25 Greatest Characters in Star Wars History

11. R2-D2

(Write-up by David Harris (Razor), Dork Side of the Force Editor in Chief)

If you were to walk up to a completely random stranger on the street and ask them who the most lovable character in the entire Star Wars universe is, undoubtedly their answer, nine times out of ten, would be R2-D2. If C-3PO embodies huge amounts of human personality, then Artoo takes that personality and goes one adorable step further.

Just a couple of weeks ago, when the second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted at the Star Wars Celebration, the one moment that actually brought a tear to my eye, was the scene with Luke placing his hand on R2.

R2-D2 was there for Anakin Skywalker, when as a Jedi General he led the republic armies against the Separatists. Artoo and Anakin’s adventures could have comprised their own show and would have lasted as long as Clone Wars did…and that’s not because of Anakin, no R2 carried that team into the spotlight.

Even though The Clone Wars was an animated show that targeted a much younger generation, the inclusion of R2 helped to bridge that gap to the adult demographic. R2-D2 also made the galaxy far away, seem like a small world, as Luke Skywalker came across his father’s old droids, who had been watching over Leia, his sister.

You can take a lot of characters out of the Star Wars universe and you’d still have Star Wars, but remove R2-D2 and you might as well have Star Trek…that’s how important he is to the story, as a whole.

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