I Have Random Thoughts
My theory is that Han actually *didn't* misspeak when he said that he had made the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.
Hear me out - what if Kessel is actually an entire sector filled with insane ion storms and other navigational hazards, and there's, I dunno, a space station deep within it dedicated to studying the area. And sometimes that space station needs to have supplies delivered. But it's an incredibly difficult and dangerous journey, one that requires you to enter and exit hyperspace a zillion times, make a bunch of minute course corrections, navigate way the hell around some of the hazards (which isn't so far fetched - some of the star wars books show that massive insane-to-navigate sectors and nebulae do exist in the star wars universe).
And lets say that before Han made his run, people thought that that shortest safe route was one that required you to travel a total of, say, 13 or 14 parsecs. A trip that took maybe weeks or months once you factored in all of the course changes and detours that you had to take around various hazards. But Han figured out a new course that cut days or even weeks off of the journey - a course that was only 12 parsecs long. Thus, it would make sense for him brag about it as if it were an incredible accomplishment, and to speak as if parsecs were were a unit of time instead of distance.
Hear me out - what if Kessel is actually an entire sector filled with insane ion storms and other navigational hazards, and there's, I dunno, a space station deep within it dedicated to studying the area. And sometimes that space station needs to have supplies delivered. But it's an incredibly difficult and dangerous journey, one that requires you to enter and exit hyperspace a zillion times, make a bunch of minute course corrections, navigate way the hell around some of the hazards (which isn't so far fetched - some of the star wars books show that massive insane-to-navigate sectors and nebulae do exist in the star wars universe).
And lets say that before Han made his run, people thought that that shortest safe route was one that required you to travel a total of, say, 13 or 14 parsecs. A trip that took maybe weeks or months once you factored in all of the course changes and detours that you had to take around various hazards. But Han figured out a new course that cut days or even weeks off of the journey - a course that was only 12 parsecs long. Thus, it would make sense for him brag about it as if it were an incredible accomplishment, and to speak as if parsecs were were a unit of time instead of distance.
36-40, M
