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Revision as of 07:42, 16 July 2005 by Jesster79 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Lando Calrissian (born c. 30 BBY), a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, is a former smuggler and friend of Han Solo. After losing the Millennium Falcon to Han in a game of sabacc, the same game later won him the job of Baron Administrator of the floating Cloud City and Tibanna gas mine on the gas giant planet of Bespin. He then meets his assistant Lobot.
History
After betraying Solo when threatened by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, Calrissian joins the Rebel Alliance. In Return of the Jedi Calrissian helps rescue Solo from Jabba the Hutt. He is named a General, and then leads the Rebel starfighter fleet (in the Millennium Falcon previously owned by him) into the Death Star to destroy the massive space station. The Sullustan, Nien Nunb copiloted the Falcon during the Battle of Endor.
Following the war, Calrissian built a mining complex on the Nkllon - the hot inner planet in orbit of the star Athega - called Nomad City. The city consisted of an old Dreadnaught carried across the landscape on the night side of the planet. The city always stayed on the night side - as close as the planet was to the sun most materials would not last very long in direct sunlight. Custom built shield ships with special cooling equipment were built so that ordinary ships could be protected from the Athega's intense heat on the trip inward. Calrissian's startup costs were high, but he made a large profit due to the materials he mined from the planet.
Nomad City was destroyed during Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic. When Emperor Palpatine reappeared in a fresh clone body and began his own campaign against the New Republic, Calrissian rejoined the Republic's military at his previous rank. After Palpatine was finally destroyed, Calrissian left the military. When Kessel was abandoned following Admiral Daala's attack on the planet, Calrissian took over the planet, converted the former prison into a mining complex, and mined spice from the planet for a number of years.
During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Calrissian again resumed his duties. Following the end of the war, Calrissian retired.
Notes
Lando Calrissian was the only character in the original Star Wars trilogy to be overtly played by an African-American actor, Billy Dee Williams (though James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader). Lucas was heavily criticised for this perceived omission (and indeed his policy of using ethnic dialects to identify classes of characters, such as giving some - though not all - senior Imperial officers and the droid C-3PO British accents).
It is surmised that one of the character functions of Calrissian is to act as a Han Solo surrogate. Solo actor Harrison Ford was not contracted to a third film by the end of principal photography of The Empire Strikes Back (Solo's freezing in carbonite at the end of Empire allowing a removal of that character should Ford not be available. Calrissian/Williams would then have provided the necessary wry anti-heroic balance to Luke Skywalker's bland passion in Return of the Jedi.
Calrissian (or at least the action figure thereof) is namechecked with other Star Wars characters in Steven Spielberg's film E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial.
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