R5-D4

"This R2 unit has a bad motivator. Look."

- Luke Skywalker

R5-D4, also called "Red" by Luke Skywalker, was a red and white-striped R2 series astromech droid owned by a group of Jawas on Tatooine in the early days of the Galactic Civil War. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, the Jawas attempted to sell him to Owen Lars, but the droid's motivator malfunctioned, so he purchased R2-D2 in R5-D4's place.

Biography
"Come on, Red, let's go!"

- Luke Skywalker

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, the astromech droid known as R5-D4 was in the possession of a group of Jawas on Tatooine, where these Jawas worked as junkers. The Jawa sandcrawler that carried him stopped at the moisture farm owned by the Lars family, including Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Lars and Skywalker were interested in purchasing droids from the Jawas, and Lars chose R5-D4 for purchase, as well as the protocol droid C-3PO. As Lars talked to the Jawas about the purchase, Skywalker began leading C-3PO and R5-D4 towards his home, when R5-D4's motivator malfunctioned. In its place, Lars instead purchased R2-D2, C-3PO's companion and, along with the protocol droid, secretly a member of the Rebel Alliance.

R5-D4's malfunctioning led to Skywalker discovering a message within R2-D2 from Leia Organa, the Princess of Alderaan, which was soon delivered to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi as per Organa's instruction to R2-D2. As a result of owning R2-D2 instead of R5-D4, Skywalker joined with Kenobi and soon destroyed the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. He later trained as a Jedi Knight and ultimately redeemed his father, Darth Vader, who killed Emperor Sheev Palpatine and brought balance to the Force.

At some point, he was also associated with the Rebel Alliance.

Behind the scenes
After the character appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, R5-D4 was featured in a number of Star Wars Legends stories. One such story was Skippy the Jedi Droid, an Infinities story from the 1999 comic book anthology Star Wars Tales 1. The story posited that the character, nicknamed Skippy, could use the Force. After seeing a vision of Luke Skywalker's future, Skippy made it appear that his motivator malfunctioned so that Owen Lars could purchase R2-D2 and Skywalker could fulfill his destiny as a Jedi Knight.

Another storyline, first included in the 1989 roleplaying game sourcebook Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope, had R5-D4 as an ordinary droid who was eventually purchased by Rebel Alliance historian and spy Voren Na'al. As part of the Rebel Alliance, R5-D4 helped Na'al spy on the Imperial forces on Tatooine and provided background information for official Alliance profiles for R2-D2 and C-3PO.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Story Before The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * A New Hope Read-Along Storybook and CD