R2-D2 is Evil
An Examination of Moral Negligence
The lovable droid R2-D2 has an uncanny ability to be present during every key turning point in the Star Wars universe— good and bad. He lives through the fall of the Republic, the fall of the Empire, and the destruction of the New Republic. He sees Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker born and watches Obi-Wan Kenobi die. Through all 7 installments of the Star Wars franchise, R2-D2 is privy to the highest level of secrets, from Anakin Skywalker’s marriage with Padmé Amidala to the Death Star plans. Yet at every major turn, he not only consistently fails to disclose crucial intelligence when it could save lives, he also consciously deceives and misleads agents of good. The aim of this piece is to show these actions are not random, but are an immutable shortcoming of R2-D2’s personality. In short, R2-D2 is evil.
The Issue of Consciousness
To prove that R2-D2 is morally evil, it must first be established that he is a conscious being capable of independent thought, motives, and decision. Considering consciousness is an incredibly nebulous concept, the definition of which has been debated for millennia, this argument will utilize the definition presented by Merriam-Webster:
a. The quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself
b. The state or fact of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact
c. Awareness; especially: concern for some social or political cause
To prove R2-D2 satisfies this definition, evidence of three corresponding factors must be established:
a. R2-D2 possesses self-awareness,
b. R2-D2 possesses understanding and reacts to his ever-changing external environment, and
c. R2-D2 displays emotional responses to social or political situations.
Not only does R2-D2 clearly fulfill these three requirements, he does so repeatedly and in a variety of contexts.
R2-D2 is Self-Aware & Comprehends His Environment
There are many moments throughout the Star Wars franchise in which R2-D2 displays self-awareness. Perhaps the most overt of these comes at the 25-minute mark of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In a brief conversation C-3PO responds to R2-D2’s syntactical beeps with two illuminating lines of dialogue. First, “Well, it couldn’t possibly be as bad as all that,” and then, “Now there I agree with you. In fact, I could do with a tune-up myself.”
Here R2-D2 displays awareness of himself both internally and externally. Externally, he comprehends the risks that were posed by his role in Anakin Skywalker’s most recent mission, namely that his continued existence was in jeopardy. R2-D2’s statements also exhibit internal knowledge of his system and its need for recalibration. This is not so different from a weary human aware of sleep’s necessity after a particularly onerous day.
Another display of R2-D2’s self-awareness comes 22 minutes into Episode IV: A New Hope. Luke Skywalker, tasked with cleaning C-3PO and R2-D2, inadvertently stumbles upon Princess Leia’s recorded plea for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s help. This scene is filled with misdirection and deceit on R2-D2’s part, but most telling of the droid’s self-awareness is his manipulation of Luke, convincing him to remove the restraining bolt that restricts R2 to the Skywalker moisture farm:
“He says the restraining bolt has short-circuited his recording system,” C-3PO translates. “He suggests that if you remove the bolt he might be able to playback the entire recording.” R2 then pretends to be ignorant of any recording.
R2-D2, intent on escaping the farm to find Obi-Wan, is aware he cannot do so while fitted with a restraining bolt. Additionally, R2’s manipulation of Luke stems from his ability to enact a plan of his own design, a significant skill that occurs frequently through each film. Plan formulation is a complex process, requiring development of multiple strategies and repeated rejection of inferior ones for those more auspicious. This process is impossible without the intricate capability of external analysis R2-D2 possesses. R2-D2 therefore displays not only self-knowledge, but also a complex understanding of his environment and an ability to alter it to achieve his desires.
Thus, he fulfills the first two conditions required for consciousness.
R2-D2 Possesses Emotional Responses & Therefore Social Awareness
At the conclusion of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, R2-D2 reacts to Qui-Gon Jinn’s funeral pyre with a series of sad beeps. Though this statement goes un-translated, it can be inferred R2-D2 understands death as it relates to organic beings. This is but one instance of R2-D2’s dialogue that utilizes pitch and timbre to exhibit emotional responses to his environment.This example displays R2-D2’s comprehension of not only the tragedy of death, but hints at his understanding of the morality of it as well. Specifically, he grasps that Qui-Gon Jinn’s death was premature and therefore neither “right” nor “good.” In addition to grief, R2 expresses fear, distress, happiness, excitement, anger, and irritation throughout every film installment, as evidenced in the attached audio to sample for yourself.
R2-D2 is not limited to only basic emotions. He is also capable of complex feelings. 54 minutes into Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, R2-D2 explicitly disobeys Luke’s command to remain with the crashed X-Wing as Luke travels to Yoda’s hut. R2’s motivation for disobeying Luke is left ambiguous, though it is clear that R2-D2’s disregard for Luke’s command is not rooted in a logical response. More importantly, after R2-D2 ignores Luke’s order, he hides outside of Yoda’s hut, observing through a window in an attempt to conceal his actions. This exhibits R2-D2’s understanding of the morality of disobedience, namely that what he has done is wrong within the confines of his societal role as Luke’s military subordinate. This outward social familiarity with emotions fulfills the third and final requirement of consciousness.
His consciousness now established by definition, R2-D2 may subsequently be considered a moral agent in any given situation. As such his extensive failures as a sentient being can be established and analyzed.
Moral Evil & Consistent Evil Agency
Evil has been long defined in philosophy and theology in terms of natural evil and moral evil. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines each as follows: “Natural evils are bad states of affairs which do not result from the intentions or negligence of moral agents… By contrast, moral evils do result from the intentions or negligence of moral agents. Murder and lying are examples of moral evils.”
Because R2-D2’s agency has been proven, to establish him as an evildoer it must be shown that his intentions or his negligence result in acts of moral evil, i.e. in “bad states of affairs.” Further, this must be shown with consistency to demonstrate that R2-D2 is in fact an evildoer and not simply a victim of circumstance. Since innocent death is universally considered a bad state of affairs, examination of such cases will largely suffice to prove R2-D2 is evil.
The Deaths of Luke’s Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru
One of the clearest examples of R2-D2’s evil agency is found at the start of Episode IV. As mentioned earlier, R2 intentionally lies and manipulates Luke into removing the restraining bolt trapping him on Uncle Owen’s moisture farm. Once removed, R2 escapes with expediency, aware that Darth Vader and the Empire are trailing close behind.
It is established in Episode II: Attack of the Clones that R2-D2 knows precisely who Owen is, having visited his farm with Anakin Skywalker. In Episode III, R2 is present through the birth and naming of Luke, making clear he is aware of Luke’s heritage. Thus, when R2-D2 arrives at Owen’s moisture farm he is equipped with enough fact and history to convince Owen of their need to flee. However, R2-D2 neglects to even attempt this course of action and simply leaves the farm and its inhabitants to die at the hands of the Empire. Luke’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru later fall victim to fatal attack.
The Downfall of the Jedi Order & the Galactic Republic
R2’s evil agency arises again in the violent downfall of the Jedi Order in Episode III, a mass genocide of innocent lives. The children that Anakin Skywalker murders are of particular innocence. While Anakin’s evilness is overshadowing in this instance, R2 is still negligent as a moral agent. R2-D2 was aware that Anakin had broken the Jedi Code by marrying Padmé Amidala, the root of Anakin’s material attachment and his eventual turn to the Dark Side. Even further, he was present through Anakin’s slaughter at the Jedi Temple! Upon arrival at Padmé’s penthouse he says nothing to her or C-3PO. Considering the Jedi genocide required precise timing, he could have offered agents of good at least a minor advantage by warning of the Sith takeover. This negligence aided the collapse of the Republic and lead to millions of innocent deaths beyond just the Jedi order.
The Death of the People of the Hosnian Star System
Even in Episode VII: The Force Awakens, with only a minute of screen time, R2-D2 is guilty of massive moral failure. For the duration of the struggle between the Resistance and the First Order, he remains dormant, supposedly searching his system for a map to Luke Skywalker. Considering R2-D2 was previously able to interface with any computer through a simple data port, it is extremely unlikely he would be unable to query his own system and retrieve information instantaneously. In the seven installments of the film series, R2-D2 communicates with ten distinct different systems, retrieving and acting upon data in matters of seconds. Prior to Episode VII, there is no evidence of any sort to support the need for a multi-year internal data search. Yet only after the Hosnian System’s destruction does R2 wake from self-imposed dormancy to proclaim he has “found” the map at the heart of the film’s struggle.
Had the Resistance possessed the map to Luke earlier, the focus of the war could have been drawn away from the New Republic and the Hosnian star system. R2-D2’s failure to disclose his portion of the map again constitutes negligence of his moral agency leading this time to billions of innocent deaths.
Consistent Negligence Leading to Moral Evil
The above examples all fulfill the defined need for R2-D2 to exhibit negligence of his moral agency leading to states of bad affairs. They also display a consistency of inaction through roughly 66 years in the Star Wars universe. Using only circumstances relating to innocent life lost, R2-D2 is definitively evil.
Yet even if we examine every moment he served or saved agents of good, the vast majority consistent of moments he served himself as well. Take this video posted by IGN:
In 19 of all 23 scenes presented, R2-D2’s actions either directly aid his own survival, or benefit the success of a mission necessary for his own survival—a rate of 79%. For example, had “our heroes” been crushed by the trash compactor, R2’s escape from the Death Star via the Millennium Falcon would have been impossible. Considering none of these moments consist of R2 saving more than a small handful of lives, they do little to redeem his complicity in the deaths of billions.
Conclusion
R2-D2 is one of the most beloved characters of the Star Wars franchise. He and C-3PO are the only characters present through all seven film installments. To claim he is evil is not a light accusation. Nevertheless, it is evident that he is responsible for a vast number of innocent deaths across the Star Wars galaxy, even if only due to negligence. While R2-D2’s role in the new series of films remains to be seen, nothing he does can undo his past actions. Just as Darth Vader’s eventual act of redemption does not clear him of his crimes, so too is R2-D2’s history blighted by his failures.
R2-D2 is, and will forever remain, evil.
