I've said this for years. Looks like R2-D2 is the main character of Star Wars and also the narrator...
Star Wars has got a lot of iconic moments and visuals, but maybe nothing screams Star Wars more than the opening title crawl. From the second you see “a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away” and the music cues up, you know that this is a Star Wars film. These words come from an anonymous narrator, who I didn’t know about until today, but apparently he exists. The identity of this narrator has been a mystery since 1977, but now we finally have a face to match the words with, thanks to none other than the former master of all things Star Wars, George Lucas.
As it turns out, R2-D2 may be the main character of Star Wars after all. Not only that, but he could actually be the story's narrator, recounting the entire saga a hundred years after Star Wars: Episode VI.
According to Chris Taylor, author of How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, the theory of R2-D2 being the narrator comes from creator George Lucas himself. Lucas shared the idea -- calling it "his ultimate framing device" -- with animation director Rob Coleman on the set of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
The entire story of Star Wars is actually being recounted to the keeper of the Journal of the Whills—remember that?—a hundred years after the events of Return of the Jedi by none other than R2-D2.The theory makes sense, according to Taylor, because R2-D2 is prominent in every movie, never gets his memory wiped like C-3PO, and is determined to get to Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV because he knows Obi-Wan's true history.
Perhaps most importantly is that if R2-D2 is telling the story, that may be why he appears to always be the hero, Taylor writes. I've always thought that the droids were the main characters, now it seems like it's been confirmed. What do you think?
