Two droids walk into a bar. And talk about death.
September 7, 2013 5:14 PM Subscribe
I remember reading a passage in a Star Wars novel in which R2-D2 and C-3PO have a conversation about death - both their own deaths, and what it is like to be a mechanical thing who has flesh and blood friends who will eventually die. I am pretty sure it was somewhere in the New Jedi Order, because it was definitely in the context of "OMG everyone is dying and what will happen to us" (probably after Chewbacca's death?), but also it could've been somewhere else. Which book was it in?! Google is failing me.
I just read this in my re-read of the New Jedi Order. I think it was in one of the two Dark Tide books, possibly briefly spanning both.
posted by Jacen Solo at 9:23 PM on September 7, 2013
posted by Jacen Solo at 9:23 PM on September 7, 2013
You might try posting in the sub-reddit r/PrintSF to see if someone there remembers the scene.
posted by bluecore at 8:53 AM on September 8, 2013
posted by bluecore at 8:53 AM on September 8, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks for the help guys - it wasn't in Dark Tide, Jacen Solo, so I gave in and downloaded text files of all the NJO books (sorry, copyright police, but if it makes you feel better I do own all the paperbacks...) to control-F every bit of C-3PO's dialogue.
The result: there are conversations like this in both Enemy Lines books (Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand) - one about mortality between C-3PO and a YVH droid ("Do you suppose in the final nanoseconds, a spark feels fear, knowing that its duration is at an end?"), and one between Artoo and C-3PO about fear and death ("[the fear of termination] had become an actual dread"). But the conversation I was thinking about was actually in The Unifying Force, the last book of the series. It's a long-ish conversation, but the gist of it is this:
"I know it was a war, you... you mechanic! And I also realize that it was a war that threatened our existence far more than any other war has. But that's precisely the point, because for a moment we became as valuable as they were. As often as they fought with us, they fought for us. [...] Perhaps I am deluding myself. With all the advances that have been made in droid technology, I suppose we are in danger of being considered obsolete. But what are we to do, Artoo? Retirement isn't an option for us. We will continue as relics, of a sort, passed along to new masters until our parts can no longer be replaced, or until we suffer some irreparable system failure. Oh, it's all very... bittersweet, I think is the proper word."
Oh, you guys. Star Wars.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 11:56 AM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
The result: there are conversations like this in both Enemy Lines books (Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand) - one about mortality between C-3PO and a YVH droid ("Do you suppose in the final nanoseconds, a spark feels fear, knowing that its duration is at an end?"), and one between Artoo and C-3PO about fear and death ("[the fear of termination] had become an actual dread"). But the conversation I was thinking about was actually in The Unifying Force, the last book of the series. It's a long-ish conversation, but the gist of it is this:
"I know it was a war, you... you mechanic! And I also realize that it was a war that threatened our existence far more than any other war has. But that's precisely the point, because for a moment we became as valuable as they were. As often as they fought with us, they fought for us. [...] Perhaps I am deluding myself. With all the advances that have been made in droid technology, I suppose we are in danger of being considered obsolete. But what are we to do, Artoo? Retirement isn't an option for us. We will continue as relics, of a sort, passed along to new masters until our parts can no longer be replaced, or until we suffer some irreparable system failure. Oh, it's all very... bittersweet, I think is the proper word."
Oh, you guys. Star Wars.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 11:56 AM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by chainsofreedom at 7:00 PM on September 7, 2013