Fans in the Star Wars subreddit pointed out that Han Solo’s lovable furball companion may be more of a lover than a fighter after realizing that he only fires his Bowcaster twice in the original trilogy, prompting many to ask if we really know as much as we think we do about Chewbacca.
In the time since the original trilogy was released, Star Wars lore has been greatly expanded, and so has its characters. Prequels, spin-off comics, series and games have expanded upon things that were never touched upon in the original trilogy. Chewbacca is no exception, through other Star Wars media we know that the furry hero was a warrior and a military leader who fought in the Clone Wars before he was involved in the Galactic Civil War.
You’d think a battle-hardened Wookie would be very trigger-happy considering all the fighting he’s been involved in. However, as one Reddit user points out, Chewie only fires his weapon twice during the Civil War, or at least twice on-screen. The user also shared the only two pictures of Chewbacca shooting.
Fellow Star Wars fans replying to the post pointed out other things about the original films that surprised them, too. For example, one fan noted that none of the heroes actually referred to Chewbacca’s weapon as a Bowcaster, in fact, the word is never used in the entire original trilogy. Another fan replied with other words that were never used by the characters on screen, including “Sith” and “Palpatine”.
It’s hard to believe that things we associate with Star Wars now didn’t even originate from what was there in the original films. Parts of the lore that didn’t make it into the first three films have retroactively appeared in later mainline films, as well as myriad spin-offs.