Star Wars: Why C-3PO Doesn’t Know Who Leia Is In A New Hope

Despite both being in the Rebel Alliance and even being on the same ship, C-3PO doesn’t know who Princess Leia is in Star Wars: A New Hope – but why is that? Played by Anthony Daniels in all nine movies that make up the Skywalker saga, C-3PO is one of Star Wars‘ longest-running and most developed characters, though that also means several mysteries, questions, and plot holes regarding him have arisen over the years.

Much has been made of Threepio’s past, be it his memory wipe after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, or just why he has a silver leg in A New Hope. Another interesting point is why C-3PO doesn;t know who Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is in the original 1977 movie. When R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) first plays Leia’s message to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the would-be Jedi queries just who this mysterious person is. Artoo isn’t telling, and for his part, C-3PO responds that he’s “not quite sure,” adding: “I think she was a passenger on our last voyage. A person of some importance.” 

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Given that, by this point, C-3PO has been in the Rebel Alliance a long time and worked closely with Leia’s father, Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), not to mention having just been on the same ship as her, it is somewhat jarring that he doesn’t actually know who she is, though it isn’t completely implausible. Since Bail Organa had C-3PO’s memory wiped previously in order to prevent him from spilling the secret of Leia’s parentage, it could be that this was a semi-regular occurrence for the droid given he couldn’t be trusted to keep quiet about things. Depending on when it happened, it may be that he has met Leia and had his mind wiped again since that point, though there’s a perhaps even simpler explanation.

Although C-3PO is a tell-all, it’s possible that he was directly programmed not to say who Leia is. This is something that George Lucas himself suggested in an interview back in the 1970s, which made it into the book The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film. Responding to a question on this topic as though he were Threepio, Lucas says: “I was programmed to mention having no knowledge of the Princess – that she was aboard the ship. That’s why I always seemed ignorant when she was brought up. I knew who she was, but I was programmed not to say who she was.” This notion is supported by the film itself, with Captain Raymus Antilles (Peter Geddis) doing everything he can to protect Leia at the beginning of A New Hope, making it clear this was a prime operative for those involved with the mission to obtain the Death Star plans. Similarly, R2-D2 doesn’t play the full message for Luke at this point, further demonstrating a reluctance to give away too much at this point.

Of course, it’s also possible that, although C-3PO would’ve known Leia by name, he might not have interacted with her directly. That’s certainly the case in A New Hope, with Leia giving her message to Artoo but Threepio only seeing her while hooded, so he might genuinely not even know that’s what she looks like for sure, hence telling Luke he isn’t certain. He may say that “there’ll be no escape for the Princess this time” earlier in the movie, but that itself doesn’t mean he knows exactly who she is, just that she’s onboard the ship. Lucas’ answer though, whether officially canon or not, is the best explanation for why C-3PO doesn’t know Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope.

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