C-3PO

C-3PO, often called Threepio, was a 3PO-series protocol droid with masculine programming, built and rebuilt by the boy Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine. Designed for etiquette, translation, and diplomacy, he was fluent in millions of forms of communication, though he was as well known for his nervous disposition as for his usefulness. Across decades he served the Skywalker family, the Galactic Republic, the Rebel Alliance, and the Resistance, almost always in the company of the astromech droid R2-D2. (The Phantom Menace; A New Hope; The Force Awakens)

Origins on Tatooine#

The slave boy Anakin Skywalker of Mos Espa on Tatooine built C-3PO from scrap parts so that the droid could help his mother, Shmi. Because droid plating was too expensive, Anakin left C-3PO's wiring exposed for years, and it was in this unfinished state that the droid first met R2-D2, who bluntly observed that he was "naked." The two quickly formed a working friendship while helping Anakin prepare his podracer for the Boonta Eve Classic. By the time Anakin returned to Tatooine ten years later, C-3PO had been fitted with a tarnished gray covering and was working for the Lars family. (The Phantom Menace; Attack of the Clones)

The Clone Wars#

C-3PO served Padmé Amidala through the Clone Wars, often reunited with R2-D2 on her missions. Aboard the Separatist warship Malevolence he was repeatedly knocked about by a hover train before escaping with R2. He accompanied Amidala on a mission to Cato Neimoidia to spy on the Separatist-aligned delegate Rush Clovis, tended to her after she was poisoned, and served drinks at meetings of her informal peace coalition in the Senate. During the Zillo Beast crisis on Coruscant he helped evacuate the Senate building. On a mercy mission to Aleen he served as translator while R2 interfaced with the local equipment, and the Aleena briefly mistook him for a divine messenger. (The Clone Wars, "Destroy Malevolence"; The Clone Wars, "Senate Spy"; The Clone Wars, "Senate Murders"; The Clone Wars, "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back"; The Clone Wars, "Mercy Mission")

Memory wipe and Imperial service#

Around 19 BBY, C-3PO remained at Bail Organa's side in the Imperial Senate as the Imperial Rebirth Act was voted upon. After the Republic became the Galactic Empire and Amidala died, both droids passed to Organa of Alderaan. Unlike R2-D2, C-3PO was given a memory wipe, and he went on to serve as part of the senatorial staff of Organa's adopted daughter, Princess Leia Organa. (Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear; Revenge of the Sith; Rogue One)

The Galactic Civil War#

During the Galactic Civil War C-3PO was at the Rebel Alliance base on Yavin 4 as the fleet prepared for the Battle of Scarif. He served through the conflict alongside R2-D2, complaining all the while that nobody told him anything. He was captured by the elite Imperial unit SCAR Squadron aboard the Harbinger and shown to Darth Vader, who dismissed the droid he had once built as useless junk; R2-D2 mounted a solo rescue to free him. On the Cloud City of Bespin he was blasted apart and reassembled, and he escaped aboard the Millennium Falcon. Prior to the Battle of Endor, he and his companions were captured by the Ewoks, who took the golden droid for a deity. (Rogue One; Star Wars (2015) 25; Star Wars (2015) 26; The Empire Strikes Back; Return of the Jedi)

The Resistance#

In the decades after the Empire's fall, C-3PO came to serve General Organa's Resistance and was charged with running its spy droid network, acting as her spymaster. He helped Poe Dameron uncover and counter First Order infiltration on worlds such as Kaddak, working with the droid BB-8. It was C-3PO who had neglected to activate BB-8's tracker before the droid's fateful mission to Jakku, and who, after the Battle of Starkiller Base, doubted that the dormant R2-D2 held the rest of the map to Luke Skywalker, until the astromech woke and proved him wrong. Around this time his temporary red arm was replaced and he was golden again. (The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary; Poe Dameron 10; The Force Awakens)

During the war's final phase, C-3PO offered to have his own memory wiped so that forbidden Sith text he had translated could be read aloud, telling Poe Dameron that he was taking one last look at his friends. Afterwards R2-D2 restored his memories from a backup. (The Rise of Skywalker)