Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love R2-D2. He is funny, caring, brave, and incredibly intuitive. He is more human than many of the characters in Star Wars and his smart-ass personality is endearing. But he is also a pretty big jerk for one pretty glaring reason... he knows the whole story and never tells anyone!
R2 first came into the Star Wars picture when he is introduced to Obi-Wan and Anakin in The Phantom Menace after saving the Queen's ship from destruction during the escape from Naboo. From then on he and Anakin are almost inseparable. He his Anakin's loyal companion throughout the events of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. When Anakin is in danger, R2 is always there to help and can stand up for himself as seen on Geonosis and on Count Dooku's flagship. While witness to some of Anakin, Obi-wan, and the rest of the Jedi Order's greatest moments, he is also witness to one of its darkest. He is there when Anakin chokes Padme on the landing platform on Mustafar and sees the ferocious fight between Anakin and Obi-wan. He was privy to the information that Anakin was Darth Vader, that he slaughtered the Jedi younglings, was involved in the death of Padme, and was a willing participant in the almost complete eradication of the Jedi. He also knew that Padme gave birth to twins called Luke and Leia, that they were seperated at birth, one went with Obi-wan to Tatooine and the other with Senator Bael Organa to Alderaan. He knew absolutely everything. It is at this point that R2's story gets interesting.
Then aboard the Tantive IV docked at Naboo, Senator Organa places R2 and C3PO under the care of Captain Antillies (who will eventually be killed by Darth Vader in the opening of Episode IV). He also orders C3P)'s memory to be wiped. I have always assumed this is because C3PO has a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and can't keep secrets well. But it also seems like a security risk. If the wrong person happened to capture him and manually extract sensitive information, Luke, Leia, Obi-wan, and the entire galaxy could be at risk. So why wasn't R2's memory also wiped? Wouldn't he have been the same security risk?
In the end, R2 is allowed to walk (roll) free and also laughs at his friend's misfortune. So what does this mean in the long run? Well, it means that R2 knew critical information that could have aided the rebellion and Luke and Leia during the entire original trilogy. He knew who Luke Skywalker was, that he was the son of his former friend and master Anakin Skywalker who was now Darth Vader. He knew that Obi-wan was hiding on Tatooine. He knew that Leia was Luke's sister. He also knew Yoda when he and Luke meet him on Dagobah. He even fought over a flashlight with a former colleague whom he had actually traveled with to Dagobah before! He lets Luke be a jerk to the greatest Jedi in the galaxy. He had so much stored knowledge about the history of the Jedi and the Skywalker family that it isn't even funny! He lets Luke become shocked and emotionally scared when he learns that Vader is his father when he could have lessened the blow. He could have prevented all of the flirting Luke and Leia did early on. He could have helped the rebellion with a plan because he was a brilliant strategist who knew all the ins and outs of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and many other places in the Empire. He could have helped with assassination attempts, battle plans, anything. Instead he seems to tell no one anything, lets them all run around misinformed, and look stupid. Its almost if he was playing some sick game and was enjoying it. For example, when he and 3PO split up after landing on Tatooine with the Death Star plans, he is adamant about going one direction, and chastises 3PO for wanting to go the other direction. He never explains that he as been here before and probably knows around where Obi-wan lives. He just lets 3PO go off on his own with no guarantees that 3PO will survive.
Long story short, R2-D2 is a kind of a jerk. This all can be rectified if in Rebels or in a spin-off movie R2 is given orders by Obi-wan or Ahsoka or Senator Organa not to reveal ANY information to anyone. It also needs to be paired with adequate explanation why revealing such information would be more damaging than not. It would be nice if this possible character flaw could be resolved in a way that makes R2 even more of a hero than he already is.
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