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What Leia Meant When She Called Han Solo A 'Nerf Herder' In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back


There are many mysteries in the Star Wars saga that were left unanswered even after the release of The Force Awakens. One of those mysteries, which is probably not as intriguing as the others, is why Princess Leia called Han Solo a "stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder" in The Empire Strikes Back.

Well, now we're finally getting an answer to this curious insult from Leia thanks to Marvel's upcoming Star Wars #17 comic book (via i09).

According to the comics, there was a time when Luke and Han had to go gather supplies for the Rebellion. However, Han lost all the cash he and Luke were supposed to use to buy the supplies after losing to a gambling game in Sabaac. He then had no choice but to do what he does best in order to get the money back – smuggle.

Luke manages to make a deal on Nar Shadaa. The loot? Nerfs. We're not talking about the toy guns. In the Star Wars universe, Nerfs are creatures that look like Yaks but smell like cows.

Image Credit: Star Wars #17 (Marvel Comics) via i09

All seems to be well and good for the two, but apparently, the Empire had been tracking the Nerfs. As you can imagine, the Falcon gets chased and shot at by the Empire. Obviously, the two survived, but Leia is not thrilled with the entire thing. She's slightly with Han since she has her own rebellion leadership moral crisis to think about.

It's pretty cool getting to know these little bits of trivia about the saga. Now we can relate to that scene where Leia calls Han a nerf herder when we watch The Empire Strikes Back for the nth time.

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