Do you like your nerfherders a little scruffy-looking? Are there not enough scoundrels in your life? Disney and Lucasfilm certainly hope that’s the case, as they launch their latest blockbuster, Solo: A Star Wars Story, covering the younger years of iconic space pirate Han Solo — now played by relative newcomer Alden Ehrenreich. Still, it’s safe to say that the original recipe Han, immortalized by Harrison Ford way back in 1977, is the one who’s left a lasting impression.
After all, Han Solo’s love for senator and princess Leia Organa takes him—and the audience — by surprise and turns into one of the purest through lines of the original Star Wars trilogy. It provides the emotional dark moment that pulls together The Empire Strikes Back and spurs the rescue mission that kicks off The Return of the Jedi. Heck, “I love you”/“I know” is such an enduring exchange that I’m pretty sure you can find it monogrammed on towels and inscribed on wedding rings! Cocky, out for himself, a little dorky…and ultimately a total marshmallow for the woman he loves and her cause, Han’s the kind of beta-masquerading-as-an-alpha that has “romance hero” written all over him.
While there are official tie-in novels focusing on everyone’s favorite Corellian cutie—like 1994’s The Courtship of Princess Leia, by Dave Wolverton, and Daniel José Older’s recent Last Shot—here are five romances with protagonists cut from the same roguish cloth: