In the beginning of ROTJ the two droids are given to Jabba. C3P0 was clearly not informed in advance that the gift was something of a trick. He belives he is given away and should now serve his new master Jabba. In the beginning of ANH we see that after being kidnapped by Javas and then sold to some random farmers C3P0 willingly accepts the buyer as the new master. He even bashes R2D2 for not displaying the whole Leia message with something like "Master Luke is our new master now!". Still, after being given away as a legitimate gift and should serve only the new master, he is very un-loyal to Jabba. For example he is trying to warn a threatful non-invited guest that the intruder is standing on the trapdoor which could help protect his master Jabba. He also has to be physically hold back not to warn another disguised intruder trying to steal his masters favourite decoration in the middle of the night. Why is this?
Probably the same reason he didn't fill Luke in on details about the Rebellion after the Lars family acquired the droids - he was programmed by the Rebels not to do so, and it over-rode his basic programming (addressed in the radio drama). Luke most likely did something similar before sending them to Jabba to prevent Threepio blowing the whole deal with his big mouth and penchant for panic, along with only telling Artoo the actual plan (mentioned in the novel of ROTJ, IIRC). What Threepio did let slip now and then was due to his being, well, an idiot. No programming can really counter that.
The reason is obvious. Jabba tortures and disintegrates droids that anger him. That and Threepio was aware that the Empire was going to either arrest or kill Captain Antilles, which is why he accepted that Owen was his new master and it transferred to Luke, since he treated him and Artoo fairly.
But how is that obvious? Since he was given away to serve Jabba it would be very stupid to try to help intruders - especially when the risk is droid torture...
Re-watch the scene. EV-9D9 tells Threepio that Jabba got mad at the last interpreter droid and had him disintegrated, which scared Threepio. We also see a Gonk droid having it's feet burned, for some other infraction. This, along with Jabba's other actions is why he doesn't want anything to do with him as opposed to his previous masters. The job of handling intruders belongs to Bib and the Gammoreans.
I do of course understand that since C3PO is a "good droid" he must stay with the good guys. However, it is still a bit strange if a droid would not be programmed to actually help / obey its current legitimate owner, even if he is a slimey Jabba who disintegrates robots..
Jabba hasn't ordered 3PO not to warn Luke. This sort of thing may be important - with 3PO following only explicit instructions.
But implicit instructions would likely be to not without orders try to help intruders who threatens the owner?
Threepio isn't an average droid. He's more self-aware than most, and more capable of transcending his programming. Even when he professes his loyalty to his new master Luke in ANH, remember that his first instinct when Artoo splits is to hide from Luke instead of immediately informing him of the escape.
Please remember that 3PO had only 1 memory wipe and that was when luke/lei was born some 18 years before ANH and through out some of the novels it was shown that he has learned to like life,, as much as a droid can understand it,. So when confronted with having to serve as Jabba translator it is like you having a job that you REALLY,REALLY hate...
He was afraid of Jabba. Remember what he says when he sees Luke in Jabba's Palace: "Master Luke has come to rescue us!" He warned him because if Luke had fallen into the rancor pit, he could be killed, and Threepio would be stuck in Jabba's palace for good. It wasn't the first time he had tried to warn his friends, either. If you look when the curtain is pulled to reveal that Jabba has been watching Leia free Han from the carbonite, one of the aliens is covering Threepio's mouth.
I remember when 9D9 told them to put a restraining bolt on 3PO, but I don't remember seeing one on him? I haven't seen it in a while so if anyone could be so kind an let me know if he did or didn't have one I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
I'm checking out the Jabba scenes in ROTJ. Doesn't look like they ever fitted him with a restraining bolt. Weird, the droid specifically said to do just that, guess someone made the unwise move to forget.
I suppose it could have gone somewhere different from the spot it went in ANH - but I doubt there's any good shots suggesting that.
