Buckle up.
Han Solo's nothing without his ride. Oh, sure, Han's happy to take all the credit, but it's the Millennium Falcon that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, not its owner. When Luke and Obi-Wan stumbled into the Mos Eisley cantina, they were looking for a ship, not a pilot. When the Falcon laid waste to the second Death Star, Han wasn't even on board. He was busy tangling with Ewoks and Stormtroopers while his ship saved the galaxy.
In fact, by the time Han took control of the Star Wars universe's most famous YT-1300 light freighter, the Falcon was already half a century old, and had survived more adventures than Han could imagine. As far as we can tell, here's the definitive list of everyone who's sat in the Falcon's pilot's seat--for now, anyway. If history is any indication, the ship will change owners many more times before it's done.
1. Corell Industries Limited
60 years before The Millennium Falcon saved the galaxy (the first time), it was just a regular commercial freighter. According to James Luceno's novel, the aptly named Millennium Falcon, the cargo hauler began as just one piece of Corell Industries Limited's sprawling 8,000 ship fleet, and quickly gained a reputation for being both incredibly fast and frustratingly finicky. Different pilots gave it different names based on how much they appreciated it -- or how much they didn't. For example, the fella who named the ship Corell's Pride must've liked it. The ones who called it the Fickle Flyer or Meetyl's Misery? Eh, not so much.
Image: The Essential Guide to Warfare, reference book from Del Rey, 2012
2. Kal and Dova Brigger
After the unscrupulous Trade Federation drove Corell Industries out of business, siblings Kal and Dova Brigger picked up the YT-1300, renamed it Hardwired, and used it to take over Corell Industries' shipping routes. As Luceno's tale goes on, Brigger's business quickly took a turn towards the dark side, however, and they'd ran afoul of smugglers. Dova was captured and executed, while Kal fled.
Kal renamed the ship the Wayward Son and tried to go straight, but he just couldn't stay out of trouble. Before long, Kal found himself working with the Stark Commercial Combine, a loose confederation of pirates, bounty hunters, and other ne'er-do-wells. He didn't last. During one mission, the Galactic Republic unleashed hoard of carnivorous insects on the planet where Kal was hiding. The poor man was eaten alive, leaving the Wayward Son adrift and ownerless.
Image: Fly Casual, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
3. Plo Koon
15 years later, the YT-1300 made its way into the hands of a shipping company called the Republic Group that was actually a front for a group of politicians who opposed Chancellor Palpatine's increasingly authoritarian regime. Under the Republic Group's stewardship, the ship was rechristened the Stellar Envoy, flew many clandestine missions to help restore the crumbling Republic, and had a handful of different pilots. In Millennium Falcon, a long lost photograph indicates that no less than Jedi Master Plo Koon himself once sat behind the Envoy's pilot seat.
4. Tobb Jadak
Former swoop racer Tobb Jadak never officially owned the Envoy, but he might as well have. For about a decade, the Republic Group paid Jadak and his best friend, Reeze Duurmun, to take care of The Stellar Envoy, maintaining the freighter and flying it on missions as necessary.
After 10 years of service, Jadak and Duurmann hoped to purchase the Envoy for themselves, but they weren't so lucky. While embarking on a top-secret delivery run at the very, very end of the Clone Wars, the Envoy crashed into a ship above the so-called "smuggler's moon," Nar Shaddaa. Duurmun lost his life, Jadak fell into a coma, and the Envoy was abandoned in space (Jadak woke up sixty years later, and went on to serve as Millennium Falcon's co-lead).
Image: Promo art for Suns of Fortune, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
5. Rej Taunt
The Stellar Envoy wasn't floating around Nar Shaddaa for long. As Luceno tells the story, Rej Taunt, an up-and-coming crime lord stationed on Nar Shaddaa, hired a mechanic to salvage the vessel and fix it up. Unfortunately, for Taunt, the newly rechristened Second Chance didn't last for more than a single mission. A combination of illegal buzz droids, a surprise Imperial patrol, and a deal gone horribly bad landed Taunt in prison, while the Second Chance was relocated to an Imperial shipyard.
Image: Star Wars #10, Marvel Comics, 2015
6. Zenn Bien
Years later, a Rebel operative named Quip Fargil hired a Sullstan smuggler named Zenn Bien to help with an important mission: With aid from an Imperial turncoat, Bien helped Fargil steal the impounded YT-1300 cruiser. According to Millennium Falcon, Bien and Fargil were going to dismantle the ship and sell it for parts, but after Bien liberated the freighter, Fargil revealed that he had other goals in mind.
After renaming the ship Gone to Pieces, Fargil used the YT-1300 as bait, launching a mission to steal a hyperdrive from an Imperial cruiser. Bien went along reluctantly, and the heist was successful. Bien received a tidy sum for her efforts, while Fargil took the Gone to Pieces to the Rebels.
Image: The New Essential Guide to Alien Species, reference book from Del Rey, 2006
7. Quip Fargil
A full decade before Han joined the Rebel Alliance, his ship was already there. It was Quip Fargil who named the freighter the Millennium Falcon, and he spent 10 months using the modified YT-1300 to give the Empire a bad time. When Rebel command sent Fargil on a suicide mission, however, the pilot couldn't bring himself to follow through. Sacrificing his own life wasn't a problem, of course, but Quip loved the Falcon too much to destroy it. Despite the high stakes, Fargil bailed at the last minute, and spent the rest of his days plagued by guilt. To help ease his conscience, Fargil donated the Falcon to a doctor named Parlay Thorp and retired. By the time that Han Solo tracks him down in Millennium Falcon's second half, Quip has settled down under an assumed name, although he's never forgotten the ship that ended his Rebel career.
Image: Stay on Target, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
8. Parlay Thorp
Under Dr. Parlay Thorp's ownership, the Falcon went from a warship to a medical vessel. While the doctor toured the galaxy helping those in need, Thorp discovered that she suffered from a fatal medical condition that was only kept at bay by the planet Hijadoan's mysterious life-preserving qualities. Thorp decided to stay on Hijadoan until she could discover a cure, and with her options limited, sold the Falcon to a traveling circus.
Image: Star Wars Insider #83
9. Vistal Purn
Technically, while the Falcon was under the purview of Molpol's Traveling Circus, it was controlled by Molpol's owner, Dax Doogan. For all intents and purposes, Vistal Purn was its real master. According to Luceno, Purn handled all of the ship's repairs (including installing its first dejarik, or holo-chess, table) and served as its pilot, helping shuttle Doogan and various supplies between the circus's gigs. When the circus was attacked by Black Sun pirates, Purn used the Falcon to save the bulk of Molpol's menagerie, winning the heart of the circus's star performer, Sari Danzer, in the process. Purn ended up living in married bliss, but Molpol's Traveling Circus wasn't so lucky. The pirate attack decimated the circus' resources, and Doogan was forced to sell off all of its assets, including the Falcon.
Image: The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide, reference book from Chronicle Books, 2001
10. Cix Trouvee
Cix Trouvee was an ace gambler but he wasn't much of a mechanic. After buying the Millennium Falcon from Doogan, Trouvee quickly learned that maintaining the 50-year-old ship, which was largely cobbled together from aftermarket parts, cost more than Trouvee could afford. In desperate need of funds to keep the ship running, Trouvee bet everything he had on a Rebel vs. Empire skirmish above the planet Yag'Dhul.
In Millennium Falcon, Han and Leia discover that Trouvee didn't just lose the wager. He almost lost his life. As his creditors grew impatient, Trouvee made one last-ditch effort to raise some cash by entering the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament. There, Trouvee lost both his remaining credits and his ship to one Mr. Lando Calrissian.
Image: Suns of Fortune, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
11. Lando Calrissian
Lando Calrissian was a gambler, a smuggler, and a con man, but he's probably best remembered these days for his impeccable sense of style. No wonder he wanted a ship to match. After winning the Falcon from Trouvee, Lando immediately gave it a much needed makeover, making it fit for a scoundrel of his stature. Sadly, the era of the meticulously maintained Falcon was short-lived. During Solo, Lando loses the ship to a fellow smuggler, the unabashed slob Han Solo, in another high-stakes sabacc game. According to the novel Last Shot, Han quickly went out of his way to ensure that the Falcon looks as shabby as possible.
12. Han Solo
It was Han Solo who transformed The Millennium Falcon from a mere ship into a galactic legend. With Han at the helm and Chewbacca in the co-pilot's seat, the Falcon became one of the most notorious smuggling vessels in the galaxy, helped destroy not one but two Death Stars, and played a pivotal role in the Rebel Alliance's triumph over the Galactic Empire. As shown in Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections, Solo added a kitchen to the ship after the end of the Galactic Civil War, making it a traveling home for himself, his wife Leia Organa, and their son Ben.
13. Gannis Ducain
Even Han couldn't hold on to the Falcon forever. Some time after the Empire's collapse, a gunrunner named Gannis Ducain stole the Falcon from the Solo family and immediately started outfitting the ship with new and more deadly weapons. Ducain's modifications would remain part of the ship until after Han Solo's death: while Rey trained with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To, the Last Jedi novelization keeps Chewbacca busy undoing all of Ducain's messy and deadly work.
Image: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
14. The Irving Boys
We don't know much about Toursant and Vanver Irving, including how they wrested control of the Millennium Falcon from Ducain, but however they managed to do it, it probably wasn't pretty. In the short story collection Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens, one man who owed Irvings money, Rikard Lovas, was so scared of the criminals that he faked a ship heist instead of paying them. The scheme didn't work and Lovas was arrested, although the Irving Boys still wound up empty-handed. After all, it's hard to get your money back when your mark is broke and in prison.
Image: Fly Casual, RPG sourcebook from Fantasy Flight Games
15. Unkar Plutt
Eventually, Jakku's junk king Unkar Plutt stole the Falcon from the Irving Boys. He never realized what a prize he had. Under Plutt's ownership, the infamous freighter sat in a scrapyard for years and didn't take to the skies until the First Order attacked Niima Outpost during The Force Awakens. As the First Order pelted Niima with laser blasts, a young scavenger, a former stormtrooper, and a plucky droid snuck aboard the Millennium Falcon and used the aging freighter to escape.
According to The Force Awakens' novelization, Plutt managed to track the thieves to Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana, but by the time that he caught up with the Falcon, it was back in Han Solo's charge. Instead of giving the ship back, Han had Chewbacca tear off one of Plutt's arms and sent him home empty-handed.
16. Rey
Following Han Solo's death at the hands of his son, Kylo Ren, Rey became the Millennium Falcon's owner and primary pilot. In The Last Jedi, Rey took the ship to Ahch-To, where she found Han's brother-in-law Luke Skywalker living in solitude, and later flew the Millennium Falcon to Crait, where she helped the last few members of the Resistance escape the First Order's vengeance.
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