R2 Knows All

In the Clone Wars Cartoons, Padme gives him to Anakin as a gift after he's Knighted.

 

In Empire Strikes Back, when Luke is lost in the blizzard and R2 is stressing, C-3PO tries to ensure him Luke will return. I now get the impression that R2 is thinking something along the lines of "Anakin never returned."

 

Yoda and R2 were together on Polis Massa when the twins were born. I think the two were around each other more than people think.

 

if you think about it... R2 is the reason everything in the star wars universe after the start of the Phantom Menace happened.

 

I think we just need to agree that Artoo is GOD! lol

 

As I've stated earlier I think it's limits to what R2 knows and understands. I don't think he knows that Anakin and Vader is the same person. Anakin is never adressed as Vader while R2 is around and I do not think R2 fully understands the concept of the Force, and especially nothing about the Sith (the habit of changing names etc).
But since his memory is not erased he knows most other stuff (like who Obi-Wan is etc). But he does not know who Vader really is. That's the way I see it at least.

 

For me, when Obi-wan comes to Luke's rescue at the start of ANH, he may not necessarily instantly recognise R2, but the look Obi-wan gives when Luke says "He claims to be the property of an Obi-wan Kenobi" is not just him being startled at hearing this name again, it is a moment of realisation of who the droid is. Obi-wan takes on this guarded look as if he has to think quickly to cover this up. Note the sudden change of mood, from him saying "Obi-wan? Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time" where he is being very protective, to when he says "Well of course I know him - it's me" - his mood suddenly lightens as if to distract Luke from what he was obviously thrown by just seconds before.

I also think there's an obvious revelation made in ROTS about R2. When the jedi masters are chatting on the gunship about the possibility of the prophecy having been misinterpreted, they've no idea just how wrong the interpretation was. Anakin was not the chosen one. The evidence is there to see throughout the saga - six whole films of this mysterious droid rescuing the destiny of the entire galaxy. Search your feelings - you know it to be true - R2-D2 was the chosen one.

My only disappointment from the amazing ending of ROTS is that the droids are not in the final shot, as they were in the other 5 chapters. Vader is nowhere near as iconic as Threepio and R2 for Star Wars and it's a shame they weren't in the last ever shot.

 

R2 is one of many who does heroic things vital to saving the galaxy, but he does not bring balance to the Force by destroying the last of the Sith, Anakin did that, which is what the prophecy is about.

I agree. Since they have been in every last shot of the other five movies they should really have been in the last shot of ROTS as well, but it just couldn't happen that way I guess and the ending in ROTS is nevertheless a perfect and powerful ending.

 

One would suppose. He did try to tell Threepio about the Jedi Temple massacre.

 

R2 does know a lot of information regarding the Skywalker Saga. He's been there almost every step of the way and he was intimately involved with Anakin's time during the Clone Wars. I think R2 learned as he went. We know that the longer astromech droids go without getting memory wipes, the more eccentric they become. I think that R2 became his own "person" over time and he grew to appreciate the Skywalkers in a unique way. That being said, I think that R2 understood timing. He understood that telling Luke all the information he had in his memory banks at the wrong time would have greatly disrupted his behavior. How would Luke have reacted if the first thing R2 said to him was that Vader was his father? I don't think it would have been favorable at all.

Though it's unstated during the films, I think there's a good chance Obi-Wan ordered R2 to never reveal what he knew about Anakin, Padme, and the children. Afterall, Obi-Wan and R2 both understood what was at stake with the children...and that any slip up could jeopardize not just the children's lives but the entire galaxy. R2 was a smart little droid and I don't think the import of the information he carried was lost on him.

 

I've always wondered how Luke can converse with R2D2.


Maybe it's via the force!

 

Whoa, there. Drop the joint...nice and slow.

Next thing you'll be telling us is that R2 ordered the clones...


R2 did know quite a bit, but this thread has me thinking that he may have been confused between ROTS and ANH. His last interaction with Anakin that we see is when he is told to remain with the ship (although its not inconceivable that he saw Anakin after that...not like there was alot of places for him to go). Then we see him next watching Obi-wan return from the duel. I think at this point he may have either witnessed part of the duel or, more likely, witnessed the exchange between Padme-Anakin-Obi prior to the duel. I say this because he was eager to follow Obi onto the ship as opposed to waiting for Anakin to return. Unless someone referenced Anakin=Vader after that point to him, I think its likely that he thought for the next twenty years that Obi had killed Anakin. But heres the kicker: when Obi is giving Luke the backstory in his hovel, R2 was right there and had to be thinking "Darth Vader? Pupil of yours? What the heck are you talking abo...oh". I say, even if he didnt know Anakin=Vader up til then, he probably figured it out at that point.

wait, what was the question?