Did Han feel that he needed to fire first in order to protect himself against: 1. Death (in the event Greedo fired first); 2. Serious bodily injury (a blaster wound likely do serious injury if not
Han Solo is chilling in his room when suddenly the light goes out. He tries to fix the bulb, but after an hour of laborious effort, he gives up. He heads over to Yoda's place to see if he can help. As Yoda opens the door, he spots a huge machine with flashing lights, beeping in the middle of the room.
In the final issue of Star Wars' latest event War of the Bounty Hunters, Boba Fett helps explain why Han Solo had to have shot first in A New Hope. The galaxy far, far away is full of dangerous characters, especially when the most deadly and powerful players were all invited to an auction to get to Solo for themselves after Empire Strikes Back.
Han is almost as universally recognized as being tied to Star Wars as the lightsaber. Therefore, their mantra had to feature Han. Secondly, "Han Shot First" is an action statement - it says something about the character. It is a definite action that he took, and it is clear enough to reference the scene implicitly.
(The first time was in the theater watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.*) George Lucas and Revisionist History. In this article on Rollingstone.com, George Lucas tries to explain how Han needs to be a John Wayne figure to marry Leia, the kind of guy who would only shoot in self-defense (ie, after being shot at).
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