#there's something potentially heartbreaking if you think about stromtroopers originally being clones

[somestorythoughts]

Han Solo isn't religious. He isn't. He doesn't believe in gods or goddesses or spirits or whatever exactly it is that one planet has going on. He only kinda believes in the Force - it's hard to ignore the kid levitating rocks so once he acknowledges that the Force is a Thing he sees it as something like the wind. He doesn't understand it and he doesn't think it's divine in any sense of the word but it's clearly there.

But he is a smuggler and a space piolet. And space is a bit like the ocean in extremes; vast, not quite comprehensible, and hostile to land dwellers. And unlike the ocean, space is empty and incapable of loving you. Much like modern-day sailors, any one who spends a lot of time in space tends to be very superstitious. Especially if they walk dangerous roads edged in death.

No, Han Solo doesn't pray and he doesn't visit temples unless he's smuggling something there. But he does knock the table twice every time he sits down to a gambling game because it's almost knocking on wood and keeps a tiny charm with four green leaves in the cockpit and the engine room so that the ship runs smoothly and uses the euphemisms all pilots use to avoid the attention of the few things that do wander space without ships.

Han Solo is just a man. He is. He doesn't have the presence of any Skywalker. He doesn't have Ahsoka's presence or deeds to his name. He doesn't have the deeds or the legend Rex came from, the kind of story that grows out of uncertainty. So few in the galaxy actually know where the clones came from or what happened to them. There are birth records and hospital records and legal records of Han Solo, you could get a trace of his life from them. He's so clearly just a man. He is.

And he's too close to Luke to call him a Trickster or fear him, knows Leia too well to paint her on his ship with prayers in every brushstroke. He's too close to them to see Darth Vader as anything other than an asshole, especially on the nights he sits up with Leia and makes her tea while she grieves her planet or the days when he finds hot packs to ease the periodic pain in Luke's wrist where it's attached to his robotic hand. And he's too far from religious to start praying to the rebels' gods when he finally gets close enough to some to learn their names.

In another world he might be a local legend. So and so's grandfather's friend who made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. Not no one, but not Divine.

Han Solo is too close to gods to deify them. He's too mortal to be one.

He's too well known and to close to them to not pick up some of their awe.

Han Solo dared to shoot He-Who-Brings-Death. Han Solo assisted in the destruction of both Death Stars. Han Solo serves the Princess and argues with the Princess. Han Solo assists the Trickster. Han Solo is a leader, respected by the Rebels and more approachable, being grumpy but affable and of indeterminate ranks.

The Princess loves him and undergoes temporary captivity to save him. The Trickster saves him and trusts him and befriends him. He-Who-Brings-Death took him as a bargaining chip.

There are stories of men and women who loved gods and goddesses and people whose divine rank remains unnamed. There are stories of men and women who fought monsters no mortal could survive and tricked devils and faerie beings and won.

Somewhere in a galaxy far far away, Han Solo stands among their number.

Popular with the troops.