The Great COPL Debate

[Toryn Farr]

Ah, you remember it: The Courtship of Princess Leia, by Dave Wolverton. One of the most notorious books for H/L fans.

Loved it? Hated it? You can rant and rave about it all you want here.

I apoligize in advance to Dave Wolverton. Sorry, man, but you had to have known this was coming!  

Being the first Star Wars book I ever got, COPL holds a special place on my bookshelf. Well, not really, its right between TAB and HTE (chronological order, dude). I remember it well: I was in 5th grade, at my library's book fair. I found COPL hidden among the various other hardcovers - only 50 cents! I was so psyched, I read it right away.

In 5th grade, I loved it. How could I not? My favorite characters continued on past ROTJ! I'm now in 10th grade, and I can now look at COPL and say I hate it.

Its amazing how out of character it is.
Since when would Leia marry for anything except love? Since when does she stop caring for Han just because he was gone for 5 months? Wasn't he gone for 6 months while in carbonite? And when she rescued him, their reunion wasn't quite "Han, I'm thinking about marrying someone I just met."
And I don't think Han would propose to Leia by kidnapping her and making a bet with her. That whole concept bothered me.

Probably what bothered me most about COPL was that the actual wedding scene was barely there, was totally from Luke's POV, and mostly about how he was late to the ceremony. I'm sorry, I like Luke and all, but at H/L's wedding, I wanna get a little of their POV, too!

~Toryn

['Guest']

I can definitely relate here.  COPL was also the first book I ever read.  I too, loved it when I first read it.  Like you said, it was my first experience reading something that happened afterward.  And the mere fact that it focused on Han and Leia in the first place made it more interesting to me.  Now later on, I got over the fact that I had to like it just because it was there, and it told the story of how they finally got together.  Now, I can somewhat excuse the idea of Leia's conundrum involving Isolder.  But only if it were handled a little differently.  First of all, she should understand that Han wasn't exactly going to be thrilled about the idea and then just sit back and let it happen.  She should've been more sensitive about the issue rather than just thinking he'd see it that way.  And in all truthfullness, I hated the way Han dealt with it.  He kidnaps her?  Come on, it could've been a lot better than that.  If there is one thing I could erase from Star Wars history, it would be that one event.  He wouldn't have done that, and she wouldn't have been quite so cold to him during their trip to Dathomir.  
       The middle of the book had its own problems.  It almost stopped being about Han and Leia at all.  There was no discussion about what they were going through or how they were feeling about each other.  Just one day Leia started riding on the same rancor as Han.  Oooooh, exciting.  There were no other hints of her falling back in love with him, although it's hard to believe she ever wasn't in love with him in the first place.  That should've also been explored more.  There was no time where she gradually opened up to him again.  There was just the one scene just before he leaves her to basically die.  And it's only then that she realizes she loves him.  There should've been much more about what was going through their heads during that whole mid-section of the book where they were basically forgotten about.  
             Now the end I never really thought about so much until you brought it up again.  When I first read it, I remember being extremely disappointed that there was not more to the wedding.  Now I'm not quite as upset about it, because a wedding is a wedding.  It probably would've been boring.  But a few thoughts from Han and Leia would've been nice.  Unlike you, I do not like Luke.  I would be happy if he were never in another book.  Sorry to all you Luke fans, but he went from being a whiner to being a guy who can only talk about ways of the Jedi, and why he can't attack, and blah blah blah.  Ok, Mr. Miagi, we get the point.  Anyway, on top of everything else, he would never have been late to their wedding.  But I was not interested in reading about it from his point of view.  
         So, I would like to say that I do NOT hate this book.  It's merely all right.  It could've been a hundred times better.  The main problem might be that it was written by a man.  Now, when it comes to romance, leave it to the women.  We do not waste time talking about force-witches and rancors when a relationship is at stake.  If the book is going to be called COPL, that's what it should've focused on.  So, like I said, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it.  I'd probably read it again, although I still think it had the potential to be a great book.  It just isn't one.

[starwarsfan68]

  I read COPL because I wanted to see how the charaters in my favorite movies of all time went on after ROTJ.   I was let down by the first few chapters and it didn't go up after them.   I couldn't see Leia ever marrying for the good of the New Republic.   Leia might have been a little mad at Han that he acted the way he did when he returned from a 5 month mission, but he missed her and she was too busy for him.   Of course He would act the way he did.  
  I also find it hard to believe that Luke would be later for his sisters wedding.   Come on that was the final straw to a deflating read.   The fanfiction that I have read the has re-writen this story is much better.   Thank God for Fan Fiction!!!

[Toryn Farr]

The excuse for Luke's lateness was also pretty pathetic. Excuse me? Aldereenian? Um, no.

~Toryn

[[e-mail]]

OH I hate this book. I hate this book in a manner that defies description. But I'll try anyway. ;D

I picked it up semi-eagerly. I say semi-eagerly because I already had an idea of the plot--it was mentioned in "Starlog" magazine. Satan--er, Dave Wolverton--was promoting it. Anyway, he talked about how this fantastic hunk would suddenly show up and say he loved Leia and wanted her for his bride and Leia would be "torn" between him and Han.

"Oooookaaaaaaay," I said to myself, not really finding it believable. But I plunked down the money anyway (stupid me), hoping that good writing and lots of romance would allay my fear, and anyway, I was happy to get a book devoted to my favorite couple. Or so I thought.

One of my former co-workers at a bookstore read it at about the same time I did. We both had a similar reaction: nausea. Both of us felt Isolder was clearly modeled on Fabio (who I don't find attractive, personally, but that's another story), so we both called him "the Fabio guy" or "Prince Fabio." My assessment: "He has absolutely no concept of the characters he's writing about." My friend's assessment: "Wolverton wouldn't know a sincere emotion if it came up and bit him on the hiney."

I wanted my money back. I still do. (For the record, I no longer have the book. I donated it along with some other SW EU books I didn't much care for to a local book drive for charity.) I was so infuriated to see a novel that was supposed to be about Han and Leia as a couple actually be about everything BUT that, and be so damn contrived.

I never believed for a nanosecond that a) Han and Leia would wait so long--four years!--to get married; b) Leia would be such a simpering, fickle, shallow twit; c) Han would be such a whiny, snivelling loser; d) Leia would be so taken with Prince Fabio and forget all about Han--gad, don't even get me STARTED on the sickening scene where Fabio kisses her and "all her feelings about Han became as insubstantial as mist, and Isolder was the sun, burning them all away." Ugh. I think I have nightmares about that line.

Oh, and then there's the scene where she dumps Han and is "trying to remember how she felt when he was frozen in carbonite"--AARRGGGHHH! Trying to remember how she felt? In ESB, it is obvious that her heart is being torn out when Han is lowered into the carbon freezing chamber. I tried to reconcile the Leia I saw in that scene with the Leia in Wolverton's pile of doodoo, and I couldn't do it. Wolverton must have been drawing from an AU version of ESB, or something.

And of course...their actual wedding gets a page and a half, as others have noted. *long string of curse words*

Anyway...I have a hard time accepting any of the EU books beyond Zahn's first three as canon, but this one I will never EVER accept as even wannabe canon. The Han and Leia romance deserves better than this tripe. Prince Fabio? He doesn't exist. Neither do the silly witches at Dathomir. No, there's another book waiting to be written about Han and Leia's engagement and marriage. A real book, written by someone who knows and loves the characters.

[Toryn Farr]

LMAO@ Prince Fabio!!! Ya know, thats so true. Now that you mention it, thats why Isolder seems so familiar. I never got why Fabio was such a sex symbol anyway, he always makes me wanna puke every time I see him. Just like Isolder.

Another thing that really bothers me about COPL: Han never beats the crap out of Isolder. Was I the only one that really wanted to see that happen?? I really didn't want a happy ending for that guy.  

[starwarsfan68]

Oh I agree I thought for sure Han would punch his lights out.  As for Isolder having a happy ending, I didn't mind.   I felt almost like Isolder had no choice really, he told his mother he liked her and he was stuck.   It's been too long since I read it to remember all the facts, but I think that is what I felt when I read it.

[[e-mail]]

Hi all,
new to the boards but not to the site, and I have to say I don't dislike the book as much as most people who posted seem to. I read it at the tender age of 15 (Damn, that was eons ago) when there were still only a few SW books out there. I think it dealt with emotions a lot more so than Zahn's books, which are fantastic in their likeness to the SW universe but not as pertains to Han and Leia.
The reason I liked Wolverton's book was because of how OOC Han and Leia were. If you pay attention at the end, the point was that Han wasn't himself. They had defeated the Emperor but were just starting to realize the battle wasn't over yet, and Han was facing burnout. Leia was being stupid, but after all those years of war and ceaseless action, she's bound to show signs of being messed up once things finally calm down.
There were parts that sucked, sure. But how can you not like the scene where Han is about to go turn himself in to the nightsisters?
"Han-"
"I know. You love me. I've always known."

I mean... awwwww!
I revisited this book years later when I was in love for the first time and going through a rough patch, it really rang true. Couples go through periods where they drift apart because they're both under so much stress, and that's what I think this book was really about. These two had been fighting the bad guys for so long and then the empire basically turned into a network of smaller enemies hidden across the entire galaxy. I think you have to take it in context. People aren't always themselves, and neither are characters.
Isolder was an idiot. I'll give you that. Leia was a heartless bitch. I'll give you that too, but she was just as callous in ANH. Han acted like a jerk- well, he admitted it in the end. And the parts with Luke in them were lame beyond comparison. But I liked the book. I really did. I'm sorry!


-Dr. T

[Toryn Farr]

Yeh, there are some fairly decent parts in there. Still, overall, i think the plot was pretty weak. I just found it really hard to believe.

[Leela]

It sucked.  Well and truely sucked. No questions asked, no correspondence entered into.  COPL was unimaginably bad, the stuff of H&L nightmares!  The only thing worth having it for was the cover by Drew Struzan.  And then only if you had the hardcover version.  
It had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  No, it wasn't even funny.  Even the SW Holiday Special was so bad it was funny!  This didn't even reach that distinction.  It was simply an insult to our intelligence.

[ivylore]

AHHHH!!!!!
     The worst thing is I discovered CPL after I'd starting reading the EU. I'd never heard of it, and I found it (of all places) for 10 cents at a used book sale, thinking WOW! An entire book devoted to Han and Leia...
      Three chapters later I was wondering what happened? I really didn't feel as though Wolverton gave valid reasons for Leia's sudden falling out of love Han. And Isolder? (I agree with the Fabio comparisons.)
       There were a few things I did like about it, which I'll point out first. I did like Wolverton's writing style, and agree that more emotion was infused into his characters than in Zahn's books.
        I liked his treatment of Luke and Leia's relationship, although Luke's extraordinary powers... Well, there's another realm for debate.
        I like when Han announced to Isolder they were lovers, and when Leia told Han she liked the way his pants fit...

       However;
        If Han and Leia spent a few days holed up on the Falcon, you'd expect some REAL conversation between them, some discussion of why she didn't love him, some flirting. Having them suddenly jump on the same rancor together made me go back to reread the previous chapters wondering if I'd missed the reconciliation.
         I found the suggestion that she loved Isolder insulting to all characters involved. Based on what? His looks and the fact that he came from world that reminded her of Alderaan. I don't believe she would have married for political reasons. That was totally out of character.
         There was more romance between the girl who captured Luke and Isolder than there was between Han and Leia!
        Finally, I don't think they would have started the wedding without Luke...

[Shelley]

As much as I despise this book, I will concede that there were some good elements in it. I thought Luke and Leia's relationship was handled well, and I did like the fact that Han and Leia actually kiss, and passionately at that.

But I never, ever, EVER believed that Leia would take one look at Prince Fabio and her feelings for Han would be all but nullified. Plus, I absolutely HATED how Wolverton kept saying how bad Han looked, and had other characters wondering what Leia ever saw in him. I remember someone half-jokingly suggesting on a message board that maybe Wolverton's wife was having too many Harrison Ford fantasies and so when Wolverton got the opportunity to write a SW book, he said, "Ah, he's not so great. I'll create a character who's ten times more handsome and have Leia fall head over heels for him like Han never existed!"

Even if I found Fabio attractive, which I don't, I still wouldn't even look sideways at him if I had a guy like Han/Harrison in love with me. Nor would Leia. IMO, Leia would give the proper amount of consideration to Prince Fabio's proposal, just to mollify Mon Mothma et al, but she'd never seriously consider marrying him.

[Toryn Farr]

the cover for COPL is one of the best around. I managed to get the hardcover for 50 cents.

IMO, Leia would give the proper amount of consideration to Prince Fabio's proposal, just to mollify Mon Mothma et al, but she'd never seriously consider marrying him.
Shelley, this is exactly how my fantasy version of the EU works I couldn't see her directly saying "no," not with so much at stake for the new republic. I think she would have given her "I'll think about it" then tried to bring Hapes into the NR w/o marrying isolder. Lots of diplomatic dinners, no consideration to marriage.

['Guest']

Okay, I haven't read COPL yet so I'm curious...what was so horrible about it?  I mean, I keep hearing biased views.  Frankly, I can't see something wrong with a book that actually sets Han and Leia up together, so...why?  I mean, was it really *that* disgusting?  I know the gist of it was that Leia was supposed to marry some Prince named Isolder so that it would help strengthen the Alliance or whatnot, but she did end up with Han, right?  Surely, there had to be good moments between H/L?

I mean, when I first heard of COPL, I thought *hey, there's finally a book centered around Han and Leia!* and compared to other books that undermine their relationship, I thought this one would be...good...for it?  I don't know.  Surely it couldn't be a whole book with Leia saying she was gonna marry some Prince and on the last page decides, "Hey, I'll marry Han instead!"  

                                                                     - Silver

[Toryn Farr]

I guess the biggest problem with it is that its completely out of character. And yes, it really was that disgusting.