5 Reasons Why It Doesn't Matter How C-3PO Got His Red Arm In Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2. It's Only A Mystery Because Lucasfilm Told You It Was

With all this in mind, it's a wonder anybody was really all that curious about the arm in the first place. And that's kinda the biggest point; organically, no one would be.

C-3PO having a red arm was first rumoured when toy packaging started turning up in the summer of 2015 and later confirmed by the Comic-Con showreel. There was some speculation over what had happened, but interest didn't really pique until, a few days after the Force Friday merchandising event in early September, Lucasfilm announced it'd be explained in a tie-in comic; suddenly everyone involved was talking about it, with a mysterious origin even getting a shout-out in a LEGO short film.

What's so important there is that at no point did fans really drive this. Yes, when it was first revealed people were minorly interested, but only because information was so scarce about the film any detail was dissected massively. When it comes down to it, the arm was only of interest to the Lucasfilm marketing department.