5. R2-D2 & C-3PO
The droids. Theyve been through it all. Lets start with C-3PO. Because of the Prequels, we know Anakin built him. We know Owen and Beru used him on the farm and why they continued to use droids going into the original trilogy. We know he worked for Padme and, of course, we know why he made friends with R2-D2, but come the end of Episode III and C-3PO gets a memory wipe - all that is gone. However, there are bigger questions. Does Obi-Wan recognise C-3PO? Id say probably, but he also knows about the memory wipe. Do Owen and Beru? 3POs coverings are different and it seems all droids annoy Owen one way or another, so Id say this one is a no. However, the big question is, does Darth Vader? To be fair ,Anakin doesnt see a lot of C-3PO post-Episode II. The droid is very much just there in most scenes that they share, but jumping forward to Empire Strikes Back, the carbon freezing chamber on Cloud City has the pair reunited. Arguably, Jedi and Sith pick up no familiar feelings from droids or Vader wouldnt have taken pot shots at R2 in the back of Luke s X-Wing in New Hope (youd hope anyway) and also Vader is more occupied with the rebels hes caught and testing the the carbon freezing mechanics to catch Luke later. Also 3PO is behind Chewies back a whole lot and not really a part of the scene. Id like to think Anakin, under the helmet, knows thats his droid and secretly wants him back, but theres nothing to indicate that at all. However, theres a lot more going on with R2-D2 - the droid who didnt have his memory wiped. So R2-D2 met Anakin on Tatooine. He helped him in the Battle of Naboo, followed him around the galaxy in Episode II and became his go to droid for space battle in the Clone Wars and beyond. He also followed him to Mustafar and knows full well he didnt come back from there with Obi-Wan. Knowing all this and watching Episode IV again, you cant help but think R2-D2 is super desperate to find Obi-Wan Kenobi for Leia. He seems to know exactly where he needs to go on Tatooine when he argues with 3PO and when he meets Luke Skywalker he still sneaks off in the middle of the night and knows where to find Obi-Wan in order to deliver Leias message. This also raises the question is he not showing Luke the message because of the implications it may have given Lukes secret history? Of course, a lot of this based on feelings and droids dont have them (though C-3PO and R2-D2 do tend to show a lot of them). R2-D2 becomes to Luke what he was to Anakin and in turn Luke treats R2-D2 very much the same way Anakin did in the prequels, with more affection than most people give to droids. R2-D2 knows it all and watching the little droid at work in the original trilogy after coming out of the prequel trilogy adds a whole other spin on the little droids motivations. Sure, we dont know why he doesnt use his jet boosters anymore, but hey, maybe they were never really called for, or got damaged on Dagobah or something. Either way, R2-D2 has followed the Skywalkers from Anakin onwards and I cant wait to see him carry on doing the same in Episode VII.