C-3PO

This article details a subject that falls under the Legends brand.The subject of this article appeared in the Rise of the Empire era.The subject of this article appeared in the Rebellion era.The subject of this article appeared in the New Republic era.The subject of this article appeared in the New Jedi Order era.

C-3PO
Production information
Born	c. 112 BBY, Affa
Manufacturer	Cybot Galactica
Model	3PO-series protocol droid
Class	Protocol droid
Technical specifications
Gender	Masculine programming
Height	5'9" (1.67 m)
Plating color	Gold
Chronological and political information
Affiliation	Intergalactic Droid Agency Star Tours Royal House of Alderaan Alliance to Restore the Republic Bright Tree Village Skywalker Family New Republic

[Source]

"I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."

―C-3PO

C-3PO, sometimes spelled See-Threepio and often referred to as Threepio, was a bipedal, humanoid protocol droid designed to interact with organics, programmed primarily for etiquette and protocol.

Originally activated on Affa in 112 BBY, C-3PO had served one of the third liaison officers in one of the sub-embassies in the Granicus system. It would be a good thirty-seven years before he was actually transferred into protocol; serving as a protocol droid to the emissary of the Manakron system. A few years later, he began working for the Intergalactic Droid Agency alongside the astromech droid R2-D2. The two got caught up in a wide variety of misadventures, ruining the gangster Tig Fromm, helping restore the Tammuz-an monarchy, and aiding the merchant Mungo Baobab in reviving his family's fortune, among other exploits. In 3 BBY, the two were working for the Star Tours travel agency. Daniel Antony, a Star Tours roboticist, replaced C-3PO's leg and implanted some of his own personality into the robot. Star Tours Flight 1401 was the agency's first flight, due to depart from a Star Tours space station. Prior to its departure, C-3PO and R2-D2 were tasked with making last-minute repairs to the StarSpeeder 1000 that would be whisking civilian passengers across the galaxy. When the ship was quickly elevated to the passenger boarding level, the two droids were forced to fly the ship on its maiden voyage, even as Imperials attempted to halt them after discovering that a Rebel spy was aboard.

After the fiasco, C-3PO, alongside R2-D2, were quietly acquired by the Court of Alderaan, who assigned them to the corvette Tantive IV under Captain Colton Antilles. However, while serving him they became embroiled in the Galactic Civil War, and in 0 BBY, Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance entrusted them to bring a copy of the Death Star I plans to the former Jedi Knight Ben Kenobi on Tatooine. After meeting the farm boy Luke Skywalker and the smuggler Han Solo, the droids helped rescue princess Leia from the Empire's Death Star and became directly attached to the three Humans, helping them and their rebellion defeat the Empire and restore freedom to the galaxy.

When the Rebellion became a New Republic, C-3PO continued to serve Luke and the now-married Han and Leia Solo, helping them defeat remnants of the Empire. Notably, C-3PO helped the Solos raise their five children, and aided Luke in recruiting trainees for his New Jedi Order. His translation abilities proved crucial during major incidents on Bakura, the starship Teljkon Vagabond, and in the Kathol sector, and in 17 ABY, he and R2-D2 teamed up with a young mechanic named Cole Fardreamer to foil a plan to bomb the galactic capital of Coruscant. When an extra-galactic race of religious zealots known as the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy in 25 ABY, C-3PO participated in the five-year conflict that eventually saw the invaders defeated. The destruction wrought by the invaders, and particularly their harsh treatment of droids, caused C-3PO to deeply question his views on deactivation, immortality, and memory erasure.

Biography

Early life

C-3PO was originally activated on the Cybot Galactica foundry world of Affa in the year 112 BBY. Sometime in his early existence, he had served one of the third liaison officers in one of the embassies in the Granicus system. It would be a good thirty-seven years before he was actually transferred into protocol: a job he would be tasked with for many years to come. In this new function, C-3PO first served as a protocol droid to the emissary of the Manakron system.

Early adventures

Time on Ingo

In the year 15 BBY, the droids found themselves on the planet Ingo trekking across the sands of the Vaj Desert before being spotted by two speeder jockeys, Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. Having been in search of an R2-unit, the two declared themselves the new masters of the droid duo and welcomed them into Joben's speeder. While traveling to their auto-shop, the jockeys crossed into the desert's restricted zone and were pursued by seeker probe droids. The chase saw C-3PO fall from Joben's speeder and land in the desert's sands, where he was accosted by a large droid tank. Throwing a rock at it, the protocol droid was surprised to see it explode. Unbeknownst to him, the Fromm Tower Droid had actually been destroyed by Kea Moll, a young resistance fighter from Annoo who had made her way to Ingo.

With the seekers successfully evaded, the jockeys brought the droids back to their shop. C-3PO and R2-D2 helped fix up Joben and Dusat's speeders and were shown the White Witch, a heavily-modified speeder that the jockeys intended to enter into an upcoming race with R2-D2 flying in its droid socket. Joben then left the shop for the night and brought the droids with him, but noticed pursuit by an unknown party and hid his speeder accordingly. With the pursuers dodged, the trio returned to the shop, only to find that Dusat had been kidnapped. Following the arrival of Kea Moll, who had been seeking a mechanic, R2-D2's sensors detected movement outside. Investigating, Joben discovered that his speeder had been sabotaged, and soon found himself surrounded by hostile droids. C-3PO, R2-D2, and Moll took the White Witch outside and saved Joben, before tracking the droids to a base belonging to Tig Fromm, the Anoo-Dat gangster that C-3PO and R2-D2 had previously encountered while in the service of Lonn Idd.

After R2-D2 infiltrated the base, a Fromm Tower Droid opened the complex's doors in an effort to locate the intruder. It was swiftly decapitated by the White Witch, which zoomed into the open doors and made its way through a cave system after locating Dusat on a map of the base. After coming to a locked door, Joben cut his way through with a lightsaber that a customer had previously left him, before taking R2-D2 in the White Witch through the base's tube system to rescue Dusat. Remaining at the computer that displayed the map, C-3PO and Moll monitored Joben's progress and redirected tube traffic out of his way. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a patrol droid and a maintenance droid, but C-3PO tricked the two into inadvertently destroying each other. The protocol droid's cunning continued as he directed all patrol droids away from the Witch over a loudspeaker, and convinced two more of the units that he was their ally and had captured Moll.

After rescuing Dusat, Joben and R2-D2 recovered C-3PO and Moll, and piloted the speeder to the base's exit, only to find several droid cruisers waiting outside and firing at them. C-3PO located a computer and overrode orders from Tig Fromm that had deactivated several tower droids; the reactivated tanks began battling the cruisers, allowing the White Witch to escape in the midst of the confusion. Joben destroyed several seeker probes that attempted to follow it, before taking the speeder was to Moll's ship, the Sand Sloth, where Moll, the droids, and their masters prepared to take the Witch to the Boonta Speeder Race. Aboard the ship, C-3PO and R2-D2 held a discussion regarding speeder racing before the ship jumped to the Annoo system. Following the jump, the droids made their way to the ship's hull to enact repairs. C-3PO and the ship's hyperdrive began to float away, but R2-D2 was able to wheel the protocol droid back towards the ship via a rope that C-3PO had attached himself to. C-3PO's servomotors seized up when R2-D2 attempted to keep him stuck to the hull, locking his torso in a position perpendicular to his legs. Although he was able to right himself, the crew of the Sand Sloth needed a new hyperdrive, and traveled to Annoo to find one.

Following a scuffle with another droid at Annoo customs, C-3PO and R2-D2 spotted two members of the Fromm Gang and began to cause a scene, offering a distraction that allowed their human companions to escape. Joben, Dusat, and Moll took the droids to the home of Kea's mother Demma, where C-3PO and R2-D2 performed various chores while their masters slept. After a Sand sloth knocked him into a wall, C-3PO unintentionally activated a secret door leading to a rebel base of the Annoo resistance. When the droids went to wake Joben up and inform him of their discovery, they found an assassin droid spraying the jockey with gas. A brief skirmish ensued that concluded with Moll arriving and shooting the assassin; her mother promptly arrived home and informed her guests that Sise Fromm, the leader of the Fromm gang, was trying to kill Joben and Dusat for having discovered his secret base on Ingo. In that base, the Fromm gang was developing a secret and deadly weapons satellite called the Trigon One. When the humans returned to their slumber, C-3PO prepared himself for an eventual confrontation with the Fromms by practicing hand-to-hand combat, but found the endeavor taxing when his servomotors seized up again.

To take the Trigon

"Freedom is everybody's fight!"

―C-3PO looses a battle cry while fighting the Fromm Gang

The morning after the gas attack, Dusat and Moll took the White Witch to a ship that belonged to the Fromm gang, hoping to ride it back to Ingo and sabotage the Trigon One. When Joben, still in recovery from the gas, later woke up, he took the droids and followed his friends, finding them held captive by a pair of Annoo-Dat thugs at one of the gang's freighters. The gangsters were knocked unconscious in an ensuing confrontation, and Joben and Moll hid themselves in two cargo containers, giving C-3PO a thermal detonator to hold still until they reached Ingo. The droids and Dusat posed as laborers when more gang members passed by, and Dusat then left the scene, intending to remain on Annoo and protect Demma. C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon after witnesses to a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm regarding their plans for the Trigon One. Under their guise as laborers, they boarded the freighter and were accosted by two other droids during the journey to Ingo. A chance passage through a meteor shower saved them, but also caused them to lose track of the cargo container that Joben and Moll were hiding in.

At the Fromm gang's base on Ingo, C-3PO saved the life of the gang's head of security, Vlix Oncard, by pushing him out of the way of falling debris. After quickly identifying the container that held his companions, C-3PO asked the grateful security chief to take it to the hangar that held the Trigon One. Oncard agreed, and the droids began making their own way to the hangar, dropping Oncard's name in order to avoid trouble with rowdy gangsters that they passed. Two of the gangsters, however, unintentionally activated the thermal detonator. With only ten minutes until its detonation, the droids hurried to the hangar and rendezvoused with their companions, who, with R2-D2's help, fended off attacking guard droids and boarded the Trigon One. After the thermal detonator destroyed the scaffolding holding the satellite in place, the team took the satellite into atmosphere, where R2-D2 destroyed several attacking droid fighters.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon afterward kidnapped by the Fromm Gang and brought to their mining facility on the planet Aaron. Imprisoned at the bottom of the complex's eight levels, the droids managed to escape from their cell and ascend all eight levels, evading various Fromm Tower Droids, ceiling-mounted gun emplacements and other hazards along the way, and activating turbolifts by entering correct sequences of colored keys. After exiting the facility, the droids found Joben and Dusat waiting to rescue them.

Back in Joben's care, the droids traveled back to Ingo with their masters. R2-D2 and Joben hid and sabotaged the Trigon One, ensuring that any subsequent activation of its drives would send it on a collision course with the Fromm gang's stronghold on Annoo. While they were away, C-3PO was modifying a subspace transceiver in Joben's auto-shop when he unintentionally tuned in to the frequency used by the Fromm gang. Witnessing a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm, he and Moll learned that Oncard had brought a group of Fromm gangsters to the shop. A swift arrival by Joben and R2-D2 in a speeder saved them, but a subsequent chase through a nearby city concluded with the Fromm gang trapping them in a warehouse.

The four were taken prisoner and brought to the Fromm gang's Annoo stronghold, where Joben informed Sise Fromm that he had taken the Trigon One to Ingo. They were then locked in a cell with Dusat, who had been previously captured along with Demma. R2-D2 hatched an escape plan, and C-3PO, preying on their guard's avarice, loudly claimed that his counterpart's dome was filled with jewels. Investigating, the guard was covered with foam by R2-D2, who then used his shock arm to zap Joben's binders. Joben freed his four companions and took Moll to rescue Demma, while Dusat and the droids made their way to a hangar and commandeered a ship. After discovering that the Trigon One was inbound, R2-D2 informed Dusat and C-3PO of the sabotage, and consequently took a cargo sled with C-3PO to aid Joben and Moll, knocking over several patrol droids in the process. The droids activated an evacuation alarm and brought Joben, Moll, and Demma back to the ship, which Dusat had hotwired. However, he needed C-3PO's servomotors to guide the stolen ship. Connecting himself to the ship's navigation controls, C-3PO guided the ship away from the exploding base.

With the Trigon One destroyed and the Fromm gang finished, Joben and Dusat could finally focus on the upcoming speeder race. En route to Boonta, C-3PO and R2-D2 were on the Sand Sloth's hull enacting repairs to the White Witch's power couplings when another starship appeared and began firing at them. R2-D2 quickly activated the hyperdrive via external controls, and the droids rode through hyperspace on the hull. After arriving at Boonta, an engine damaged in the firefight caused the Sand Sloth to crash into a scrapyard. An old Proto Droid named Proto One appeared and, after befriending R2-D2, offered to fix the ship. Moll agreed, and along with Joben and the droids, brought Dusat to a local hospital, as Dusat had injured an arm during the firefight. The White Witch had also been damaged in the crash, and when R2-D2 suggested that Proto One fix it, a jealous C-3PO enlisted the help of a droid named BL-17 instead. BL-17 offered the used of a garage that he claimed was owned by his master, and Moll accepted the offer, unaware that BL-17 was actually working for a bounty hunter that had been hired by Sise Fromm, who wanted revenge on the group that had ruined his gang.

While R2-D2 and Moll were fixing the Witch, C-3PO, unaware of BL-17's duplicity, became fast friends with the droid. BL-17 suggested that they leave the garage to search for Joben, and took the opportunity to lock the door and remotely trigger a gas leak in the garage's welding tanks. When he and C-3PO returned to find the door open and R2-D2 guarding the Witch, C-3PO blamed his old friend for any trouble that might have happened and agreed to BL-17's suggestion to move the speeder to the safety of a nearby processing plant. At the plant, C-3PO and BL-17 ran into Proto One, who had a long-standing rivalry with BL-17. A fight ensued, causing C-3PO to realize his mistake and to regret opening a rift between himself and R2-D2. As if on cue, the astromech droid arrived, and C-3PO took advantage of the distraction by body-checking BL-17 into a pile of rubble which then collapsed on the duplicitous droid. Joben and Moll arrived, but when Fett appeared and began shooting at the group, Joben and R2-D2 fled in the Witch to participate in the imminent Boonta Race. Proto One then warned C-3PO and Moll of a thermal detonator that the Fromms had placed inside the Witch, set to detonate after ten laps of the race were completed.

Helpless to intervene, C-3PO and Moll arrived at the racetrack and watched as Joben and R2-D2 participated in the race, dodging Fett's speeder in the process. When the thermal detonator came loose and landed on Fett's vehicle, Joben was able to win the race. While celebrating, he and Dusat were approached by Zebulon Dak, the owner of a powerful speeder corporation, who offered them both jobs. The jockeys eagerly accepted, but their mirth was interrupted by the arrival of Sise Fromm, Tig Fromm, and Vlix Oncard, who were fuming at having once again been foiled. Proto One arrived as well, however, and arrested them, but Fett was unimpressed by their meddling in his work after having hired him, and captured them in order to deliver them to Jabba the Hutt. C-3PO and R2-D2 joined their masters and Moll aboard the Sand Sloth, where they overheard a conversation between the humans: Dak would not allow C-3PO and R2-D2 to accompany the jockeys unless they were reprogrammed. Having grown attached to the droids' personalities, Joben and Dusat decided not to take the jobs. Accordingly, the droids fled the ship in an escape pod, hoping that their masters would be free to pursue their dreams.

The lost Prince

"Yorpo says we certainly know how to pick a master."
"And I know how to pick my droids."

―C-3PO and Jann Tosh

C-3PO and R2-D2 made their way back to the Intergalactic droid agency, whose agents found them a new owner in the form of Doodnik, a cantankerous chef who owned and operated a café on the planet Tyne's Horky. Arriving at the establishment in one of the world's mining colonies, the droids anticipated respectively being put to work as translator and maintenance droids, but were instead relegated to waiting tables. C-3PO found the task of remembering orders difficult, and after tripping over one another and disrupting the meal of the crime lord Kleb Zellock, he and R2-D2 were disowned by Doodnik and told never to return to the café. Desiring a master, they found their way to a public auction within the colony, where an asking price of 500 keschels was given for the two of them. When C-3PO expressed offense at what he believed to be a low price, the auctioneer retaliated by including an android in the deal. C-3PO picked a young Human male out in the crowd and asked if he would buy them, but the sale was made for sixty keschels to Yorpo Mog, the bodyguard of Zellock whom R2-D2 had earlier sent face-first into his boss's soup. When Mog began manhandling the android, the young man that C-3PO had appealed to intervened and traded his mining droid for Mop's three acquisitions, with the aid of translation by C-3PO. Named Jann Tosh, the young man took his new comrades to his wheel bike, but was pursued by Mog after the bodyguard remembered that Zellock had charged him with acquiring the android. C-3PO piloted the vehicle away from Mog, but the bodyguard managed to board it before being quickly shaken off. Tosh and his companions then to return to Tosh's mine.

Tosh's uncle Gundy was less-than-impressed that Tosh had returned home without a mining droid, and his vexation only increased when R2-D2's sensors discovered that the android was in fact an addle-brained member of the Tammuz-an species. Regardless, all three were put to work; C-3PO performed such duties as making stew, carrying water, and working in the mine. He was often helped by the Tammuz-an stranger, who displayed great strength and impressed Gundy by using it to rescue the miner from a collapsing mineshaft. Tosh dubbed the stranger Kez-Iban, a Bocce word meaning "He That Returns from Death", and took him and the droids along as he brought an injured Gundy to a local hospital. When R2-D2 witnessed Mog steal Kez-Iban away from the medical facility, Tosh took the droids back to Doodnik's, where they confronted Zellock, leading to a brawl erupting throughout the café. After a young female Human paralyzed one of Zellock's thugs with a miniature stunner, Tosh and the droids rushed out of the eatery, only to find Mog and several more thugs waiting for them. They were brought to Zellock's Nergon-14-filled mine and sentenced to perform labor, but escaped their chains when R2-D2 used a detached lower leg segment of C-3PO to deactivate the power restraints of the mine's power conductor. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a mining droid, but C-3PO neutralized the threat by throwing a piece of machinery. When the Tammuz-an Sollag arrived and presented Kez-Iban with a scepter, Kez-Iban's vitality was restored, and he revealed himself as Mon Julpa, Prince of Tammuz-an. He thanked Tosh for his kindness, but the joyful moment was cut short when R2-D2's sensors detected rising levels of combustible gas. Fearful of the Nergon-14's impending activation, Tosh, Julpa, Sollag, and the droids rushed out of the mine.

Several mining droids attempted to repulse them, but were neutralized by R2-D2, the power of Julpa's sceptor, and C-3PO, whose reattached lower leg segment acted on its own due to crossed wires and kicked a droid over. Commandeering a bulldozer, the desperate team drove it through a large door before ascending to Zellock's control platform in a turbolift. The Nergon-14 was activated by the gas leak just as they confronted Zellock and Mog, who fled from the base, pursued by Tosh and his allies. When the latter group split up in order to find their way out of the mine's twisting tunnels, it was C-3PO and R2-D2 who came upon Zellock and Mog arriving at their getaway ship. C-3PO's independent lower leg segment sprang forward, knocking a miniature stunner from Zellock's hand into Mog's, and Mog, having just been betrayed by his boss, fired the weapon at Zellock. Tosh, Julpa, and Sollag arrived, and the group brought Zellock's prone form onto the ship and escaped from the base just prior to its destruction. Returning to his mine, Tosh discovered that his uncle had found a large deposit of keschels where the mineshaft had earlier collapsed; Gundy polished and shone C-3PO and R2-D2 up, but informed them that he intended to keep them working hard at the mine.

Hoping to help Julpa regain his rightful place as King of Tammuz-An, Tosh enlisted the help of a stranger named Old Iron Pants to take he, his droids, Julpa, and Sollag to the planet. Before Tosh left his mine, Gundy recorded a farewell hologram inside of R2-D2 and instructed both droids to ensure that only Tosh received it. On the bridge of Iron Pants's ship, she revealed to Tosh that she was actually Jessica Meade, the stranger who had saved him inside of Doodnik's Café. C-3PO and R2-D2 then rushed onto the bridge, where the astromech droid played the hologram to both Tosh and Meade in spite of Gundy's request. Julpa and Sollag entered the bridge just before the ship was attacked by the Dianoga, a hostile starship belonging to the pirate Kybo Ren. R2-D2 was able to successfully detach the bridge, a starship in its own right, from the rest of the vessel, before the bounty hunter IG-88, having been hired by Tammuz-an's Vizier Zatec-Cha to take Julpa alive, arrived in-system in his own ship and crippled the Dianoga. Free of pirate trouble, Meade brought her ship to ground-level on the planet and was hailed by ships belonging to the forces of Zatec-Cha. Thinking quickly, C-3PO asserted that it was the ineptitude of the ships' guards that had allowed them to be attacked by pirates; the guards, fearful of retribution from Zatec-Cha, left Meade's ship alone.

Injured from the firefight, Meade was taken to a hospital by Sollag, while the others booked a room at a local inn. At the inn, Julpa revealed that he needed to infiltrate Zatec-Cha's fortress and reach the royal tower in order to hold his scepter up to the rising sun at dawn and be crowned King. Tosh noticed a spy outside of their room and gave chase, while the droids left the inn to check on Meade at the hospital. Discovering that Meade and Sollag had been escorted out of the hospital by the Vizier's guards, they attempted to return to the inn but got lost on the way, eventually discovering Tosh surrounded by the spy, named Vinga, and several of his companions in an alleyway. The distraction of the droids' arrival prompted Tosh to start a fight with his foes, which C-3PO and R2-D2 helped him win by each grabbing a guard's wig and pulling at it, spinning the guard around until he collapsed. With less than three hours until dawn, they rushed to the Vizier's palace to save their missing comrades, whom Julpa had joined the ranks of after being captured by IG-88. After entering the palace via a secret door that Julpa had revealed to them, Tosh and C-3PO fell through a trap door and were followed down by R2-D2. Landing without injury, they were chased by a giant droid that fired lasers from its photoreceptors, but their foe fell from a partially extended bridge into a pit of lava. The next room that the trio found their way into saw its ceiling begin to press in on them, but the crisis was averted when R2-D2 pressed a floor panel that caused the walls to follow suit; the stress created by the walls acting against the ceiling caused both elements to cease their pressure, allowing the trio to escape.

Unfazed by the hazards, the trio pressed on, soon entering a pit where Julpa was being chased by a Durkii. The beast's tail lifted C-3PO from the ground and onto its back, but the Durkii lost its aggression and fell asleep when R2-D2 was able to remove several pesterous kleexs from its body. The droids and Tosh, joined by Julpa and Sollag, rushed after Zatec-Cha to rescue Meade and recover the scepter. They dodged several barrels before Tosh mounted a Floater-935 repulsorlift vehicle to chase Zatec-Cha and his henchmen, who rode Ubrikkian Airhooks out of the fortress and into Tammuz-an's pre-dawn air. In a chase around the royal tower, the scepter changed hands repeatedly before R2-D2, riding on an Imperial Sniper Vehicle awkwardly piloted by C-3PO, grabbed it with his claw-arm. It fell again into the hands of Zatec-Cha, who readied himself to approach the Keeper of the Tower and present it at dawn. Landing his vehicle, C-3PO stood atop R2-D2's dome and donned a cloak over both of them, posing as Vinga, Zatec-Cha's assistant. When Meade wrestled the scepter from the Vizier's hands, C-3PO recovered it and tossed it to Julpa, who presented it to the Keeper of the Tower and was declared King of Tamuz-an. Now loyal to Julpa, the guards took Zatec-Cha and Vinga away. C-3PO and R2-D2 received medals, were polished and shined, and, along with Tosh, were appointed advisors to Julpa's court.

The revenge of Kybo Ren

"It's time I did something right for a change. Even if it is the last thing I do."

―C-3PO, attempting to sacrifice himself to save princess Gerin

Desperate to power his R-22 Spearhead fighters, Julpa tasked Tosh, Meade, and the droids with obtaining fuel and bringing it to Tammuz-an. Tosh flew in a Spearhead while Meade brought the droids aboard her ship. On the return flight to Tammuz-an, a ship was sent ahead containing the fuel, but C-3PO and R2-D2 were kept in the dark and told that it was a decoy meant to attract pirates. The pirate Kybo Ren fell for the ploy, and brought the Dianoga and several stolen Imperial TIE fighters against Meade and Tosh. Tosh was able to cripple the TIEs, but Ren and several of his crew boarded and seized control of Meade's ship. C-3PO contacted Tosh and informed him of their plight before being stunned with an ion bolt. When R2-D2 reactivated him, C-3PO discovered that Tosh had surrendered to Ren and that the pirate was bringing his quarry to his base, an island grotto on Tarnoonga.

Enamored with her fiery spirit, Ren personally brought Meade as a guest of honor to his court, while Tosh and the droids were separately escorted by guards. C-3PO was too slow to step onto a turbolift, and after falling off of a ledge, he landed on an inflatable mattress released by R2-D2. Bouncing and landing on his feet, C-3PO's bipedal stablizers contracted, causing his knees to briefly jam in a bent position. Brought before Ren, Tosh and the droids learned that the pirate was planning to invade Tammuz-an, and had pursued the fuel in order to leave the planet defenseless. The following morning, he brought the trio on his skiff to the ocean surrounding his base, fitted Tosh with stun cuffs, and threw him into the ocean to be eaten by a Miridon sea monster. R2-D2 plunged into the water after his master, bringing an unwitting C-3PO with him. Tangling with a squid-like creature, the protocol droid sunk to the sea floor while his counterpart used a built-in propeller to navigate through the lake's depths. R2-D2 fitted Tosh with a breath mask and broke his stun cuffs with a shock of electricity, and then began evading the Miridon, Tosh hanging onto the droid and C-3PO hanging onto Tosh. The monster found itself stuck inside of a sunken ship, and R2-D2 propelled his allies back to Ren's base, which the trio entered via an underwater pipe.

Back inside the base, they pulled two fishing guards into the water, and the droids donned their uniforms in order to infiltrate the base and rescue Meade. C-3PO mistakenly woke a sleeping guard who wore his hair similar to Meade, causing a scuffle to ensue that saw Tosh and the droids commandeer a boat and pilot it through the base's waters. Several guards gave chase in a boat of their own, but were intercepted by the Miridon, the beast having entered the base through the same pipe as Tosh and the droids. With the guards distracted, Ren stood alone against the trio, and was caught in a net by Meade, who had escaped from her cell. She joined Tosh and the droids in racing to their ships and escaping the planet, the droids inside of Tosh's Spearhead. Several TIE fighters gave chase, leading the starfighter into the tractor beam of Ren's Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Demolisher that the pirate had stolen from an Imperial repair dock. When the spearhead was brought into a hangar of the Star Destroyer, Tosh was imprisoned and the droids were put to work loading arms as the warship jumped to Tammuz-an.

As C-3PO and R2-D2 worked at loading proton torpedoes, the astromech droid inverted one before trapping their droid overseer on a magnetic hoist. The two then made their way to the detention level and freed Tosh, who raced to the bridge while the droids further sabotaged the ship's weapons systems. Having arrived at Tammuz-an, the Demolisher fired its turbolasers at Meade's ship, and Ren was shocked to discover that it was a decoy. The fully-fueled Tammuz-an space navy arrived from the planet's atmosphere and engaged the Demolisher, which became crippled after attempting to fire the inverted torpedo. Tosh and the droids fled the ship in his Spearhead and returned to Tammuz-an, where the droids were treated to an oil bath, and Ren and his crew were placed in the dungeons.

Soon after capturing Ren, Julpa invited the warrior chief Toda to his court, proposing a peace treaty and hoping to end a longstanding rivalry between the royal court and the warrior chief. C-3PO and R2-D2 prepared dessert for the occasion, and after accidentally tossing the prepared food out a window, made a second cake and rushed into the courtroom, crashing into a wall and ending up covered in the cake. Their hijinks cut tension that had been mounting between Toda and Sollag, but Toda remained suspicious of Julpa's motives and decided to wait until the following morning to give Julpa his answer. Later that evening, the droids and Tosh were working on Tosh's spearhead when C-3PO unintentionally sealed the hatch, trapping Tosh and R2-D2 inside. As he searched for Meade, hoping that she could help free them, C-3PO noticed Kybo Ren escaping from the palace and rushed after him. He ended up in Ren's arms and was thrown at Gerin, Toda's daughter, who had been ready to fire a miniature stunner at Ren prior to C-3PO's arrival. Ren picked up the stunner and fired it at Gerin and Tosh, the latter having freed himself from the spearhead, before taking Gerin and fleeing the planet in another spearhead. A furious Toda wanted C-3PO destroyed, but Julpa placated the warrior chief by sending Tosh and Meade to rescue Gerin and surrendering himself to Toda until she was safely returned.

C-3PO hoped to redeem himself, and hatched a plan to discover where Ren had brought Gerin. He entered the prison cell of Ren's first mate Jyn Obah and began shouting, with R2-D2 in tow, many of the astromech droid's weapons and tools extended menacingly. C-3PO begged a confused and frightened Obah to reveal the location, and gleaned the word "Bogden" from Obah's babbled response. He then brought the news to Tosh and Meade, who took the two droids in spearheads to Bogden. In the planet's orbit, R2-D2 detected life-form readings in a shipwrecked starcruiser on the surface, and the rescue team proceeded to Ren's makeshift base. After they split up, C-3PO and Tosh found Gerin, having escaped from a cell, surrounded by snarling Sungwas. Still feeling guilt over his earlier blunder, the protocol droid offered himself as a meal to the Sungwas and ran away, the beasts in tow. After chewing his left arm off and losing interest in his non-organic body, the Sungwas left him, and he was discovered by Tosh and Gerin. The trio was then contacted by Meade via the base's surveillance system, who told them that Ren was wandering the hallways and was close to them. They hid and spotted Sungwas chasing Ren, and after finding R2-D2 and Meade, followed the pirate to one of the base's landing platforms. Obah and several of Ren's other henchmen had arrived in Ren's ship with a captive Julpa, as Ren had contacted Toda and arranged a prisoner swap. When Ren refused to make the trade, Toda and several of his warriors burst forth from a secret compartment in Ren's ship and attacked Ren's gang. When Ren attempted to escape, C-3PO tripped him, allowing Julpa and Toda to subdue the pirate.

Back on Tammuz-an, Meade prepared to return to Tyne's Horky, and Toda's young son Coby insisted that C-3PO entertain him with tales of the rescue. Coby was soon after accepted into the Imperial space academy, and the droids and Tosh were assigned to escort him there. A passenger ship took them from Tammuz-an to Chuzalla, where they would be taking a connecting flight from the planet's spaceport Zallakesh. As Tosh searched for the connection, the droids watched over Coby, holding onto the inheritance he had received from his great-uncle and forbidding him to spend it foolishly. When members of Starhunter's Intergalactic Menagerie spotted Ingey, Coby's pet tessellated Arboreal binjinphant, they stole the creature and fled aboard their ship. As Coby pounded on the door, C-3PO attempted to bargain with the starhunters, but ended up crashing to the ground when the ship lifted off, stretching out his neck and fracturing his vocal synthesizer.

C-3PO was separated from both Coby and R2-D2, and wandered the streets of the spaceport until he was picked up by his two companions in a Blackhawk Destroyer. In the ship's cockpit, Coby fixed C-3PO's loose neck while R2-D2 flew the vessel and pursued the starhunters. C-3PO intervened and attached the destroyer to the side of the starhunters' vessel via magnetic landing gear; the trio thus traveled with the starhunters through hyperspace to the planet Dandelo. Within Dandelo's atmosphere, they detached the destroyer, but discovered that it was out of fuel and promptly crashed into the forested ground. Although the ship was destroyed, R2-D2 was able to send out a distress signal immediately before Dandelo's native Fuzzums subdued the trio. C-3PO understood their language, and was able to divert their spears by explaining Coby's missing pet. Moved by the boy's plight, the Fuzzums took the trio to the starhunters' base, where they witnessed Ingey being placed in a cell. After C-3PO and R2-D2 restrained Coby from rushing out of their hiding place in the woods, a plan was concocted to rescue both Ingey and several Fuzzums that the starhunters also held captive.

The protocol droid's role in the plan was to create a diversion. C-3PO imitated the call of a native spotted jugadoo, and the starhunters who were gathered around their base rushed into the forest in an attempt to catch the rare animal. When an actual spotted jugadoo heard the call, it rushed through the forest to C-3PO and wrapped the droid in its trunk. A horrified C-3PO was able to escape, only to find himself ensnared in a net the starhunters had laid as a jugadoo trap. After untangling himself, he exited the forest and found Coby, Ingey, the Fuzzums, and an old man named Greej standing in the base clearing. The jugadoo was hot on his tail and charged into the clearing, dragging the net along with it. When it loosed the net and picked up C-3PO again, the group noticed that the starhunters had all become trapped in the net. They freed themselves, however, and their leader acquired a blaster that Greej had taken from a patrol droid, only to have it knocked out of his hand by Jann Tosh, who had picked up R2-D2's distress signal and traveled to Dandelo to help. The starhunters were imprisoned, and as the Fuzzums danced in celebration, Tosh and Greej fixed R2-D2, who had been damaged by a patrol droid. Coby and Greej made plans to return all of the starhunters' captive creatures to their natural habitats, and Tosh revealed that he had been accepted into the Imperial academy. After heartfelt goodbyes were exchanged, Tosh, Greej, and Coby departed the planet, and the spotted jugadoo returned, chasing after a befuddled C-3PO yet again.

Later owners

"What?! Go on adventures? Explore the galaxy? You must be short-circuiting again! We are droids, after all… Nothing exciting ever happens to us!"

―C-3PO to R2-D2

Tosh brought C-3PO and R2-D2 with him when he traveled coreward to the Imperial Academy on Raithal. The droids were dropped off at a spaceport on the planet Manda, where Tosh caught a commercial starliner. The droids spent weeks working a hotel at the spaceport, spending their mornings scrubbing saltwater tanks after aquatic guests checked out. A hotel guest named Mungo Baobab, a wealthy heir to the Baobab Merchant Fleet, purchased C-3PO and R2-D2, and the droids made their way to the planaet Biitu to meet him. They found their new master imprisoned by the Empire's Admiral Screed and a gargantuan droid known as the Great Heep. Together, the three thwarted the Heep, and the droids later adventured with Baobab on Roon, where they discovered some Roonstones, participated in the Roon Colonial Games, and brought down Governor Koong of the world's Tawntoom province.

C-3PO and R2-D2 remained in Baobab's service following Koong's defeat, standing by him as he expanded the Merchant Fleet and established lucrative trade between Roon, Manda, and Ryloth. C-3PO discovered that the crystalline structure of the Roonstones had "Dha Werda Verda," an epic poem, etched into them, and Baobab sent both droids to the Baobab Archives to translate all of the engravings. However, the archives' researchers were happy with the TelBrinTel science droids assigned to the task and saw no need for a protocol or astromech droid to help them. They also took issue with C-3PO's know-it-all attitude and with R2-D2's pushiness, and "mistakenly" arranged for the droids to be sold to the Arkanian Krellus Barzane, a trafficker of used technological goods and a renegade technolord. C-3PO protested indignantly, but, without electronic confirmation of their orders, he had little recourse. The droids helped Barzane stay one step ahead of her enemies, but she eventually met with misfortune. C-3PO and R2-D2 also discovered, to their horror, that the Fromm Gang had been released by Jabba the Hut.

The droids were re-united with Jann Tosh, and C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied him to Roon's communications satellite to pay a visit to his old friend, Professor Akary Smith. Upon their arrival, Smith's droid XR seized the trio and brought them before Smith, who revealed that his droid had been sabotaged. One of Smith's friends appeared on a wallscreen, but XR aborted the conversation with a laser blast. As the evil General Koong was controlling XR via a television camera, C-3PO and R2-D2 began searching for said camera, but the astromech eventually fired his blaster at a mirror. The blast ricocheted off and destroyed XR, thus rescuing Smith and foiling Koong's plans.

Tosh also took them to a space station to make some purchases, and C-3PO fell through a trap door and into the laboratory of one Professor Cantebarius H. Broom. While laughing evilly, Broom revealed that he captured droids and experimented on them, and he drew a blaster on R2-D2 and Tosh when they burst into the laboratory. The distraction, however, allowed C-3PO to club the professor in the head with a piece of metal.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were assigned menial and unremarkable tasks until they were purchased by Wena Havid, the indulgent governor of the Kalarba system, who roamed the galaxy as a roving ambassador. Aboard his opulent diplomatic starship, every droid was retuned, recalibrated, and treated to a lavish oil bath at least once daily. C-3PO found himself in heaven and never wanted to leave. However, Wena's superiors learned of his extravagance and cut off his funds before forcing him to repay millions of credits. C-3PO and R2-D2 were auctioned off along with most of his possessions, and the two were purchased by a junk trader for a rock-bottom price. After that, the two droids were owned by an Ithorian botanist named Zorneth and then a diplomat, Councelor Harthan, before finding their way into the possession of Mistress Larka Nimondro, a young Tahlboorean who dreamed of seeing the stars. Larka eventually gave way to other masters and mistresses. C-3PO drifted through a variety of jobs, including programming binary loadlifters and converters. He also once spent a month operating a shovel loader.

In 5.5 BBY, the droids were placed on a barge bound for Hosk Station, a city-covered moon in orbit above Kalarba in Wena's own home system. On Hosk Station and Kalarba, the droids were involved in a number of adventures with Nak Pitareeze and his family, Olag Greck, and Jace Forno. Though Nak would often disrespect him, C-3PO nonetheless cared for the boy and his family. When Nak was kidnapped by Greck, C-3PO and R2-D2 came to the rescue and foiled Greck's plans. One time, C-3PO fell out of a speeder and cracked his faceplate. The crude repair job he got afterward was two pieces of tape in the shape of an X. That X on his head led him to be mistaken for C-3PX, an extremely dangerous assassin droid who was wanted in seven systems. Some Hosk Arena promoters who thought C-3PO was C-3PX tried to make him fight in a droid death match. C-3PX later sacrificed himself to save C-3PO, having decided that he had no interest in staying alive in a galaxy where he would eventually die whatever he chose.

C-3PO and R2-D2 later went with a police droid named Unit Zed to Nar Shaddaa, where Jace Forno blasted off C-3PO's right leg below the knee. However, the replacement leg that he got actually contained secret programming that overrode his regular personality. The new C-3PO led a droid rebellion against Boonda. Shortly thereafter, the two droids were acquired by the Star Tours travel agency, a new intergalactic space line that sought to preserve unrestricted travel in a galaxy being squeezed by the tightening grip of the Galactic Empire. Daniel Antony, a Star Tours programmer, replaced C-3PO's leg and implanted some of his own personality into the robot in hopes of reverting his new-found aggressiveness. Years later, Antony would go on to take credit for C-3PO's later successes and notoriety.

Star Tours Flight 1401 was the agency's first flight, due to depart from a Star Tours space station. Prior to its departure, C-3PO and R2-D2 were tasked with making last-minute repairs to the StarSpeeder 1000 that would be whisking civilian passengers across the galaxy. C-3PO settled into the pilot's seat to inspect a faulty binary motivator while the pilot droid, AC-38, left to inspect the exterior of the vessel, and R2-D2 settled into the ship's droid socket. When the ship was quickly elevated to the passenger boarding level, the two droids were forced to fly the ship on its maiden voyage, even as Imperials attempted to halt them after discovering that a Rebel spy was aboard. After fleeing the space station and into hyperspace, the droids piloted the ship through a harrowing experience and eventually received coordinates to a Rebel rendezvous point. They were able to safely deliver the Rebel spy. After the fiasco, C-3PO, alongside R2-D2, were quietly bought by Captain Colton Antilles, who served the Royal House of Alderaan. As the Royal House of Alderaan was suspected by the Empire to have ties to the nascent Rebel Alliance, Antilles's move fueled Imperial suspicion that Star Tours was operated by the Rebels.

C-3PO felt that he had finally come into his own after years of rudderless drifting. Political formalities kept him busy and happy, as did the endless state dinners and masquerades. As a member of the Organa Family's entourage, he attended the annual Emperor's Ball one year and encountered the Dark Lord Darth Vader. While attempting to make smalltalk, C-3PO mistook Vader for a new model of guard droid, and he was consequently assigned to a year of duty at the palace preschool, which he found to be very frustrating. C-3PO and R2-D2 were eventually reassigned to the Tantive IV and its droid labor pool. Both droids were given instructions to never again enter an escape pod unless explicitly ordered to do so.