Skippy The Jedi Droid Is A Star Wars Oddity Unlike Any Other
Who’s the biggest hero in Star Wars? Anakin? Psshhh, not with all those murdered children under his belt. Luke Skywalker? Nah. Princess Leia? Nope. Han Solo? Pass. R2-D2? Getting warmer. The biggest hero in the Star Wars universe is none other than Skippy the Jedi Droid!
Skippy
Whether you call it Legends or the Expanded Universe, Star Wars before Disney had a lot of crazy ideas. From Luke, the clone made from Luke Skywalker’s severed hand, to IG-88 becoming the brain of Death Star II, there were some weird Star Wars plots. None of them, however, were as gloriously batsh*t as Skippy the Jedi Droid.
The Secret Hero
Our hero was first introduced in Star Wars Tales #1 from 1999. The comic followed an anthology format and presented various short stories set in the Star Wars universe. Some were considered canon, but most were not. Skippy the Jedi Droid was definitely not but that doesn’t make it any less awesome.
The premise behind Skippy the Jedi Droid is simple: what if the random red and white astromech droid Luke and his Uncle buy before R2-D2 in A New Hope was secretly the movie’s most important character.
In the film, the droid malfunctions, causing the pair to buy Artoo instead. What we don’t see in the film is that the “malfunction” was actually on purpose.
Skippy Becomes Self Aware
According to Skippy the Jedi Droid, the R5-D4 astromech that Luke first purchased blew its motivator on purpose in order to save the galaxy.
The story starts with Skippy toiling away in Jabba’s palace when suddenly he becomes self-aware. As if that wasn’t enough, he then discovers that he has the ability to use the Force.
Realizing that he’s destined for better things, Skippy the Jedi Droid uses his newfound force powers to trick two of Jabba’s Gamorrean guards and escape the palace.
Skippy wanders the desert until he comes across the same Jawa sandcrawler that was then home to C-3PO and R2-D2. The three droids are brought to the Lars homestead, where the Jawas attempt to make some quick cash.
No More Motivator
Skippy senses in Luke Skywalker, another force-user, and Jedi mind-tricks Uncle Owen into buying him. Before Luke and his uncle can bring Skippy home, however, the Jedi Droid gets a disturbing premonition. Skippy has a horrifying vision in which the entire galaxy falls before Emperor Palpatine.
The droid quickly realizes that R2-D2 is the key to saving the galaxy and blows his own motivator in hopes that Luke will go back and purchase the other astromech.
As we all know, Luke does, and the rest, as they say, is history. Skippy, the Jedi droid, is later destroyed by a Stormtrooper looking for Luke and the other droids, and his consciousness becomes one with the force.
The Midichlorians Killed Skippy
As silly as the idea of a droid using the Force is, it wasn’t as silly in September 1999 as it is today. That’s because George Lucas still hadn’t introduced a biological component to the Force.
No midichlorians meant Skippy and other droids could still potentially become Jedi. Once The Phantom Menace hit, however, the story became even more non-canon than it was before.
Regardless of canon, the story of Skippy the Jedi Droid is still a fun little “What If?” in the Star Wars universe and a testament to the unseen heroes behind all of the major events in history.
