OK, remember a few things about Lucas' favorite droids:
- They are possibly not sentient. Sentience in Star Wars seem to be a fine line, and to be completely honest - does not seem to be consistently defined (it seems confused with free will), however the linked answer seems to rely on them not being slaves because they are not sentient. If they were sentient, it would explain a lot being asked here.
- They do not appear to be particularly high end or expensive models. In fact, depending on what level of continuity you follow they seem to be found or sold out of junkyards repeatedly (especially Threepio).
- They seem to both have after market upgrades though. C-3PO's trademark color was granted as part of his service to Amidala, IIRC. Many of R2's more .. ahem ... specialized functions are listed as aftermarket upgrades for R2 units in the Wookiepdia, although who installed them is left a bit of a mystery... Chronologically it would have to be an unnamed mechanic on Naboo who is probably the most undervalued person in the galaxy.
Or in short: they aren't special. In fact they are rather old. And cheap. They'd just been hot-rodded a little. They are the Star Wars equivalent of your friend's Trans Am. However their behavior, and the behavior of those around them, is a bit odd for a pair of off-the-shelf droids:
- C-3PO often expresses opinions and even emotions (particularly fear, but also joy).
- R2 express emotion as well, he just does it indirectly or via proxy (C-3PO notes his "relief" in ESB)
- Those first two I note because emotions are odd for non-sentient beings...
- R2-D2 is an astromech droid who spends the vast majority of the films not fixing ships
- In fact, R2 is probably the most accomplished slicer we see in action, also odd for an astromech
- They are both often noted for their "bravery" or "courage"
In fact they are repeatedly honored for it on the same level as their human counterparts:
Amidala even makes R2 her personal servant. Because queens need .... astromechs?
- Chewbacca goes out of his way to save Threepio in ESB
Also,
They are the only witnesses to Anakin's wedding, which is a bit bizarre considering what a blabbermouth Threepio is.
This seems odd, and there only seem to be a few examples (HK-47 possibly?) where other droids behave in this manner or are treated this way. In fact, pretty much every other droid in the movies is little more than a prop.
So my question is:
Are C-3PO and R2-D2 different from normal Star Wars droids in some known in-universe way, or do all droids in the galaxy operate this way and are treated this way by others
Answer
First of all, out of universe, the 2 droids are clearly special. They are the equivalent of the 2 peasant characters in The Hidden Fortress which was a major influence on Star Wars (OK, putting it less politely, Lucas ripped off Kurosawa :)
Going to in-universe, your thesis has some merit, but is not very correct overall.
We don't know about C3PO since we don't see a lot of protocol droids in canon, and those that we see are by necessity more advanced AND human-like (they need to emulate emoting and empathy for their human interface function).
Having said that, you're possibly falling for "ELIZA" bias. You see behavior you didn't expect from a droid and you attribute some special quality to it. People were fooled into thinking "Eliza" program was sentient, and it's really pretty dumb as far as AI goes - but its developers are good at psychology.
Having said THAT, we see plenty of droids behave in more "human like" way - IG-88, Skippy the Jedi droid, Guri (Xizor's bodyguard/pseudo-lover), General Grevious's Magnaguards. So it's quite possible C3PO is nowhere out of the ordinary because he expresses opinions or emotions.
As far as R2D2, here the canon is firmly on the side of "normal". We see other canon astromechs behave similarly, for example Corran Horn's Whistler.
Having said that, to address your subquestion, there seems to be a common thread to these "loyal" "more sentient" R2 units - none of them is known to have gone through memory wipes. And many had idiosyncratic owners.
Now, let's review your bullet points:
C3PO often expresses opinions and even emotions (particularly fear, but also joy).
As described above, this is par for protocol droids.
R2 express emotion as well, he just does it indirectly or via proxy (C3PO notes his "relief" in ESB)
Normal for other R2 units in C canon.
However, I am not sure you can call these "emotions" per se; they are somewhat anthropomorphized by necessity of expressing the wording when talking to humans.
R2D2 is an astromech droid who spends the vast majority of the films not fixing ships
R2D2 is treated as more of a familiar or personal droid. This is somewhat unusual, but mostly of because who owns him - his owner(s) don't spend majority of the films flying the ships either.
They are both often noted for their "bravery" or "courage"
This is purely anthropomorphization. They are no more brave or fearful than an average droid (and frankly, where's the example of C3PO 'bravery'?).
They DO end up in more unusual or dangerous situations, and that's due again to who owns them, not to some innate quality.
In fact they are repeatedly honored for it on the same level as their human counterparts
This says something about humans around them, not the droids themselves. There's no canon example of R2D2 doing something to get fame, glory or a medal.
Amidala even makes R2 her personal servant. Because queens need .... astromechs?
Again, that speaks more about Amidala than R2D2. I can expand but it's outside the scope of your question and should be asked separately.
Chewbacca goes out of his way to save Threepio in ESB
OK, I'm starting to repeat this more than "We are doomed!", but this reflects more on Chewbacca than C3PO.
They are the only witnesses to Anakin's wedding, which is a bit bizarre considering what a blabbermouth Threepio is.
He doesn't blab if he has a direct order not to discuss something. And less chance of him blabbing than a human.
Comments
Post a Comment