Admittedly, it's not a very auspicious introduction for one of the original Star Wars trilogy's greatest characters. He's totally the second coming of Han Solo. In fact, it has been speculated that the character of Lando Calrissian was added when someone working on the script realised that Han would be frozen in carbonite for the end of the Empire and the beginning of Jedi. Clearly, they needed someone to pick up the part of the big-talking rogue, and Lando was just the guy for the job.
After they finished up Empire, the producers seemed fully aware of Lando's awesome appeal. As such, they gave him a prominent role in Return of the Jedi that makes him more than just the Replacement Han. In fact, they decided to make Lando a general. From despicable smuggler to military general in the space of like a month. That's some promotion! It's a like a get-rich-quick scheme for rebel militants. I imagine that Lando is all about those sorts of schemes. Anyway, Lando supposedly got the job because of some little maneuver he pulled during some battle. Sounds good to me. This is the sort of guy that they can really trust. He's only betrayed them once so far.
To be fair, it does seem like command structures in the Star Wars universe are pretty crazy. I mean, they have positons like Grand Moff. Can you imagine spending your whole working career aspiring to become a Moff? That's not just scraping the bottom of the barrel; that's like being way underneath the barrel, and only then realising what a ridiculous metaphor this has become. Frankly, it seems the Imperials have quite a history of ridiclous commanders. Need evidence? Just look at Clone Commander Cody. Now I'm not trying to knock the guy, but I will say that he's not exactly the Napoleon of space warfare. Then again, I could probably say the same about Admiral Ackbar. Seriously. Where did this guy come from? And if he's such a great leader, where was he during the previous two movies? Finally, to fully demonstrate the dysfunctional nature of Star Wars promotions, I need only mention two words: General Jar-Jar.
When you look at it that way, General Lando seems almost overqualified for his position. After all, he did pull a little maneuver. And he really knows how to prepare refreshments! Hey, that skill's way more valuable than you might think. Especially when your group has to spend most of its time huddling in caves on places like Hoth. Just so long as someone else with a profitable deal doesn't reach Lando before you.
Return to Jaridis Blade's Gallery of Quotes