Fan theories are great, aren't they? Sometimes they offer amusing explanations for why strange things happen in one's favorite game or movie, while others might just be the bargaining stage of a fan's agonizing wait for The Elder Scrolls 6. On the other hand, maybe some are just there to make everything darker and more bleak. While that might not be the intention of this newest proposal, it's certainly a byproduct.
A new fan theory centering on everyone's favorite scrappy little astromech droid in the Star Wars universe adds a surprising amount of nuance to a character that only possesses a 1 beep vocabulary. Reddit user Zaius_MD visited the "Fan Theories" subreddit to offer up the idea that R2-D2 isn't quite the comedic bystander that everyone seems to think it is. No, according to this super fun and definitely not depressing new Star Wars theory, R2-D2 plotted out the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Now hold on, this is where the nuance comes in. The theory isn't just that R2 is actually evil. In fact, it's pretty much exactly the opposite. The idea here is that the little droid, having witnessed everything happening between Obi-Wan and Anakin over the years from the sidelines, comes to see the aging Jedi as a liar and villain who betrayed his former friend (who was also the best friend of R2). It's a clever theory. Looks like they don't just hand out medical degrees to any random Zaius.
Getting into the specifics, Zaius_MD alleges that R2 simply believed Anakin was dead all those years, since Obi-Wan had told it as such by the time of A New Hope (guess having the high ground put him on his high horse too). But as time went on, the little tin can slowly began to put the pieces together. After hearing Obi-Wan lie about Anakin's death to Luke, it assumed he was trying to cover something up. This flared up some already hurt feelings from when "Old Ben" pretended he never even knew R2. After a while, it pieced together the fact that Anakin and Vader were one in the same, realizing that Obi-Wan lied and assuming this was due to a betrayal.
All this led up to the group's time on the Death Star, where Obi-Wan is out trying to shut off the tractor beam while R2 is stuck in a control room with seemingly pretty extensive access to the station's systems (it shut down the garbage mashers on the detention level after all, in case anyone forgot that eloquently screamed line). Some may already be putting things together here, and they're on the right track. This is the climax of the theory, suggesting that R2 used its strategic position to sabotage Obi-Wan's progress and allow its former friend Anakin to have his revenge.
But don't worry, the theory also has its own little convenient redemption arc. R2 eventually comes to understand that Anakin is beyond redemption and Obi-Wan had good intentions. So it decides to redeem itself by protecting its old friend's kids Luke and Leia. It's not necessarily a happy ending, but it's bittersweet, and it kind of shares that quality with some of the best Star Wars stories like The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi. Of course, this is only a fan theory, but it's pretty cool, right? Maybe things will get clearer when Hayden Christensen returns as Anakin in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series.
Source: Zaius_MD|Reddit