R3-S6/Legends

"Master, they just delivered your replacement astromech droid. This is R3-S6. I've heard that the new R3's are far faster in thinking skills and more powerful than the old R2 units."

- Ahsoka Tano, introduces R3-S6 to Anakin Skywalker

R3-S6 was an R3-series astromech droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton on the planet Nubia around the time of the Clone Wars. On his homeworld, R3 was stolen by a group of agents hired by the Confederate General Grievous. They took R3 to the planet Milagro, where the astromech droid underwent reprogramming to become a spy for Grievous. After the reprogrammed R3 was sold to the Galactic Republic to become Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker's new astromech droid, R3 was dropped off inside Skywalker's Venator-class Star Destroyer, the Resolute. R3 then accompanied Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano, as the two Jedi searched for Skywalker's previous astromech droid R2-D2, who was declared missing following a battle in Bothawui space. When the group came across a Trandoshan scavenging freighter in the battle's aftermath debris field, R3, Skywalker, and Tano boarded the vessel to find R2.

After the unsuccessful search onboard the freighter, R3 and Skywalker embarked on a new mission of sweeping through suspected Confederate space. Their mission was thwarted by Grievous, who tracked Skywalker via the Jedi Knight's starfighter homing beacon. Both R3 and Skywalker evaded Grievous and docked with Skywalker's freighter, the Twilight. Inside the Twilight, R3 and Tano received a transmission from R2, and Skywalker ordered them to track the signal, which led the group to Skytop Station, a Confederate listening post. After entering the station, Skywalker went to find R2, while R3, Tano, and a group of clone troopers left to destroy the station's reactor core. Grievous, however, confronted Tano's group, and the Padawan engaged him, though retreated with R3 to a storage room. There, Tano saw R3 conferring with Grievous, revealing the droid's allegiance. R3 left the room and found the rescued R2 with Skywalker in the base's hangar. After Skywalker ordered R2 to find a terminal outside the base to open the hangar's doors, R3 secretly followed the droid outside, and attacked him with various slicing tools he had hidden in him. However, R2 defeated R3, and the spy astromech droid perished when he was hit by flying debris.

Republic spy
"A gold droid&hellip;for Gold Leader&hellip;of Gold Squadron!"

- Ahsoka Tano to Anakin Skywalker

An R3-series astromech droid, R3-S6 was manufactured by Industrial Automaton on the planet Nubia around the time of the Clone Wars. While most R3-series astromech droids had clear-transparent domes, some droids&mdash;such as R3-S6&mdash;were shipped with salvaged R2-series domes. Because of the war effort between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, droid units were needed, and even if the droid had minor defects, it had to be available for purchase. In 21 BBY, the Confederate General Grievous hired agents to steal an astromech droid from Industrial Automaton on Nubia. The agents took R3-S6 and the droid was shipped to the planet Milagro. Secretly inside a Republic base on Milagro, R3 secretly underwent heavy reprogramming to become a spy for Grievous.

The reprogramming was successful, and R3, now serving as Grievous' spy, was sold to the Galactic Republic. R3 became Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker's new astromech droid after the latter lost his previous droid, R2-D2, during the Battle of Bothawau. After the Jedi Knight contacted Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda via hologram, and told them of his dilemma, the two Jedi told Skywalker his new droid&mdash;R3&mdash; was to be delivered to him. Right after he was dropped off inside Skywalker's Venator-class Star Destroyer, the Resolute, R3 met Ahsoka Tano, the Padawan of Skywalker. Tano inspected the droid near Skywalker's freighter, the Twilight. When Skywalker joined Tano near the freighter, Tano introduced R3 to her master, and revealed he was his new assigned astromech droid. In an attempt to relieve Skywalker's sadden feelings over the loss of R2, Tano pointed out R3's color scheme&mdash;gold. Since her master was leader of the Republic Navy's Gold Squadron, Tano believed R3 would make a good companion for the Jedi Knight. Likewise, Tano began to nickname the droid, "Goldie," because of the droid's color scheme.

However, Skywalker wanted to find R2-D2. When Skywalker and Tano boarded the Twilight, R3 joined the two onboard. The freighter left the Resolute, and Skywalker piloted it through a debris field&mdash;remnants of the Battle of Bothuwai&mdash;to find his lost droid. After Tano saw a Trandoshan freighter, named the Vulture's Claw, nearby, Skywalker concluded that the owner of the ship was scavenging through the debris field, and that R2 must had been captured. Skywalker docked with the freighter, and left the Twilight with Tano and R3 in order to find find his lost droid. The freighter's owner, Gha Nachkt, greeted the two Jedi, and took interest in R3. When Nachkt offered to trade a C-14 droid in exchange for R3, Tano rejected his deal. Skywalker, however, told Nachkt they wanted to find his R2-series astromech droid and would pay him credits if he had R2 in his ship. Nachkt allowed the two Jedi to search through his freighter's cargo room for R2. Inside the room, Skywalker ordered R3 to search through the ship's computer manifest to locate R2. Immediately after, a sound was heard by the Jedi Knight, who concluded that it was R2.

After coming across a door, behind which Skywalker believed R2 was being held, Skywalker ordered R3 to open the door. Instead, R3 activated the cargo room's lights and a pair of IG-86 sentinel droids. After Skywalker and Tano had destroyed the two droids, Skywalker began to express his feelings toward R3 for disobeying him. Unbeknownst to Skywalker and Tano, Nachkt was listening on the two Jedi behind a nearby door. After R3 opened the door, Skywalker pointed his lightsaber at the Trandoshan's neck and demanded him to bring him his droid. However, Tano insisted that R2 wasn't on the ship. With the mission to find R2 onboard Nachkt's ship a failure, the two Jedi and R3 boarded the Twilight and redocked with the Resolute. Back on the Resolute, Skywalker told his Padawan that he was about to begin a mission of sweeping through suspected Confederate space. Tano, realizing her master needed a droid for the mission, told him that he should bring R3 with him. Skywalker, however, still had doubts of R3, due to him disobeying his orders on the Vulture's Claw.

Yet, Skywalker gave into Tano's wish and allowed R3 to join him. Skywalker's starfighter, with R3 and Skywalker onboard, departed from the Resolute hangar, docked with a hyperdrive docking ring, and jumped into hyperspace. Shortly after emerging from hyperspace, Skywalker ordered R3 to activate his starfighter's long-range scanners. Although, R3, instead, activated the fighter's tracking beacon. The signal alerted Grievous' nearby fleet and soon a group of Munificent-class frigates arrived near R3's and Skywalker's location. After ordering R3 to prepare to jump into hyperspace, the droid detached the starfighter from the hyperdrive ring, which depleted their chance of escape. Eventually, Vulture droids left the frigates and attacked the starfighter, but Skywalker successfully destroyed them all with his fighter's blaster cannons. When R3 deactivated the blaster cannons and the starfighter's engines, more Vulture droid appeared. However, the droids were destroyed, thanks to the timely intervention of Tano and Captain CC-7567, nicknamed "Rex," who were onboard the Twilight. R3 reactivated the fighter's engines, enabling Skywalker to pilot the starfighter into the Twilight rear cargo bay. Both Skywalker and R3 joined Tano and Rex inside the Twilight cockpit.

Allegiance revealed
"R3, what do you have to report?"

- Grievous to R3

R2-D2, who was, in fact, onboard the Vulture's Claw, managed to send a transmission to the Twilight. Shortly after receiving R2's transmission, Tano and R3 reported it to Skywalker. Skywalker ordered R3 to strengthen the signal, though the droid decreased its reception. When Skywalker regained the signal's strength, he ordered Rex, who was piloting the Twilight, to track the signal, which led the group to the moon Ruusan 2. As the Twilight hovered above the discovered Confederate listening post, Skytop Station, Skywalker wanted to let Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi know of the station's presence. After he ordered R3 to contact Kenobi using scramble code "1477," Skywalker told Kenobi of his plan of rescuing R2 in the station with R3, his Padawan, and a group of clones. As the Jedi Knight prepared his mission of rescuing R2, Tano joined Rex in the cockpit of the Twilight and gave him the duty of holding R3, as the group was required to free-fall down toward the station.

Behind the Twilight rear cargo bay, Skywalker, Tano, Rex, R3, and a group of clones down free-fell toward Skytop Station's hull. While the two Jedi used the Force to help them descend toward the station, Rex and his men utilized their JT-12 jetpacks. Having landed on top of the station, Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut a hole through the station's hull, allowing the group to enter. Once inside, R3 used his scomp link to access a port, which then displayed a holomap of the station. Skywalker ordered Tano and Rex to destroy the station's reactor core, while he would separate from the group to find his lost droid. R3, Tano and the clones soon departed to find the reactor core room. R3 eventually broke away from the group to report to Grievous; he told the cyborg General of Skywalker's plan of destroying the station. R3 ended his transmission with Grievous when Tano appeared near him, and rejoined her and the clones. The group made their way to the reactor room, which was protected by a ray shielded door. Tano gave R3 the task of deactivating the ray shield, though a group of B1 and B2 battle droids spotted the group from a nearby hallway. A firefight broke out, but Tano and the clones successfully destroyed the droids. However, Grievous, who came to their location through the reactor room, confronted the group. As R3 stood and watched, Tano engaged the cyborg General in a lightsaber duel, though she soon fled the area. R3 followed Tano to a storage room, where she hid from Grievous for sometime. Near a dark corridor, Tano saw R3 and alerted him to come toward her. Instead, R3 turned on his astromech droid light and flashed it at Tano, which alerted Grievous. The Padawan evaded the General's attack, and hid from him once again. Soon, Grievous walked up to R3 and the droid began to confer with him. Tano overheard their discussion, and found out that R3 was a spy. R3 departed the storage room, and found Rex and clone trooper Denal near the reactor core room. The trio made their way toward the station's hangar bay, only to find the rescued R2 with Skywalker near the Twilight. After Skywalker wanted know of his Padawan's whereabouts, Rex revealed that she had engaged Grievous in a lightsaber duel. The Clone Captain offered to take Skywalker to her last reported location, though R3 closed the hangar bay's entry blast doors, and activated a pair of Vulture droids.

After witnessing this, Skywalker concluded that R3 was a spy. When the Vulture droids began to attack Skywalker and the clones, Skywalker ordered R2 to go outside the station and open the hangar bay's door through an astromech port, which would allow the Twilight to evacuate the station. Outside the station, R3 secretly followed R2. On a catwalk, which led to the astromech port, R3 slammed into R2. The two utilized their slicing tools to fight each other. To end the brawl, R2 used his shock arm, which briefly incapacitated R3. The droid then activated his rocket boost jets, before releasing a stream of oil on the catwalk. R3, however, avoided being incinerated, but failed to notice R2's following attack of pushing him off the catwalk. Not allowing himself to be destroyed, R3 used his tow cable to hang onto R2; however, R2 used his cutting saw and sliced the cable, which caused R3 to fall off the catwalk. Flying debris hit R3, which destroyed the droid.

Characteristics
"What is the matter with you? Are you trying to get us killed?"

- Anakin Skywalker to R3

Due to his reprogramming, R3 showed a lack of competence to others. Upon being sent to the Republic, R3's main objective was to spy on his assigned new master. However, his reprogramming corrupted his ability to comply and understand his new master, Anakin Skywalker, and only obey his true master, Grievous. R3 showed faith within Grievous, and obeyed him whenever he gave the droid an order. When R3 was with Skywalker, the droid did not show his true self to the Jedi Knight. Instead, R3 disobeyed Skywalker frequently on various missions. As a result, Skywalker began to feel doubtful of the droid. At times, R3 ignored Tano's orders. His disobedience was also noticed by Clone Captain Rex himself during the Mission to Skytop Station. During the mission, Rex did not trust R3 with opening the ray-shielded protected blast door, which protected the main reactor room of the station.

Behind the scenes
The astromech droid R3-S6 was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. Before the series began, R3 was first mentioned in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide, in which he received a dual-page spread. In November 7th of the same year, R3 first appeared in the episode "Downfall of a Droid." In the following week, R3 appeared in the episode "Duel of the Droids" in which R3 was destroyed. Despite his canonical death, R3 received an entry in the The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. In 2009, R3 was featured in a few The Clone Wars-related sourcebooks&mdash;such as The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Official Episode Guide: Season 1. R3's origin and where he was reprogrammed was revealed in the The Clone Wars season one "decoded" episodes and in the featurette for the "Downfall of a Droid" episode that was included in the season one DVD set. R3 later received an entry in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia, released in July 2010.

Inconsistencies
In the The Clone Wars visual guide, it was said that Grievous' agents were in the Republic military and sabotaged R3's programming and arranged for him to be sent to Bothawui, indicating R3 was part of the Republic. However, later sources, such as The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia and the "Downfall of a Droid" decoded episode, said that R3 was taken to Milagro to be reprogrammed. The confusion remains, but in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia, R3 was said to be taken to Milagro and reprogrammed in a Republic base.

There were also a few errors between "Downfall of a Droid" and Wild Space. In the novel, Anakin did his sweeps through suspected Confederate space soon after mission to the Vulture's claw. When Anakin contacted Yoda and Windu, the Jedi told Anakin that his new droid would be arriving shortly, indicating R3 wasn't assigned to him yet. In the episode, however, R3 was assigned to Anakin before both missions. In Wild Space, the Jedi Council sent the droid to Anakin.

In Forces of Darkness, it was said that Grievous was the one who reprogrammed him, only to spy on Anakin and sabotage his missions. In the The Clone Wars visual guide, it was said that R3 was built with a scavenged R2-series dome, but in Forces of Darkness, R3 originated with a clear/transparent R3-series dome.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Wild Space
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Downfall of a Droid
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi in Training
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Forces of Darkness
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi in Training
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Forces of Darkness

Notes and references
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