10 Background Star Wars Characters With Ridiculously Convoluted Backstories

10. R5-D4

While he would go on to appear in more of a supporting capacity during The Mandalorian's third season - helping Din Djarin and pals on Mandalore - when it comes to the original Star Wars trilogy, the astromech known as R5-D4 was little more than an additional background droid.

Before he suddenly blew up not long after being acquired by Luke Skywalker and Uncle Owen and it became clear he had a "bad motivator", though, R5's life had certainly been an interesting one - both in Canon and Non-Canon.

In the former version of his backstory, Arfive worked alongside the Rebel Alliance for a spell before he eventually ended up with the Jawas and having his mind wiped four years before the events of Episode IV - A New Hope. 

Then, when R2-D2 and C-3PO popped up on the same sandcrawler he was travelling on, Artoo attempted to sabotage his fellow astromech as a way of ensuring he was the astromech sold next before explaining how the fate of the galaxy depended on him getting off the vehicle. 

Sure enough, those beeps eventually struck a chord with Arfive, leading to him purposely sabotaging himself so Artoo would be taken by Luke and Owen.

The Non-Canon backstory? Well, it involves Arfive (a.k.a. Skippy in the Skippy the Jedi Droid comic story) being revealed as a Force-sensitive droid (!), experiencing a shocking Force-vision that shows what would happen if he was purchased and not Artoo, and again blowing his own head up on purpose to make sure Artoo completed his mission.

What a hero.