Continued . . .
On Endor, Han and Leia came to understand just what they meant to each other. With the help of the fuzzy little Ewoks, the team managed to destroy the bunker. Above them, in orbit, Lando Calrissian --flying the borrowed Falcon-- and Wedge Antillies succeeded in destroying the Death Star. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were both dead, and the Empire was in shambles.
If he was entertaining thoughts of leaving then, Han never showed them. Days after the Battle of Endor, he was off with Leia, Luke, and other Alliance heroes to Bakura, where he helped fight the reptilian Ssi-ruuk invaders and the Imperials who turned on them afterward.
Eight years after the rescue attempt aboard the first Death Star, Han finally had to make a choice about his relationship with Leia. Hapan Prince Isolder had arrived on Coruscant --now the seat of the New Republic-- and asked for Princess Leia's hand in marriage.
Challenged by a rival who could offer her more than he ever could, Han kidnapped Leia and took her to Dathomir, trying to convince her to marry him. Pursued by Isolder and Luke, as well as by the rogue Imperial warlord Zsinj, Han eventually saved the day and won Leia's heart. Isolder married a Dathomirian witch, Teneniel Djo.
Five years after the Battle of Endor, the Alliance faced the return of the brilliant and ruthless Grand Admiral Thrawn and his Imperial forces. Han and Chewie were instrumental in bringing Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and the other smugglers to aid the Alliance in that and many battles that followed. Han fought in the assault for the Sluis Van shipyards, and got to once again meet his early childhood idol, Garm Bel Iblis. He also led the strike-force attack to destroy the weapons depot and cloning facilities in Mount Tantiss, on Wayland.
The following year, Han and Chewie went on various missions against the reborn Emperor Palpatine, first rescuing Lando and Wedge Antillies's strike teams on Coruscant. Then, Han revisited Nar Shaddaa, with Leia in tow, and ran into Mako Spince, Shug Ninx, and Salla Zend. Pursued by hunters seeking the bounty for the long-ago death of Jabba the Hutt, Han and Leia fled the spaceport moon, riding aboard Shug and Salla's Starlight Intruder. They went to Byss, making a run to save Luke Skywalker from the dark Force clutches of the Emperor.
Shortly thereafter, when Han and Leia returned to Nar Shaddaa, they had another run-in with both Mako and Boba Fett. Mako betrayed Han to the Empire, but unlike Lando Calrissian, who had lived to regret his similar act, Mako didn't survive long; Han decoyed the Star Destroyer Invincible into grabbing Spince's control tower --where Mako was situated-- in its tractor beam. The resulting explosion was spectacular.
Han was still pursued by Fett's Slave I, so he and Leia entered an interstellar gas cloud. Inside it they found the archaic battleship Robida Colossus, home of the paraplegic Jedi, King Empatojayos Brand. They enlisted his help in fighting Palpatine's revitalized forces, and allowed him to put a lightning gun on the front of the Falcon. The gun was instrumental in fighting Fett's ship when they emerged into real space, and against the dark-side troops that attacked New Alderaan days later.
Within months, the Alliance attacked the Imperial City on Coruscant yet again, and succeeded in driving the remnants of the Empire away.
The following year, Han agreed to act as New Republic ambassador to Kessel. The planet had once been home of the Imperial Correctional Facility, as well as the main supply line of the addictive glitterstim spice. Once there, Han and Chewie were taken captive by Moruth Doole, who thought Solo had returned to kill him. He put the two in the spice mines, intending to kill them.
With the help of a young Force-powerful prisoner, Kyp Durron, Han and Chewie escaped, only to be taken captive by Imperials from the black-hole cluster known as the Maw. The secrets they uncovered there would require a great deal of attention from the New Republic: a deadly weapon called the Sun Crusher, a brilliant scientist named Qwi Xux, and a scheming Imperial Admiral Daala and her long-forgotten Star Destroyer fleet.
Along the way, Han grew very fond of Kyp, and risked his life to stop the boy when Durron was consumed by the dark side of the Force. Han also finally got to participate ini payback for Doole when Lando and Mara raided Kessel; Doole was eaten by the giant, glassy, carnivorous spiders that actually produced the glitterstim. And, as if to add a coda onto his past, Han and Lando finally settled the ownership of the Falcon once and for all. Han lost it to Lando in a game of sabacc, then won it back, then lost it again. Lando presented it to his friend as a gift, never to be gambled for again.
Han tried to be a good husband for an important politician, but even on vacation, Han couldn't seem to put down his blaster. With Leia on Plawell, Han got caught up in the search for Plett's Well, a legendary refuge of the children of the Jedi. Ever the skeptic, Han also helped expose Roganda Ismaren's plan to establish a new Imperial regime.