Welcome to Day 12 of my NaBloPoMo Challenge, where I pick a random card from the Star Wars Chat Pack.
Today’s question is:
In The Rise of Skywalker, C-3PO’s mind is wiped to uncover a vital clue. Would you make the same choice if you were in a similar high stakes conflict? What type of greater good would compel you to make such a sacrifice?
First of all, let it be said that C-3PO’s memory is backed up on R2D2, so is there really a sacrifice here? Threepio pointed out that it wasn’t exactly reliable, and there was a chance it wouldn’t be able to be retrieved. I suppose Poe, Finn and Rey had to decide if they were willing to take that (probably small) chance.
And who really likes Threepio, anyway? Just kidding. He was never my favorite–okay, I thought he was extremely annoying in the Original trilogy. But in TROS, I found I really liked him. I think he was just written well, and was actually amusing rather than annoying.
And there’s the “He’s just a droid,” argument, but that brings up a whole other can of worms. In Star Wars, droids are nearly sentient–in fact, they are sentient, at least ones like Threepio, and that brings up the whole “droids are slaves” ethical questions, etc. etc. That’s another post. But the fact of the matter is, droid or not, Threepio is their friend, and they had to make the decision. They made it pretty quickly, though, and decided it was worth the risk.
Anyway, back to the question. I suppose you have to decide how to interpret it. Sacrifice someone’s memory, like with Threepio? Or sacrifice their life? I’m going to go with any kind of sacrifice, especially a life. A mind-wipe? That’s tough, but at least they’re alive. I guess for a droid, it’s akin to death.
In that particular scenario, I would have agreed to take the risk. But if I had to risk a human (or alien) friend? Like, their life, not just their memory? That’s thornier. If that friend was willing to do whatever was asked, insisted on it, I’d probably agree, even if I didn’t like it.
It depends on the situation and the stakes. Something like defeating the Emperor (again) so he doesn’t take over the galaxy (again) is pretty important. If it’s my child? No. Nope. My spouse? No, unless he did it to save our child. Myself? Probably, but I don’t think my family would like that, obviously. I’d want to know my child would be cared for (she has a disability). But I’d want her to live in a better galaxy. It’s such a hard question, without any specifics. Real world stuff? (Shrugs) I don’t know. Thinking about things like this ahead of time, as opposed to deciding in the moment, when you’re faced with a decision, could be very different.
That’s the best I can do with this question, lol. What about you? How would you answer this question? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!
Star Wars and Other Obsessions 
100% agree that as much as I actually liked Threepio in TROS, it never felt like a true sacrifice due to R2 having a backup (and Threepio saying it’s unreliable is just his usual complaining about R2). I think you hit the nail on the head that none of us truly know what we would and wouldn’t sacrifice until faced with the moment. I don’t think i could sacrifice someone I cared for (though i think i’d be comfortable wiping a droid’s mind) but would be willing to sacrifice myself… but in the moment i may not be the altruistic hero i imagine myself to be haha
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So true. As much as I’d like to think I’d do the heroic thing, I have a suspicion I’d be like a lot of people and put up with some level of oppression to protect me and mine, lol. There’s a line, of course, some things you simply can’t tolerate. I guess that’s what heroes are for–to set an ideal to try to live up to.
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