10 Background Star Wars Characters More Important Than You Think

6. R5-D4

R5D4 Star Wars
Lucasfilm

You know what? I have a lot of time for R5-D4. Dude's just a little red astromech trying their hardest after being scooped up by some screaming aliens with big glowing eyes, and then, just when he has the chance to escape, his motivator fries. You've got to feel just a *little* bit sorry for them.

But consider this: what if R5's motivator didn't conk out? R2-D2 would've been left on the sandcrawler and the Rebel Alliance would've been doomed. It's a remarkable turn of luck that his parts were as knackered as they (were when you really think about it).

BUT AHA - this wasn't luck at all. In actual fact, R5 is one of the biggest unsung heroes in Rebel history. As was revealed in the first From a Certain Point of View collection in 2017 (in "The Red One", by Rae Carson), R5 was actually an agent of the Rebel Alliance before he was captured by the Jawas and had his memory wiped. The poor little astromech was desperate to be sold, and when the big day finally arrived, the droid was legitimately excited.

However, before he could make it to the Lars homestead, R2 spoke to R5 and told him about his secret mission. R5 then nobly malfunctioned his own motivator on purpose, ensuring his friend escaped from the Jawas, and would be able to pass on Princess Leia's message to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Thankfully, it all worked out for R5 in the end. After rendezvousing with the Rebels a short while later, he eventually found work with Peli Motto in Mos Eisley. Here's hoping it won't be long until he's sipping Fuzzy Tauntauns and sunbathing in a well-earned retirement somewhere that's not Tatooine.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.