C-3PO/Legends

"I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."

- C-3PO

C-3PO, also spelled See-Threepio, also called Threepio for short, was a protocol droid&mdash;a droid specifically designed to interact with organics. C-3PO's TranLang III Communicator module combined with his AA-1 VerboBrain allowed him to be fluent in over six million forms of communication. He was also equipped with over thirty secondary functions. C-3PO was generally seen with his counterpart, R2-D2, a small, wheeled R2-series astromech droid. C-3PO's main function as a protocol droid was to assist with etiquette, customs, and translation so that meetings of different cultures ran smoothly. In his time, C-3PO loyally served over forty masters. He hated adventure and space travel, as they often resulted in him coming out on the wrong end of a fight, losing parts, and having them reattached, sometimes incorrectly. Along with R2-D2, C-3PO played a pivotal role in galactic history, however lowly he may have thought of himself.

Original activations
"I didn't have many friends when I was a kid, so I built one."

- Anakin Skywalker to Padmé Amidala

C-3PO was originally activated on the Cybot Galactica foundry world of Affa in the year 112 BBY. Nearly eighty years later, his head and gutted chassis had been discarded in a street of the city of Mos Espa on Tatooine, and were discovered by two Human youths, Anakin Skywalker and Kitster Banai. A poor slave, Skywalker decided to rebuild the 3PO-series protocol droid, and began smuggling C-3PO to his home piece by piece. Skywalker's intention was that the reactivated protocol droid would function as a servant to his mother, helping her with chores around the house while he worked at a nearby junk shop. C-3PO's gyro-balance circuitry was several decades old, but Skywalker was able to use scrounged and improvised replacement parts to make the droid functional again. C-3PO boasted sound wiring, as well as a standard protocol droid verbobrain and communicator module, but Skywalker could not afford even the simplest of droid coverings, and as such, left the droid's wiring exposed. C-3PO's salvaged nature imbued special qualities in him that were absent from other protocol droids.

Skywalker sometimes brought C-3PO with him when bartering with nearby Jawa traders, and employed the droid's fluency in over six million forms of communication after discovering a wounded Tusken Raider. With the assistance of C-3PO's translation, Skywalker was able to nurse the Tusken Raider back to health, although the Raider grew annoyed with the protocol droid and roared at him to "shut up".

Race for freedom
"He's perfect."

- Padmé Amidala after meeting C-3PO

When Skywalker met several off-worlders in the shop of his owner, the junk dealer Watto, he invited them to the safety of his home as refuge from a coming sandstorm. The Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the Queen of Naboo Padmé Amidala, the Gungan Jar Jar Binks, and the astromech droid R2-D2 were brought to the slave quarters that Skywalker shared with his mother Shmi, and Amidala and R2-D2 were introduced to C-3PO. Upon meeting R2-D2, C-3PO was shocked when the candid astromech droid commented that he was "naked". Despite the exchange, the two droids fast developed a friendship of sorts, working together to help Skywalker make final adjustments to his podracer in time to race it in the Boonta Eve Classic race. While working on the racer, the two droids discussed space travel and noted the clumsy actions of Binks.

On the day of the race, C-3PO represented his Maker in the opening flag parade, carrying Skywalker's flag onto the course prior to the start of the race. He then stood on the sidelines with R2-D2 and two of Skywalker's playmates, Banai and W. Wald, who cheered their friend on. Skywalker won the race, which, thanks to a deal that Jinn had struck with Watto, earned the boy his freedom from slavery and secured Jinn the hyperdrive generator he needed to leave the planet. As Skywalker prepared to depart Tatooine, he said his goodbyes to C-3PO, apologizing for not having completed the droid's construction, and expressing his wishes that Shmi wouldn't sell him.

A new home, an old friend
Two years later, Shmi covered C-3PO with dull silver plating so that he might last longer in Tatooine's sandy environment. In another three years, Shmi, who was still in the possession of Watto, was sold to Cliegg Lars, a moisture farmer who lived with his son Owen on a farm in the Great Chott Salt Flat near the city of Anchorhead. Lars married Shmi and freed her from her bonds; Shmi brought C-3PO with her, and the droid served the Lars family at their home for another five years. In 22 BBY, shortly after Shmi was kidnapped by a group of Tusken Raiders, C-3PO was working on a moisture vaporator on the property when Skywalker, now a Jedi Padawan, arrived with Amidala, now a senator of the Galactic Republic. Greeting his Maker, C-3PO discovered that Skywalker had come in search of his mother, and brought the two guests into the homestead's courtyard, where they were met by Owen and Cliegg Lars, as well as Owen's girlfriend Beru Whitesun. Learning of his mother's peril, Skywalker took Owen's speeder bike to find her, and soon returned with her corpse, having recovered it from a Tusken camp. C-3PO was present when he arrived, and later attended a funeral for Shmi on the farm's property. When R2-D2, who had been waiting aboard Amidala's nearby yacht, interrupted the funeral with an urgent message for the Padawan, C-3PO translated the astromech's binary beeps and whistles. After viewing the holocomm message, Skywalker and Amidala prepared to depart Tatooine for Geonosis to rescue Skywalker's Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Owen gave C-3PO to Skywalker as a parting gift.

The Battle of Geonosis
"There's been some terrible mistake. I'm programmed for etiquette, not destruction!"

- C-3PO during the Battle of Geonosis

Landing the senator's yacht inside an exhaust vent on Geonosis, Skywalker and Amidala set out, leaving the droids behind. R2-D2 insisted on following them, but C-3PO disagreed and claimed to be in charge. The astromech droid ignored his friend and set out, and C-3PO reluctantly followed. Within the planet's catacombs, Geonosian warriors swarmed by the droids in a flight from Skywalker's lightsaber; the droids soon discovered an entrance to a battle droid factory, within which Skywalker and Amidala were battling Geonosian warriors. As C-3PO viewed the scene before him in awe, he found the concept of "machines making machines" quite perverse, but was knocked off of the platform on which he stood by R2-D2 before he could comment further.

With C-3PO out of his way, R2-D2 activated his booster jets and soared through the factory in an effort to protect Amidala. C-3PO, meanwhile, tumbled onto a moving platform, but was tossed off by a large droid's mechanical arm. After landing on a conveyor belt, he righted himself and walked along the belt's length before his head was knocked off by moving machinery. His head landed on a conveyor belt which carried the heads of B1 battle droids, and his body wandered onto a separate belt which carried the battle droids' bodies. Unaware of the mix-up, the machines continued their construction, which resulted in C-3PO's head being grafted to a battle droid's body, and his body receiving a battle droid's head.

Both incarnations of C-3PO joined a force of B1 battle droids that soon marched into a Geonosian execution arena. Once inside, the droids surrounded a strike force of 200 Jedi that had arrived to rescue Skywalker, Amidala, and Kenobi, all of whom had been captured and scheduled for execution. Fighting in the name of the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems, the battle droids attacked the Jedi; the battle droid head grafted to C-3PO's body found itself unable to properly fight, while C-3PO's head was very unnerved by its autonomous body, and began apologizing to any Jedi that the body fired its E-5 blaster rifle at. However, both incarnations soon suffered a mix-up of programming: C-3PO's body fired several shots from his rifle until a bolt deflected from a lightsaber separated it from its battle droid head; the protocol droid's head began screaming insults at the Jedi Knights that its battle droid body fired laser blasts at. The Jedi Master Kit Fisto was able to neutralize the threat posed by the latter incarnation, however, by using the Force to knock it onto the arena floor, where a B2 super battle droid fell on top of it, effectively putting it out of the battle.

R2-D2 entered the melee and used his cable gun to detach C-3PO's head from its battle droid body, before dragging it across the arena and reattaching it to the correct torso. As the remaining battle droids overwhelmed the Jedi, the Jedi Master Yoda arrived with a large force of the newly-commissioned Grand Army of the Republic, and the fighting spilled out of the arena, soon leaving R2-D2, C-3PO, and the young clone Boba Fett as its sole occupants. The Republic Army soon won the battle, launching a galactic war between the Republic and the Confederacy. Shortly after the battle, R2-D2 and C-3PO accompanied Amidala and Skywalker back to Naboo, where they were the lone witnesses to a wedding between the two in the planet's Lake Country.

From silver to gold
"In the service of a senator, one must be presentable."

- C-3PO on his new gold plating

C-3PO was given to Senator Amidala as a wedding gift from Skywalker, and the droid would go on to serve as Amidala's personal protocol droid throughout most of the Clone Wars. When on Naboo, the senator often assigned C-3PO to assist the Naboo Royal Council. Early in the war, C-3PO was on the galactic capital of Coruscant, and along with the senator and R2-D2, witnessed Skywalker depart the planet in a starfighter on his way to lay siege to Muunilinst. Following the defense of Naboo and the bio-plague of Ohma-D'un unleashed by the Confederacy, Queen Jamillia appointed C-3PO to serve as liaison to the Jedi during the remainder of that campaign.

Some time later, C-3PO and R2-D2 were traveling with Amidala in her yacht while the ship was host to Yoda. After Yoda convinced Amidala and her head of security, Captain Typho, to make a detour, the ship headed to Ilum on a rescue mission of the Jedi Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. The Jedi Master set out into the planet's blizzard alone, causing some worry on Amidala's part. Although C-3PO assured her that it was safer to remain at the ship, the senator set out into the blizzard, and ordered the two droids to follow her. After being ambushed by three cloaked Separatist Chameleon droids, Amidala destroyed all three by using her cloak and C-3PO as decoys to attract blaster fire. Despite being in the vicinity of the explosion of a thermal detonator thrown by Amidala, C-3PO remained unscathed, and the victorious trio were greeted by their three wayward Jedi.

After returning to Coruscant, C-3PO received new gold platings to replace his dull silver ones, save for an exceptional right foreleg which remained silver. Afterwards, he and Amidala, both disguised in hooded cloaks, were walking in Coruscant's undercity when the senator disappeared. Searching for her, C-3PO was pulled into an alleyway by Skywalker, who had been engaging in a private rendezvous with Amidala. After being told by the Padawan that he looked different, C-3PO removed his cloak and revealed his new plating. Skywalker was promptly commed and summoned by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and was subsequently granted the title of Jedi Knight. Free of his Padawan braid, he gave the hairpiece to C-3PO to present to Amidala as a gift. Amidala returned the favor by giving R2-D2 to Skywalker, separating the two droids once more.

When Count Dooku, the Head of State of the Confederacy, arranged for the son of the notorious crime lord Jabba the Hutt to be kidnapped, the Republic feared that Jabba would blame the Jedi and in turn allow the Confederacy access to hyperspace routes through Hutt Space. Amidala offered to parley with Jabba's uncle Ziro, but ended up a captive in the Hutt's Coruscant palace after discovering that Ziro was in league with Dooku. Before being imprisoned, the senator managed to comm C-3PO and call for help; the protocol droid in turn brought a contingent of clone troopers to Ziro's palace who captured the Hutt and freed Amidala. C-3PO was relieved that his timing had been perfect.

In the thick of the fighting
"I do believe I'm lost. In enemy territory. And all alone."

- C-3PO aboard the Malevolence

While Skywalker was leading a fleet of Republic warships against the Separatist heavy cruiser Malevolence, C-3PO was in Amidala's apartment, aiding the Senator and Jar Jar Binks in sifting through datacards for any mention of the cruiser or its fate. Minus Binks, the group took Amidala's yacht to a point of space near the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center to contact a member of the Separatist-allied Intergalactic Banking Clan who had sued for peace. With the senator focused on the mission, C-3PO set the hyperspace course and filed away several messages that had arrived from Rodian Senator Onaconda Farr via the holonet. When the ship exited hyperspace, the two found themselves caught in a trap, as Dooku had arranged for them to arrive immediately adjacent to the crippled Malevolence, which was incapable of hyperspace travel after being battered by Skywalker's fleet. The yacht became trapped in the cruiser's tractor beam, but Amidala set the yacht's engines to destroy themselves as she and C-3PO snuck out of their ship and onto the Malevolence.

Following the yacht's explosion, C-3PO and Amidala made their way through the cruiser's corridors, and attempted to get a broken comm panel working in order to contact Skywalker's fleet. However, they were forced to hide when C-3PO spotted an advancing squad of battle droids led by General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Confederacy's droid armies. After the squad passed by, Amidala was able to contact Skywalker, who had boarded the Malevolence along with Kenobi and R2-D2. They agreed to meet amidst the cruiser's rail jet system; when C-3PO and Amidala arrived, they were accosted by battle droids, which prompted the senator to push the protocol droid into a moving hover train. After the battle droid threat was neutralized, Kenobi began levitating C-3PO to safety, but the floating droid was hit full-on by a moving hover train, which was only halted when R2-D2 sliced into a computer terminal and shut it down. The sudden stop launched C-3PO onto a nearby platform, where he quickly regained his bearings and again began wandering the cruiser's corridors before being located by R2-D2. The two droids joined Skywalker and Amidala in racing to the Twilight, a freighter that Skywalker had brought aboard, where they rendezvoused with Kenobi and fled the Malevolence, which, owing to an act of sabotage by Skywalker and Amidala, exploded when its hyperdrive was activated.

After returning to Coruscant, Amidala received Senator Farr's messages, and prepared to travel to Rodia in a bid to ensure that the beleaguered planet remained loyal to the Republic. C-3PO and Representative Binks began to prepare her star skiff for takeoff from a landing platform when they were approached by the con men Dannl Faytonni and Achk Med-Beq, who were posing as Republic Judicials. C-3PO calmly acquieseced when the scammers claimed that they were commandeering the skiff for "government business", but before the droid could disengage the ship's autopilot, Binks mistakenly caused the entire platform to flip upside-down. The Gungan quickly righted the platform, but the confusion caused C-3PO to forget to turn the autopilot off, which ultimately caused Faytonni and Med-Beq to be taken directly to the Senate Commandos that they had been fleeing from. With the skiff gone, C-3PO and Binks began prepping Amidala's new yacht instead.

When the trio took the yacht to Rodia's Senatorial Palace, C-3PO and Binks were instructed to remain at its landing platform while Amidala conducted talks with Senator Farr. After an attempt by the two at communicating with local swamp creatures that resulted in fruit being thrown at the protocol droid's face, a squad of B1 battle droids approached the yacht, as Senator Farr had recently struck a deal with Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Separatist-allied Trade Federation. The unintentional machinations of the clumsy Gungan then set off a series of events: the yacht's hatch closed, C-3PO became stuck to a magnetic hoist that swung into and destroyed the battle droids, and an LM-432 crab droid arrived before plummeting off of the landing platform into water with Binks atop it. Still stuck to the magnetic hoist, C-3PO lamented what he believed to be the Gungan's death, before Binks climbed back onto the platform and released the droid from his magnetism. His next clumsy action was to crush and destroy the yacht with the hoist, however. As the two scoured what remained of the ship's bridge, Binks discovered a Jedi-esque cloak and rushed off to save Amidala, whom they deduced had been taken hostage by Separatist forces.

As C-3PO reluctantly followed the Gungan, they were spotted by the droid escort of Viceroy Gunray, who mistook Binks for a Jedi and chased him off. C-3PO surrendered, and was sent to a dismantling center on the orders of the Viceroy. En route, the two battle droids assigned to escort C-3PO were destroyed by an escaped Amidala, who quickly ordered the protocol droid to locate a comm center and send a distress signal to any nearby Republic forces. Discovering such a center, C-3PO told its battle droid guards that the "Jedi" had been spotted, resulting in them rushing to subdue it. C-3PO then accessed a secure military frequency and contacted a clone trooper, before being arrested by two new battle droids and being brought to Amidala, who had also been re-captured. As Gunray prepared to order the two to be shot by droidekas, Binks arrived with a Kwazel Maw, a large sea creature that he had befriended; the creature easily routed the battle droids present before Senator Farr turned on Gunray and arrested him in the name of the Republic. Senior Clone Commander CC-1004 and his forces then arrived to apprehend the Viceroy, and C-3PO found himself impressed that the Gungan's foolishness had saved the day.

A white truce, a blue shadow
C-3PO was again reunited with R2-D2 during a trip to Orto Plutonia, when Amidala leant the protocol droid to Skywalker for the mission to the icy world. When contact was lost with a planetside military outpost, Skywalker and Kenobi brought the droids and a contingent of Clone cold assault troopers to investigate, and were accompanied by Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora, as well as Chi Cho, Chairman of the Pantoran Assembly, due to the planet's location in Pantoran space. When the Jedi discovered that the clone troopers stationed on Pantora had been wiped out by a group of local Talz, C-3PO and Cho joined them in meeting with Thi-Sen, the Talz's tribal leader. C-3PO translated as Thi-Sen welcomed Cho in peace, and when Cho responded by angrily declaring war on the natives. The conflict was quickly halted when Chuchi received permission from the Pantoran Speaker of the Assembly to negotiate peace, and C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Chuchi, the Jedi, and what clone troopers were not fighting to the scene of the battle, where Chuchi, aided by C-3PO's translation, made peace with Thi-Sen.

Shortly after the Mission to Orto Plutonia, Queen Neeyutnee of Naboo summoned Amidala home after discovering a scouting party of battle droids on the planet; Amidala brought C-3PO and Representative Binks in another new Nubian yacht to investigate with the hope of procuring military aid. After landing in the hangar of Theed's Royal Palace, the three were taken to a secure room by Neeyutnee and Typho where a powered-down T-series tactical droid was being analyzed. When the droid awoke but found itself without the use of its photoreceptors, C-3PO convinced it that it was aboard a Separatist ship, and managed to glean that there was a secret lab producing some sort of virus before Binks's clumsiness destroyed the droid. Binks, however, had found an insect inside the droid that he identified as coming from Naboo's Eastern swamps; the entire party contacted Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu to request the aid of Skywalker and Kenobi. C-3PO and Typho remained in Theed to attempt to uncover data from other captured battle droids while Amidala and Binks left to scout the swamps, and discovered a hologram of the scientist Doctor Nuvo Vindi inside a B1's head. Joined by the Gungan Peppi Bow, who had discovered traces of the deadly Blue Shadow Virus in a nearby river, they greeted Skywalker, Kenobi, Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano, and R2-D2 as they arrived on-planet, and showed them the hologram before the Jedi set out to discover Vindi's laboratory. Although the mad doctor was synthesizing an airborne stream of the virus, the Jedi and their clone troopers were able to subdue him and prevent the stream from escaping his laboratory.

Intrigue in the Senate
"It seems no one wants my company tonight."

- C-3PO on Cato Neimodia, following several dismissals by Humans

Shortly after the blue shadow crisis, C-3PO was back on Coruscant, and accompanied Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan to Amidala's office in the Republic Executive Building. The two escorted Amidala to the lobby of the Senate Building, where the Gran Senator Philo had called a meeting of important senators in anticipation of a vote on the proposed Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. The meeting was interrupted, however, by the bounty hunter Cad Bane and several other mercenaries who began holding the senators and their aides hostage in a bid to force a pardon for Ziro the Hutt. Bane shot and killed Philo, and his companions successfully subdued Skywalker, who had been elsewhere in the Senate Building at the time. After an unconscious Skywalker was brought to the group of hostages, the bounty hunters left, but rigged a system of lasers that would trigger planted explosives with the slightest touch. After regaining consciousness, Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut a hole around the group, dropping them to safety in the room below just before Bane remotely activated the explosives.

C-3PO remained on Coruscant for some time afterwards, and when Skywalker arrived at Amidala's apartment to surprise his wife with dinner, the protocol droid warmly greeted his Maker before being promptly ignored and subsequently dismissed by Amidala. The married couple were soon sent by the Jedi Council to Cato Neimoidia along with Senator Rush Clovis of the Banking Clan, and brought C-3PO and R2-D2 with them. Amidala would parley with Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation while simultaneously spying on Clovis, as both Dodd and Clovis were suspected of being in league with the Confederacy. After Amidala's star skiff landed outside of Dod's Palace, C-3PO accompanied Amidala and Clovis as they greeted the Neimodian Senator, but soon found himself largely unneeded; he was dismissed by Clovis for the night following dinner, and retired to the quarters that Amidala had been assigned. There he found an agitated Skywalker, who quickly left after being commed by his wife. Amidala was soon poisoned by Dodd, and was brought to her quarters by Clovis to be attended to by C-3PO and a 2-1B surgical droid; Skywalker sought an antidote to her poison and brought her to the palace's lobby to confront Dodd, and was followed by C-3PO and Clovis. When Clovis threatened Dodd's life, C-3PO accepted the antidote from one of Dodd's aides. With the antidote and a datacard that Amidala had obtained that implicated Clovis in a Separatist scheme procured, Skywalker, Amidala, and the droids left the planet, leaving Clovis at the mercy of the Trade Federation.

Remaining at Amidala's side, C-3PO accompanied her and Kenobi in the senator's repulsorpod within the Senate's Grand Convocation Chamber as Amidala presented evidence to the gathered senators that revealed the wishes of Mandalore's Deputy Minister Jerec that his planet remain neutral in the war. With the evidence in front of them, the Senate rescinded an earlier vote that had called for Republic occupation of the planet. Shortly thereafter, Amidala and some of her allies in the Senate introduced a bill proposing the cutting of military spending, believing that diplomacy was the solution to war. C-3PO attended several meetings of the informal coalition in Amidala's office, and accompanied his master as she spoke to the Senate regarding their views. While he was serving drinks at one such meeting, Senator Farr of Rodia suffered what appeared to be a heart attack and died. C-3PO attended his funeral, and Amidala and Senator Organa soon after discovered that he had been poisoned by his aide Lolo Purs.

When a massive Zillo Beast was brought to Coruscant following its discovery on Malastare by Skywalker and Mace Windu, opinions on what to do with the creature differed greatly within the small circle of those who knew of its existence. Amidala caught wind of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's plan to kill the beast, and invited Skywalker and Kenobi to meet her and C-3PO in the Senate building. Skywalker arrived with R2-D2, who C-3PO greeted and ensured was staying out of trouble. The Senator convinced her husband to appeal to his friend Palpatine, and the droids joined their masters in appearing before Palpatine in the Chancellor's Suite. As Skywalker and Amidala discussed their options with Palpatine and Vice Chair Mas Amedda, the Zillo Beast meanwhile escaped from its captivity and began charging through Coruscant's cityscape. Amidala assigned C-3PO to evacuate the staff of the Republic Executive Building, and after he had completed the task, the beast reached the Chancellor's office. Amedda had previously excused himself from the discussion, but Palpatine, Skywalker, Amidala, R2-D2, and C-3PO evacuated through an emergency escape route and boarded an executive ship piloted by a Senate Commando. As the commando took the ship into the air, it was grabbed by one of the Zillo Beast's massive hands.

Skywalker used his lightsaber to cleave the ship clean in half, sending the bow and all six passengers sliding down the exterior of the Senate Rotunda. C-3PO landed atop R2-D2, who had attached himself to the side of the building with a tow cable, but the astromech droid soon disengaged himself from the cable and used his booster rockets to make his way over to Palpatine and fly the Chancellor to safety. C-3PO lost hold of the cable and fell to the ground, but clone troopers in LAAT gunships used gas bombs to kill the creature and end the threat it posed to Coruscant's citizens. The poison they emitted was held back with the Force by Skywalker, as well as Yoda and Aayla Secura, who had been attempting to engage the beast. C-3PO, R2-D2, Palpatine, Amidala, and the three Jedi remained safe from the poison gas. The following morning, the entire party was present as the Zillo Beast's corpse was taken away from the scene.

A hero's fall
"I feel so helpless."

- C-3PO at the end of the Clone Wars

As the Republic took the fight to the Confederacy in the Outer Rim, the Separatists launched a siege of Coruscant and kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. During the battle, a hole was blown in the side of Amidala's apartment, causing a good deal of distress to C-3PO. His master was unfazed, however, and along with C-3PO and Typho's assistance, began evacuating the residents of the building. The Separatists fled after Skywalker, Kenobi, and R2-D2 killed Count Dooku and rescued the Chancellor, and C-3PO joined the Senate's Loyalist Committee and Mace Windu in welcoming the day's heroes outside of the Senate Building. After greeting R2-D2, C-3PO was entertained by the astromech's tales of the rescue.

As Amidala grew more distressed by the increasing amount of power held by Palpatine, she drafted a petition asking him to lay down his emergency powers, and began hosting other concerned senators at meetings in her apartment. During at least one such meeting, C-3PO served drinks to the gathered senators. The days after the Separatist attack were harrowing ones for both Amidala and Skywalker, and they ultimately saw the latter fall to the dark side of the Force under the influence of Palpatine, who was actually the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. As Jedi across the galaxy were killed, Skywalker, now known as Darth Vader, brought the 501st Legion of clone troopers to the Jedi Temple and slaughtered all of the Jedi present. As Amidala watched the temple burn from her apartment window, C-3PO contacted the office of the Chancellor and learned that Vader had returned to the temple. Vader and R2-D2 then arrived at the apartment in Vader's Jedi starfighter; C-3PO briefly conversed with R2-D2 before Vader took the fighter to Mustafar, where he killed the entire Separatist Council and ended the war. After learning of his fall to the dark side from Kenobi, Amidala took C-3PO to Mustafar to see him; C-3PO piloted the skiff, allowing a reprieve for the distraught senator.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Kenobi stowed away aboard the skiff, and his arrival at Mustafar caused an enraged Vader to choke his wife with the Force. As he and Kenobi left the platform and engaged in a lightsaber duel, C-3PO and R2-D2 brought Amidala back aboard the skiff and attempted to stabilize her condition. Kenobi soon returned, having defeated Vader, and piloted the skiff with C-3PO to the planetoid Polis Massa to rendezvous with Yoda and Senator Bail Organa. Amidala was brought to a medical center, where C-3PO, R2-D2, Kenobi, Organa and Yoda bore witness to the birth of two twins she had been carrying: Luke and Leia. Weakened and without the will to continue living, Amidala passed away on the operating table. As the five survivors brought her body to Naboo on Organa's corvette, the Tantive IV, Kenobi and Yoda discussed the situation with Organa: The Jedi Order had nearly been wiped out, and the Republic had been reorganized into a Galactic Empire with Palpatine as its Emperor. Yoda and Kenobi went into hiding, the latter watching over Luke, who was entrusted to the Lars family on Tatooine. Leia was adopted by Organa and his wife; the twins would be kept safe from the Sith in the dark times ahead. Organa entrusted C-3PO and R2-D2 to Raymus Antilles, the Captain of the Tantive IV, who was instructed to treat them well and, to C-3PO's horror, to wipe the protocol droid's memory. As Organa intended for the droids to one day belong to Leia, he knew that erasing all knowledge of the child's parents from C-3PO was the easiest way to keep the chatty droid from revealing her true parentage.

Separated from the Tantive IV
"What?! Go on adventures? Explore the galaxy? You must be short-circuiting again! We are droids, after all&hellip; Nothing exciting ever happens to us!"

- C-3PO to R2-D2

As units of the droid pool aboard the Tantive IV, C-3PO and R2-D2 were paired together, with the former acting as the interpreter counterpart of the latter. C-3PO also acted as a translator for Captain Antilles on at least one occasion. He would serve Alderaan's Royal House of Organa on occasion, however; while accompanying the Organas to the annual Emperor's Ball, the protocol droid mistook Darth Vader for a guard droid, and reassigned as a preschool teacher for one year as punishment. Several years into the droid duo's service aboard the corvette, they were in an escape pod while the ship's Chief Petty Officer, Corla Metonae, was supervising test launches of the pods. When a pirate group from the Karthakk system attacked the Tantive IV, it was forced to flee and to abandon the jettisoned pods.

Dislocated, C-3PO and R2-D2 ended up in the care of the Intergalactic Droid Agency, who sent them to the planet Dodz to serve their new master, the crystal merchant Lott Kemp. Upon arrival, they discovered that Kemp's home had been destroyed and that he had gone missing; a young orphan named Jost Ellon found them and became their de facto master. Ellon spent his life hiding from Dodz's Governor Kugg and his war droid Destroyer, but when C-3PO and R2-D2 discovered Ranger X-1, an old labor droid laying dormant in Ellon's home, they activated the ranger and brought it to the Dodz Citizen's Monthly Council to fight against Kugg. Threatened by Destroyer, the council had already agreed to pay the exorbitant taxes that Kugg was demanding; too late to stop him, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Ellon brought the Ranger to Kugg's mansion and saw it defeat Destroyer with help from R2-D2, who suffered micro-synapse damage during the battle. Kugg was sent to face intergalactic trial, and C-3PO and R2-D2 left the planet to repair the damaged astromech.

Returning to the headquarters of the Intergalactic Droid Agency, C-3PO was able to persuade the scientist Lonn Idd to repair his counterpart. When the Annoo-dat gangster Tig Fromm came to the space station to steal a powerful laser from Idd, C-3PO and R2-D2 helped Idd's children, Vik and Nikki free the scientist; C-3PO donned the outer shell of a guardian droid and was able to destroy all of Fromm's hover guard droids, allowing Vik to trap Fromm in a net and turn him over to the authorities. The two droids were soon after sold to Ambassador Zell of Majoor to act as tutors and companions of Zell's son Llez, who had dreams of dismantling C-3PO and using R2-D2 for entertainment purposes. During a diplomatic mission to Armath that saw Zell command a fleet of Majooran consular ships, Llez fled from his father and took up with the pirate Reddjak, but returned to his father when Reddjak was personally defeated by Zell.

A wrinkle in time
"Too late, Artoo... He's disrupted the anti-matter pods!"

- C-3PO regarding Prince Plooz, just before traveling to the future

The droids passed from Zell to King Gokus of Alzar, who sent them as diplomats to the Royal Palace of the planet Sooma to retrieve his son Plooz. The infant had ended up in the care of Sooma's King Zornog when Sludd, First General to Alzar's forces, had concocted a scheme to overthrow his King. When C-3PO and R2-D2 stopped a hyperactive Plooz from choking Zornog, the King gave them his fastest starship to use to ferry the Prince back to his father. En route, C-3PO was vexed when Plooz began devouring Neuvian sundaes from the ship's food synthesizer, but began to panic when a graver threat appeared: battleships of General Sludd. C-3PO hailed the vessels and informed them that Plooz was onboard, but Sludd prepared to attack anyway; the protocol droid ordered R2-D2 to prepare the ship's hyperdrive. Hoping to help, Plooz inadvertently disrupted the ship's anti-matter pods, but with electron torpedoes incoming, C-3PO ordered his counterpart to jump to hyperspace regardless.

Aware that there were no stars to be seen in the midst of a bright pink opening that surrounded the ship, C-3PO was surprised to learn from R2-D2 that their ship had created a time warp by causing an anti-matter overload upon jumping to hyperspace. The vessel had temporally jumped over fifteen years into the future, and spatially jumped to the Endor system. C-3PO was able to restrain a wailing Plooz from dashing for an escape pod, but lost control of the child when attempting to give instructions to R2-D2. As Plooz's pod made its way towards the forst moon of Endor, C-3PO and R2-D2 landed the ship to give chase. On the moon, they met with Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, an Ewok Princess and the daughter of Chief Chirpa of the Ewok's Bright Tree Village, who spoke an obscure dialect of the Inner Zuma Region that C-3PO was able to understand. Kneesaa brought them to a peace summit occurring between Chirpa's Council of Elders and King Gorneesh of the Duloks, another sentient species native to the moon. Gorneesh was holding a terrified Plooz over a chasm, and C-3PO demanded that he be let go. Just then, rays from Endor's primary star Ibleam reflected off of C-3PO's plating, giving him the glowing appearance of what the Duloks perceived to be an Ewok demon. The Duloks fled, and Ploz was rescued from the chasm by R2-D2 and the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick.

After the Ewoks escorted the droids and Plooz back to their Sooman craft, the trio piloted the ship through the time warp seconds before it closed and returned to their own time. Sludd's fleet remained where they had left it and began firing on them, but C-3PO took control of the situation and was able to direct R2-D2 to land the damaged craft outside of Gokus's palace. As Plooz entered the palace to find his father, Sludd landed his own ship and held the two droids at gunpoint. When Gokus arrived, demanding an explanation from his general, R2-D2 played a recording of Sludd's earlier threat to kill Plooz and seize control of both Alzar and Sooma. Livid, Gokus had his general and his co-conspirators thrown in prison. C-3PO and R2-D2 would not remain in Gokus's service for long, soon finding themselves for sale at the droid store of Van P. Quist on R-duba.

When R2-D2 was purchased by the human Kirk Windjammer, C-3PO found a new owner of his own after Baron Starlock bought him to serve as a translator for R-duba's Prince Jagoda. Starlock soon betrayed his Prince by helping the people of Dorande attempt to conquer R-duba, but found his efforts thwarted by C-3PO, R2-D2, and Windjammer. In the process, C-3PO stopped Starlock's droid BX-00 from assassinating the Prince.

Re-encountering Tig Fromm
"Oh what a perilous chain of events! We're lost in a game of chance to a new master who turns out to be a smuggler, then we're tossed overboard with the stolen goods whilst he gets himself arrested."

- C-3PO, regarding himself and R2-D2

C-3PO and R2-D2's rapid transitions between masters continued, as the two were lost in a game of chance to the smuggler Zevel Hortine, who jettisoned them from his ship along with a large amount of contraband while being arrested above the planet Ingo. Landing in the planet's Vaj Desert, the droids began trekking across the sands before being spotted by two speeder jockeys, Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. Having been in search of an R2-unit, the two declared themselves the new masters of the droid duo and welcomed them into Joben's speeder. While traveling to their auto-shop, the jockeys crossed into the desert's restricted zone and were pursued by seeker probe droids; the chase saw C-3PO fall from Joben's speeder and land in the desert's sands, where he was accosted by a large droid tank. Throwing a rock at it, the protocol droid was surprised to see it explode. Unbeknownst to him, the Fromm Tower Droid had actually been destroyed by Kea Moll, a young resistance fighter from Annoo who had made her way to Ingo.

With the seekers successfully evaded, the jockeys brought the droids back to their shop. C-3PO and R2-D2 helped fix up Joben and Dusat's speeders and were shown the White Witch, a heavily-modified speeder that the jockeys intended to enter into an upcoming race with R2-D2 flying in its droid socket. Joben then left the shop for the night and brought the droids with him, but noticed pursuit by an unknown party and hid his speeder accordingly. With the pursuers dodged, the trio returned to the shop, only to find that Dusat had been kidnapped. Following the arrival of Kea Moll, who had been seeking a mechanic, R2-D2's sensors detected movement outside. Investigating, Joben discovered that his speeder had been sabotaged, and soon found himself surrounded by hostile droids. C-3PO, R2-D2, and Moll took the White Witch outside and saved Joben, before tracking the droids to a base belonging to Tig Fromm, the Anoo-Dat gangster that C-3PO and R2-D2 had previously encountered while in the service of Lonn Idd.

After R2-D2 infiltrated the base, a Fromm Tower Droid opened the complex's doors in an effort to locate the intruder. It was swiftly decapitated by the White Witch, which zoomed into the open doors and made its way through a cave system after locating Dusat on a map of the base. After coming to a locked door, Joben cut his way through with a lightsaber that a customer had previously left him, before taking R2-D2 in the White Witch through the base's tube system to rescue Dusat. Remaining at the computer that displayed the map, C-3PO and Moll monitored Joben's progress and redirected tube traffic out of his way. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a patrol droid and a maintenance droid, but C-3PO tricked the two into inadvertantly destroying each other. The protocol droid's cunning continued as he directed all patrol droids away from the Witch over a loudspeaker, and convinced two more of the units that he was their ally and had captured Moll.

After rescuing Dusat, Joben and R2-D2 recovered C-3PO and Moll, and piloted the speeder to the base's exit, only to find several droid cruisers waiting outside and firing at them. C-3PO located a computer and overrode orders from Tig Fromm that had deactivated several tower droids; the reactivated tanks began battling the cruisers, allowing the White Witch to escape in the midst of the confusion. Joben destroyed several seeker probes that attempted to follow it, before taking the speeder was to Moll's ship, the Sand Sloth, where Moll, the droids, and their masters prepared to take the Witch to the Boonta Speeder Race. Aboard the ship, C-3PO and R2-D2 held a discussion regarding speeder racing before the ship jumped to the Annoo system. Following the jump, the droids made their way to the ship's hull to enact repairs. C-3PO and the ship's hyperdrive began to float away, but R2-D2 was able to wheel the protocol droid back towards the ship via a rope that C-3PO had attached himself to. C-3PO's servomotors seized up when R2-D2 attempted to keep him stuck to the hull, locking his torso in a position perpendicular to his legs. Although he was able to right himself, the crew of the Sand Sloth needed a new hyperdrive, and traveled to Annoo to find one.

Following a scuffle with another droid at Annoo customs, C-3PO and R2-D2 spotted two members of the Fromm Gang and began to cause a scene, offering a distraction that allowed their human companions to escape. Joben, Dusat, and Moll took the droids to the home of Kea's mother Demma, where C-3PO and R2-D2 performed various chores while their masters slept. After a Sand sloth knocked him into a wall, C-3PO unintentionally activated a secret door leading to a rebel base of the Annoo Resistance. When the droids went to wake Joben up and inform him of their discovery, they found an assassin droid spraying the jockey with gas. A brief skirmish ensued that concluded with Moll arriving and shooting the assassin; her mother promptly arrived home and informed her guests that Sise Fromm, the leader of the Fromm gang, was trying to kill Joben and Dusat for having discovered his secret base on Ingo. In that base, the Fromm gang was developing a secret and deadly weapons satellite called the Trigon One. When the humans returned to their slumber, C-3PO prepared himself for an eventual confrontation with the Fromms by practicing hand-to-hand combat, but found the endeavor taxing when his servomotors seized up again.

To take the Trigon
"Freedom is everybody's fight!"

- C-3PO looses a battle cry while fighting the Fromm Gang

In the morning, Dusat and Moll took the White Witch to a ship that belonged to the Fromm gang, hoping to ride it back to Ingo and sabotage the Trigon One. When Joben, still in recovery from the gas, later woke up, he took the droids and followed his friends, finding them held captive by a pair of Annoo-Dat thugs at one of the gang's freighters. The gangsters were knocked unconscious in an ensuing confrontation, and Joben and Moll hid themselves in two cargo containers, giving C-3PO a thermal detonator to hold still until they reached Ingo. The droids and Dusat posed as laborers when more gang members passed by, and Dusat then left the scene, intending to remain on Annoo and protect Demma. C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon after witnesses to a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm regarding their plans for the Trigon One. Under their guise as laborers, they boarded the freighter and were accosted by two other droids during the journey to Ingo. A chance passage through a meteor shower saved them, but also caused them to lose track of the cargo container that Joben and Moll were hiding in.

At the Fromm gang's base on Ingo, C-3PO saved the life of the gang's head of security, Vlix Oncard, by pushing him out of the way of falling debris. After quickly identifying the container that held his companions, C-3PO asked the grateful security chief to take it to the hangar that held the Trigon One. Oncard agreed, and the droids began making their own way to the hangar, dropping Oncard's name in order to avoid trouble with rowdy gangsters that they passed. Two of the gangsters, however, unintentionally activated the thermal detonator. With only ten minutes until its detonation, the droids hurried to the hangar and rendezvoused with their companions, who, with R2-D2's help, fended off attacking guard droids and boarded the Trigon One. After the thermal detonator destroyed the scaffolding holding the satellite in place, the team took the satellite into atmosphere, where R2-D2 destroyed several attacking droid fighters.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon after kidnapped by the Fromm Gang and brought to their mining facility on the planet Aaron. Imprisoned at the bottom of the complex's eight levels, the droids managed to escape from their cell and ascend all eight levels, evading various Fromm Tower Droids, ceiling-mounted gun emplacements and other hazards along the way, and activating turbolifts by entering correct sequences of colored keys. After exiting the facility, the droids found Joben and Dusat waiting to rescue them.

Back in Joben's care,, the droids traveled back to Ingo with their masters. R2-D2 and Joben hid and sabotaged the Trigon One, ensuring that any subsequent activation of its drives would send it on a collision course with the Fromm gang's stronghold on Annoo. While they were away, C-3PO was modifying a subspace transceiver in Joben's auto-shop when he unintentionally tuned in to the frequency used by the Fromm gang. Witnessing a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm, he and Moll learned that Oncard had brought a group of Fromm gangsters to the shop. A swift arrival by Joben and R2-D2 in a speeder saved them, but a subsequent chase through a nearby city concluded with the Fromm gang trapping them in a warehouse.

The four were taken prisoner and brought to the Fromm gang's Annoo strongold, where Joben informed Sise Fromm that he had taken the Trigon One to Ingo. They were then locked in a cell with Dusat, who had been previously captured along with Demma. R2-D2 hatched an escape plan, and C-3PO, preying on their guard's avarice, loudly claimed that his counterpart's dome was filled with jewels. Investigating, the guard was covered with foam by R2-D2, who then used his shock arm to zap Joben's binders. Joben freed his four companions and took Moll to rescue Demma, while Dusat and the droids made their to a hangar and commandeered a ship. After discovering that the Trigon One was inbound, R2-D2 informed Dusat and C-3PO of the sabotage, and consequently took a cargo sled with C-3PO to aid Joben and Moll, knocking over several patrol droids in the process. The droids activated an evacuation alarm and brought Joben, Moll, and Demma back to the ship, which Dusat had hotwired. However, he needed C-3PO's servomotors to guide the stolen ship. Connecting himself to the ship's navigation controls, C-3PO guided the ship away from the exploding base.

With the Trigon One destroyed and the Fromm gang finished, Joben and Dusat could finally focus on the upcoming speeder race. En route to Boonta, C-3PO and R2-D2 were on the Sand Sloth hull enacting repairs to the White Witch power couplings when another starship appeared and began firing at them. R2-D2 quickly activated the hyperdrive via external controls, and the droids rode through hyperspace on the hull. After arriving at Boonta, an engine damaged in the firefight caused the Sand Sloth to crash into a scrap yard. An old security droid named Proto One appeared and, after befriending R2-D2, offered to fix the ship. Moll agreed, and along with Joben and the droids, brought Dusat to a local hospital, as Dusat had injured an arm during the firefight. The White Witch had also been damaged in the crash, and when R2-D2 suggested that Proto One fix it, a jealous C-3PO enlisted the help of a droid named BL-17 instead. BL-17 offered the used of a garage that he claimed was owned by his master, and Moll accepted the offer, unaware that BL-17 was actually working for Boba Fett. Fett, now a bounty hunter, had been hired by Sise Fromm, who wanted revenge on the group that had ruined his gang.

While R2-D2 and Moll were fixing the Witch, C-3PO, unaware of BL-17's duplicity, became fast friends with the droid. BL-17 suggested that they leave the garage to search for Joben, and took the opportunity to lock the door and remotely trigger a gas leak in the garage's welding tanks. When he and C-3PO returned to find the door open and R2-D2 guarding the Witch, C-3PO blamed his old friend for any trouble that might have happened and agreed to BL-17's suggestion to move the speeder to the safety of a nearby processing plant. At the plant, C-3PO and BL-17 ran into Proto One, who had a long-standing rivalry with BL-17. A fight ensued, causing C-3PO to realize his mistake and to regret opening a rift between himself and R2-D2. As if on cue, the astromech droid arrived, and C-3PO took advantage of the distraction by body-checking BL-17 into a pile of rubble which then collapsed on the duplicitous droid. Joben and Moll arrived, but when Fett appeared and began shooting at the group, Joben and R2-D2 fled in the Witch to participate in the imminent Boonta Race. Proto One then warned C-3PO and Moll of a thermal detonator that the Fromms had placed inside the Witch, set to detonate after ten laps of the race were completed.

Helpless to intervene, C-3PO and Moll arrived at the racetrack and watched as Joben and R2-D2 participated in the race, dodging Fett's speeder in the process. When the thermal detonator came loose and landed on Fett's vehicle, Joben was able to win the race. While celebrating, he and Dusat were approached by Zebulon Dak, the owner of a powerful speeder corporation, who offered them both jobs. The jockeys eagerly accepted, but their mirth was interrupted by the arrival of Sise Fromm, Tig Fromm, and Vlix Oncard, who were fuming at having once again been foiled. Proto One arrived as well, however, and arrested them, but Fett was unimpressed by their meddling in his work after having hired him, and captured them in order to deliver them to Jabba the Hutt. C-3PO and R2-D2 joined their masters and Moll aboard the Sand Sloth, where they overheard a conversation between the humans: Dak would not allow C-3PO and R2-D2 to accompany the jockeys unless they were reprogrammed. Having grown attached to the droids' personalities, Joben and Dusat decided not to take the jobs. Accordingly, the droids fled the ship in an escape pod, hoping that their masters would be free to pursue their dreams.

The lost Prince
"Yorpo says we certainly know how to pick a master.''" "''And I know how to pick my droids."

- C-3PO and Jann Tosh

C-3PO and R2-D2 made their way back to the Intergalactic droid agency, whose agents found them a new owner in the form of Doodnik, a cantankerous Besalisk who owned and operated a café on the planet Tyne's Horky. Arriving at the establishment in one of the world's mining colonies, the droids anticipated respectively being put to work as translator and maintenance droids, but were instead relegated to waiting tables. C-3PO found the task of remembering orders difficult, and after tripping over one another and disrupting the meal of the crime lord Kleb Zellock, he and R2-D2 were disowned by Doodnik and told never to return to the café. Desiring a master, they found their way to a public auction within the colony, where an asking price of 500 keschels was given for the two of them. When C-3PO expressed offense at what he believed to be a low price, the auctioneer retaliated by including an android in the deal. C-3PO picked a young Human male out in the crowd and asked if he would buy them, but the sale was made for sixty keschels to Yorpo Mog, the bodyguard of Zellock whom R2-D2 had earlier sent face-first into his boss's soup. When Mog began manhandling the android, the young man that C-3PO had appealed to intervened and traded his mining droid for Mop's three acquisitions, with the aid of translation by C-3PO. Named Jann Tosh, the young man took his new comrades to his wheel bike, but was pursued by Mog after the bodyguard remembered that Zellock had charged him with acquiring the android. C-3PO piloted the vehicle away from Mog, but the bodyguard managed to board it before being quickly shaken off. Tosh and his companions then to return to Tosh's mine.

Tosh's uncle Gundy was less-than-impressed that Tosh had returned home without a mining droid, and his vexation only increased when R2-D2's sensors discovered that the android was in fact an addle-brained member of the Tammuz-an species. Regardless, all three were put to work; C-3PO performed such duties as making stew, carrying water, and working in the mine. He was often helped by the Tammuz-an stranger, who displayed great strength and impressed Gundy by using it to rescue the miner from a collapsing mineshaft. Tosh dubbed the stranger Kez-Iban, a Bocce word meaning "He That Returns from Death", and took him and the droids along as he brought an injured Gundy to a local hospital. When R2-D2 witnessed Mog steal Kez-Iban away from the medical facility, Tosh took the droids back to Doodnik's, where they confronted Zellock, leading to a brawl erupting throughout the café. After a young female Human paralyzed one of Zellock's thugs with a miniature stunner, Tosh and the droids rushed out of the eatery, only to find Mog and several more thugs waiting for them. They were brought to Zellock's Nergon-14-filled mine and sentenced to perform labor, but escaped their chains when R2-D2 used a detached foreleg of C-3PO to deactivate the power restraints of the mine's power conductor. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a mining droid, but C-3PO neutralized the threat by throwing a piece of machinery. When the Tammuz-an Sollag arrived and presented Kez-Iban with a scepter, Kez-Iban's vitality was restored, and he revealed himself as Mon Julpa, Prince of Tammuz-an. He thanked Tosh for his kindness, but the joyful moment was cut short when R2-D2's sensors detected rising levels of combustible gas. Fearful of the Nergon-14's impending activation, Tosh, Julpa, Sollag, and the droids rushed out of the mine.

Several mining droids attempted to repulse them, but were neutralized by R2-D2, the power of Julpa's sceptor, and C-3PO, whose reattached foreleg acted on its own due to crossed wires and kicked a droid over. Commandeering a bulldozer, the desperate team drove it through a large door before ascending to Zellock's control platform in a turbolift. The Nergon-14 was activated by the gas leak just as they confronted Zellock and Mog, who fled from the base, pursued by Tosh and his allies. When the latter group split up in order to find their way out of the mine's twisting tunnels, it was C-3PO and R2-D2 who came upon Zellock and Mog arriving at their getaway ship. C-3PO's independent foreleg sprang forward, knocking a miniature stunner from Zellock's hand into Mog's, and Mog, having just been betrayed by his boss, fired the weapon at Zellock. Tosh, Julpa, and Sollag arrived, and the group brought Zellock's prone form onto the ship and escaped from the base just prior to its destruction. Returning to his mine, Tosh discovered that his uncle had found a large deposit of keschels where the mineshaft had earlier collapsed; Gundy polished and shone C-3PO and R2-D2 up, but informed them that he intended to keep them working hard at the mine.

Hoping to help Julpa regain his rightful place as King of Tammuz-An, Tosh enlisted the help of a stranger named Old Iron Pants to take he, his droids, Julpa, and Sollag to the planet. Before Tosh left his mine, Gundy recorded a farewell hologram inside of R2-D2 and instructed both droids to ensure that only Tosh received it. On the bridge of Iron Pants's ship, she revealed to Tosh that she was actually Jessica Meade, the stranger who had saved him inside of Doodnik's Café. C-3PO and R2-D2 then rushed onto the bridge, where the astromech droid played the hologram to both Tosh and Meade in spite of Gundy's request. Julpa and Sollag entered the bridge just before the ship was attacked by the Dianoga, a hostile starship belonging to the pirate Kybo Ren. R2-D2 was able to successfully detach the bridge, a starship in its own right, from the rest of the vessel, before the bounty hunter IG-88, having been hired by Tammuz-an's Vizier Zatec-Cha to take Julpa alive, arrived in-system in his own ship and crippled the Dianoga. Free of pirate trouble, Meade brought her ship to ground-level on the planet and was hailed by ships belonging to the forces of Zatec-Cha. Thinking quickly, C-3PO asserted that it was the ineptitude of the ships' guards that had allowed them to be attacked by pirates; the guards, fearful of retribution from Zatec-Cha, left Meade's ship alone.

Injured from the firefight, Meade was taken to a hospital by Sollag, while the others booked a room at a local inn. At the inn, Julpa revealed that he needed to infiltrate Zatec-Cha's fortress and reach the royal tower in order to hold his scepter up to the rising sun at dawn and be crowned King. Tosh noticed a spy outside of their room and gave chase, while the droids left the inn to check on Meade at the hospital. Discovering that Meade and Sollag had been escorted out of the hospital by the Vizier's guards, they attempted to return to the inn but got lost on the way, eventually discovering Tosh surrounded by the spy, named Vinga, and several of his companions in an alleyway. The distraction of the droids' arrival prompted Tosh to start a fight with his foes, which C-3PO and R2-D2 helped him win by each grabbing a guard's wig and pulling at it, spinning the guard around until he collapsed. With under three hours until dawn, they rushed to the Vizier's palace to save their missing comrades, whom Julpa had joined the ranks of after being captured by IG-88. After entering the palace via a secret door that Julpa had revealed to them, Tosh and C-3PO fell through a trap door and were followed down by R2-D2. Landing without injury, they were chased by a giant droid that fired lasers from its photoreceptors, but their foe fell from a partially extended bridge into a pit of lava. The next room that the trio found their way into saw its ceiling begin to press in on them, but the crisis was averted when R2-D2 pressed a floor panel that caused the walls to follow suit; the stress created by the walls acting against the ceiling caused both elements to cease their pressure, allowing the trio to escape.

Unfazed by the hazards, the trio pressed on, soon entering a pit where Julpa was being chased by a Durkii. The beast's tail lifted C-3PO from the ground and onto its back, but the Durkii lost its aggression and fell asleep when R2-D2 was able to remove several pesterous kleexs from its body. The droids and Tosh, joined by Julpa and Sollag, rushed after Zatec-Cha to rescue Meade and recover the scepter. They dodged several barrels before Tosh mounted a Floater-935 repulsorlift vehicle to chase Zatec-Cha and his henchmen, who rode Ubrikkian Airhooks out of the fortress and into Tammuz-an's pre-dawn air. In a chase around the royal tower, the scepter changed hands repeatedly before R2-D2, riding on an Imperial Sniper Vehicle awkwardly piloted by C-3PO, grabbed it with his claw-arm. It fell again into the hands of Zatec-Cha, who readied himself to approach the Keeper of the Tower and present it at dawn. Landing his vehicle, C-3PO stood atop R2-D2's dome and donned a cloak over both of them, posing as Vinga, Zatec-Cha's assistant. When Meade wrestled the scepter from the Vizier's hands, C-3PO recovered it and tossed it to Julpa, who presented it to the Keeper of the Tower and was declared King of Tamuz-an. Now loyal to Julpa, the guards took Zatec-Cha and Vinga away. C-3PO and R2-D2 received medals, were polished and shined, and, along with Tosh, were appointed advisors to Julpa's court.

The revenge of Kybo Ren
"It's time I did something right for a change. Even if it is the last thing I do."

- C-3PO, attempting to sacrifice himself to save princess Gerin

Desperate to power his R-22 Spearhead fighters, Julpa tasked Tosh, Meade, and the droids with obtaining fuel and bringing it to Tammuz-an. Tosh flew in a Spearhead while Meade brought the droids aboard her ship. On the return flight to Tammuz-an, a ship was sent ahead containing the fuel, but C-3PO and R2-D2 were kept in the dark and told that it was a decoy meant to attract pirates. The pirate Kybo Ren fell for the ploy, and brought the Dianoga and several stolen Imperial TIE fighters against Meade and Tosh. Tosh was able to cripple the TIEs, but Ren and several of his crew boarded and seized control of Meade's ship. C-3PO contacted Tosh and informed him of their plight before being stunned with an ion bolt. When R2-D2 reactivated him, C-3PO discovered that Tosh had surrendered to Ren and that the pirate was bringing his quarry to his base, an island grotto on Tarnoonga.

Enamored with her fiery spirit, Ren personally brought Meade as a guest of honor to his court, while Tosh and the droids were separately escorted by guards. C-3PO was too slow to step onto a turbolift, and after falling off of a ledge, he landed on an inflatable mattress released by R2-D2. Bouncing and landing on his feet, C-3PO's bipedal stablizers contracted, causing his knees to briefly jam in a bent position. Brought before Ren, Tosh and the droids learned that the pirate was planning to invade Tammuz-an, and had pursued the fuel in order to leave the planet defenseless. The following morning, he brought the trio on his skiff to the ocean surrounding his base, fitted Tosh with stun cuffs, and threw him into the ocean to be eaten by a Miridon sea monster. R2-D2 plunged into the water after his master, bringing an unwitting C-3PO with him. Tangling with a squid-like creature, the protocol droid sunk to the sea floor while his counterpart used a built-in propeller to navigate through the lake's depths. R2-D2 fitted Tosh with a breath mask and broke his stun cuffs with a shock of electricity, and then began evading the Miridon, Tosh hanging onto the droid and C-3PO hanging onto Tosh. The monster found itself stuck inside of a sunken ship, and R2-D2 propelled his allies back to Ren's base, which the trio entered via an underwater pipe.

Back inside the base, they pulled two fishing guards into the water, and the droids donned their uniforms in order to infiltrate the base and rescue Meade. C-3PO mistakenly woke a sleeping guard that wore his hair similar to Meade, causing a scuffle to ensue that saw Tosh and the droids commandeer a boat and pilot it through the base's waters. Several guards gave chase in a boat of their own, but were intercepted by the Miridon, the beast having entered the base through the same pipe as Tosh and the droids. With the guards distracted, Ren stood alone against the trio, and was caught in a net by Meade, who had escaped from her cell. She joined Tosh and the droids in racing to their ships and escaping the planet, the droids inside of Tosh's Spearhead. Several TIE fighters gave chase, leading the starfighter into the tractor beam of Ren's Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Demolisher that the pirate had stolen from an Imperial repair dock. When the spearhead was brought into a hangar of the Star Destroyer, Tosh was imprisoned and the droids were put to work loading arms as the warship jumped to Tammuz-an.

As C-3PO and R2-D2 worked at loading proton torpedoes, the astromech droid inverted one before trapping their droid overseer on a magnetic hoist. The two then made their way to the detention level and freed Tosh, who raced to the bridge while the droids further sabotaged the ship's weapons systems. Having arrived at Tammuz-an, the Demolisher fired its turbolasers at Meade's ship, and Ren was shocked to discover that it was a decoy. The fully-fueled Tammuz-an space navy arrived from the planet's atmosphere and engaged the Demolisher, which became crippled after attempting to fire the inverted torpedo. Tosh and the droids fled the ship in his Spearhead and returned to Tammuz-an, where the droids were treated to an oil bath, and Ren and his crew were placed in the dungeons.

Soon after capturing Ren, Julpa invited the warrior chief Toda to his court, proposing a peace treaty and hoping to end a longstanding rivalry between the royal court and the warrior chief. C-3PO and R2-D2 prepared dessert for the occasion, and after accidentally tossing the prepared food out a window, made a second cake and rushed into the courtroom, crashing into a wall and ending up covered in the cake. Their hijinks cut tension that had been mounting between Toda and and Sollag, but Toda remained suspicious of Julpa's motives and decided to wait until the following morning to give Julpa his answer. Later that evening, the doids and Tosh were working on Tosh's spearhead when C-3PO unintentionally sealed the hatch, trapping Tosh and R2-D2 inside. As he searched for Meade, hoping that she could help free them, C-3PO noticed Kybo Ren escaping from the palace and rushed after him. He ended up in Ren's arms and was thrown at Gerin, Toda's daughter, who had been ready to fire a miniature stunner at Ren prior to C-3PO's arrival. Ren picked up the stunner and fired it at Gerin and Tosh, the latter having freed himself from the spearhead, before taking Gerin and fleeing the planet in another spearhead. A furious Toda wanted C-3PO destroyed, but Julpa placated the warrior chief by sending Tosh and Meade to rescue Gerin and surrendering himself to Toda until she was safely returned.

C-3PO hoped to redeem himself, and hatched a plan to discover where Ren had brought Gerin. He entered the prison cell of Ren's first mate Jyn Obah and began shouting, with R2-D2 in tow, many of the astromech droid's weapons and tools extended menacingly. C-3PO begged a confused and frightened Obah to reveal the location, and gleaned the word "Bogden" from Obah's babbled response. He then brought the news to Tosh and Meade, who took the two droids in spearheads to Bogden. In the planet's orbit, R2-D2 detected life-form readings in a shipwrecked starcruiser on the surface, and the rescue team proceeded to Ren's makeshift base. After they split up, C-3PO and Tosh found Gerin, having escaped from a cell, surrounded by snarling Sungwas. Still feeling guilt over his earlier blunder, the protocol droid offered himself as a meal to the Sungwas and ran away, the beasts in tow. After chewing his left arm off and losing interest in his non-organic body, the Sungwas left him, and he was discovered by Tosh and Gerin. The trio was then contacted by Meade via the base's surveillance system, who told them that Ren was wandering the hallways and was close to them. They hid and spotted Sungwas chasing Ren, and after finding R2-D2 and Meade, followed the pirate to one of the base's landing platforms. Obah and several of Ren's other henchmen had arrived in Ren's ship with a captive Julpa, as Ren had contacted Toda and arranged a prisoner swap. When Ren refused to make the trade, Toda and several of his warriors burst forth from a secret compartment in Ren's ship and attacked Ren's gang. When Ren attempted to escape, C-3PO tripped him, allowing Julpa and Toda to subdue the pirate.

Back on Tammuz-an, Meade prepared to return to Tyne's Horky, and Toda's young son Coby insisted that C-3PO entertain him with tales of the rescue. Coby was soon after accepted into the Imperial space academy, and the droids and Tosh were assigned to escort him there. A passenger ship took them from Tammuz-an to Chuzalla, where they would be taking a connecting flight from the planet's spaceport Zallakesh. As Tosh searched for the connection, the droids watched over Coby, holding onto the inheritance he had received from his great-uncle and forbidding him to spend it foolishly. When members of Starhunter's Intergalactic Menagerie spotted Ingey, Coby's pet tessellated Arboreal binjinphant, they stole the creature and fled aboard their ship. As Coby pounded on the door, C-3PO attempted to bargain with the starhunters, but ended up crashing to the ground when the ship lifted off, stretching out his neck and fracturing his vocal synthesizer.

C-3PO was separated from both Coby and R2-D2, and wandered the streets of the spaceport until he was picked up by his two companions in a Blackhawk Destroyer. In the ship's cockpit, Coby fixed C-3PO's loose neck while R2-D2 flew the vessel and pursued the starhunters. C-3PO intervened and attached the destroyer to the side of the starhunters' vessel via magnetic landing gear; the trio thus traveled with the starhunters through hyperspace to the planet Dandelo. Within Dandelo's atmosphere, they detached the destroyer, but discovered that it was out of fuel and promptly crashed into the forested ground. Although the ship was destroyed, R2-D2 was able to send out a distress signal immediately before Dandelo's native Fuzzums subdued the trio. C-3PO understood their language, and was able to divert their spears by explaining Coby's missing pet. Moved by the boy's plight, the Fuzzums took the trio to the starhunters' base, where they witnessed Ingey being placed in a cell. After C-3PO and R2-D2 restrained Coby from rushing out of their hiding place in the woods, a plan was concocted to rescue both Ingey and several Fuzzums that the starhunters also held captive.

The protocol droid's role in the plan was to create a diversion: C-3PO imitated the call of a native spotted jugadoo, and the starhunters who were gathered around their base rushed into the forest in an attempt to catch the rare animal. When an actual spotted jugadoo heard the call, it rushed through the forest to C-3PO and wrapped the droid in its trunk. A horrified C-3PO was able to escape, only to find himself ensnared in a net the starhunters had laid as a jugadoo trap. After untangling himself, he exited the forest and found Coby, Ingey, the Fuzzums, and an old man named Greej standing in the base clearing. The jugadoo was hot on his tail and charged into the clearing, dragging the net along with it. When it loosed the net and picked up C-3PO again, the group noticed that the starhunters had all become trapped in the net. They freed themselves, however, and their leader acquired a blaster that Greej had taken from a patrol droid, only to have it knocked out of his hand by Jann Tosh, who had picked up R2-D2's distress signal and traveled to Dandelo to help. The starhunters were imprisoned, and as the Fuzzums danced in celebration, Tosh and Greej fixed R2-D2, who had been damaged by a patrol droid. Coby and Greej made plans to return all of the starhunters' captive creatures to their natural habitats, and Tosh revealed that he had been accepted into the Imperial academy. After heartfelt goodbyes were exchanged, Tosh, Greej, and Coby departed the planet, and the spotted jugadoo returned, chasing after a befuddled C-3PO yet again.

Later owners
From there they went to Biitu and were involved with the Great Heep. Mungo Baobab saved them from the Heep and took the droids back to Manda. Later, on Roon, Baobab found some Roonstones which C-3PO told him were etched with the ancient poem Dha Werda Verda. The Roonstone events even led to C-3PO competing in the Roon Colonial Games. When the droids went with Mungo to the Baobab Archives, however, they were separated from him and sold to a used technological goods trafficker.

When another owner, Governor Wena, put the droids up for auction, they ended up going to Hosk Station. Between there and Kalarba, the droids had a number of adventures with Nak Pitareeze and his family, Olag Greck, and Jace Forno. Though Nak would often disrespect him, Threepio nonetheless cared for the boy and his family. When Plag kidnapped Nak and forced him to fix his ships, Threepio and his counterpart came to the rescue and foiled Greck's plans. One time, Threepio fell out of a speeder and cracked his faceplate. The crude repair job he got afterward was two pieces of tape in the shape of an X. That X on his head led him to be mistaken for C-3PX, an extremely dangerous assassin droid who was wanted in seven systems. Some Hosk Arena promoters who thought Threepio was 3PX tried to make him fight in a droid death match. 3PX later sacrificed himself to save 3PO, having decided that he had no interest in staying alive in a galaxy where he would eventually die whatever he chose.

C-3PO and R2-D2 later went with a police droid named Unit Zed to Nar Shaddaa, where Jace Forno blasted off his left leg below the knee. However, the replacement leg that he got actually contained secret programming that overrode his regular personality. The "new" C-3PO led a droid rebellion against Boonda the Hutt. However, his original programming was later restored when R2-D2 replaced his "possessed" leg and he ran software repair, recognizing that, for all that his 'troops' respected him, R2-D2 missed his friend more. After that, the two droids were owned by an Ithorian botanist named Zorneth and then a diplomat, Councilor Harthan.

Some other masters of the droids during this time included Stigrit Krax, Larka Nimondro, and Prince Jagoda. . After all their many adventures, the droids finally returned to the Tantive IV. Serving the Rebel Alliance, the droids deactivated an Imperial defense system during the Battle of Wayland, allowing the Alliance Fleet to land on Fresia.

Meeting Luke Skywalker
"It's all right, you can trust him. He's our new master."

- C-3PO

When the Tantive IV came under attack by Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer Devastator, C-3PO and R2-D2 were launched in an escape pod on the orders of Princess Leia Organa to deliver a secret message to Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. On Tatooine, C-3PO and R2-D2 were captured by Jawas, taken into their Sandcrawler, and sold to Owen Lars. In the process of being sold, Threepio managed to convince Owen's nephew, Luke Skywalker, son of his creator Anakin Skywalker, to buy Artoo.

During a conversation with Luke, Threepio revealed to the lad that he and his counterpart were well acquainted with the rebellion against the Empire. While cleaning R2-D2, Luke stumbled across the hidden message from Princess Leia, though C-3PO claimed he had no idea whom she was and that it may have been old data. That night, R2-D2 made a daring escape from the homestead after Luke had removed his restraining bolt. C-3PO attempted to stop him but was unsuccessful. He would later join Luke in his search through the Jundland Wastes. When they did find R2, they were attacked by Tusken Raiders, causing C-3PO to stumble over and have his arm ripped off. Thankfully, Obi-Wan Kenobi had found them and assisted them back to his home, although C-3PO said that there was no need to risk themselves on his account. Soon after being repaired and R2 showing Obi-Wan the message from Leia, they discovered the ruined Sandcrawler and Jawas who had sold him. Luke had sped off to discover that Owen and Beru Lars had been murdered by Imperial stormtroopers, leaving C-3PO and R2-D2 in Luke's care. After traveling to Mos Eisley while evading stormtroopers, C-3PO and R2-D2 escaped on the Millennium Falcon with Luke, Obi-Wan, the ship's captain Han Solo, and his first mate Chewbacca, with whom he would assist R2-D2 against in a game of dejarik. After hearing that Wookiees were known to rip peoples' arms out of their sockets when they lost, he gave R2-D2 one final piece of advice: "let the Wookiee win."

Entering the Rebellion
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."

- C-3PO, to R2

When finally arriving in the Alderaan system, they found the planet gone and themselves brought aboard the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star. He and R2 were left in the hangar control center, with the only advice given to lock the doors if they were to be discovered. Of course this almost became the end for C-3PO's master when Luke, Han, Chewbacca and the now rescued Princess Leia escaped stormtroopers by jumping into a trash compactor and the compactor was initialized. C-3PO had left the comlink he had been using to stay in touch with the group out while he and R2 hid from stormtroopers. Moments after C-3PO had found the comlink, he cursed his metal body that they had been killed. Fortunately, R2 was able to halt the compactor and unlock the door. Finally, the group was able to make it back to the Falcon and escape after Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed himself while fighting Darth Vader.

Making haste to the Rebel base on Yavin 4, a plan was made to attack the Death Star. Despite being constantly annoyed by R2-D2's recklessness and impulsive nature, Threepio discovered that he considered R2 his best friend, and told R2 that he'd better make it back or his life would get boring. When the battle was won, R2-D2 made it back. However, he was badly damaged and C-3PO had offered to donate any of his parts that would be helpful in his repair. R2-D2 was repaired and looked good as new. It is unknown if C-3PO donated any of his parts.

On assignment for the Alliance
Following the Battle of Yavin, C-3PO accompanied Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and R2-D2 on numerous missions for the Alliance. On one such mission, Threepio and Luke encountered the bounty hunter Beilert Valance on Feriae Junction while they were looking for parts to repair Artoo. While exploring Junction City, Threepio and Luke met a man named Skinker who took them to his salvage yard. Unaware of Darth Vader's bounty on himself, Skywalker, and R2-D2, C-3PO and the others fell into a trap. Sensing a trap, Skywalker shoved C-3PO into Skinker's office and dove in after, and then sent the droid out the back way while he tried to hold off the bounty hunter. As Valance was about to deliver the final blow, C-3PO suddenly reappeared and placed himself in front of his master, willing to sacrifice himself to save Skywalker. The boy in turn, concerned for his droid's safety, tried to send him away. Valance, not understanding the droid's actions questioned Threepio. He answered "Certainly it's not widely accepted. But perhaps if it were, even being a cyborg might be easier to bear." Because of Threepio's selfless act, the bounty hunter left them, allowing C-3PO to pick up Skywalker's fallen lightsaber and carry him back to their ship.

During this time, 3PO served as interpreter for and worked with Leia Organa at the Rebels' ring base. He traveled with Luke Skywalker on a mission to Panna to rescue Han Solo for the first time. After arriving on Panna, Threepio and the others encountered the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who was also on the planet seeking to get information from Luke Skywalker about the Rebel Alliance.

C-3PO later related many of these events to Mistress Mnemos, an Alliance BRT Supercomputer, for historical preservation.

Crisis on Cloud City
When the Alliance transferred to the ice world of Hoth, C-3PO continued to work with Princess Leia on some personal matters such as drying out her clothes in the frozen environment. Things became worse when Luke Skywalker went missing on a scouting mission. After failing to pinpoint his exact location, Threepio could do little but wait until Han Solo returned with the latter. Fortunately, Skywalker was saved due to the efforts of Solo. The evening after Skywalker recovered from his bacta treatment, Echo Base came under attack by a hoard of wampa ice creatures. Threepio, along with R2-D2, was instrumental in alerting the base's defenders how to help stop the creatures. They noticed that behind each individual attack was one commonality: the high-pitched beeping of the base's astromech droids seemed to drive the wampas into berserker rages. They informed Major Bren Derlin, the base's head of security, and the Rebels finally had an advantage. They used recordings of astromech droids to round up the final wampas still hiding within the base, stunned them into incapacitation, and secured them in highly shielded pens. Later, C-3PO was responsible for identifying the Empire's probot, alerting the Rebels to the Empire's awareness of their location.

Soon afterward in the Battle of Hoth, C-3PO joined Solo, Organa, and Chewbacca in a desperate race to the Millennium Falcon while in hot pursuit from an advanced group of the Empire's invading snowtroopers. During the escape, C-3PO came upon one of the wampa pens. Pasted on the door was a yellow and orange hazard label. An ancient part of him, a holdover from one of his earlier daring masters, seemed to take over. C-3PO reached out, and tore the label off. He continued to run faster than before after his party, disappearing around the next bend in the corridor. The group of pursuing snowtroopers came upon the door, and marched inside with military efficiency. They were quickly slaughtered by the caged wampas inside, buying the escaping Rebels just enough time to flee the planet. C-3PO escaped with Solo in the Millennium Falcon, while his partner joined Skywalker in his pursuit of the mysterious Yoda.

During this time, C-3PO and Han developed a strange relationship, with C-3PO quoting odds and Han defying them. Normally, Han would have simply shut C-3PO down but due to the mechanical failures on the Falcon, C-3PO was plugged into the ship and communicated with it to determine the problem (which Han took credit for). He would later comment that the Falcon had a most peculiar dialect. After a chase through the Hoth asteroid field, the Falcon escaped to Cloud City on Bespin.

While exploring a room almost immediately after his arrival, C-3PO was blasted by a stormtrooper from Gamma Squad. Vader demanded his memory be retrieved and when he saw his parts, recognized his creation and ordered its destruction. However, after being gone for far too long, Chewbacca headed to the Ugnaught recycling facility where he found the dismembered droid. When Darth Vader revealed his presence to the group, Chewbacca was sent into a holding cell but, after an apparent change of heart from Vader, was permitted to rebuild the droid, which, much to the displeasure of C-3PO, was done poorly. While still being repaired, Chewbacca carried C-3PO on his back during Han Solo's encasement in carbonite.

With the help of the city's administrator, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO were able to escape. Although Chewbacca upon instant release attempted to choke Lando for Han Solo's capture, C-3PO apologized for the enraged Wookiee's behavior, which he feared would be the end of him. Having C-3PO on Chewbacca's back was beneficial: when Boba Fett escaped the city with Han Solo, C-3PO notified them of pursuing stormtroopers. Finally, after a chase through the corridors of Cloud City, the group made it to the Millennium Falcon. R2-D2, whom they found after Luke Skywalker arrived to rescue them, unlocked the door to the landing pad under C-3PO's command. After successfully escaping Vader's flagship, the Executor, C-3PO was fully repaired by R2-D2.

Rescue of Solo and the mission to Endor
"If I told you half the things I'd heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short circuit!"

- C-3PO, to R2-D2

Shortly after escaping Imperials on Cloud City, C-3PO joined in the search for Solo. On one occasion, he and Artoo piloted Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon, and rescued Leia from Prince Xizor.

Roughly a year after escaping Cloud City, Luke commanded C-3PO and R2-D2 to deliver a message to Jabba the Hutt, the gangster who had the encased Han Solo in his palace. Unbeknownst to him, Luke had given the droids to Jabba as a ploy to gain entrance. C-3PO was placed as Jabba's replacement translator while R2-D2 served on his sail barge. C-3PO's first translation for the crime lord was of Boushh claiming the bounty for Chewbacca, whom he had on a chained leash. The meeting became intense when Boushh demanded 50,000 credits and in surprise, Jabba the Hutt smacked C-3PO who then noticed Boushh had a thermal detonator. Fortunately, C-3PO was undamaged and was able to negotiate the deal of 35,000 credits to Boushh (which came as a relief to the paranoid droid).

While Boushh was discovered to be Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker infiltrated the palace and killed Jabba's pet rancor in a fierce duel. This angered Jabba and he transferred his court to the sail barge with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as food for the Sarlacc, while Leia served as Jabba's slave. Just as Luke Skywalker was pushed off the plank, he bounded back up and R2-D2 tossed him his lightsaber. In the midst of the battle, C-3PO was attacked by Salacious B. Crumb, yanking one of his sensors out its socket. Salacious was forced off by R2-D2, which gave C-3PO and R2-D2 a chance to escape the sail barge. Making their way to the platform, R2-D2 pushed C-3PO off and rolled off himself into the sands of the Dune Sea. As the sail barge was burning, the two were quickly rescued and the group headed off planet to the Rebels' gathering on Home One.

C-3PO accompanied the strike force to forest moon of Endor to disable the shield generator protecting the Death Star II. When he, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 were captured by the Ewoks, they thought he was a prophesied god known as the Golden One. Though C-3PO claimed that pretending to be a deity was "against his programming", the droid was brought to Bright Tree Village as an honored guest at a banquet. Meanwhile, his companions were brought to the Ewok village as prisoners, intended to be the main course at a banquet honoring "the Golden One."

Despite the droid's reluctance, Luke Skywalker convinced C-3PO at the banquet to demand that the release of the prisoners. C-3PO told the Ewoks he'd bring down lightning and fire and wrath if his friends were not released. Skywalker then levitated the frightened droid above the clamoring crowd, "proving" to the Ewoks that the droid really did have "magic" powers. Later that night, C-3PO acted as a storyteller, and intentions of the Rebels to the tribe. This gained sympathy from the Ewoks and convinced them to help the Rebels at the Battle of Endor.

C-3PO's part in the Battle of Endor was not yet complete, however. After infiltrating the shield bunker and being captured by Imperial forces, C-3PO began the Ewoks' assault on the Empire by calling over a group of stormtroopers with a false surrender. Chaos ensued as Ewoks jumped from hiding and attacked the Imperials, allowing for Han Solo and Leia to reach the bunker controls. When R2-D2 was forced to assist in infiltrating the bunker, C-3PO nevertheless followed, evading enemy fire. The battle ended with the Death Star II's destruction and the death of the Emperor. C-3PO was present at the celebration afterward.

Late Galactic Civil War (4 ABY–24 ABY)
"If I may be permitted to speak, I found that spectacle utterly appalling. Mechanicals of all kinds will be shocked by this perverse display of&mdash;"

- C-3PO, addressing Bakuran senators during the Bakura Incident



After the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star, C-3PO continued to travel with his permanent partner, now his friend. C-3PO would assist Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and their allies in the Alliance (and later, the New Republic) on many missions. At Bakura, he translated Ssi-ruuvi, the language of the Ssi-ruuk, and helped decipher their codes to aid the Alliance and the Empire following a short-lived truce. During a session at the Bakuran Senate when the Ssi-ruuk puppet Dev Sibwarra revealed his master's intentions of enteching Bakura's population, C-3PO expressed his shock and horror at the spectacle on behalf of droids. However, this did little to allay the prevalent anti-droid sentiment among many Bakuran senators who responded with catcalls.

Later during the campaign, C-3PO and R2-D2 managed to translate the Ssi-ruuk communiques, and learned that not only did the Ssi-ruuk plan on capturing Skywalker, but also intended on attacking Bakura an hour later. They also learned the precise location and time when the Ssi-ruu planned on seizing the Jedi. The droid met up with Solo, who had just learned of the arrest of Leia and two Bakuran officials. Solo learned from C-3PO that Organa had been taken to a rural retreat used by Nereus, and was also apprised of the Ssi-ruu intention.

After first cutting Solo a highly illegal override code, C-3PO was then ordered to dress in a suit of stormtrooper armor forcibly acquired by Solo and proceed to the Millennium Falcon to rendezvous with Chewbacca and warn Skywalker. However, upon arriving at the light freighter, C-3PO was mistaken for a stormtrooper by Chewbacca and shot down. Although he had sustained only minor damage and was able to warn Skywalker about the capture attempt, the protocol droid was indignant.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were also members of Senate Planetary Intelligence Network (SPIN) for a short time, and underwent transformation by the Droid Modification Team to be disguised as Kessel droids so that they could infiltrate a gathering of Imperials to find out who was planning to take control of the Empire.

As the New Republic grew in size and legitimacy, Leia Organa sat on its Provisional Council as a representative from Alderaan. A conquest of Imperial-held Coruscant was being planned, and the council met on the world of Noquivzor to discuss strategy; Organa was attended by C-3PO at the meeting, who translated into Basic the remarks of the Wookiee Councillor Kerrithrarr.

In 8 ABY, C-3PO was led to believe that Han Solo was actually the King of Corellia during Solo's competition with Isolder for Leia's hand in marriage. Threepio agreed to assist Solo in his efforts, as one of his functions was as a counselor droid, but was shocked when the Corellian kidnapped the princess and took her to Dathomir. Present with Han on this crazed adventure, Threepio continued to present Han in the best possible light and wrote a song (with at least fifteen verses) for Han Solo entitled "The Virtues of King Han Solo." He surprised everyone when he performed the song, which he not only sang (in a voice reminiscent of that of popular vocalist Jukas Alim), but backed with the sound of a full symphony orchestra. He later discovered that Solo's newfound royalty was actually untrue. Surviving the hazards of Dathomir and the Imperial occupation fleet, he was present at Han and Leia's wedding.

Shortly afterwards, C-3PO returned to Tatooine where he helped Han and Leia in their search for an Alderaanian moss painting storing a valuable code. It was here that Threepio reunited with Kitster Banai and Wald, childhood friends of Anakin Skywalker. With their help C-3PO and the others discovered Shmi's diary and in it, contained valuable information on the man that became the most feared figure in the galaxy. After reading the diary, Leia remarked that the droid her grandmother described reminded her of Threepio. The code was eventually found and destroyed.

Caretaker of the Solo children
"I do not overrate my importance! I daresay I am the most humble droid I know."

- C-3PO, to TDL-3.5

Threepio later went to Honoghr with Leia during the Thrawn Crisis during her quest with Khabarakh to discover what had caused the plight of the Noghri. Threepio was forced to hide with Leia and Chewbacca when Imperial forces arrived overhead, but later returned with Leia to Coruscant, where she gave birth to Jaina and Jacen Solo. Threepio would serve as caretaker for both the twins, and later Anakin Solo as well. To keep herself from being overwhelmed by the tasks that confronted her, Leia would enlist C-3PO's help. The protocol droid had uploaded information regarding child-rearing into his memory banks and would meet the challenge with an initial enthusiasm but mixed results. In an attempt to hide Leia from Imperial kidnappers, Threepio was temporarily reprogrammed by Lando on Nkllon to sound exactly like Leia. However, the Empire, led by Grand Admiral Thrawn, saw through the deception. Threepio also accompanied Han, Lando, Artoo, Luke, Chewbacca, and Mara Jade to Wayland on a mission to destroy the Mount Tantiss storehouse. Thanks to Threepio and some Noghri, the party was able to recruit aid from the local Psadans and Myneyrshi and destroy the storehouse.

The team of C-3PO and Chewbacca would typically take care of Jacen and Jaina when their parents were away. C-3PO would recite stories such as The Little Lost Bantha Cub and take them on field trips along with Chewbacca, who would keep an eye on them. On one such instance though, while attending a diplomatic reception, the twins started playing near a tentacle-cactus. When Threepio went to retrieve them, he himself became entangled in the plant, but was eventually saved.

In another particularly dangerous experience for the Solo twins, they escaped from Chewbacca's and Threepio's watch during a trip to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals on Coruscant and ended up in the sub-levels of Coruscant. Distraught, Threepio frantically searched for them, but they had been found by King Onibald Daykim and were reunited with their parents.

In 10.5 ABY, Emperor Palpatine was resurrected through the use of cloning technology. However, the clones became faulty due to the tampering of his DNA by Carnor Jax, causing Palpatine to target Leia and her unborn child as he needed to possess the child's body. After fleeing to Nespis VII, Leia gave birth to a son she named Anakin after his grandfather. While on Nespis VII, Threepio and Artoo were nearly destroyed after they spotted an Imperial installing a homing beacon on the Millennium Falcon. They were saved due to the timely arrival of Captain Solo and Chewbacca. Unfortunately, the reborn Emperor and his fleet discovered the Alliance's existence, leading C-3PO and the others to flee to Iziz, a city on the planet of Onderon. Palpatine eventually found them but was shot in the back by Han. He was finally destroyed when Empatojayos Brand sacrificed himself to save Anakin.

Threepio and Artoo later accompanied Leia on a diplomatic mission to Nam Chorios but were unable to save her from being drugged and kidnapped. They also could not stop the Death Seed plague from being unleashed on the crew by Seti Ashgad and Dzym. Taking flight with one of the few surviving crew, the two fled in a small ship, but the crewman died and they were stolen. Eventually rescued by Han and Lando, the two droids finally managed to convey their message for help, though the sector was rife with chaos due to the plague.

In 14 ABY, C-3PO accompanied Master Skywalker and Han Solo on their mission to Crseih Station to investigate rumors of a healing cult, and the possible existence of Jedi trainees. Instead of finding Jedi trainees, they found Waru, a creature from another dimension. Though astonished at first, Threepio and the others soon learned of Waru's alliance with Lord Hethrir and the kidnapping of the Solo children. Fortunately, Hethrir was destroyed following a confrontation with Leia, Han, and Luke while Waru returned to his dimension.

Later missions
In addition to becoming the caretaker of the Solo children, C-3PO would also undertake several missions with his family and friends. In 16 ABY, Threepio accompanied Lando Calrissian, R2-D2, and Lando's associate Lobot on a mission to investigate the mysteries of the runaway alien ship known as the Teljkon Vagabond. After a long exploration of the ship's innards, and some minor damage to Threepio's circuitry, the team discovered that the ship actually contained the last vestiges of the Quella civilization.

In 17 ABY, during the Kueller crisis, Threepio along with Artoo and a young mechanic named Cole Fardreamer, was instrumental in stopping Kueller from regaining power by disabling the explosive devices he had placed in a large number of droids.

A year later, Threepio accompanied the Solos on a vacation to Corellia. During the outbreak of the First Corellian Insurrection, Threepio and Chewbacca managed to get Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin away from the burning Corona House. Threepio also accompanied Luke, Gaeriel Captison, Belindi Kalenda, and Lando to Centerpoint Station, and alerted them to the fact that the temperature inside Hollowtown was increasing to dangerously high levels. C-3PO also participated in Talon Karrde's expedition to the Kathol Sector to find Jorj Car'das, serving as a translator particularly in Old Tarmidian.

Yuuzhan Vong War and the Dark Nest Crisis (25 ABY–36 ABY)
"There are few occasions when I envy humans, but this is certainly one of them."

- C-3PO, at the aftermath of the Second Battle of Coruscant

With the onset of the Yuuzhan Vong War and the stirring up of much anti-droid frenzy, C-3PO entered a phase of contemplation regarding his own mortality, and his place in a biological society. Evidence indicates that he may have emerged from the Vong war more assertive and less tolerant of abuse from his biological companions&mdash;from Captain Solo in particular. Despite his inner conflict, Threepio continued to participate in the war effort. He was the one who was able to translate the Yuuzhan Vong language which benefited the New Republic greatly. When Viqi Shesh, accompanied by a group of Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators attempted to break into the Solo apartment, Threepio was waiting for them and lead them to a trap; they were immediately surrounded by Noghri bodyguards and dealt with, though Shesh escaped. C-3PO would also have a huge role in the war, saving Luke's infant son, Ben Skywalker, from Viqi Shesh after he was captured. In 29 ABY, Threepio participated in the Liberation of Coruscant, where he and Artoo helped Han, Leia, and the Priest Harrar, pilot the Millennium Falcon into an opening at the Well of the World Brain.

Second Galactic Civil War
In the years following the Yuuzhan Vong War, C-3PO still served the Solos and was often at odds with Han Solo. During a tour around the Solos' new home, C-3PO was outsmarted by a teenage Ben Skywalker and felt embarrassed.

During the Second Galactic Civil War C-3PO was left alone in the Solos' as Leia and Han were not allowed on Coruscant as they had betrayed the Galactic Alliance. Similarly, they were seen as enemies of the state on Corellia, and had a bounty placed on their heads by Thrackan Sal-Solo. Eventually Threepio was allowed to join the Solos on the Falcon. The three were summoned to the Kiris Asteroid Cluster, where they met with Wedge Antilles and Dur Gejjen. During their meeting, Threepio attempted to record their meeting but was asked to leave by Leia. He later learned of the Corellians' plan to draw out the Queen Mother using the Solos though Threepio was highly against Han's role in the plan which was to be a decoy. He felt Captain Solo would embarrass not only himself but Leia as well if they executed the plan. Shortly thereafter, Threepio accompanied the Solos on their diplomatic mission to Hapes where they expected to meet with her to discuss her role in the war. Unfortunately, the Solos and Threepio were forced to make a hasty retreat once they were caught up in an attack on Tenel Ka's life.

Shortly afterwards, the Solos encountered the assassin, Nashtah (actually Aurra Sing), who tried to assassinate Tenel Ka in the Hapan Palace. Because the Solos were seen leaving with Nashtah, they were suspected of being involved in the plot to kill Tenel Ka and her daughter, Allana. Unbeknownst to Threepio, the real reason for their temporary allegiance with the assassin was to draw out the coup's leader. Chased after by Hapan security guards, the four went deep in Hapan space where the Solos met Lalu Morwan, who was the one who hired Sing for the job. On the Falcon Morwan explained to the group the reason for her wanting to kill Tenel Ka and her affiliation with the Heritage Council. Despite Lalu's dislike of the droid, the two worked together briefly to heal Captain Solo's badly damaged arm. As part of the plan to pass on valuable information to the Queen Mother, Threepio was tasked with watching Morwan to make sure she didn't discover the Solos' true intentions. However, things turned ugly when Han was forced to disable Lalu by punching her in the nose. The trio and Falcon then unexpectedly entered the Battle of Hapes where they were shot upon by the Anakin Solo, commanded by Jacen, though they were able to escape. While the Millennium Falcon was being repaired at a Tendrando Arms space station at Gyndine, Threepio was left to watch and catalog all the mechanics did to the Falcon. He later rejoined Han and Leia after the Falcon repair was complete.

Following the bombardment of Kashyyyk by Darth Caedus, the New Jedi Order took C-3PO with them when they evacuated their facilities to Endor. Because of C-3PO's prior experiences on Endor, the Jedi were able to use him to communicate with the local Ewok tribe that inhabited the areas where the Jedi were hiding. Kyp Durron reported to Luke Skywalker that the local tribe was working quite well with C-3PO, and that it had also been a good idea to bring him along.

At the end of the war, C-3PO helped coordinate the final attack against Darth Caedus in the Transitory Mists, keeping Han Solo and the Jedi Masters updated on the current situation.

Post-Second Galactic Civil War
Two years after the defeat of Caedus, C-3PO was still serving Solo and Organa Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon. A new addition to the family had been made, however, as Allana Solo, the daughter of Jacen and Tenel Ka, had been adopted by the Solos following the end of the war. C-3PO aided the three in a quest they undertook to uncover secrets about the Falcon past that culminated with an encounter with the wealthy lawyer Lestra Oxic on Tandun III. Following the quest, the crew of the Falcon returned to Coruscant after discovering that Natasi Daala, the former Imperial Admiral who had recently become the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, had issued an arrest warrant for Luke Skywalker. Skywalker struck a deal with Daala that nevertheless resulted in his exile from the Jedi Order; Luke and Ben Skywalker set out on an Odyssey to learn more about Jacen's fall to the dark side. As a result, R2-D2 was assigned to the Solos, and joined his longtime friend in serving them aboard the Falcon. Both droids joined Solo, Organa Solo, and Allana in a trip to Kessel, where the Solos aided Lando Calrissian in discovering what was causing groundquakes that were threatening to tear the planet apart. While Solo and Organa Solo explored Kessel's spice mines, C-3PO and R2-D2 supervised Allana. The curious young girl nearly escaped their watchful photoreceptors when wandering the planet's surface, but when the droids caught up with their charge, she began questioning C-3PO regarding who his Maker had been. C-3PO wasn't sure, but felt that his maker had been a benevolent and forward thinking person. Shortly thereafter, the Solos and Calrissian were able to save Kessel from potential destruction.

At this time, many young adult members of the Jedi Order began succumbing to a mysterious illness that affected their perception of reality. The Jedi Council resisted Daala's attempts to encase the afflicted Jedi in carbonite, and, as tensions rose, the five crewmembers of the Falcon smuggled four of the infected Knights from Coruscant to the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad: Seff Hellin, Natua Wan, Yaqeel Saav'etu, and Bazel Warv. Also aboard the ship were three Barabel Jedi Knights acting as gunners: Wilyem, Dordi, and Zal.

After dropping the Barabel and the afflicted Jedi off on Shedu Maad, the Solos received a hypercomm message from Ben Skywalker informing them of a group of Sith that he and his father had encountered while aboard a space station in the Maw. The Skywalker had pursued the sole survivor of the Sith to Dathomir, and Ben asked if the Solos could come to the planet to lend some support. The Falcon was brought to Dathomir and landed at its primary spaceport, and Solo and Organa Solo departed to locate Luke and Ben, leaving Allana in the care of C-3PO and R2-D2. Although neither C-3PO nor Allana knew it, they had also secured the aid of the Jedi Knight Zekk and his partner Taryn Zel, who landed a Batag Skiff next to the Falcon and watched over the freighter. C-3PO waited on Allana during her grandparents' absence, bringing her milk and attempting to dissuade her from wishing to ride a rancor. When he learned that R2-D2 had spotted a SoroSuub yacht in the spaceport and wanted to investigate, he forbid his friend from doing so, but the astromech droid left the ship anyway after C-3PO had tucked Allana into bed. R2-D2 informed C-3PO not to contact Solo and Organa Solo unless he was absent for a certain amount of time. Chagrinned, C-3PO hid behind the Falcon hyperspace module until Allana discovered him the next morning, and assured the infant that R2-D2 was still aboard the ship. She saw through his lie and attempted to leave the Falcon and rescue the astromech, but C-3PO locked the boarding ramp, and was content to monitor R2-D2's preferred comm frequencies until his friend returned. Allana was able to escape through the turbolift leading to the ship's topside hatch, but returned after C-3PO commed her and asked where she had gone. He fed her and ensured that she completed her daily studies, before tucking her into bed. The curious infant then departed the Falcon once more, and, hoping to secure C-3PO's aid in rescuing R2-D2, commed the protocol droid and informed him of her absence.

C-3PO followed Allana to Monarg's Mechanic Works, a repair shop that she had tracked R2-D2 to. After entering the shop, C-3PO spotted a derelict R2-D2 situated behind a scuffle between Allana and the large mechanic Monarg, and issued a wake-up command to his friend, hoping that R2-D2 would be able to rescue Allana. Announcing his presence, C-3PO lied and told Monarg that he was downloading a comprehensive package of combat maneuvers. The mechanic proceeded to toss the protocol droid around his shop before being electrocuted in the buttocks by a now-awake R2-D2. The delaying tactic had paid off, and the droids were able to take Allana and her pet Nexu Anji out of the shop and back onto the Falcon. Monarg gathered two friends and pursued them, prompting Allana to attempt to contact her parents. When no answer immediately came, Allana and R2-D2 began powering up the Falcon and flying it away from the spaceport. Powerless to stop them, C-3PO contented himself with supplying Allana with pillows, and relaying a belligerent message from the girl to spaceport security. Allana was able to land the Falcon in nearby marshes, where she once again commed her mother. When Organa Solo answered, Allana and C-3PO relayed the events to her and her astonished husband.

After returning to their ship, the Solos took it back to Coruscant after learning of a Mandalorian raid on the Jedi Temple that had been sanctioned by Daala. After landing at the capital, the five crewmembers of the Falcon were greeted by Daala, her aide Wynn Dorvan, and several members of Coruscant Security. The next day, the five of them joined Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel, now her fiance, for a dinner at the Pangalactus restaurant; C-3PO and R2-D2 situated themselves against a wall while their masters dined. The meal was soon interrupted, however, when a terrorist named Kester Tolann and two YVH-series battle droids blew a hole through the wall from the next room and attacked the party. The attackers were quickly neutralized, with a blaster bolt to R2-D2 being the only harm done. Fel's diplomatic speeder then dropped everyone save for himself and Jaina off at the Solos' safehouse.

Chronological list of owners
"In fact, on occasion, I have been called upon to perform unexpected functions in circumstances which would have appalled my designers."

- C-3PO, to Luke Skywalker on Tatooine

The following is a chronological list of owners. When a being's name appears twice, it means that Threepio fell out of their possession, and then later returned.


 * Anakin Skywalker (creator)
 * Shmi Skywalker
 * Cliegg Lars (through marriage)
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Padmé Amidala (wedding gift)
 * Bail Prestor Organa
 * Captain Raymus Antilles
 * Jost Ellon
 * Lott Kemp
 * Vik & Nikki Idd
 * Ambassador Zell of Majoor
 * Zevel Hortine
 * Thall Joben
 * Doodnik
 * Jann Tosh
 * Mungo Baobab
 * Governor Wena of Kalarba
 * Unidentified junk dealer
 * Pitareeze family
 * Captain Huba (theft)
 * Nak Pitareeze and family
 * Harthan
 * Zorneth
 * Counselor Harthan
 * Stigrit Krax
 * Larka Nimondro
 * King Gokus
 * Van P. Quist
 * Prince Jagoda
 * Royal House of Alderaan
 * Captain Raymus Antilles
 * Jawas
 * Owen and Beru Lars
 * Luke Skywalker
 * Jabba Desilijic Tiure
 * Luke Skywalker
 * Leia Organa Solo

Origins
Although C-3PO and R2-D2 did not appear in 1973's original fourteen-page story synopsis of "The Star Wars", their characters were featured in the 132-page rough draft of "The Star Wars", completed in May 1974, as See Threepio and ARTWO DETWO. Threepio is described as being tall, thin, old, battered, and of Human proportions, and the two droids are written as construction robots in an Imperial Space Fortress. As the Fortress is attacked by Aquilaean starships, Threepio is the robot who decides to abandon ship, while ARTWO is hesitant to desert their duty. The two then land in the dune sea of Utapau,where they meet Starkiller. By 1975, when George Lucas had written Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, the story began with the two droids aboard a Rebel Spacefighter and oriented itself around their evacuation, landing on Utapau, and being captured by Jawas. With relatively few changes, this storyline went on to appear in the original Star Wars film.

When creating the characters of C-3PO and R2-D2, Lucas looked to Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, which he credits as one of his inspirations for Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress is told from the point of view of the peasants Tahei and Matashichi, who are the film's comic relief duo that travel Japan in the company of a General and a Princess, and, despite coming from the lowest possible social class, are privy to an adventure taking place on a grand level of international diplomacy. Lucas thus wrote C-3PO and R2-D2 into Star Wars as similar comic characters and narrators to The Hidden Fortress peasants.

Lucas felt that the two droids had to be very different from one another in both personality and appearance, and envisioned an elegant and sophisticated anthropomorphic design for C-3PO, whom he saw as coming from an elegant and sophisticated environment. C-3PO's original appearance, visible in concept art by Ralph McQuarrie, was based on the robot from the 1927 silent film Metropolis. Lucas wanted C-3PO's face to be a completely neutral one that the viewer could read emotion into based on the droid's environment, and conceived of the character's personality as being akin to a used-car salesman who would say whatever was necessary to please others.

Portrayal
British actor Anthony Daniels was cast in the role of C-3PO, having both the slender build necessary to fit into the costume, and training as a mime artist. Daniels was hesitant to audition for the part of a robot, but after being convinced by his agent to meet George Lucas and read Star Wars script, he began to feel that C-3PO was a very likable character with a large personality. McQuarrie's painting of C-3PO and R2-D2 also played a role in convincing Daniels to take the part, as he saw a vulnerability in the character's face that invoked pity. Rather than play C-3PO as a used-car salesman, Daniels channeled the voice of a fussy British butler, feeling that it fit the character's personality. Lucas briefly considered casting another actor to provide the droid's voice, but was convinced by sound designer Ben Burtt, among others, that Daniels's vocal performance was an excellent one that he had synchronized well with his body motions. Daniels thus re-recorded every line of C-3PO's dialogue. Burtt credits Daniels's complete performance as having created a total character.

Following the success of Star Wars in 1977, Daniels went on to reprise his role as C-3PO in the film's two sequels, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi. He reprised the role again in all three Star Wars prequels, respectively released in 1999, 2002, and 2005. Daniels is the only actor to appear in all six primary Star Wars films.

Daniels has performed as or voiced the protocol droid in a multitude of spin-off material, beginning with 1978's The Star Wars Holiday Special and its embedded animated short The Story of the Faithful Wookiee. He has also appeared in all three radio dramas of the original Star Wars trilogy  (for which he made notations in the scripts and revised C-3PO's dialogue), Disney's Star Tours, all thirteen episodes of the animated series Star Wars: Droids and its hour-long special The Great Heep, the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, as well as the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its accompanying television series. Daniels has voiced C-3PO in the video games Star Wars: Pit Droids and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance.

Outside of the Star Wars continuity, Daniels has guest-starred as C-3PO in a number of appearances, including guest roles on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Jeopardy!, The Donny and Marie Show, and at the Academy Awards. He has also played the droid in non-canon Star Wars material such as 1977's The Making of Star Wars television special, 1980's Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album, 1996's Star Wars Monopoly board game, and all three LEGO Star Wars video games. Daniels's C-3PO resume further includes public service announcements concerned with whooping cough immunizations and anti-smoking campaigns, as well as commercials for C-3PO-themed breakfast cereal and children's underwear.

C-3PO has been voiced by Tom Kane in several video games: the adaptation of The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Force Commander, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Star Wars: Empire at War, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, and the Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide. Ross King voiced the droid in Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Jim Ward provided vocal talents for all three Dark Empire audio dramas.

During filming of The Phantom Menace, Industrial Light & Magic Chief Model maker Michael Lynch built a puppet that was used to portray C-3PO's unfinished appearance, with Daniels providing the character's voice. C-3PO's motions were realized by Lynch acting as a puppeteer dressed in a full-color suit, at times on-set with the other actors and at others filmed against a green screen. Daniels remained off-camera and delivered the lines, guiding Lynch's movements as he brought the puppet to life.

Costume
The C-3PO costume was constructed such that Daniels could not sit down while wearing it; he thus had to lean against a board to rest between shots. Scenes where C-3PO sits down required the costume to be partially disassembled. The costume was in part created by Liz Moore, who had previously designed the star child in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film that Daniels had walked out of.

Filming for Star Wars began in Tunisia, and on the first day of shooting, the costume was yet to be completed. The combined efforts of six people were able to dress Daniels completely in a total of two hours. Twenty-five years later, Daniels wore the same costume while working on the prequel trilogy. As of 2009, the C-3PO costume is on tour with Star Wars: In Concert, being displayed in the exhibition area of each arena.

In Star Wars media
"Some of the pages are as convincing in character to me, as though I were actually there, playing the part. When a character you have created and loved has been reproduced commercially in every way from bubble bath to bubble gum, you can get a little protective. But with these stories, I know Threepio is safe."

- Anthony Daniels on Dark Horse Comics' Droids series

In addition to appearing in all six principal episodes of Star Wars, C-3PO holds the honor of speaking the first and last lines of the entire saga. In the opening scene of the original Star Wars, the protocol droid kicks off the film's dialogue by asking R2-D2 "Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. There'll be no escape for the Princess this time." Nearly thirty years later, the spoken portions of Revenge of the Sith concluded with C-3PO reacting to the news that he would receive a memory wipe by uttering "Oh no!" The respective scenes both take place aboard the starship Tantive IV, and were filmed on the same set.

Outside of Episodes I through VI, C-3PO has appeared in myriad works within the Expanded Universe. Along with his counterpart R2-D2, he starred in an animated series that ran from 1985 to 1986 on ABC, as well as comic books based around the series published by Marvel and Dark Horse Comics. C-3PO and R2-D2 played prominent roles in many of the novels published by Bantam Spectra throughout the 1990's taking place in the years following Return of the Jedi, sometimes accompanying Luke, Han, & Leia,, and sometimes being caught up in adventures of their own. When Del Rey took over Star Wars novel publishing in 1999, the droid duo faded into the background somewhat as a new generation of heroes began to develop, although C-3PO did undergo a character arc that involved him contemplating the prospect of deactivation and questioning his own mortality. In-universe, C-3PO is still faithfully serving the Skywalker and Solo families forty-three years after the events of the original Star Wars.

Although relatively absent from the original Clone Wars multimedia project, C-3PO has thus far played a recurring role in the CGI-animated series The Clone Wars. His origins were laid down by George Lucas via a tape recorder in 1977, who established that he had been constructed on the world of Affa and later reassembled by a young boy working for a junk dealer. Lucas reused the latter half of this concept in The Phantom Menace, and the former half was canonized by the Starwars.com Databank.

Continuity peculiarities
C-3PO's name is often erroneously spelled C-3P0, even in official sources. In the novel Tempest, he is described as dropping his chin, despite not having one.

Actor and author comments
As of 2009, Daniels is still portraying C-3PO. In an interview in that same year, he stated that the character has never left him, and expressed his fondness for the droid. Although he has at times considered moving on to other things, the notion has never remained with him for very long. He feels that he knows the character better than anyone, and sees C-3PO as being like his best friend, one that he feels a responsibility to to continue playing, else C-3PO would be very upset. He also admits to feeling protective of the character. Daniels maintains that he himself is very different from C-3PO, and has called the character a "strange creation that came out of somewhere", but nevertheless a creation that he is proud of.

From his first read-throughs of the script of Star Wars, Daniels thought that C-3PO had a likable personality; he sees the character as not heroic, but very thoughtful, loyal, and loving, traits that make up for his uptightness and complete lack of a sense of humor or irony. He has described the droid as being loyal to his final nut and bolt, and therefore someone who would remain at a friend's side until the end of the droid's existence.

Despite assumptions to the contrary, Daniels cites portraying C-3PO as having been a considerable challenge. As Kenny Baker, playing R2-D2, could not talk to him during shooting, perfecting their comic timing proved difficult. Speaking in C-3PO's voice is also challenging, as it creates tension and uptightness in his back muscles, leaving them knotted and sore after a recording session. As C-3PO is not a relaxed character, Daniels can not perform the voice in a relaxed manner. He also cites difficulties involved with wearing the suit as obstacles that he had to overcome while shooting the Original Trilogy. Daniels's voice work has been praised by Dave Filoni, the supervising director of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, who credits Daniels as having fantastic insight into every word and phrase spoken by C-3PO, and as able to adapt nearly every line to the character's cadence.

While seeking writers for Dark Horse Comics' Droids series, editors Ryder Windham and Dan Thorsland were dismayed that many of their potential hirees regarded C-3PO and R2-D2 as little more than comic relief. The two eventually settled on Thorsland himself to write the series, who felt that the droid duo were intelligent machines that often found themselves in an unfortunate plight, being treated worse than slaves. Daniels later praised Thorsland's writing of C-3PO and wrote an introduction for one of the series' trade paperbacks.

Impact on popular culture
As a principal character in a wildly popular film saga, C-3PO has become a cultural icon of sorts, having been referred to as one of the most iconic characters in all of popular science fiction. A wide variety of C-3PO merchandise has been produced over the years, including scores of action figures,    busts, a life-sized figure, pez dispensers,, and even a breakfast cereal.

C-3PO has been parodied in a wide variety of media, including appearances on the American cartoons The Simpsons, Futurama, Robot Chicken, and Family Guy. In Family Guy Star Wars-themed episodes Blue Harvest and Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, the character Glenn Quagmire plays the role of C-3PO. Mel Brooks's 1987 Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs, features a feminine robot satirizing C-3PO named Dot Matrix, voiced by comedian Joan Rivers.

In 2004, C-3PO was inducted into the robot hall of fame. Daniels accepted the honor on the character's behalf, as C-3PO was unable to attend himself.

Non-canon appearances
In the alternate comic series Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope, C-3PO is taken into the custody of the Empire and is reprogrammed with a more aggressive personality while Princess Leia is trained in the ways of the Sith. Its sequel, Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back, sees Darth Vader recognize the droid as the same one he created years earlier, and dismantle C-3PO, tearing the location of Dagobah from his memory. In the trilogy's final installment, Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi, C-3PO is decapitated by an angry blow from Jabba the Hutt, and is later destroyed when the gangster's sail barge explodes.

C-3PO and R2-D2 similarly star in another alternate take on the original Star Wars trilogy: Vader vs. Artoo & Threepio, published in Tokyopop's Star Wars Manga: Silver. Merging the endings of the trilogy's latter two installments, the comic tells their story with the droids in place of Luke and Leia.

C-3PO is unlockable as a playable model in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The player is allowed an opportunity to use the droid as a lightsaber-swinging character. He also appears in every entry in the LEGO Star Wars series.