Some friendships are forged in a single moment, others from a lifetime of experiences shared. Poets have devoted countless pages to celebrating such friendships, but there is another about which far less has been written. That friendship is forged in chrome.

C-3PO, built by nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker from the scrapped remains of several Cybot Galactica protocol droids, had a marked tendency toward fretting and prissiness. The smaller R2-D2, an Industrial Automaton astromech with an amazing knack for thinking his way out of trouble, had little tolerance for such qualities. And yet, theirs is a friendship that has stood the test of time.

C-3PO and his counterpart, R2-D2

Introduced to each other just before the Battle of Naboo and reacquainted ten years later, R2-D2 and C-3PO went on to share many adventures together. The droids’ circuits recoiled as they watched the Republic transform into the Empire, Anakin Skywalker fall to the dark side, and Padmé Amidala die in child birth. But they also witnessed the birth of a new hope, the Skywalker twins Luke and Leia.

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