As a small kid on the desert World of Tatooine, Darth Vader was able to construct his very own
protocol droid from scrap parts that he collected from a junkyard near his home. Many years later on
the cloudy planet of Bespin, Vader was alerted by his men that his former droid was very close
nearby, sending a rush of emotions and memories flooding back to the Dark Lord of the Sith.
So, I’m going to break down the sad story of the
time Darth Vader remembered building C-3PO as a young Anakin Skywalker
Before we get into it, make sure to hit the subscribe
button for more awesome Star Wars Lore content!
The story begins on Cloud City, Bespin,
where the Millennium Falcon has just touched down on a nearby landing platform.
One of Vader’s officers, Sheckil, who you might remember from the Empire Strikes back,
alerts the Dark Lord that Princess Leia and Captain Solo, along with Chewbacca,
are being led into cloud city by Lando Calrissian.
This places the timeline directly concurrent to the group’s arrival at Bespin from which
the Empire strikes back. Lieutenant Sheckil happens to also mention that there is a droid
accompanying the group, which ignites many memories from Darth Vader’s shadowy past.
The officer also mentions to Vader that “it was lucky the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive
was damaged, or we wouldn’t have reached the Bespin System before the Rebels!”.
Vader sharply responds to his lieutenant, telling him that their Journey to Bespin
had nothing to do with Luck. Vader then firmly orders Sheckil to remind his men to
stay completely out of sight, and only to make a move on the Rebels at his command.
Sheckil is of course Rapidly apologizes to Darth Vader, and agrees to his directive.
Moments later, he receives troubling communication from his transmitter, which further angers Vader.
Sheckil quickly explains to the dark lord that a shiny protocol droid had fallen behind the group
and came across the position of Gamma squad, completely by accident, causing them to blast
the droid to pieces, which of course we saw in the film. Trying to soften the blow,
Sheckil tells Vader that “fortunately, the Princess and the others didn’t hear the shots”.
By this point, Vader is furious at his officer, and tells him that he is very fortunate,
before warning him to not fail again, or face severe consequences. Finally,
the Sith Lord has had enough and orders Sheckil to bring the droid back to him,
under the guise that it may have some valuable information in it’s memory banks. Of course,
Vader knows the true identity of the protocol droid and is desperate to see it once more.
As Lieutenant Sheckil leaves the area, Vader commends bounty hunter Boba Fett
for his very precise work in luring Luke Skywalker to Bespin. Vader even offers
Boba the chance to collect two rewards for his incredible work, instead of the standard fee.
Boba Fett then suggests to Vader that Skywalker would arrive faster if they spread the word
that his friends are in severe Danger. Vader brushed the bounty Hunter’s idea off, saying
“that won’t be necessary, he already knows.”
Moments later, Sheckil quickly arrives back to the same room that they were speaking in before,
flanked by a pair of stormtroopers. In his hands however, is an object that brings a torrent of
pain and suffering back to Vader, as memories once again begin to flow through his mind, all the
way from his life as a slave on Tatooine. Sheckil informs the dark lord that the model is actually a
protocol droid and that it has suffered extensive damage after being blaster to pieces, but Vader
remains silent, as he already knows these painful details and is reminiscing about his dark past.
As Vader places his mechanical hands on the golden, metallic head of his former
protocol droid, a memory engulfs his vision, filling his mind with his past actions.
The memory takes place just as Anakin Skywalker is a child, roaming the dusty streets of Mos
Espa. As young Anakin is trawling through a local junkyard, he comes across the badly damaged head
of an old protocol droid. Anakin excitedly calls over to his friend Kister Banai, you will probably
remember from the Phantom Menace. Kister wonders what Anakin is holding, to which he quickly
explains that it is a droid head. And not one of the Pit droids from the famous Tatooine Pod races.
The young Vader is intensely excited at finding such a rare component.
Kister quickly notes however that the droid’s head is badly beat up, asking Anakin if it may
have been some kind of war droid from the distant past. Anakin doesn’t believe that it could be
because of the extremely thin metal plating. Before we can continue his thought however,
his attention is quickly turned further inside of the Junkyard, where he is amazed to find
that almost all of the components needed to fully rebuild the droid are laying around.
Unfortunately however, the two young Tatooine children are quickly interrupted
by Watto arriving at the junkyard, frantically looking for Anakin.
Watto then confronts Anakin about being missing for far too long, but Anakin says
that he'd rather not give Watto the pleasure of seeing his slave transmitter chip detonate.
Watto coldy responds, “You think I like cleaning up exploded slaves, before laughing maniacally”.
This is incredibly dark. Knowing that the young Anakin, and every other slave on Tatooine would
be blasted into pieces if they wandered too far their homes is absolutely horrifying.
Watto then annoyedly orders Anakin to get back to work,
where he is supposed to be sorting the scrapyard.
Kister asks Anakin why he doesn’t want to tell Watto about the droid, to which he responds,
I found him. He’s mine. Besides, Watto wouldn’t be able to fix him. Anakin
then devises a plan to smuggle each piece of the future protocol droid back to his home,
one piece at a time, hoping to avoid any suspicions from Watto.
Anakin is then overcome with joy as he begins listing all of the things he can do with his
new droids, like running errands, lifting stuff and other basic tasks. He then becomes
even more excited when he realizes that this droid was a cybot Galactica protocol droid.
Kister is very confused at this, having never heard of a protocol droid, causing him to ask
Anakin what that means? Anakin then admits doesn’t know himself, saying he will have
to ask his mum. Anakin then heartbreakingly says, “Maybe he’ll even help me and my mum
leave Tatooine”. So sad to realize the fate of Anakin’s mum and even himself later down the line.
As Anakin places his hands around the droid’s head for one final time, his vision begins to fade back
to the real world, where for a brief moment, Darth Vader is looking over the shoulder of his former
self. The pain and suffering slowly begin to fade from Vader until he is abruptly snapped out of
the dream-like state by Sheckil, who asks Vader if his technicians should recover the memory.
Having experienced such a brutal emotional vision,
Vader walks away briskly giving only the order to destroy the droid,
turning away from his past and refusing to step back into the life of Anakin Skywalker
We then cut straight to the famous scene from Empire Strikes back where Lando’s
betrayal is revealed, before Sheckil is informed that his
men have found something that will interest Lord Vader very greatly.
They actually bring the mangled parts of C-3po back to Vader, which causes him
great anguish and suffering. Seeing them, he again is thrusted back into his past,
this time, while working on the damaged droid inside of his house. Anakin’s mother warns
the young boy that his actions are carless, and may soon attract the attention of Watto,
but Anakin tells her that he felt incredibly sad looking at the badly misshapen droid.
Young Anakin tells his mother that he feels bad for the droid because he wouldn’t have
had any friends, seeing as he was left in a pile junk. His mother tells Anakin that maybe
it talked too much, which Anakin is upset by, saying that she will hurt his feeling.
Shmi tries to talk realism into Anakin, telling him that the droid is just a machine,
but the young Skywalker is simply too nice at his core.
He believes that the droid is just like him, a being with a mind, feelings and emotions.
Finally, his mother warns Anakin that he is now the droid’s maker. She also says,
Just remember, this droid is your responsibility…
and unless you’re prepared to care for it, you don’t deserve to have it.
This line jolts Anakin back into his painful reality, as he places his own metal helmet against
the shiny metallic head of C-3PO, reminiscing for one last time about his childhood friend.
Following this, Vader again disconnected himself from his past,
ordering Sheckil to bring the parts of C-3po back to Chewbacca’s cell, before further telling
him to bring Han Solo to the interrogation chamber, where he has an upcoming appointment.
Vader then attempts to forget about the distant memories in his mind,
walking away from everything, but still struggling to fully let go of the past.
And the story ends with the rest of the events
of the Empire Strikes back taking place just as we saw in the movie.
So that is the heartbreaking story of when
Darth Vader remembered constructing C-3po as a young boy on Tatooine.
Thanks so much for watching, really hope you enjoyed the video. Remember to leave a like and
subscribe down below if you enjoyed the video. Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one.