The Road to Episode Infinity: Who is Vuffi Raa?

In the movie “Solo: A Star Wars Story” Lando tells his video diary that he and L3-37 encountered a race called Sharu. This little line of dialogue didn’t mean much to most viewers, but a tiny population of some of the oldest fans picked up on the reference. Those who have have read the novel “Lando Callrisian and the Mindharp of the Sharu” understood the obscure plug.

The novel was by written by L. Neil Smith and originally published in 1983. As far as obscure Star Wars novels go, it is one of the weirdest. The Sharu are an ancient culture, who constructed giant pyramids and created the Mindharp- a magical artifact which had the power to cause people to grow and shrink (Ant-Man style).

The “Solo” film mentions that L3-37 was with Lando when he encountered the Sharu, but in the original novel it was actually a droid name “Vuffi Raa” who accompanies Lando on his adventure.

Vuffi Raa is an odd name for a droid since there is no alpha-numerical designation like one would expect in Star Wars. Vuffi Raa is even more odd because he does not resemble a human-like protocol droid or a tiny wheeled astromech. Vuffi Raa more resembles a metal squid.

Lando won the droid during a game of Sabaac, but did not wish to keep the robot. Vuffi Raa didn’t seem to have any use to the gambler. Vuffi Raa was programed to be completely non-violent. He could not defend Lando from harm. He could not even pilot a starship during times of battle. Lando never wanted a droid in the first place and he definitely did not like it when Vuffi Raa called him “Master”.

But Lando Calrissian does not hate droids half as much as he intends to, and after his adventure in which he obtained the Mindharp, Vuffi Raa became a staple in his life. The “Mindharp of Shuru” novel was followed by “The Flamewind of Oseon” and “The Starcave of ThonBoka”. The two companions continued to appear together in Star Wars media in the 1990s and Vuffi Raa is even mentioned in the 2008 novel “Millenium Falcoln”.

Since the release of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” it is now L3-37 and not Vuffi Raa who aids Lando in his early adventures. L3 has been featured in the novel “Last Shot” and the comic series “Lando: Double or Nothing”. There have been mixed reactions to L3-37 by fans, many of whom complain that she is a social justice warrior and is a low point of the film (akin to Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace). I would have to disagree with the naysayers in regards to L3. I think she is a fun presence in the movie and that her death scene is fairly tragic.

Even if you are a L3 super-fan, it’s nice to remember Lando’s first droid- the original. Like so many Expanded Universe characters that have been replaced by something new, let us not forget about Vuffi Raa.