Summary
A long-held belief amongStar Warsfans regarding everyone’s favorite ubiquitous little droid seems to have finally been officially reinforced. R2-D2, who’s been there from the beginning, is now known to have a history that matches his fiery personality.
Between R2-D2 andthe adorable pint-sized war criminal Chopper, astromech droids tend to be some ofStar Wars' most beloved side characters. This has been a trend since 1977’sA New Hopeintroduced R2 to the world and revealed (with the help of legendary sound designer Ben Burtt) that a character could ooze personality without saying a single intelligible word. Since then, things have been developed further, leading to a new story that some may have missed. This revelation finally confirms something the fans have known for quite some time: R2-D2 is a true battle-hardened warrior.
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The latest issue of theStar WarscomicDark Droids, created by Charles Soule, Luke Ross, Alex Sinclair, and Travis Lanham, briefly but meaningfully offers a glimpse into how R2’s long-time bickering partner C-3PO views the unassuming little barrel droid. As pointed out byScreen Rant, the comic series' terrifying villain known as the Scourge takes the form of C-3PO and notices that the protocol droid’s memories of R2 indicate that it should be wary. “I need to be careful, this mind has many memories of this droid,” the Scourge contemplates, assessing R2. “This one… is a warrior.”
It’s long been a bit of a tongue-in-cheek thing amongStar Warsfans topoint out how much R2-D2 has accomplishedover the years, essentially painting him as a genuine war hero. The thing is, there’s always been a bit of a disconnect between those fan theories and how R2 is viewed within theStar Warsfranchise itself. Now, with this single line from what’s supposed to be a massively powerful evil entity, it’s finally confirmed that even those in-universe see R2’s actions for what they are rather than just some hilarious side quests.
That aforementioned disconnect also comes with the baggage ofhow badlyStar Warshas treated droidsover the years. Droid characters are not only simply seen as side characters and extras more often than not, but their status as sentient beings is regularly overlooked as their most common role is that of servitude. When a droid attempts to break free from their narrative chains, like L3-37 inSolo: A Star Wars Story, the response to their activism is often dismissive and treated as a joke.
Suffice it to say,droids have had it rough inStar Wars. But maybe this official acknowledgment of R2-D2’s warrior status may be a significant step in the franchise finally beginning to take them seriously. After all, this is an untapped group of characters just waiting to have their stories told. ShouldStar Warskeep going down this road, the possibilities are limitless.
