‘Star Wars’ Theory: R2-D2 Plotted Obi-Wan’s Death Out Of Revenge
“Never underestimate a droid.”
If you stop and think about it, the Star Wars stories are driven by droids. Nothing happens in our favorite fandom without our metal friends. There is one droid in particular who was central to the majority of the stories out there. Without R2-D2, there would be no story at all. However, what were his real intentions?
Every film-goer immediately fell in love with our beep-boopy friend. There are pictures of me chasing an early droid replica around a park. To be fair, there is an equal number of photos of me crying at the sight of Darth Vader, but that is a story for another day. R2-D2 seemed to be the most loyal companion a person could ever have. Over the years, the Star Wars world became more fleshed out via subsequent novels, movies, and television shows. As a result, many of us began to see R2-D2 in a slightly different light. While we loved R2 unconditionally, we wondered about its motivations. Why was R2-D2 always so snarky?
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Reddit user u/Zaius_MD recently brought up this particular theory where he pointed out that you cross R2 at your own peril. Perhaps R2-D2 murdered Obi-Wan in retaliation for leaving Anakin for dead on Mustafar. We have seen how the astromech droid could be very acerbic towards his friends and downright devious with perceived enemies. Even though it was the most loyal mechanical companion in all of Star Wars, could R2 be capable of vengeance?
The Theory
Obi-Wan met his demise on the Death Star. He accomplished the task of turning off the tractor beam confining the Millennium Falcon to the Death Star. However, he never left the space station. Instead, he faced Darth Vader, sacrificing himself so that Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2-D2 could escape. His death also served to encourage Luke to fight in the Rebellion.
However, this theory viewed the duel from a different angle. It implied that R2 manufactured the showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. After all, Obi-Wan appeared to find himself trapped, and essentially forced into a confrontation with Darth Vader. Recall that earlier R2 was keyed into the Death Star’s systems, opening and closing doors at will. R2 could have easily manipulated both Obi-Wan and Vader to face each other. R2 positioned Obi-Wan in a place where Darth Vader could finally exact his revenge for Obi-Wan’s actions on Mustafar so many years ago.
R2’s Motivations
Unlike other droids and mechs, R2’s memory was never wiped. The prequel trilogy finished with both C-3PO and R2-D2 onboard the ship Tantive IV at the end of Revenge of the Sith. The protocol droid’s memory was wiped. However, the astromech droid’s was not. Years later, the original trilogy started on the same starship in A New Hope. R2 remembered everything that happened to it and its friends. For example, R2-D2 was with Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar. While R2 may not have witnessed the duel firsthand, it was keenly aware that its best friend Anakin was left for dead there. After all, only Obi-Wan emerged from the fiery duel, and the droid ended up leaving with him.
Eventually, the two droids reunited with Obi-Wan when Luke found him on Tatooine. However, Obi-Wan acted as though he has never met R2. Furthermore, he lied to Luke in front of the droid about knowing what happened to his father. R2 probably thought that Obi-Wan was trying to cover up Anakin’s murder. After all, it may not know or understand all of the other reasons behind their confrontation on Mustafar all those years ago.
An Alternative View
The original theory stated that R2 wanted revenge for Anakin. A more recent twist on this theme was that R2 also wanted Obi-Wan to deal with Anakin once and for all. It recognized that Anakin could not be saved, and Obi-Wan was the only one who could do the deed. R2 could have been upset by Obi-Wan’s actions on Mustafar for failing to put an end to the fledgling Sith once and for all. This meant that Obi-Wan, by extension, was responsible for all of the atrocities committed by Darth Vader too. Thus, the Death Star provided the best opportunity for R2 to exact revenge against Obi-Wan for failing to finishing off Darth Vader.
Perhaps R2 knew that Obi-Wan did not see a way off of the Death Star for himself. After Obi-Wan’s death, the astromech decided to instead devote itself to defending Anakin’s children.
Canon Fodder
This theory has no basis in canon or Legends, for that matter. However, it is a fun one to ponder and discuss. Obi-Wan was never going to make it off of the Death Star one way or another. It is still interesting to speculate on what could have been or think about other conspiracy theories.
While R2-D2 may not actually be capable of murder, it is as loyal to its friends as are we to our astromech droids. We all love and slightly fear this particular droid, the best one to roll off the assembly line at Industrial Automaton.
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Source(s): Yahoo!