STAR WARS

The Royal Emissaries

The first characters we meet are the droids - C-3PO and R2-D2.
In the new trilogy we learn that R2 was one of the Queen's droids.
And 3PO was BUILT by Anakin Skywalker when he was a kid!
There were suggestions even in the original trilogy that the droids were indeed than mere tech gear.
In this opening scene C-3PO utters "There'll be no escape for the Princess this time", indicating he knows her.
Later, he claims not to know who she is to Luke - neither the first nor the last dirty robot lie.
Another lie seems to be that they belonged to Captain Antilles, but there is never an attempt to return them to anyone.
That's because they are clearly Leia's droids and are with her and Luke throughout the movies.

These are heirloom droids, gifts to Leia from both her parents.

C-3PO shines gold, emblamatic of his station as protocol droid and translator for Vader and his direct family.
Be careful around this golden automaton - he was built and programmed by Anakin Skywalker - beware Jedi mind tricks.
We'll see this robotic diplomat pull off several feats of subtle manipulation in this movie.

And then there's R2-D2, guardian of the regency.
Astromech aboard the Queens starship and her and her lover Anakin's near constant companion.
Beware of this droid as well - it seems to have a lot of 'special' modifications.
R2 is a spydroid with defensive and offensive weaponry.

Are droids sentient?
There would be no reason to suspect this in our own world, but in Star Wars there is a good deal of evidence that they are.
Almost everything they do could be attributed to subtle and complicated programming, except there are several moments that would seem to indicated droids feel pain, have personalities, and are self directed.
The new trilogy goes even further, with suggestions of droid armies and the Electronic Union.
And there's the strange cultural hatred for droids.
Droids may not be what we think they are at all and we'll be examining them closely as we go.