R5 - D4 R5 - D4 , also called " Red " by Luke Skywalker , was a red and white - striped R5 astromech droid owned by a group of Jawa s on Tatooine in the early days of the Galactic Civil War . Shortly before the Battle of Yavin , the Jawas attempted to sell him to Owen Lars , but the droid purposely malfunctioned his motivator , so that Lars could purchase R2 - D2 in R5 - D4 ' s place . The droid survived an Imperial attack on the sandcrawler soon after , and went out to find the rebellion . Biography . Origins . The astromech droid known as R5 - D4 was involved with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire . Four years before the Battle of Yavin between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic , however , he fell into the possession of a group of Jawa s on Tatooine , where they worked as junkers , and wiped the droid ' s memory . For the next four years , R5 - D4 longed to be sold and repaired . One evening , R5 was overjoyed when two Jawas inspected him and decided that he was ready to be sold . They scooped sand out of his tool compartments , wiped down his photoreceptor s , and added lubricant to his chassis and joints . Encounter with R2 - D2 . Hours later , he was awaken by a jolt and saw several Jawas manhandling an R2 unit . This droid turned out to be R2 - D2 , who had been captured by the Jawas following the events of the secret mission to Tatooine . R5 - D4 watched as R2 was fitted with a restraining bolt . Later that night , R5 was awoken by the R2 droid , who was in the process of sabotaging him to ensure he would be the only remaining functional astromech that the Jawas had for sale . R5 bleated angrily , and R2 apologized explaining he was on an important mission . R5 responded that he was on no mission and that his memory had been wiped four years ago . R2 responded that he had to escape the sandcrawler tomorrow and that the fate of the galaxy depended on his sale . Unknown to R5 , R2 was carrying the stolen Death Star plans within his memory bank s . R2 then added that the Rebellion needed his help . The word Rebellion triggered something , the phantom of a memory . When R2 begged again , R5 responded that if he did not escape this sandcrawler and find a new master soon , he would cease to function . R2 was sympathetic but stressed that if he did not find his master , the galaxy would be doomed . As a couple of Jawas approached , R2 promised not to hurt him again . The following morning , the sandcrawler stopped at the moisture farm owned by the Lars family , including Owen Lars and his nephew , Luke Skywalker . Lars and Skywalker were interested in purchasing droids from the Jawas . The droids which included R5 as well as R2 and the protocol droid C - 3PO were lined up for Lars to choose and he chose R5 and C - 3PO . As Lars talked to the Jawas about the purchase , Skywalker began leading C - 3PO and R5 towards his home . When R2 moaned , R5 reassured him that someone would buy him . R2 then reiterated that the galaxy was doomed and told R5 that he was his only hope . Realizing how important R2 ' s mission was , R5 loosened the hinge on his head plate and redirected the lubricant into a mass just behind his photoreceptors . When that was ready , R5 purposely discharged the power , causing his head plate to pop off . This led Skywalker to think that R5 had a bad motivator . In his place , Lars instead purchased R2 - D2 , C - 3PO ' s companion and , along with the protocol droid , secretly a member of the Rebel Alliance . Only powering his auditory receptors , R5 heard R2 ' s farewell , thanking him for his sacrifice and that he would never forget him . R2 ' s warning was proven right when Imperial stormtrooper s stopped the sandcrawler and interrogated the Jaws about the two droids they had sold . While the stormtroopers blasted the Jawas , R5 played dead and was overlooked by the stormtroopers . Later , R5 recomposed himself and made a trek along the Jawas ' trade route in hopes of finding a new owner in the next valley and potentially finding the Rebellion . Legacy . R5 ' s malfunctioning led to Skywalker discovering a message within R2 from Leia Organa , the Prince ss of Alderaan , which was soon delivered to Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi as per Organa ' s instruction to R2 . As a result of owning R2 instead of R5 , Skywalker joined with Kenobi and soon destroyed the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin . At some point , he later found his new place within the Rebellion , just like his old friend R2 . Characteristics . R5 - D4 was an R5 unit with a white and red chassis . R5 was once part of the rebellion but was captured by Jawas who wiped his memories . For the next four years , R5 longed to be sold so that he could find a new master and escape the sandcrawler , which had become his prison . R5 was angry when R2 tried to sabotage him to ensure that he could continue his mission for the Rebellion . R5 regarded the well - maintained R2 unit as snobbish initially . However , R5 became sympathetic to R2 ' s cause when the other droid explained that the fate of the galaxy depended on him being sold . This led R5 to make the difficult decision to sacrifice his own opportunity of being sold by blowing off his own head plate . R5 kept a low profile while the stormtroopers killed his Jawa captors , allowing him to escape and find a new master . Behind the scenes . After the character appeared in the 1977 film , R5 - D4 was featured in a number of " Star Wars " Legends stories . One such story was " Skippy the Jedi Droid " , an Infinities story from the 1999 comic book anthology " Star Wars Tales 1 " . The story posited that the character , nicknamed Skippy , could use the Force . After seeing a vision of Luke Skywalker ' s future , Skippy made it appear that his motivator malfunctioned so that Owen Lars could purchase R2 - D2 and Skywalker could fulfill his destiny as a Jedi Knight . Another storyline , first included in the 1989 roleplaying game sourcebook " " , had R5 - D4 as an ordinary droid who was eventually purchased by Rebel Alliance historian and spy Voren Na ' al . As part of the Rebel Alliance , R5 - D4 helped Na ' al spy on the Imperial forces on Tatooine and provided background information for official Alliance profiles for R2 - D2 and C - 3PO . R5 - D4 ' s canon ical origins story was retold in Rae Carson ' s short story " The Red One " , which was published in the 2017 anthology collection " From a Certain Point of View " . As in the Legends " Star Wars " radio adaptation , R2 - D2 still attempts to sabotage R5 - D4 but relents when the droid wakes up . R2 - D2 instead convinces R5 - D4 that the fate of the galaxy depends on him being sold . After R2 - D2 mentions he is fighting for the Rebellion , R5 decides to sacrifice his own opportunity of being sold in order to guarantee the success of R2 - D2 ' s mission .