A Wookiee-related question
Posted on March 1, 2005 @ 7:53 am
As we all know, when someone saves a Wookiee’s life, the Wookiee pledges a life debt to that person, vowing to protect him or her from any harm (e.g. when Han Solo saved Chewbacca from slavers prior to Star Wars). That being said, if I meet a Wookiee, put a gun to its head, threaten to kill him, and then release the trigger (thereby saving the Wookiee’s life), does he still owe me a life debt?
I’m just wondering, because I’d really like to have a Wookiee around to do my bidding. Like, when I’m standing in line behind fifteen people to buy stamps at the post office, I could just have my Wookiee start ripping their arms off while I serendipitously make my way to the front of the line. He’d be all like, “Rwworrrlll!” And the postmaster would be all like, “Hey! Can’t you do something about your Wookiee?!?” Then, I’d shrug and be all like, “You know how Wookiees are.”
Ah…good times.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under Geek |
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technically i don’t think that counts, but you could get someone else to hold a gun to the Wookie’s head and then you could save him. I think that would be okay.
If we could find two Wookies, and we both hold a gun to one, and then stop each other, would that count? Really, that’s the only way I’d help you get a Wookie. I’d love to use mine at the grocery store. The grocery store I go to has carts that have a plastic thing around it to make it look like a school bus or a firetruck. Those damn carts take up half the aisle. Then the kids hang half out the cart trying to grab stuff off the shelfs. There goes another half a foot of the aisle. My Wookie would eat those little kids and then take the parents outside with that school bus/cart and shove them in it. My Wookie would then push them out into the the parking lot traffic to get hit by an old person driving a Caddy. This could really be great.
*Wondering* where to find a wookie?? lol I want one too!!
Wow — that’s like the robot stuff that Asimov dealt with. To allow robots to work with humans ina dangerous radiation-filled sites, they made robots with a weakened set of the three laws: they couldn’t harm a human, but wouldn’t panic if there was dangerous (but not fatal) radiation and grab the human to remove him or her from the danger (robots are otherwise not allowed to allow a human to be harmed through its own inaction). Unfortunately, it left this loophole: a robot suspends a heavy metal weight over a human — the weight is heavy enough to kill a human if dropped. The robot knows he can drop the weight and then push it out of the way before it hits the human, so dropping the weight is not necessarily harming the human. But after dropping the weight, the robot chooses not to remove the human, and through its inaction the human is killed — not a violation of the weakened three laws. Whew — I’m a sci-fi geek, all right!
I’d rather have a mogwai.
Is there a Wookie out there that would let you get away with holding a gun to its head?
The postmaster is armed (and a marksman I would wager)
That was gonna be my point, too. Hold a gun to a wookiee’s head and you’ll very quickly lose the ability to hold anything at all.
Mokalus of Borg
I can always count on AoS to confront life’s deepest questions. But I think you should beware of trying to bend such cultural rules as those presented by Wookies. These creatures are living and breathing beings, not confined to rules as though programmed machines. Their indentured servitude would only be given if a truly life-threatening situation had occured - not a contrived one.
But once again we are left with yet another question - would the usefulness of a wookie outweigh his stench, or are you better off, as Jessica suggests, with a mogwai?
Haven’t you always wanted a wook-ee?