The Big 3- Rebel Soldiers, or Freelancers?

One thing that I've always found really interesting about Star Wars is how the "Big Three" so rarely ever seem to work directly in tandem with the Alliance as a whole.

To demonstrate this, consider this timeline, in which I'll underline where I believe a character is actually working directly with the Alliance to some degree:

Pre- A New Hope

During this time, only Leia has any direct connection to the Alliance

Leia: Alderaanean Senator, secret Rebel amabassador

Luke: Farmboy

Han: Smuggler



Tantive IV to Yavin

Again, only Leia has any direct connection to the Alliance here (and even then, since she's jailed, that's debatable). Han and Luke may be working in the Rebels' best interests, but not as part of the group.

Leia: Imprisoned, eventually rescued

Luke: Going to rescue Leia, no direct connection to the Rebel Alliance

Han: Hired by Luke to go to Alderaan, mixed up in Death Star kerfuffle




Battle of Yavin to Battle of Hoth (including media outside of movies)

Probably the longest streak of each of the Big Three actually working in tandem with the Rebels. In the comics there are a few a few more personal missions they go on that I'd consider outside the purview of the Rebels, but for the most part they're a little more reigned in.

Leia: Unclear what her position is, or if she officially holds one, but presumably a part of high command

Luke: Rises to rank of Commander by the time the Empire attacks Hoth.

Han: Works with Rebels, though still planning on eventually leaving.



Post Hoth through end of TESB

Here, I'd argue no one is really working in tandem with the Rebels at all.

Leia and Han: Escaping Hoth aftermath, basically just trying to survive

Luke: Basically abandons Rebellion to train on Dagobah, saves his friends on Bespin




Post TESB through Han's Rescue

We have little canon media detailing this as far as I know, so I'll focus on the rescue at Jabba's palace.

Han: Captured for the duration of this period.

Luke and Leia: While we see them with the Rebel fleet in the end of TESB, as far as I know we have no reason to believe that Han's rescue was an Alliance-sanctioned mission. We see what amounts to basically only key players there, and it would've been foolish to have sent several high ranking commanders alone to here. I get that an attack on the Hutts would be a very risky thing for the Alliance to officially support, but... well Leia "Face of the Rebellion" Organa was there herself, so there's no reason not to send some extra troopers and X-Wings just in case too. So, seems more like a personal mission, to me.




Battle of Endor


This one gets kinda complicated.

Han and Leia: Lead a strike force, apparently, though we rarely see any of them during the actual battle. Definitely should still be counted, though.

Luke: Part of the strike force early on, but since he almost immediately abandons it for the personal mission of trying to save his father, I won't count it.




Post Endor

Again, kinda complicated, given this is a rather long period of time


Han and Leia: Leia seems far more like a diplomat at this point for the New Republic, and Han seems far more interested in personal missions (particularly, finding Chewie). Again, at the very least their interests generally don't conflict with the Rebellion, but I wouldn't say they're running missions for it.

Luke: His loyalty is to the Force, and to rebuilding the Jedi now, as far as I can tell.







So pretty interesting stuff. Definitely seems like that sweet spot between ANH and TESB is where the Big 3 actually really worked closely with the Rebellion, and even then it's not like we commonly see them fighting alongside troopers much (granted, I have some catching up to do, still).

In a way this is good I guess- these personal stories keep the series fresh, and prevent it from becoming just a string of endless battles. Still, I do hope that some form of media (hopefully including the comics) does show these characters in a more "boots on the ground" battle scenario.

 

Very true, and I think even according to my timeline it's pretty clear that Leia was far more involved with the Alliance than either Han or Luke. With one being a Jedi and the other a smuggler, that's no wonder, though I appreciate how an ascension to not only family but also leadership is a big part of Han's arc.

I do think that one of the reasons Hoth is so popular, though, is because it does show Han/Leia/Luke on that side of the war, even if none of them are technically "boots on the ground" (it would've been interesting if Han or Chewie took a page from Dash's playbook and helped defend Echo Base a little more, or if Leia was a little more directly in the combat).

Agreed. I love Star Wars, but I think the series has become a bit too synonymous with The Force. To quote TLJ: "It's so much bigger".

One of my favorite pieces of Star Wars media of all time is the very first Battlefront game. You couldn't even play as a Jedi in that game, but given the sheer amount of freedom in where you go, what you do, and how you do it, it still feels like a far more complex experience than what we've gotten lately, even though now we can be Jedi and stuff.

 

Yes, Solo was very much the same way.

To be honest, I would watch a whole movie about the battles on Mimban.

Heck, I'd watch a twelve part Ken Burns doc on the Mimban campaign.

 

Definitely!

Spoiler: Battlefront 2 spoilers

That's why, as relatively weak as the second part of Battlefront's campaign was, I really enjoyed seeing the First Order actually in their element. Seems like they're a lot bigger than what we see in the movies (again, further evidence of the weird scope issues in TLJ).

I like the adaptations of old Empire stuff like the Gorilla walkers and new Stormtroopers, but I also appreciate the new things, like the Death Star laser canon thing. I'd love to see some weird new First Order tech in the future.


That being said, I feel like we really are in an age where Star Wars could take advantage of modern tech and show us some truly breathtaking ground battles. I do wonder if part of the reason the Big 3 were so often on more intimate missions is because it was just a lot easier to do so with the tech at the time. Then of course, the prequels came out during the beginnings of CGI, and though some of the prequel effects suffered, many of the battle scenes were actually pretty incredible. This shot in particular has stuck with me since I was like 11.



But now? Oh man, I can only imagine how incredible a large scale encounter could look. We kinda got one with Rogue One, and I have no doubt that JJ could double down on that in IX.

 

I mean, it's definitely not huge, but literally anything can pretty much double the amount of content we have for the First Order at this point anyway