Does C3PO know that Analin Skywalker/Darth Vader is his father?

We know that memory wipes have to be selective, since we're told a badly-done, too-comprehensive memory wipe destroys the droid's basic knowledge banks it needs to perform its functions (C-3PO fears not being able to walk anymore if Jabba's crude mechanics try to wipe him), so if the droid's internal file structure is unorthodox or poorly maintained, a wipe may not be able to help leaving some data untouched. Since 3PO was apparently kept awake and semifunctional while being built, it's quite likely that his memories of the person who built him are deeply ingrained on a level that the surface memories the wipe is meant to erase aren't.

(And we do know that memory wipes can be incomplete and multilayered like this -- see the tangled web of memories that is the mind of HK-47.)

I would posit that C-3PO's avoidant behavior upon seeing Anakin's lightsaber isn't a *specific instruction* -- I would retcon this to say that a quick-and-dirty memory wipe done in the name of security, knowing that layers of deeper memory may not be truly erased by the wipe, will instead implant an instruction in the droid that makes the droid deeply averse to any stimuli that strongly evoke those memories. I.e. an artificial version of a human "repressing" traumatic memories. This way even if you can't burn out the things the droid knows, you can make him afraid of knowing them and push him to shut himself down or remove himself from the situation if the topic seems like it's coming up.

It seems like a logical thing to do with a droid, and if C-3PO's been subjected to more than one wipe like this -- wipes specifically intended to suppress secrets -- it would explain a lot about his paranoid, neurotic personality. A protocol droid is by nature privy to learning dangerous secrets, and so the personality you'd want to give one (if you gave it a personality) would be one terrified of offending people, rocking the boat, or getting directly involved in any kind of conflict. C-3PO seems to be strongly allergic to discussing anything about his past, whether it has to do with Anakin or not -- look at how quickly he dismisses Luke's questions about his service with Captain Antilles as being nothing special, even though from Droids and Empire at War we know their post-Anakin career has been plenty adventurous.

Sidenote:

I've always seen the idea of "programming" droids, at least the quasi-sentient or outright sentient droids like C-3PO and R2-D2, as being like implanting drives or urges in a human mind rather than literal "programming" -- a mind as complex as that can't be "programmed" in that sense, by nature.

So, for instance, when C-3PO says it's "against his programming" for him to impersonate a deity, I find it hilariously unlikely that someone actually specifically accounted for the situation of "If you meet a bunch of primitive sentients who just so happen for whatever random reason to have a religion where their golden god looks kind of like you, don't go along with it".

I think it's much more likely that his programming in general forces him to be a subservient, low-profile kind of person -- the kind of person who'd be happy transmitting other people's messages and never taking any initiative of his own -- and so something as brazenly self-aggrandizing as making himself a god runs directly counter to his personality. (It can't *literally* be "against his programming" in the mindless-droid sense, or Luke wouldn't be able to force him to do it despite his objections.)

 

I would posit that C-3PO's avoidant behavior upon seeing Anakin's lightsaber isn't a *specific instruction* -- I would retcon this to say that a quick-and-dirty memory wipe done in the name of security, knowing that layers of deeper memory may not be truly erased by the wipe, will instead implant an instruction in the droid that makes the droid deeply averse to any stimuli that strongly evoke those memories. I.e. an artificial version of a human "repressing" traumatic memories. This way even if you can't burn out the things the droid knows, you can make him afraid of knowing them and push him to shut himself down or remove himself from the situation if the topic seems like it's coming up.

I agree. Anakin made a one of a kind droid, the likes of which has never been seen. He even think s to himself the droid had "so many unnecessary subroutines, he was almost human". Anakin was a genius when it came to machines. No mere tech could undo his brilliant work, esp if they were doing something routine. he's no ordinary protocol droid.

It seems like a logical thing to do with a droid, and if C-3PO's been subjected to more than one wipe like this -- wipes specifically intended to suppress secrets -- it would explain a lot about his paranoid, neurotic personality. A protocol droid is by nature privy to learning dangerous secrets, and so the personality you'd want to give one (if you gave it a personality) would be one terrified of offending people, rocking the boat, or getting directly involved in any kind of conflict. C-3PO seems to be strongly allergic to discussing anything about his past, whether it has to do with Anakin or not -- look at how quickly he dismisses Luke's questions about his service with Captain Antilles as being nothing special, even though from Droids and Empire at War we know their post-Anakin career has been plenty adventurous.

He acts paranoid because Anakin gave him a personality. His "attitude" had been culled to serve Padme's refineries...