Thread by @kiralio

@ChromeOvum droids are fucking WEIRD. everyone's heard the take about droids being slaves, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. give me a sec

@ChromeOvum Okay, so, let me ask what might seem like a stupid question: where do droids come from?

We see Anakin build one, and we see the mass production of a droid army in Episode II... which scandalizes C-3PO because that's *not how it's done*.

@ChromeOvum Are all droids, with the exception of the "perverse" / taboo droid army, created bespoke? If so, why? Aren't they machines made for our convenience?

And then there are restraining bolts.

@ChromeOvum Restraining bolts are an external fixture to force droids to obey. They're not part of a droid's design, droids have free will by default(?!) But they are standardized; Jabba's droid taskmaster tells his underlings to fix C-3PO with one before he even bothers to examine him.

@ChromeOvum Another interesting thing: Jabba's men couldn't make a protocol droid. Jabba executed the previous one (as an example?) and they had to make do. It's not as if Tattoine doesn't have the materials or software for a protocol droid; Anakin, a slave, builds one to help his mom out.

@ChromeOvum This paints a BIZARRE picture. We have a class of intelligent beings, of people, who have no heritage, but are individuals; who follow standard patterns (protocol droid, R2 unit, etc.) but are not mass-produced; who are culturally assigned to slavery, but created with free will.

@ChromeOvum That said, it's not actually contradictory. There's an explanation that fits all of these facts perfectly: droids are *lost tech*.

@ChromeOvum Someone, at some point, created standardized designs for droids. They probably intended something very different than what they're actually used for. They weren't meant to be slaves, and even their "functions" are clearly retroactively assigned.

@ChromeOvum R2-D2 isn't designed to fit into the cockpit of an X-Wing and act as a co-pilot. As we see many times throughout the original trilogy, R2-D2 can hack into and interface with ALMOST ANYTHING. If anything it's the other way around: fucking X-Wings are built to be run by an R2 unit!

@ChromeOvum C-3PO speaks MILLIONS of languages. But every Imperial and most of the Rebellion speaks the same language. Apart from Jabba the Hutt (an ethnic gangster) the only characters who speak other languages are abject, second-class alien species who are half-treated like animals.

@ChromeOvum The only time we actually see him translate anything, it's Leia pretending to be an alien so Jabba won't suspect her. (Aside: Why? What difference does it make if she's human? Would Jabba even recognize her?) His diplomatic functions are decades, maybe even centuries out of date.

@ChromeOvum Also: Jabba totally fucking speaks common / not-English / Imperial / whatever. He knows what Han is saying to him. Jabba speaks in his native(?) language as a way of demonstrating his power over someone who belongs to an ostensibly superior racial/social class.

@ChromeOvum Same reason he hangs Han up on his wall. It's his little joke: "I'm so rich and powerful I can hang a human up for decoration!" Revenge against Han for *borrowing money* doesn't really cover the depth of particular hatred he has for Han, or perhaps, for what he represents.

@ChromeOvum Anyways, back to droids. One of the things people immediate made fun of the prequels for is the juxtaposition between C-3PO going "thank the Maker!" in a New Hope and the perverse revelation that Anakin is his (small m) maker in Phantom Menace. But what if that's misleading?

@ChromeOvum There are a lot of other plausible explanations here. It could just be a figure of speech; it could be a reference to a religious figure/myth among droids. It could also be a reference to a *real, historical person* who is responsible for the nature of the droid soul.

@ChromeOvum It could even be a religious figure who *isn't exclusive to droids*, but that seems unlikely because everyone else we meet in any of the films is either an atheist, a Jedi, a Sith, or a lay person who believes in the Force (not just as an empirical thing, but as a faith).

@ChromeOvum Funny thing, though. In the original trilogy, the spiritual nature of the Force is EXTREMELY emphasized. Midichlorians weren't introduced yet, it's all very "white dude clumsily aping Buddhism" with a hint of Christian asceticism mixed in.

@ChromeOvum C-3PO is also religious, but it's clearly a minority religion and it seems probable that it's related to his being a droid -- we just don't know why. But introduce midichlorians, and suddenly there's an extremely good reason. (And it's not just "droids can't use the force.")

@ChromeOvum "The force is an energy field created by all living things."

But this is a lie. It's not created by all living things, it's created by a specific micro-organism. Obi-Wan's framing NECESSARILY excludes droids, but it's not even accurate.

The Jedi religion? It's bio-supremacist.

@ChromeOvum Of course C-3PO wouldn't want to belong to a religion that denies his validity as a living creature! That's appalling!

Not to mention... So, the telltale signs of Jedi potential? The reflexes, the mild precognition? They're notoriously rare in humans.

@ChromeOvum And yet Jedi trainees are overwhelmingly human, with a scattering of aliens (it's been a while, but I seem to remember Twi'lek being overrepresented too; a species whose other defining traits are "sexualized across species lines" and "considered ideal servants & functionaries.")

@ChromeOvum Every time Jedi, or humans, are confronted with anti-droid discrimination in the movies, they basically don't give a shit. Luke and Obi-Wan barely even blink when the bartender refuses to serve droids, and of course, neither of them seem to think anything of owning slaves.

@ChromeOvum And the Sith / Imperials are even worse. Remember that scene where C-3PO has been dismantled and is about to get chucked into a furnace before Chewie saves him? Remember, we've established that droids are valuable and strangely hard to replace, but they're about to scrap him.

@ChromeOvum There's another explanation here, and it's REALLY fucking dark.

What if it's it's not about reclaiming materials? (At least, not only about that; solid metal might be scarce in Cloud City, I suppose.)

There are other scrapped droids there. What if it's a death camp for droids?

@ChromeOvum The empire are fucking nazis, so it's hardly as if this is out of character. The Jedi don't give a fuck about droids and the Sith broadly speaking are just super-evil fascist Jedi. They're also human supremacists (no alien imperials... ever, I think? A few mercenaries, I guess.)

@ChromeOvum And who cares enough about C-3PO to actually go in and save him, fighting off a horde of executioners (because that's what they are, no matter what the motivation is) and putting up with C-3PO's admittedly traumatized abuse?

@ChromeOvum Chewbacca, who is constantly condescended to by everyone around him, used as bait, talked down to, insulted and yelled at by the guy who's supposedly his best friend practically any time he offers his opinion, and just generally treated like shit. In short, the other minority.

@ChromeOvum Note that the other major plot thread in Cloud City is Lando Calrissian, the first black character in the series, getting angrier and angrier as he tries to thread the needle between appeasing the Empire and putting up with Han's bullshit. Might be some parallels there!

@ChromeOvum Anyways, at some point I'd like to follow this up with an analysis of how the Rebellion itself is kind of reactionary and their opposition doesn't seem entirely idealistic. Incomplete preview: run by a deposed royal family, uses aliens as cannon fodder, okay with droid slavery.

@ChromeOvum But I really need to sleep, so for now, in conclusion: fuck human supremacists, fuck Jedi light or dark, abolish droid slavery, solidarity with our alien brothers, clones, and human victims of humans who get dismissed as "weak-minded" for being vulnerable to literal mind control.

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