10 Important Star Wars Details That Are Almost Never Mentioned

8. Droids Can Possess Human Levels Of Sentience

Luke Skywalker Star Wars Return of the Jedi
Disney

Some of the most beloved characters in Star Wars are droids, with the likes of C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8 delivering many highlight moments in the movies they appear in.

Despite this popularity though, something that the movies (and the fans, for that matter) never really discuss is that droids can possess incredibly high levels of sentience, and yet, they're often treated as emotionless, disposable, or even just as jokes.

Take C-3PO in Return of the Jedi, who seems terrified at the prospect of working for Jabba, and even expresses self-doubt, wondering aloud if he did something to warrant Luke leaving him behind. We laugh at C-3PO because, well, he's a funny character, but if you stop and think about the level of independent thought he's displaying here, then it starts to feel wrong that he's treated like mere property.

In that same movie, we even see a gonk droid screaming with pain while being tortured, which makes you think about all the other times droids have been damaged or mistreated throughout the franchise, and how they must've felt.

Though the concept of "droid rights" was touched on in Solo: A Star Wars Story (via Lando's droid L3-37), it's an issue that the movies have never done justice, despite the crucial role various droids have played in almost every single film.

In this post: 
Star Wars
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.