Shady Thoughts: Who is the Other? Theories I've Encountered
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| Title: | Shady Thoughts: Who is the Other? Theories I've Encountered |
| Creator: | Mary Jean Holmes |
| Date(s): | Winter 1980 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Wars |
| Topic: | |
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Shady Thoughts: Who is the Other? Theories I've Encountered is a 1980 essay by Mary Jean Holmes.
The topic was fan speculation regarding Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and a line from that movie about there being The Other, someone who was not Luke Skywalker.
It was printed in Shadowstar #1 and is part of the Shady Thoughts essay series.
A response to this essay two years later is Shady Thoughts: Further Comments and Editorial Reaction to "Who is the Other?".
Introduction
There was the first thought, that it's one of our intrepid band of star-roving heroes. There are those who favor Leia. There are those who favor Han. Nobody seems to think it's
Lando. But then, we all thought it couldn't possibly be one of these. Who among them had really displayed any overt talent or evidence of the Force being with them?
From the Essay
So then the theories came. And came. And came. A month before the Empire even came out, we were up to our ears (literally) in them. My favorite was (and still is) the thought that it's a woman, someone whom we haven't met as of yet, brought into the saga to give Luke a lady-love (now that Leia has finally made up her mind) and someone with whom he can create a whole generation of new little Jedi.
Ann Passovoy's theory had me laughing for some while. She expounds that the Other is a by-blow (aw, let's be crude, already, bastard) of Han and Leia, conceived during that loooooooonnnnnnngggggg sublight journey to Bespin. A marvelously amusing thought, but it'd take a while for the kid to grow enough to be useful, right? (Then again, someone said that there's supposed to be a fifteen year gap somewhere in the next film.... but I digress.)
No, no, no, says yet another group. It's Boba Fett. Like hell, say I. I might buy Wil liam Hayes' theory about Fett as an agent of supposedly-defunct Jedi, but that he is a potential hope for a free galaxy I refuse to touch. If he isn't working for the Jedi, I'm not willing to buy a total revision from bad to goodi besides, they didn't even mention the dude's name in TESB.
That it might be Yoda himself is an intriguing idea, but I can't picture the dear lit tle fellow swashing and buckling his way to demolish the Empire. Also, if he were going to take matters into his own little hands, why didn't he do so earlier, before things got so bad? He's been around, after all.
My husband's holding out for Wedge Antilles. Force only knows why. The list goes on. How about Admiral Piett? Chewbacca? Artoo Deetoo?
The thought of it being one of the 'droids is utterly ridiculous. 'Droids can't feel ? the Force (look it up on the bottom of page 123 in the Empire) and therefore can't use it.
And the idea of Chewie... if Luke was too old to begin the training at the age of 23, what does that make our 200-year-old Wookiee?
Vader and the Emperor can safely he eliminated from consideration for the obvious rea sons (they're the ones that Yoda and Co, are trying to get rid of, remember?). The 'droids, Boba, and Chewie also fall by the wayside. That leaves of with one of the following: Leia, Han, Lando, Wedge, General Riekaan, Dodonna and Veers, Commander Willard, Major Berlin, Admiral Piett, and Lobot.
For Master Lucas to use anyone from Wedge on down would be singularly unfulfilling for a finale-type film The Revenge of the Jedi is supposed to be. The same can be said, unfor tunately, for the introduction of any absolutely new character; we simply wouldn't have e-^ nough time to get to know them. (I realize that there are the final three chapters to consider, but Lucas once said that he wouldn't die if, for some reason, those three didn't get filmed. If he introduced a new, nebulous character in The Revenge, and then failed to get back to them, he would die. Ihiceremoniously, by the hands of millions of irate fans.) That doesn't leave us with much of a choice. I laugh at all three for various reasons.
A lot of people seem to like the idea of Leia, since she picked up Luke's thought "at the end of TESB. Whoopee, say I with great indifference. The stormtrooper in Mos Eisley picked up Ben's thoughts, too. Does that make him a potential Jedi? Besides, Leia seems much too busy running the rebellion (and perhaps pining away for Han) to take the time out to be
trained. And other than reacting to a thought that Luke sent her, she hasn't really displayed any extraordinary skill that might indicate her use of the Force.
Pardon me while I laugh... The thought of Han Solo as the Other is so ludicrous as to be the death of me. Yes, indeed. Truth, justice, and the Corellian Way...
Lando's even more ludicrous. He doesn't really seem to have time for anything or anyone but himself, and being older than even Han, he might be a bit out of the picture. Also, didn't he and Chewie go running off immediately to Tatooine? Where is he going to find the time to learn? Unless, of course, one assumes that Lando's been using the Force for a long time... no, I won't buy that.
For laughs, we consulted a tarot deck with the questioni Who is the Other? We consul ted it a rather large number of times (20+ to date), on different days, with different decks, with different readers in different cities with different people asking the same question. We kept getting the same answer. Incredibly the same. There were at least three cards in common in each reading, and, with very few exceptions, one particular card showed up in every one.
If we have indeed met the Other, as my friend claims, we ought to be able to recognize who it is in the readings, right? Well, we did. Boy, did we. Here's the gist of the whole thing? each reading stated this same pattern of events and conclusion in only mildly varying manners. [long description of Tarot card findings snipped]
Ahh... sniff... snort... snort." I'm sorry, deck, but I think I'm gonna trash you. I'm just not willing to buy your conclusion that Han Solo is the Other. Forget it!
Alright, then, maybe. I will admit that a case can be made for him that's a lot stronger than any other I've heard to date. F'r instances:
A. If there really is no such thing as luck, what's been keeping him alive all these years? Surely not his good (?) looks.
B. He's got the time. What else can one do in hibernation but meditate, hmmm? In corollary to this, why are they throwing in that 15 year gap? I think, perhaps, to close the age gap between he and Leia (provided it comes at the beginning of The Revenge) so that he won t be robbing the cradle so badly, but, well...
C. They keep saying that Solo pilots by instinct, shoots by instinct, does everything by instinct, without thinking. "Let go your conscious self and act on instinct..."
Jeeze.
I still don't buy it. When I try to picture arrogant, loud-mouthed, ego-centric Solo as a Force-wielder, I simply crack up. Maybe that brush with death'll make him grow up, but
he's got an awful lot of growing to do.