Would Han still shoot first?

[lyore]

Squeezed in a little writing time today, around work and other things. Only about half an hour, but at least it's something. Trying to get the motivation and time to write to line up together has been an exercise in futility for the longest time, so I'll take what I can get, even if it does happen when I really should be getting reading for bed, and I have to stop because I really do have to get up the next morning and go to work. And Darth Vader and Han Solo are still trapped in the turbolift, but at least they are threatening each other talking. This is a start.

Anyway, this got me thinking about Han Solo's character, and how he's changed/not changed through the saga. And since I know my flist are all intelligent and discerning people, who understand that Han Shot First, I have a question for you all.

Would Han still have shot first, if the Greedo scene had occurred at some other time in the Saga? Would he still have shot first if it had happened between A New Hope and Empire, for instance, or just after Jedi? 10 years after Jedi? At what stage (if ever), would the respectible-isation of Han Solo stopped him from shooting first? We all know that he'd still shoot last, but would the changes in his values (the reaffirmation of the value of friendships, standing up for your beliefs, true love, all that jazz), change his instinctive response to the situation?

Feel free to include or ignore the EU in your responses - whatever floats your boat. I'm just interested in other people's thoughts.

And now I really, really need to go to bed.

Comments

[amethyste5.livejournal.com]

Well, this is actually a two parter for me. (I know, waaaay overthinking it)

Part one: Han alone. Han, on his own, would still shoot, whether or not he was first would depend on the condition of his reflexes, you set it too far post Jedi and he's gonna be slowing down a little bit from both age and all the millions of other things on his mind.

Part Two: Han with the world. For starters, post Jedi he is not going to be alone very often, the further post Jedi you get the less often he will be entirely alone. Companions, family, even bodyguards (the noghri frown on harming Leia's hubby) have become a part of his life, and that changes the equation drastically. If he's with family he is far less likely to shoot for two reasons, the first being the preponderance of Force users in his family making a blaster redundant and the need to shoot unlikely, and the noghri wouldn't let a threat get that close to begin with. The second reason is how it will impact those around him, his first thought will always be to protect them, but he also has to consider Leia's political image and Luke's non violent stance when deciding to commit murder, not to mention how it will affect his kids to see that kind of violence coming from him.

Time to stop and feed the Munchkin!

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Way overthinking is goodness! :)

Yes, I think that later on, Han would stop (well, pause) and consider the consequences of his actions on his family. Still, I think he'd still shoot, unless he could clearly and instinctively see that Luke, Leia or the bodyguards had matters in hand. As you say, that number of force-users has a way of making blasters unnecessary :)