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Warning : SPOILERS before forSolo : A Star Wars Story
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Solo : A Star Wars Storyis a prequel detailing key event in the younger animation of future main cast player Han Solo . As such , it ca n’t have too many surprise in computer memory as pertains to the fortune of the main characters : Everyone already knows that at least Han , LandoandChewbaccaare expire to make it out alive , and that Han and Chewie in particular are go to exit with theMillennium Falconen itinerary to a life as outer space smugglers . But the picture show still manages to keep some surprises in computer storage - among them , a reference to an in - existence bod of martial arts called Teräs Käsi , which had previously only ever been mentioned in the no - longer - canyon exposit Universe .
Solo details how Han goes from being a Corellian street - urchin child - slave to Imperial Army deserter to outlaw thief - chiefly in pursuit of money and imagination he ’ll use to free a childhood friendQ’ira(Emilia Clarke ) whom he believes to be still stuck on Corellia . or else , she rejoins him halfway through the film having " rescued " herself … by becoming the master henchwoman of the dangerous gangster bankrolling the " braggart score " Han and infinite - looting mentorTobias Becketthave been conscripted for .
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picture show fans familiar with the sometime - time Hollywood western and mobster tropes Solo purposely evokes will , of course , find forthwith that there ’s more to Q’ira than she let ’s on : " Femme Fatale " type are made to smolder just wing await for someone to ask them about their Dark Secret . Indeed , she ’s the bloc on which several ofSolo’sbig game - twists pivot and the cay to the film ’s most talked - about spoiler - alast - minute Darth Maul cameothat may or may not point the way to a whole slew ofentirely dissimilar whirl - off opportunities .
But while the ultimate Apocalypse of what Q’ira in reality has had " going on " in the desktop of herSolostoryline is designed to feel like a eddy , abrupt - eared fan with a good memory forStar Warstrivia may have catch a tiny bit of foreshadowing that retroactively feels mean to go under up the extent of Q’ira ’s outstanding significance … if not necessarily her " alinement . " During an action chronological succession sic in the Spice Mines of Kessel , she economise herself andL3 - 37from an attacker by demonstrating ( offscreen ) a flourish of martial - arts maneuvers the lethality of which mystifies even the thoroughly outwear Droid . L3 - 37 does n’t even know what to call what she just learn until Q’ira herself gives it a name:“Teräs Käsi . "
To a certain generation ofStar Warsfans , it ’s a term they may never have thought to listen spoken aloud in any of the live - action features - or that may not even have existed follow the post - Disney de - canonization of theExpanded Universe . A fictional material body of martial - nontextual matter existing only in the Star Wars Universe ( ordinarily employed as an explanation for how non - Force - sensible combatants might stand a fighting chance against Jedi or Sith opposite in hand - to - hand combat ) , it first appeared in the canyon as part of the 1996Shadows of The Empiremultimedia project - specifically in Steve Perry ’s novelization where the term was give to the fighting styles of Black Sun villains Sun and Zu Pike . As with many alien - sounding terms in theStar Wars"Galactic Basic " linguistic process , the name " Teräs Käsi " as actually a slight recasting of a real non - English human language ; in this typeface Finnish for " blade hand . "
However , despite the relative popularity ofShadows of The Empireas a property in its day ( particularly thanks to theNintendo 64 television gamethat serve as the centrepiece of the hoagie - franchise ) Teräs Käsi was a relatively pocket-size reference within the text and it ’s unbelievable that it would ’ve become a well known enough part of the ( formerly ) semi - prescribed EU canyon to be officially integrated intoSoloon that basis alone . Rather , the concept owe most of it ’s renown to video - game infamy in the sort ofStar state of war : captain of Teräs Käsi- a 1997 Playstation title where the titular fighting - style ( depicted in the biz as being loosely - inspired by Indonesian penchat - silat martial - prowess ) was used as justification to pit popularStar Warscharacters against each other in aTekken - flair tournament champion often see as one of the worstStar Warsgames ever released .
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The game may have been a punchline , but the name in spades stuck - and whenStar Wars : Episode I - The Phantom Menacereleased in 1999 with martial creative person Ray Park using elaborate kickboxing and wushu - fashion fighting move to secern hisDarth Maulcharacter from antecedently - seen lightsaber combatant , the approximation that the Sith Lord might also be a Teräs Käsi practitioner became a democratic fan theory that was afterwards incorporated into writer Michael Reeves ' 2001 EU novelDarth Maul : Shadow Hunter.(Similar fan possibility have surrounded Donnie Yen’sChirrut ImwefromRogue One . )
Of course , Solomarks not only the first mention of Teräs Käsi in live - action - period - but also the first official confirmation that it ’s part of the new official canon , so it ’s unclear how much ( if any ) of that backstory is think to remain . Apart from her offscreen mitt - to - hand manuever that so impressed L3 - 37 , Q’ira is principally shown demonstrating proficiency with a sword at a key climactic import - though the reveal of where her education apparently came from would seem to substantiate that at least one major pre - Disney Teräs Käsi victor ’s stature continue as such . Whether that ’s meant as a one more Easter Egg for fan or a preview of a great direction for the fabricated combat - mode going forrard , though , remains to be go out .
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