Sure, they're robots, but when it's time to visit everyone's favorite galaxy far, far away, they're called Droids. In the Star Wars universe, the term is a shortened form of the word "android" and can refer to a wide variety of automated machines programmed to do certain jobs.
Droids take the form or intent of their creators, and the galaxy is filled with a wide variety of wildly creative beings. This is the main reason there's such an impressive variety of Droids in every Star Wars story. There's so common in the background and foreground of virtually every scene, but fans don't know very much about them.
6 Not Exactly New
Droids have been around for so long that there's no record of when the first ones were produced. Present Star Wars lore estimates that Droids have been around for more than 30,000 years, counting back from the Battle of Yavin, which means that they appear in some form in every story that takes place in this universe.
Regardless of their place in the timeline, Droids are programmed at the whim of their makers or masters. There are evil ones, good ones, and every other Moral Alignment in-between. They aren't considered living beings, but they can form their own personalities and retain uniqe experiences. New owners can fix this problem by wiping out the Droid's memory.
5 Professor Huyang, Friend Of The Jedi
The Star Wars canon records a few Droids that made an impact on galactic history. Fans of the show Clone Wars know who Professor Huyang is, and his responsibilities at the Jedi Academy, but he only appears in a few episodes and viewers never discover his true importance.
Huyung was already more than one thousand years old by the time of the events of the Clone Wars, which means he had already spent most of his existence serving the Jedi Order. Being a Droid, he wasn't Force-sensitive but used his skills as an engineer to help the Order instead. He was a Mark IV architect droid and his specialty was the creation of lightsabers.
4 Reduced To Property By The Galactic Empire
The Empire is organized using strict hierarchies and authoritarian rules, so it stands to reason that droids were reduced to property in terms of civil rights during times of Imperial control. It wasn't just a question of politics, however.
Droids had been used extensively in the war that brought the Empire to power, and the new rulers deliberately fostered anti-droid sentiment throughout their new territories. Certain regions weren't subject to Imperial control, such as planets that were controlled by the Hutt, where all matter of beings including Droids were bought and sold as slaves.
3 Recognized By The Rebels As Sentient
The Rebel Alliance took the opposite tact as their Imperial opponents when it came to the treatment of Droids. They recognized Droids as sentient creatures with free will and inherent rights. This wasn't just a political decision to separate themselves from their enemies but also a strategic move.
The Rebel Alliance often recruited droids into their service either by freeing them or bypassing or slicing their malevolent programming. One recent example is K-2SO from the movie Rogue One, a former Imperial droid that Cassian Andor reprogrammed to help the rebels instead. This tradition continued after the Empire was defeated in the New Republic and then later by the modern Resistance forces.
2 Classes From One To Five
There's a fairly complex system for classifying droids, and some of it is confusing, lumping numbers and letters together that seem contradictory. This is because other designations like makes, model numbers, or creator names aren't related to the Droid's class. For example, Professor Huyang is a First Class Droid, but his model is listed as Mark IV.
- First-class Droids function as scientists, doctors, engineers, and other high-functioning types of professions. They speak at a high register and often act as interpreters or counterparts for droids of lower classes.
- Second-class Droids are the practical engineers and repair-bots of the droid universe, often serving as astro-droids.
- Third-class Droids have more social skills than their second-class peers, but that's their function. These are the secretaries, bartenders, and valets of the robot world.
- Fourth-class Droids acted as military or security personnel, and they took a wide variety of forms depending on who created them and why. This is the only class of droids lacking the programming inherent in most droids that forbids them from hurting living things.
- Fifth-class Droids often took the forms of cranes, pliers, or forklifts. Their specialty is manual labor and other than understanding basic voice commands, they don't communicate on a social level.
1 The Lucasfilm Trademark
Although "Droid" comes from the term android, which is a generic word often used by writers and creators everywhere, only Lucasfilm and their chosen affiliates are allowed to use the exact word. Anyone who wants to use the word for anything has to purchase its use.
When Verizon released the Droid cell phone in 2009, they had to negotiate a license from Lucasfilm. The term "Omnidroid" was used in the 2004 movie The Incredibles with a nod to the trademark holder in the credits. When it comes to merchandising and intellectual property rights, this franchise has a long arm and deep pockets.
Ownership of this term isn't a recent development, either. The trademark on the term goes all the way back to the early days of Star Wars. A table-top board game named BattleDroids, a military science fiction game that was released in 1985 had to be renamed BattleTech for its next edition to avoid any copyright violations.