R4-P17/Legends

"R4, prepare to jettison spare part canisters."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi to R4-P17

R4-P17, nicknamed R4, or Arfour, was the astromech droid attached to Obi-Wan Kenobi's Delta-7 Aethersprite-class starfighter and was often on board his Delta-7B Aethersprite-class starfighter and Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor prior to and during the Clone Wars.

History
The droid originally possessed the R4-series's trademark conical head dome, but was involved in a messy incident while trying to repair a trash compactor on Gyndine, resulting in the droid being crushed. Anakin Skywalker, on a visit to the shipyards to inspect the Jedi customizations to the Delta-7, found R4's wreck and rebuilt her with an R2-series dome. From that point on the communal property of the Jedi Temple, R4 became the prototype for other integrated droid navigators in Jedi ships. As part of the Delta-7, the astromech had a truncated body, which was, after her destruction, permanently attached to the ship.



Prior to the Clone Wars, she helped Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to follow Jango Fett's Slave I from Kamino to Geonosis. The fighter that she was in was recovered after or during the battle that took place later.

During the Clone Wars, the Jedi began to transition away from the Delta-7. R4 was given a full astromech body, white, with red trim, to make her compatible with the new Delta-7B Aethersprite-class interceptor and Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor used by General Kenobi. However, before she received her full body, Obi-Wan temporarily used a droid called R4-G9. After he switched back to R4-P17, Obi-Wan requisitioned a direct link between the two droids to ensure all flight performance records could be transferred between them.

R4 also journeyed to Tatooine, to negotiate with Jabba Desilijic Tiure and participated in the Battle of Teth. Later on in the war, she traveled to Rodia to stop the bounty hunter Cad Bane from kidnapping Wee Dunn, and to Mandalore when Kenobi was investigating rumors of the Duchess Satine Kryze creating an army for the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

R4-P17 later suffered extreme damage due to her dome being pulled apart by a buzz droid attack in the Battle of Coruscant while aboard Kenobi's Eta-2. The remains of the droid were lost for good when the rear half of Invisible Hand was severed while Skywalker and Kenobi tried to land the damaged flagship.

Obi-Wan lamented the loss of R4-P17, as the droid had been a competent unit. He was soon after assigned R4-G9, whom had served as his interim astromech during the later stages of the Clone Wars.

Behind the scenes
R4-P17 was originally supposed to be chained to one of the posts in the Geonosian execution arena along with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker. However, this was changed, and her destruction (death) was moved to the Battle of Coruscant.

In the novelization of Attack of the Clones, Boba and Jango Fett are able to recognize R4-P17 as an R4-P class droid. However, since this droid had the turret dome of an R2 unit, and since only its head was visible, the Fetts would not have been able to guess its true class.

"That's a negative on Arfour. Buzz droid got him."

- Anakin Skywalker informs Obi-Wan of R4's demise (and mistakes the droid's gender), marking a drastic change from the movie's portrayal of events.

In the Revenge of the Sith novel, she is mistakenly (and repeatedly) referred to as retaining male programming. In the same book, she is also described as being partially crippled by a cannon shot from a droid fighter before her destruction, which in turn is not described in detail, other than the fact that Anakin Skywalker witnessed it.

At some points in Revenge of the Sith, R4-P17's body appears red with white trim.

In LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, R4-P17 is a playable character. In this version, she accompanies Obi-Wan Kenobi into Tipoca City (this change was made to enable the two-player drop-in/ drop-out co-op created for the game). However, R4-P17's dome in the game does not feature a mostly red color scheme; instead, it has a color scheme similar to that of R2-M5. This essentially complied with the 2002 Jedi Starfighter model, which featured R4-P17 in this color. On LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, her head now is correct, but the body is all red.

Appearances

 * Full of Surprises
 * Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones novel
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones junior novel
 * Precipice
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars film
 * Didj Star Wars: The Clone Wars
 * Star Wars: Republic 53: Blast Radius
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars