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R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo)

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an astromech utility droid, R2-D2 was used extensively during the time of the Old Republic as a starship maintenance droid within the Naboo droid pool. He was part of the contingent of astromechs which was aboard Queen Amidala's personal starship when she fled Naboo for Coruscant, shortly after the Trade Federation invaded the planet. When the ship was damaged while trying to run the Federation's blockade, R2-D2 and its companions were dispatched to repair the shield generators. Of the four astromechs dispatched, only R2-D2 managed to complete the work and return to the ship. He was rewarded by the Queen with a thorough cleaning, and accompanied her to Tatooine and Coruscant. On Tatooine, R2-D2 made the acquaintence of the incomplete protocol droid C-3PO, which was being constructed by Anakin Skywalker. Although their encounter was brief, it set the tone for future meetings. After the Battle of Naboo, in which R2-D2 helped young Anakin destroy the Federation's droid control ship, R2-D2 was thrust upon the intergalactic scene. R2-D2 accompanied Padme' almost everywhere she went, and his knowledge of starship programming made him an invaluable resource to the flight crews of the Republic. R2-D2 was reuntied with C-3PO when Padme' and Anakin traveled to Tatooine to see Anakin's mother, Shmi. After Shmi died, C-3PO was reclaimed by Anakin, and accompanied Anakin and R2-D2 to Geonosis, in an effort to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi. After Anakin and Padme' were married, Padme's gave R2-D2 to Anakin as a gift. Anakin spent his free time upgrading Artoo's subsystems, adding all manner of interfaces and devices to the little droid's already impressive arsenal. Anakin also made sure that the little droid never received a memory wipe, so that it could remember certain tactics and maneuvers. In the aftermath of the Clone Wars, R2-D2 managed to avoid the mandatory memory wipe that was given to C-3PO by Bail Organa. It was later discovered that some of Anakin's modifications allowed Artoo to never reveal more that it knew, thus allowing it to keep secrets and remember much of its history. Years later, when the Alliance decide that it was time to break away from the Empire and launch an all-out attack, they used Artoo as a decoy. They figured that most people - even the Imperials - wouldn't suspect that a lowly astromech droid was carrying the top-secret plans to the first Death Star. When the consular ship Tantive IV was intercepted while trying to reach Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine and deliver the plans to him, Artoo's mission was modified. Instead of just holding the Death Star plans, he was also programmed by Princess Leia Organa to seek out Obi-Wan and enlist his aid without human assistance. Artoo jettisoned from the ship along with his good friend, the protocol droid C-3PO, and they landed on Tatooine. After being sold at a Jawa auction to Luke Skywalker, Artoo inadvertently showed Luke a portion of the holographic recording Leia had made. Artoo couldn't trust Luke with the whole message, and sought Obi-Wan himself. This led to Artoo's almost being destroyed by the Sand People, but Obi-Wan rescued them. Upon hearing the message, Obi-Wan booked passage aboard the Millennium Falcon, and Artoo was brought to the engineers on Yavin 4 to dump the information on the Death Star. Following the Battle of Yavin, Artoo had to be refitted a number times from damage sustained as Luke's X-wing astromech droid. Artoo nevertheless remained a loyal droid, lending his assistance whenever necessary. He accompanied Luke on virtually every mission the young man was given, and also accompanied Luke to Dagobah to locate Yoda. While on Dagobah, Artoo was nearly swallowed by a swamp creature, but proved too hard to consume. Later, on Cloud City, Artoo was separated from Luke during the search for Han Solo, and helped Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian escape the city after Darth Vader had it garrisoned. During the Battle of Endor, Artoo was part of Han Solo's strike team, dispatched to the Forest Moon to assist in disabling the shield generator that was protecting the second Death Star. Decades later, during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, Artoo and Threepio both had reason to wonder about the true meaning of life and existence, as the alien invaders hated all forms of technology, especially droids, which the Yuuzhan Vong deemed blasphemous simulacrums of life. When the Yuuzhan Vong finally surrendered at Coruscant, the droids found that there was another trait they needed to confront: obsolescence. The two droids agreed that they would meet this and any other challenge just as they always had, with each other. However, Luke and Leia were not about to give up the services of their most trusted droids, and R2-D2 continued to serve Luke during his travels for the new Jedi order. However, about five years after the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated, Artoo began to show some serious glitches. The droid forgot where it was, and was prone to miscalculations in its hyperspace routes, all of which worried Luke. A diagnostic showed several of Artoo's deep memory banks had sequestered as private, and were causing blocks of information to be lost. Luke tried to bypass them, only to stumble upon another holographic recording of a woman. This time, Luke asked Zakarisz Ghent to extract the full recording. Ghent explained that there were only two ways to get it: wipe out R2-D2's personality sectors, or locate the designer of the Intellex IV droid brain and learn the backdoor methods for reaching hidden or damaged sectors. Luke refused to wipe out Artoo's memory, and decided to search the old Imperial archives for the Intellex IV design manual.