government greatly.

Lando served the New Republic during the Caamas Document crisis in several ways, going with Han Solo, Lobot, and the Verpine slicer Moegid on a mission to the Imperial Remnant's capital Bastion in an effort to retrieve the document. The attempt was a failure and when they were discovered, Lando caused a distraction by firing a slug thrower into the ceiling of a building, and, evading pursuit, Han, Lobot, and Lando arrived back at the spaceport only to find Thrawn and a large cordon of stormtroopers waiting for them. Thrawn gave them a copy of the Caamas Document and allowed them to leave, astonishing both Han and Lando. They would later find the Caamas Document given to them by Thrawn was a fake. Lando was onboard a Diamala warship when the Second Battle of Bothawui started and was instrumental in convincing Senator Miatamia to investigate an anomaly near a comet, which was actually a cloaked Imperial Star Destroyer. Following the discovery of three cloaked Star Destroyers, Lando led the suddenly united fleet against the Imperials at the request of Ponc Gavrisom and defeated them.

GemDiver Station
In 23 ABY, Lando opened a Corusca gem mining station over Yavin, known as GemDiver Station. The station was attacked by the Second Imperium, who kidnapped the Solo twins and Lowbacca while they were taking a tour of the station. Despite Lando's best attempts, the Second Imperium kidnappers, with their captives in tow, got away. Feeling bad about what happened, Lando lent the blockade runner Off Chance to Luke Skywalker, so that the Jedi Master could find the culprits.

Using income from his profitable GemDiver venture, Lando opened the SkyCenter Galleria on Bespin. He later sold the Galleria in exchange for a controlling interest of two Outer Rim planets: Dubrillion and Destrillion.

Yuuzhan Vong War


With Tendra, Lando ran a mining operation on Dubrillion and Destrillion. At the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Lando asked Han and Chewbacca to make a supply run to Sernpidal, which resulted in the Wookiee's death. Lando felt extreme guilt because of this, and made sure he did all he could to stop the invaders. He built the Shelter, a space station inside the Maw, which housed Jedi children and apprentices, and was responsible for establishing Tendrando Arms, which manufactured deadly YVH 1 droids that proved instrumental in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong.

Lando served with distinction in the Second Battle of Borleias when he, along with some New Republic engineers and YVH droids, successfully destroyed a Yuuzhan Vong rakamat. Lando also helped insert Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, Tahiri Veila, and Wraith Squadron into occupied Coruscant, or Yuuzhan'tar as the Vong renamed it, and narrowly escaped death from the orbiting Vong ships. He also aided Talon Karrde in "persuading" important Senators to elect Cal Omas, the pro-Jedi candidate, as Chief of State.

After Omas's election and the subsequent formation of the Galactic Alliance, Lando continued to serve against the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, sometimes partnered with the Smugglers' Alliance and almost always accompanied by his YVH 1 droids. When Han, Leia, Kyp Durron, and two other GA operatives were captured by the Yuuzhan Vong on Caluula, it was Lando, Talon Karrde, and other smugglers who saved them from being sacrificed to a yammosk while investigating rumors of the use of the system as a staging area for an attack on Mon Calamari.

From the Lady Luck, he and Tendra proved vital in using their advanced sensory equipment to relay information to the Galactic Alliance fleet during the Liberation of Coruscant, particularly the Jedi flying the Sekotan fighters. After the battle, he and other heroes, including Wedge Antilles, discussed the post-war balance of power over a friendly drink on Zonama Sekot.

Personality
Throughout his life, Lando was both a gambler and businessman, crook and hero. This was in part reflected by his adventurous, risk-taking, and seemingly shallow nature. He was known for being a classy, dapper gentleman, with a sense of humor and more culture than the typical smugglers and pirates seen in some of his haunts. Lando, for all his love of adventure, disliked complications and was fond of the "easy life." However, his adventurous, debonair exterior was augmented by his deep sense of loyalty. At times, such as his betrayal of Han Solo on Bespin, his business-like pragmatism would come into conflict with his sense of loyalty. As a result, he felt he "owed" Solo for the fate he had helped deal him and did many things to try and repay that. Lando, for all his love of prosperity and well-run businesses, surprised even himself when he fell in love with a woman he had planned to marry for money&mdash;Tendra Risant&mdash;despite his many previous flings with other women.

"Drebble"


"What an appalling performance!"

- Griggor Tower after talking to a disguised Lando.

Lando would often use the name "Drebble" as an alias during his search for Han Solo. The name was "borrowed" from an old acquaintance of Lando's; Barpotomous Drebble, a man he had severely beaten in sabacc at one point, launching a long feud between the two. After Drebble almost got Lando killed at Stenos, the Socorran started using the alias in hopes that people he conned would decide to look Barpotomous up. Ironically, Lando's efforts for the Rebel Alliance under the guise of "Drebble" caused the real Drebble to be hailed as a hero&mdash;the Alliance had no idea Lando used "Drebble" as an alias.

Behind the scenes
Lando Calrissian was portrayed on-screen by Billy Dee Williams, who reprised the role for the radio adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back, in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and the dramatization of Dark Empire. In the radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi, Arye Gross was the voice of Lando. On June 9, 2005, at the American Film Institute's award ceremony for George Lucas, Williams recollected his experience as Lando, and light-heartedly described the character as a "super space-stud".

Lando existed as several different entities in early drafts of The Empire Strikes Back:
 * In the first draft of Episode V, Lando was known as Lando Kadar, a refugee from the Clone Wars making a living as a smuggler on Hoth.
 * A gambler and general store owner on the Wookiee homeworld (see also Saun Dann from the The Star Wars Holiday Special.)
 * The leader of a group of clones from the Clone Wars; his homeworld was to be filled with clones spread across 700 countries, each of which belonged to a specific clan.

In Heir to the Empire, Lando introduced an element from Earth—hot chocolate—to the Star Wars universe.

Appearances

 * Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu
 * The Hutt Gambit
 * Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
 * Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Lady Luck
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Lando's Commandos: On Eagles' Wings
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Jedi Search
 * Before the Storm
 * Shield of Lies
 * Tyrant's Test