Let's Read: The Han Solo Adventures (1979)

[pendell]

This is a pretty good chapter, although parts of your summary confused me -

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My vague recollection from reading this book long ago was that Han gave false information, a (nonfunctional) weapon, and the "hey, buddy, I think I know who the traitor is, it's [not you] and I need your help luring them out" spiel to all the suspects? But you only mention that with Torm, which makes it sound like he'd already guessed and was targeting him specifically.

Okay, I'll see if I can clear this up.

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In the text , we only see Han give this spiel to Torm and hand him the blaster. I think Brian Daley is trying to confuse us, the audience, the same way Han is confusing the suspects in the story. Daley wants us to buy into Han's spiel the same way Torm did.

Truthfully, when I first read this story I flat missed the bit where Han told Torm the wrong planet. I saw "Mytus" and went right past it, filling in the blanks. Even if I'd spotted it, I'd have thought it was a typo.

Later, in the forward compartment, it all becomes clear from context. The fact that Atuarre also has a drained pistol is proof enough that Han told her a variant on the same spiel he had told Torm -- "you're the only one I can trust, here's a blaster, and here's (the wrong planet)". It's like a cold bucket of water on the head when I first read it to realize how Han had outwitted the others -- and the impact wouldn't have been nearly so great if I knew what was coming.

I suppose I could have simply laid out the entire gambit in advance but I think , if I had done so, we'd have missed the artistry of the storytelling Daley was trying to craft -- to mislead his reader out-of-character just as Han misleads his passengers in-book to increase the impact of the Big Reveal. So I tried to preserve the storytelling device as best I could within the context of the summary.

Respectfully,

Brian P.