Under the Wire: Star Wares

OPINION:Warning: this column contains spoilers.
 
In the final scenes of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the twin infants born of the late Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker (by this time more machine than man, twisted and evil) are distributed about the galaxy. The boy, Luke, is given to the Lars family on Tatooine, because of a loose and somewhat contrived familial connection. The girl, Leia, travels with her adoptive father, Senator Bail Organa, to Alderaan.
 
Meanwhile (and this is the bit I’m mostly interested in) the ’droids, C- 3PO and R2-D2, travel with Organa as far as his ship, whereupon he entrusts them to the care of Captain Antilles and orders that the protocol ’droid have its memory erased.
 
This is a crucial point in the film, and indeed in the series. It explains why, decades later, Threepio doesn’t tell everyone that the big guy in the leather pants is Anakin Skywalker, the guy who built it, and by the way he’s also the father of Luke and Leia. What it doesn’t explain is why, decades later, when Threepio encounters Owen Lars on Tatooine, Lars doesn’t demand the return of his stolen property.
 
Let’s follow the provenance of this machine.
 
Somehow (and we are not told how) most of the parts for a protocol ’droid come into the hands of junk dealer Watto. His slave, Anakin, assembles them into a more or less working unit. Watto loses Anakin in a bet, but retains the boy’s mother and the incomplete protocol ’droid.
 
Anakin’s mother, Shmi, is then sold to the Lars family. Threepio is included in the sale, presumably as some kind of value-add.
 
Shmi marries the patriarch of the Lars family, Cliegg. Presumably (hopefully) this alters her status as a slave and property, but you have to wonder what effect that has on the ownership of the ’droid -- is it now also part of the family? It’s gained some outer coverings, so my guess is Owen Lars completed the work. Shmi is kidnapped, tortured and killed by Tusken Raiders -- just as Anakin returns to check on how she’s doing.
 
Anakin takes Threepio with him when he leaves the Lars homestead. Why this is exactly is unclear: with Shmi dead and Cliegg legless from his rescue attempt, they could probably use an extra hand more than Anakin. Perhaps it’s a goodwill gesture -- sorry we didn’t manage to hold on to your mom, here’s a ’droid to compensate.
 
Anakin marries Padme, and Threepio becomes their communal property, taking on a kind of ‘household butler’ role not entirely befitting a protocol ’droid fluent in more than six million forms of communication.
 
Once Anakin turns to evil and Padme dies, Threepio is given to Organa, who gives it to Antilles (who later has his throat crushed by Anakin). The ’droids escape to Tatooine, where they are found by Jawas, who then proceed to sell them back to Owen Lars. Like sands through the hourglass...
 
So there we are in Episode IV, Owen Lars buying ’droids from Jawas, and he comes face to face with a machine that identifies itself as C-3PO, human-cyborg relations.
 
Shouldn’t this have jogged something? His family acquired this thing legitimately given the prevailing pro-slavery legislative environment of the time, he added value himself, and there is not likely any paperwork to prove they relinquished ownership. I’d say he could establish a pretty solid prima facie case that the ’droid is his.
 
Anyone who’s dealt in second-hand technology knows how tough it can be to establish provenance -- but if a computer introduced itself by name you’d surely twig. You’d take the issue up with the authorities and demand recompense. You certainly wouldn’t just hand over your money and walk away. Then again, second-hand computer dealers are rarely as heavily armed as Jawas.

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