One day, however, he found a noble Wookiee being beaten in a nearby slave camp and compassion directed him to interfere. Imperial Law declared all Wookies fair trade, and Han was forbidden to counter that ruling in any form, but that didn't stop him. He rescued the Wookiee and was subsequently discharged. Although the Wookiee, Chewbacca, pledged his life to Solo, he found little reason to feel proud. He wandered the galaxy, accepting small contract work here and there, all the time being followed by the Wookiee. This annoyed Solo for quite some time, until he finally realized the sanctity of the Wookiee Life Debt, and accepted it. Before long, they were good friends and partners.

The two have spent the last decade and a half two steps ahead of the Empire, eluding capture for any one of a number of accusations. They ran spice for Jabba the Hutt until one critical moment when their stocklight freighter, the "Millennium Falcon", was threatened to be boarded by an Imperial Blockade. Solo was forced to dump the cargo, much to Jabba's regret. Now the pair are also being tracked down by Jabba's bounty hunters.

Many tags can be applied to the Corellian-born Han Solo: starship pilot, smuggler, pirate, and even Rebel hero. He became involved in the Galactic Civil War when he took on a simple transport job in a cantina in Tatooine's Mos Eisley Spaceport. After jettisoning Jabba the Hutt's cargo of spice to avoid an Imperial blockade, Han needed to raise enough credits to reimburse the crime lord. For seventeen thousand credits, he agreed to ferry Ben Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and two droids to Alderaan in his stocklight freighter, the Millennium Falcon (which he won from Lando Calrissian in a high-stakes sabacc game).

The adventures that followed saw Solo help rescue Princess Leia Organa from the depths of the Death Star, and then provide covering fire for Luke's shot which destroyed the huge battle station. He became one of the Heroes of Yavin, and spent the next three years helping the Alliance avoid the growing number of Imperial hunters searching them out.

Solo received more than enough credits from Princess Leia to pay off Jabba, but he and his longtime partner, Chewbacca the Wookiee, got drawn into the Rebellion, and the debt to Jabba remained unpaid. When Solo finally decided the time was right to return to Tatooine, Jabba had already put a death mark on the Corellian's head. Bounty hunters from all over the galaxy were looking for Solo, his ship, and his Wookiee companion. On Ord Mantell, a pair of hunters came close to collecting the bounty, but Solo managed to evade them.

As the finishing touches were being made to the new Rebel base on Hoth, Solo saw his departure opportunity come and go. Before he could get away, the Empire again caught up with the Rebels. One notorious hunter, Boba Fett, tracked Solo to Bespin and led the Empire right to him. After encasing Solo in carbonite, Darth Vader turned his frozen form over to Boba Fett for delivery to Jabba. Solo's friends would not give the smuggler-turned-Rebel up so easily, however, and they launched a rescue mission that saw Jabba and his criminal organization destroyed and Boba Fett lost to the Great Pit of Carkoon.

On his return, Solo agreed to lead the Alliance strike team to Endor's moon as the prelude to the Battle of Endor.

Solo has great skills as a pilot and blasterslinger. His reputation among other smugglers is almost as large as his own ego, and he adds his own boastful tales to those already in circulation. He is arrogant, extremely lucky, and possessed of a sharp wit and biting sense of humor.

Once Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon were the only constants in his life, but now he has an extended family, a group to belong to, and a cause worthy of his talents. Luke Skywalker is the younger brother and friend he never had. Princess Leia is the love of his life, and their affections for each other have grown over the course of their adventures. Lando Calrissian, his onetime friend and associate, has returned to round out this group of companions. A natural gambler, Solo is brave to a fault, impulsive, and willing to risk everything to win.