7

I find the concept of droids such as Artoo and Threepio having personality, emotions and some level of intelligence really interesting, when they are pretty much considered slaves/servants with masters. See also Is C-3PO a slave?.

Artoo flew with Vader to Mustafar, while C-3PO travelled there with Padme. I think if Vader had beaten Obi-Wan, and claimed ownership of the droids, they might have tried to escape out of allegiance to Padme, but let's pretend up until this point they were both considered Anakin's property, moreso than Padme's.

Would they have willingly accepted Vader as their master and helped him wipe out the Jedi and rebellion (if they had any use), or do they have some sort of moral compass and would have tried to escape or foil the empire's plans?

tomturton
  • 1,200
  • 11
  • 13
  • 3
    I think R2-D2 would've rebelled but C-3PO would have gladly served "Anakin" - not really realizing he's gone, from certain point of view. – Relix Feb 02 '16 at 13:48

1 Answers1

6

Droids in the Star Wars universe have free will. However, that free will can be broken by installing a Restraining Bolt. This technology would not exist if droid rebellion would not be a possibility.

Whether C-3PO and/or R2-D2 would have rebelled against Vader or not is pure speculation, but when they would have shown signs of disobedience, Vader could have installed restraining bolts to ensure their loyalty.

Philipp
  • 3,745
  • 1
  • 22
  • 29
  • OR he could have just done a memory clean, which would have been more effective than any bolt (r2 has the nasty habit of removing them as seen in the clone wars) – Thomas Feb 02 '16 at 16:29
  • @Thomas Does a memory wipe also reset the personality and moral values of a droid? I thought it only resets the long-term memory. – Philipp Feb 02 '16 at 16:46
  • at least the talks about R2 getting one indicated that the personality can or does change (that was in the clone wars episode where r2 got captured). But as far as I know there is nothing really concrete on that behalf that si countable as canon. – Thomas Feb 02 '16 at 16:47
  • @Thomas Do you remember which one of the 121 episodes of Clone Wars this was? – Philipp Feb 02 '16 at 16:49
  • http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Duel_of_the_Droids and the episdoe before this (it was a 2 parter if my memory serves right) – Thomas Feb 02 '16 at 16:54