Solo family

Solo was an invented surname given to the Corellian known simply as "Han" prior to his military service for the Galactic Empire. A human native of the planet Corellia, Han was born around the year 32 BBY. His father Ovan worked in the shipyards of the Corellian Engineering Corporation, building YT-1300 light freighters which he saw as his contribution to the galaxy. Ovan had wanted to become a pilot in order to leave Corellia, but could not afford to buy his own starship. He took Han to visit the freighter factory where he worked, telling him that he was meant to fly ships instead of building them.

Ovan's employment with the CEC was eventually terminated. According to Han, he and his father never had a close relationship. His father ultimately abandoned him at a young age, forcing Han to live with the White Worms gang in order to survive.

Like his father, Han yearned to escape his life on Corellia and eventually started a relationship with Qi'ra, who shared his desire to travel across the stars. Although they attempted to leave their homeworld together, Qi'ra was captured by the White Worms with the help of Imperial authorities. Determined to return for Qi'ra one day, Han enlisted in the Imperial Navy in order to leave Corellia and become a trained pilot. Lacking a surname, Han was listed in the recruitment log as "Han Solo" by Chief Drawd Munbrin, the Imperial Recruitment Officer who approved his application to the Imperial Academy.

During his time in the Navy, the name marked Solo as someone without a family to his fellow cadets. It also drew the ire of those such as 404-913, who believed that Solo was unfit to serve in the Galactic Empire because of his past. Despite his aspirations to be a pilot, he 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.

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 Landonis Balthazar 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 ensured the Alliance's survival by saving Luke Skywalker, the Rebel pilot who destroyed the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station in the Battle of Yavin.

Solo gradually became a committed member of the Alliance all the while growing closer romantically to Organa. She implored him to stay with the Rebels, believing he was integral to the Rebellion's cause, but Solo was convinced that Organa's motives were due to her personal attachment to him. Despite Organa's insistence to the contrary and her claim about preferring men who were not scoundrels, the two shared a kiss in the Millennium Falcon and continued to to grow close in the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth. Organa confessed her love to Solo while they were prisoners of the Sith Lord Darth Vader and was determined to rescue him after Vader gave the smuggler to the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Solo was promoted to the military rank of general in the Alliance Military following his liberation on Tatooine. He was chosen to lead the strike team that infiltrated Endor in preparation for the Rebel Alliance Navy's attack on the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station. Organa volunteered to join General Solo's team, which included their friends Chewbacca and Skywalker. During the Battle of Endor, Solo admitted that he loved Organa after she was injured in a firefight with stormtroopers. However, he also suspected that Organa was close to Skywalker, whom she once kissed in front of Solo when they were stationed on Hoth. Although Solo tried to be respectful, resolving to not interfere in their relationship, Organa revealed that Skywalker was in fact her secret brother.

The marriage of Solo and Organa began shortly after the Rebel victory on Endor in 4 ABY. They both continued to support the Alliance, re-branded as the New Republic, in the final year of the Galactic Civil War. Organa began her Jedi training with Skywalker, now a Jedi Knight, while carrying the child that she and Han conceived on Endor. She chose to end her apprenticeship after experiencing a premonition of her son's death at the end of her path as a Jedi. Organa's pregnancy compelled her to spend the last remaining days of the war on Chandrila, the first New Republic capital, where Solo insisted that she do nothing to strain herself. Their son, Ben Solo, was born in the aftermath of the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. His birth coincided with the signing of the Galactic Concordance, a formal peace treaty between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire. Organa decided to retain her adopted family name while her son inherited his father's invented surname.

Although Solo was not Force-sensitive, his son Ben inherited the Skywalker family's prodigious strength with the Force through Organa, who was 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. Throughout his young life, Ben felt the pressures of living up to his heritage as a Skywalker. The fact that his given name was inspired by the legendary Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi only added to Ben's insecurity, as did the name "Solo," which he knew to be an invented surname.

Skywalker trained Ben 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—master of the Knights of Ren, warlord of the First Order, and apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke.

Although he rejected his past as Ben Solo, Kylo Ren harbored an attachment to his family despite his new commitment to the ways of the dark side. Snoke therefore brought Ren to Dagobah, the planet where Ren's uncle, Luke Skywalker, trained under Grand Master Yoda. He sent his dark apprentice into a dark-side cave to overcome his internal conflict, which manifested first in the form of his uncle Skywalker and subsequently his parents. The Force-projected sight of Skywalker caused Ren to attack the apparition in a frenzy of rage, but he hesitated to attack the apparitions of his mother and father who beseeched him to return home. Goaded by the voice of Snoke in his mind, Ren resumed his attack on the specters, releasing his anger and becoming immersed in the dark side. Despite his resolve, Ren nonetheless remained conflicted over his actions and was disgusted by his own failures. As a result, he lost control his power which obliterated the entire cave around him. Nevertheless, Snoke was pleased by the demonstration of the raw power within his apprentice.

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, 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.

The assassination of Ren's father deeply disturbed his mental state, a factor that Supreme Leader Snoke attributed to Ren's defeat at the hands of Rey, a scavenger inexperienced in lightsaber combat. Snoke castigated Ren for failing to meet the expectations placed upon him as a descendant of Darth Vader. Snoke viewed Ren as a disappointing student, more akin to his father than his grandfather, because of his loss. Determined to prove his value, Ren sought to eradicate the remaining Resistance, including his own mother, yet he found himself incapable of executing Organa during the First Order Navy's attack against the Resistance fleet.

Simultaneously, Ren came to understand that he and Rey were linked by a potent Force-bond. This connection bridged their minds across the galaxy, enabling them to perceive each other through sight, sound, and touch, despite the vast distances of light-years separating them. Rey challenged Ren about his act of patricide, struggling to grasp how a son could commit such an act against his own father. Although Ren harbored no hatred for Solo, he was convinced that achieving his full potential necessitated severing all ties to his past, urging Rey to follow a similar path. As time passed, they discovered common ground in their shared feelings of isolation and familial abandonment.

With Rey's assistance, Ren deposed his master and assumed the title of Supreme Leader. Rey had hoped to reignite the spark of light within Ren, but Ren firmly believed that his destiny, as the grandson of Darth Vader, was to dominate the weaker beings of the galaxy. He implored Rey to join him, proposing a shared rule over a new galactic order. Rey instead chose to support her friends, leading Ren to vow the destruction of her, the Resistance, the last Jedi, and all who stood against him.

During the subsequent battle on Crait, Ren encountered his uncle, who assured him of his enduring presence in his nephew's life, much like the persistent memory of Solo. Following their confrontation, Ren and his stormtroopers advanced on the Resistance base, only to discover that the survivors had escaped the First Order's grasp. While investigating the base, Ren came across Han Solo's dice—the very dice he had played with as a toddler, inspiring him to dream of becoming a pilot like his father. By the battle's conclusion, Ren had ascended to the position of Supreme Leader, nearly annihilated his mother's organization, and witnessed the death of Luke Skywalker. However, despite their ongoing Force connection, he had lost Rey. Despite all his accomplishments, Ren felt no sense of triumph.

Despite his complete dedication to the dark side of the Force, the act of patricide continued to torment Ren. He could not escape the recurring thoughts of killing his own father. Rey sensed that Ren remained emotionally affected by Han Solo's death. Nevertheless, Darth Sidious, the reborn Dark Lord of the Sith, lured Ren to Exegol and offered to assist him in becoming the Galactic Emperor of a new Sith Empire if he eliminated the last of the Jedi by killing Rey. He also revealed the Final Order, a massive fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers that would be under Ren's control if he succeeded in fulfilling Sidious's commands.

Ren pursued Rey across the galaxy, tracking her through the bond that linked their minds, though not with the intention of killing her as Sidious demanded. Recognizing the combined power of their bond as a dyad in the Force, he renewed his efforts to sway Rey to the dark side of the Force. While Rey's abilities had grown under the tutelage of Ren's mother, General Organa, her commitment to the Jedi path was shaken by the revelation of her origins as the Emperor's granddaughter. Determined to avenge her mother and father, who were murdered on Sidious's orders, Rey dueled with Ren in the Death Star ruins for obstructing her path to Exegol. During their battle, Ren was distracted by the Force-borne sensation of his mother's death. Rey, who also felt Organa's passing, confessed that it was Ben Solo, not Kylo Ren, whose hand she desired to take.

Overwhelmed by his mother's death, Ben unexpectedly encountered Han Solo, the father he had murdered at Starkiller Base. Despite recognizing it as a hallucination, a memory of their final encounter, his resistance to the pull of the light weakened. His mind altered certain details, causing Ben to hear his father declare that Kylo Ren was dead, and his son was Ben Solo once again. Once more, Ben felt he understood what needed to be done but questioned his strength to carry it out. Han reached out to touch his son's face, reassuring Ben of his strength and that it was not too late to fight for his late mother's cause. In his defining moment, Ben cast the lightsaber he had used to kill his father into the ocean, renouncing the dark side and abandoning the name of Kylo Ren forever.

Redeemed by the love of his parents and Rey, Ben returned to Exegol as the Sith Eternal battled the Resistance and their allies. He stormed the Sith Citadel and eliminated the Sovereign Protectors in his path, only to be confronted by the Knights of Ren before reaching Rey and Sidious. Sensing Ben through their bond, Rey used their connection to transmit the Skywalker lightsaber to Ben, who then defeated his former servants with the legacy weapon that once belonged to his grandfather.

However, their union provided Sidious with the means to restore his physical form by draining the life force of their bond. Seizing Ben through the Force, the Emperor attempted to destroy the last Skywalker by casting him down, mirroring his own fall at the hands of Ben's ancestor. Ben survived the fall, but upon his return, Rey had sacrificed her life to destroy the Emperor. Ben embraced Rey's lifeless body, devastated by her death. He then resolved to use his life force to resurrect Rey, but the effort took a heavy toll on his own body. After she awoke, Ben and Rey smiled at each other, and the two shared a kiss before he vanished in Rey's arms as the last of both the Solo and Skywalker bloodlines.

Speculation about Han Solo's ancestry arose from his legacy. Despite not bearing the surname "Solo" prior to joining the Imperial Military, he was believed to be a descendant of Prince-Admiral Jonashe Solo—a member of the ancient Corellian royalty—through a Snivvian bounty hunter. A Crimson Dawn enforcer also suggested that Han was the grandson of Dalla Suul, a Corellian pirate, and that his alleged surname "Suul" was misinterpreted by the recruiter.

Ben Solo was aware that his father was not born with the surname "Solo." While their family name had become legendary by the time of the New Republic, Ben considered it a fabrication. He resented bearing the renowned names of legends and sought to forge his own identity. Supreme Leader Snoke encouraged Ben to abandon his former identity, as it was the way of the dark side to adopt a new name that reflected one's true self. Ben eventually renamed himself "Kylo Ren," but the fallen Jedi apprentice struggled to completely sever his ties to the past despite rejecting his family. He murdered individuals who knew of his former life as a Solo, including Padawan Voe, Lor San Tekka, and his own father. As Ren, he reacted negatively to any mention of his old name; after returning to the light, he regretted rejecting the name of Solo.

Leia Organa, Han Solo's widow, often reminisced about him and their time together. She initially viewed him as a scoundrel, a description that Solo embraced, but eventually recognized him as a man who fought for freedom for himself and the galaxy. Organa recalled Solo's disregard for the odds of survival, as he always believed they were in his favor. His frequent success against the odds perplexed Organa.

Ren was surprised not to sense anger or hatred from his mother following Solo's death. Instead, he felt her concern for him. Sensing that her son had reached a critical point, Organa decided to sacrifice her own life in a final attempt to bring him back to the light side. She reached out to Ren, calling him by his birth name across the galaxy with all her remaining strength to convey her love and forgiveness. Her dying wish was for Ben to reject the dark side and reclaim his family legacy as a Solo.

Han Solo became a celebrated hero of the Rebel Alliance due to his role in the destruction of the first Death Star. However, this newfound respect troubled him, considering his past as a career smuggler and con artist. Described as "brash and reckless," Han was known for escalating difficult situations and was considered an unlikely leader in the Alliance. Nevertheless, his actions as a general directly contributed to the Rebel victory at Endor, where the Rebel fleet launched a successful assault on the second Death Star after General Solo's commandos destroyed the battle station's shield generator.

Han remained a figure of notoriety even after returning to obscurity as a smuggler. During the New Republic Era, the name of Han Solo was recognized in various circles, including the First Order. Finn, a member of the new generation of stormtroopers, knew of Han's past service as a general of the Rebellion, while the scavenger Rey was more familiar with his smuggling career. Additionally, he was known as the owner of the Millennium Falcon. Despite Kylo Ren's opinion of his father, whom he viewed as a weak, foolish, and lowly smuggler, Han was remembered as one of the greatest heroes of the Rebellion and New Republic.

The Solo family was introduced through Han Solo in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the initial installment of the Star Wars original trilogy. The 2018 Star Wars Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story revealed that Han was not born with the surname "Solo," but rather it was coined by an Imperial when Han admitted to having no people.

During story conferences with Leigh Brackett in November 1977, George Lucas envisioned Han Solo's backstory as being orphaned on the Wookiee planet and raised by the Wookiees before befriending Chewbacca. Solo co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan pitched the scene in which Han receives his last name as the first idea he conceived for the film, a suggestion that convinced The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger to approve the film.