R5-D4

*"Thank you, friend. You may have saved the galaxy today. I will never forget you."*

*- R2-D2 to R5-D4*

R5-D4, also known as "Red" to Luke Skywalker, was an R5 series astromech droid which was owned by a group of Jawas on Tatooine; this was in the time period of the Galactic Civil War. Shortly before the battle of Yavin, the Jawas attempted to sell him to Owen Lard, however, the droid purposefully malfunctioned his motivator at the advice of R2-D2, in the hope that Lard could purchase R2-D2 instead of R5-D4. Soon afterwards, the droid survived an imperial attack on a sandcrawler and went out in search of the rebellion. The droid went on to be active up to the New Republic Era and came into the service of Peli Motto. He projected a map of Tatooine in order to assist Mandalorian: Din Djarin.

## Appearances:

1. ***Star Wars*: Episode II *Attack of the Clones***
2. ***Star Wars*: Episode IV *A New Hope***
3. "Reirin"—*From a Certain Point of View*
4. "The Red One"—*From a Certain Point of View*
5. ***The Mandalorian* – "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger"**
6. ***The Mandalorian* – "Chapter 9: The Marshal"**
7. ***The Mandalorian* – "Chapter 10: The Passenger"**

## The Story of R5-D4

### Origin

R5-D4 was one of the last droids manufactured by Industrial Automaton's R5 astromech droid line, which was hindered by malfunctions. The droid served a master during the Battle of Yavin for 22 years, this was located in Mos Espa on Tatooine. He was travelling the streets when Anakin Skywalker returned.

Later he fought in the war against the Galactic Empire with the Rebellion. However, four years before the Battle of Yavin, he was abducted by a group of Jawas who were working as junkers, wiping R5-D4's memory. He then stayed with them for the next four years longing to be sold and repaired, until one evening, he was inspected by two Jawas, which made him overjoyed because they had decided he was ready to be sold. They cleared out the sand in his tool compartments and lubricated his joints ready for the buyer.

### Encounter with R2-D2

He was then, a few hours later, awoken to a group of Jawas manhandling an R2 unit, which turned out to be R2-D2. R2-D2 had been captured by the Jawas, following the events of the secret mission to Tatooine. R5-D4 watched as R2-D2 was fitted with a restraining bolt. Later on that same night, R5-D4 was awoken by R2-D2, who was midway through sabotaging R5 so that R2 was the only functional droid of the Jawas and therefore sold. R5 let out an angry bleet, and R2 apoligised, telling R5 that he was on an important mission. R5 then went on to explain that he wasn't on a mission, and that his memory was wiped four years ago.

R2 told R5 he had to escape a sandcrawler tomorrow and that the fate of the galaxy depended on him being sold. This was because R2-D2 was carrying the stolen Death Star plans in his memory banks, which R5 was unaware of at this point in time. R2 also added that the Rebellion needed his help. The word Rebellion for some reason suddenly then triggered the phantom of a memory, and when R2 begged again, R5 told him that if he did not escape this sandcrawler and find a new master soon, he would cease to function. R2 was sympathetic but stressed about possibly not finding his master, and if he did not the galaxy would be doomed. Then a group of Jawas approached and R2 promised not to hurt him again.

### The Sacrifice

The next morning, the sandcrawler stopped at the moisture farm owned by the Lars family, which consisted Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Lars and Skywalker were keen to purchase a droid from the Jawas. The droids lined up for sale included R5, R2 and (protocol droid) C-3PO. As the Jawas and Lars discussed the purchasing of the droids, Luke started leading C-3PO and R5 in the direction of his home. As R2 moaned, R5 reassured him.

However, R2 then reiterated that R5 was his only hope and and without his help the galaxy was doomed. It was then that R5 realised how important the mission was, and he then proceeded to discharge the power, forcing his head plate off after loosning the hinge and redirecting the lubricant into a mass behind his photoreceptors. Luke then went on to believe that R5 had a bad motivator and Lars then went on to buy R2-D2 instead. R5 was just powering his audio receptors to hear R2 thank him for his sacrifice and telling him he would not be forgotten.

It later on then turned out that R2's warning was correct when Imperial Stormtroopers stopped the sandcrawler R5 was on and proceeded to interrogate the Jawas about the two droids they sold. When the Imperial Stormtroopers killed the Jawas, R5 pretended to be dead and was overlooked by the Imperial Stormtroopers. Later he recomposed himself and made his way across the Jawas trade route in hope of finding a master, and even the Rebellion.

Thanks to R5's sacrifice, Luke was about to discover a message hidden within R2 from the Princess of Alderan, Leia Organa, soon being delivered to the Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the accord of Leia's instructions to R2. Another result of Luke owning R2 instead of R5 meant that Luke Skywalker would encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi and join forces with him to soon go on and destroy the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. Later on, R5 went to find his place in the Rebellion, just like R2, and he was happy.

### The New Republic Era

Roughly around the time of 9 ABY, R5-D4 traveled to the Mos Eisley spaceport, where he was in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina. This was also when the Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin entered the cantina in search for work, bumping into R5. R5 then bumped into one of the patrons by the counter and later was acquired by Peli Motto, once again crossing paths with Din Djarin in the Mos Eisley Spaceport. He projected a map of Tatooine in the hopes of assisting the Mandalorian in his quest of finding more of his kind.

## Characteristics

*"Did you get the motivator fixed?"*

*"No, but these guys won't know the difference."*

*-Two Jawas realsing they forgot to repair R5's bad motivator*

R5-D4 is an R5 astromech droid with a white chassis with red features. The more problems R5 was facing with the purge of his production line, the more frustrated he got.

He was angry when R2 tried to sabotage him so he could ensure he could contunue his mission for the rebellion. He soon became sympathetic towards R2 and sacrificed himself not long after for R2 and the galaxy by blowing off his head plate.

He kept a low profile when escaping from the Stormtroopers in the sand crawler, who killed the Jawas that captured him, allowing him to begin a search for a new master and hopefully the Rebellion.

He helped out Din Djarin by projecting a map of Tatooine in the efforts to help him in finding more of his kind. Peli Motto also commented that R5 was slow and ancient apoligising to Djarin for R5's slow performance.