C-3PO

C-3PO was initially brought online at the Cybot Galactica manufacturing planet of Affa in the year 112 BBY. At some point early in his existence, he served as a protocol droid for the envoy of the Manakron system. Almost eighty years afterward, his disassembled body and head were abandoned in a street within the city of Mos Espa on Tatooine, where Anakin Skywalker and Kitster Banai, two Human youths, discovered them. Skywalker, a poor slave, made the decision to rebuild the 3PO-series protocol droid, smuggling C-3PO piece by piece to his residence. C-3PO possessed more mechanical similarities to the TC-series protocol droid than to his original model as a result of this piecemeal repair. The reactivated protocol droid was intended to serve as a servant to his mother, helping her with household duties while he worked at a nearby junk shop. C-3PO's gyro-balance circuitry was decades old, but Skywalker used salvaged and improvised replacement parts to restore the droid to functionality. C-3PO had reliable wiring, a standard protocol droid verbobrain, and a communicator module, but Skywalker could not afford even the most basic droid coverings, leaving the droid's wiring exposed. The salvaged nature of C-3PO gave him unique qualities not found in other protocol droids.

Skywalker occasionally brought C-3PO along when bartering with Jawa traders in the area, and he used the droid's proficiency in over six million languages after finding a wounded Tusken Raider. Skywalker nursed the Tusken Raider back to health with C-3PO's translation assistance, but the Raider became irritated with the protocol droid and roared at him to "shut up," which offended C-3PO.

Skywalker invited a number of off-worlders to the safety of his home as refuge from an approaching sandstorm after meeting them at the shop of his owner, Watto, a junk dealer. The Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala, the Queen of Naboo, Jar Jar Binks, a Gungan, and R2-D2, an astromech droid, were brought to the slave quarters that Skywalker shared with his mother, Shmi. Amidala and R2-D2 were introduced to C-3PO. Upon meeting R2-D2, C-3PO was taken aback when the astromech droid bluntly remarked that he was "naked." Despite the exchange, the two droids quickly became friends, working together to help Skywalker make last-minute adjustments to his podracer in time for the Boonta Eve Classic race. The two droids talked about space travel while working on the racer and made note of Binks' clumsy behavior.

C-3PO represented his owner in the opening flag parade on the day of the race, carrying Skywalker's flag onto the track prior to the start. He then stood on the sidelines with R2-D2 and two of Skywalker's friends, Banai and W. Wald, as they cheered him on. Skywalker won the race, which, as a result of a deal Jinn had made with Watto, gave the boy his freedom from slavery and gave Jinn the hyperdrive generator he needed to leave the planet. Skywalker apologized to C-3PO as he got ready to leave Tatooine, saying he was sorry he hadn't finished building the droid and hoping Shmi wouldn't sell him.

Shortly after that, Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, sent a young Jedi recruit to Tatooine to program stories into C-3PO's memory. The young Jedi programmed a number of stories or anecdotes about Skywalker, Queen Amidala, and the Jedi. C-3PO would nevertheless assert that he had never been good at storytelling.

Shmi covered C-3PO in heavily tarnished silver plating two years later so that he would last longer in Tatooine's sandy environment. Shmi, who was still in Watto's custody, was sold to Cliegg Lars three years later. Cliegg Lars was a moisture farmer who lived with his son Owen on a farm in the Great Chott salt flat close to the city of Anchorhead. Lars married Shmi and released her from her chains. Shmi brought C-3PO with her, and the droid lived with the Lars family at their house for another five years. In 22 BBY, not long after a group of Tusken Raiders kidnapped Shmi, C-3PO was working on a moisture vaporator on the property when Skywalker, now a Jedi Padawan, showed up with Amidala, who was now a senator in the Galactic Republic. At first, he didn't recognize Skywalker until he finished saying his name when they were introduced. C-3PO greeted his Maker and found out that Skywalker had come to find his mother. He then led the two visitors into the homestead's courtyard, where they were greeted by Owen and Cliegg Lars, as well as Owen's girlfriend, Beru Whitesun. Skywalker learned of his mother's danger, so he took Owen's speeder bike to find her. Soon after, he came back with her body, which he had found in a Tusken settlement. C-3PO was there when he got there, and he later went to Shmi's funeral on the farm's grounds. C-3PO translated the astromech's binary beeps and whistles when R2-D2, who had been waiting aboard Amidala's yacht nearby, interrupted the funeral with an urgent message for the Padawan. Skywalker and Amidala got ready to leave Tatooine for Geonosis to save Skywalker's Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, after watching the holocomm message. Owen then gave C-3PO to Skywalker as a parting present.

Skywalker and Amidala left the droids behind when they landed the senator's yacht inside a Geonosis exhaust vent. R2-D2 insisted on following them, but C-3PO disagreed and said he was in charge. The astromech droid disregarded his friend and set off, and C-3PO reluctantly followed. Geonosian warriors swarmed by the droids in a flight from Skywalker's lightsaber inside the planet's catacombs. The droids quickly discovered an entrance to a battle droid factory, where Skywalker and Amidala were fighting Geonosian warriors. C-3PO was in awe as he watched the scene before him, finding the idea of "machines making machines" to be quite perverse. However, R2-D2 knocked him off the platform he was standing on before he could say more.

R2-D2 activated his booster jets and flew through the factory to protect Amidala while C-3PO was out of the way. C-3PO, in the meantime, fell onto a moving platform, but a large droid's mechanical arm threw him off. He landed on a conveyor belt, straightened himself out, and walked along the belt's length before moving machinery knocked his head off. His head landed on a conveyor belt carrying the heads of B1-Series battle droids, while his body wandered onto a separate belt carrying the bodies of the battle droids. The machines continued their construction without realizing the mix-up, which resulted in C-3PO's head being grafted to a battle droid's body and his body receiving a battle droid's head.

Both versions of C-3PO joined a force of B1 battle droids that quickly marched into a Geonosian execution arena. The droids surrounded a strike force of 200 Jedi that had arrived to save Skywalker, Amidala, and Kenobi, all of whom had been taken prisoner and were scheduled for execution. The battle droids attacked the Jedi, fighting in the name of the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems. The battle droid head attached to C-3PO's body was unable to fight properly, while C-3PO's head was very disturbed by its autonomous body and apologized to any Jedi that the body fired its E-5 blaster rifle at. Both versions, however, soon experienced a programming mix-up: C-3PO's body fired a number of shots from his rifle until a bolt deflected by a Human Jedi separated it from its battle droid head; the protocol droid's head screamed insults at the Jedi Knights that its battle droid body fired laser blasts at. Kit Fisto, a Jedi Master, neutralized the threat posed by the latter version, however, by using the Force to knock it onto the arena floor, where a B2 super battle droid fell on top of it, effectively removing it from the battle.

R2-D2 entered the fray and used his cable gun to separate C-3PO's head from its battle droid body before dragging it across the arena and reattaching it to the proper torso. As the remaining battle droids overwhelmed the Jedi, Jedi Master Yoda arrived with a sizable force of the newly commissioned Grand Army of the Republic, and the fighting spilled out of the arena, leaving R2-D2, C-3PO, and the young clone Boba Fett as its only occupants. C-3PO then told R2-D2 that the events he had gone through were "the most peculiar dream." The Republic Army quickly won the battle, starting a galactic war between the Republic and the Confederacy. Shortly after the battle, R2-D2 and C-3PO went back to Naboo with Amidala and Skywalker, where they were the only people there when the two got married in the Lake Country of the planet.

Skywalker gave C-3PO to Senator Amidala as a wedding present, and the droid went on to serve as Amidala's personal protocol droid for the majority of the Clone Wars. When on Naboo, the senator frequently assigned C-3PO to help the Naboo Royal Council. C-3PO was in the galactic capital of Coruscant early in the war, and he, along with the senator and R2-D2, watched Skywalker leave the planet in a starfighter on his way to lay siege to Muunilinst. Following the defense of Naboo and the bio-plague of Ohma-D'un unleashed by the Confederacy, Queen Jamillia appointed C-3PO to serve as liaison to the Jedi for the remainder of that campaign.

Later, C-3PO and R2-D2 were traveling with Amidala in her yacht while Yoda was on board the ship. Yoda persuaded Amidala and her head of security, Captain Typho, to take a detour, and the ship then headed to Ilum on a mission to save Luminara Unduli, the Mirialan Jedi Master, and her Padawan Barriss Offee. Yoda set out into the planet's blizzard alone, which made Amidala worry. C-3PO reassured her that it was safer to stay at the ship, but the senator went out into the blizzard and told the two droids to follow her. Amidala destroyed all three cloaked Separatist Chameleon droids after being ambushed by them by using her cloak and C-3PO as decoys to draw blaster fire. C-3PO was unharmed despite being close to the explosion of a thermal detonator that Amidala threw. The victorious trio was then greeted by their three errant Jedi.

Upon his return to Coruscant, C-3PO had his previous, lackluster silver plating replaced with brand new gold ones. Subsequently, while both he and Amidala were cloaked and disguised, they strolled through Coruscant's undercity, where the senator then vanished. While looking for her, Skywalker pulled C-3PO into an alley, where he had been privately meeting with Amidala. The Padawan, after commenting on C-3PO's altered appearance, prompted the droid to remove his cloak, revealing his fresh plating. Obi-Wan Kenobi then commed and summoned Skywalker, after which Skywalker received the rank of Jedi Knight. Having parted with his Padawan braid, he entrusted it to C-3PO, instructing him to give it to Amidala as a present. In return, Amidala gifted R2-D2 to Skywalker, once again causing the two droids to be separated.

Count Dooku, as the Head of State for the Confederacy, orchestrated the kidnapping of the son of Jabba the Hutt, the well-known crime lord. This caused the Republic to fear that Jabba would hold the Jedi responsible, potentially granting the Confederacy access to hyperspace routes that passed through Hutt Space. Amidala proposed a meeting with Jabba's uncle, Ziro, but after discovering Ziro's alliance with Dooku, she was held captive in the Hutt's Coruscant palace. Before her capture, the senator contacted C-3PO, seeking assistance. The protocol droid then brought a group of clone troopers to Ziro's palace, where they captured the Hutt and freed Amidala. C-3PO felt a sense of relief that his timing had been so precise.

While Skywalker commanded a fleet of Republic warships against the Separatist heavy cruiser known as the Malevolence, C-3PO assisted Senator Amidala and Jar Jar Binks in Amidala's apartment, where they were examining datacards for details about the cruiser or its destiny. The group, minus Binks, traveled in Amidala's yacht to an area in space near the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center to try and contact a member of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, who were allied with the Separatists and seeking peace. As the senator concentrated on the mission, C-3PO programmed the hyperspace coordinates and filed away several messages from Rodian Senator Onaconda Farr that arrived via the HoloNet. When the ship exited hyperspace, they found themselves in a trap. Dooku had arranged for them to appear right next to the damaged Malevolence, which could not enter hyperspace after being attacked by Skywalker's fleet. The yacht was caught in the cruiser's tractor beam, but Amidala set the yacht's engines to self-destruct, allowing her and C-3PO to sneak onto the Malevolence.

After the yacht exploded, C-3PO and Amidala navigated the cruiser's corridors, attempting to repair a damaged comm panel to contact Skywalker's fleet. They were forced to hide when C-3PO noticed an approaching squad of battle droids led by General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Confederacy's droid armies. Once the squad had passed, Amidala contacted Skywalker, who, along with Kenobi and R2-D2, had boarded the Malevolence. They agreed to meet within the cruiser's rail jet system. Upon C-3PO and Amidala's arrival, they were confronted by battle droids, leading the senator to push the protocol droid into a moving hovertrain. After the battle droid threat was eliminated, Kenobi used the Force to lift C-3PO to safety, but the hovering droid was struck by a moving hover train, which only stopped when R2-D2 sliced into a computer terminal and disabled it. The sudden halt threw C-3PO onto a nearby platform, where he quickly reoriented himself and continued wandering the cruiser's corridors before R2-D2 found him. The two droids then joined Skywalker and Amidala as they rushed to the Twilight, a freighter that Skywalker had brought aboard. They met up with Kenobi and escaped the Malevolence, which, due to sabotage by Skywalker and Amidala, exploded when its hyperdrive was activated.

After they returned to Coruscant, Amidala received Senator Farr's messages and prepared to travel to Rodia to ensure the struggling planet remained loyal to the Republic. C-3PO and Representative Binks began preparing her star skiff for departure from a landing platform when Dannl Faytonni and Achk Med-Beq, two con men, approached them while impersonating Republic Judicials. C-3PO calmly complied when the scammers claimed they needed the skiff for "government business," but before the droid could disable the ship's autopilot, Binks accidentally caused the entire platform to flip over. The Gungan quickly corrected the platform's position, but the confusion caused C-3PO to forget to turn off the autopilot, which resulted in Faytonni and Med-Beq being taken directly to the Senate Commandos they were trying to avoid. With the skiff gone, C-3PO and Binks prepared Amidala's new yacht instead.

When the trio took the yacht to Rodia's Senatorial Palace, C-3PO and Binks were instructed to stay at the landing platform while Amidala spoke with Senator Farr. After an attempt to communicate with local swamp creatures resulted in fruit being thrown at the protocol droid's face, a squad of B1 battle droids approached the yacht. Senator Farr had recently made a deal with Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation, who were allied with the Separatists. The clumsy Gungan's unintentional actions then triggered a series of events: the yacht's hatch closed, C-3PO became attached to a magnetic hoist that swung around and destroyed the battle droids, and an LM-432 crab droid appeared before falling off the landing platform into water with Binks on top of it. Still attached to the magnetic hoist, C-3PO mourned what he thought was the Gungan's death, before Binks climbed back onto the platform and released the droid from the hoist's magnetism. His next clumsy action, however, was to crush and destroy the yacht with the hoist. As the two searched the remains of the ship's bridge, Binks found a Jedi-like cloak and rushed off to rescue Amidala, whom they believed had been taken hostage by Separatist forces.

As C-3PO reluctantly followed the Gungan, they were spotted by Viceroy Gunray's droid escort, who mistook Binks for a Jedi and chased him away. C-3PO surrendered and was sent to a dismantling center on the Viceroy's orders. On the way, Amidala, who had escaped, destroyed the two battle droids assigned to escort C-3PO. She quickly ordered the protocol droid to find a comm center and send a distress signal to any nearby Republic forces. Upon finding such a center, C-3PO told its battle droid guards that the "Jedi" had been spotted, causing them to rush off to subdue him. C-3PO then accessed a secure military frequency and contacted a clone trooper before being arrested by two new battle droids and taken to Amidala, who had also been recaptured. As Gunray prepared to order the two to be shot by droidekas, Binks arrived with a Kwazel Maw, a large sea creature that he had befriended. The creature easily defeated the battle droids present before Senator Farr turned on Gunray and arrested him in the name of the Republic. Commander CC-1004 and his forces then arrived to apprehend the Viceroy, and C-3PO was impressed that the Gungan's foolishness had saved the day.

During a trip to Orto Plutonia, C-3PO was reunited with R2-D2 when Amidala lent the protocol droid to Skywalker for the mission to the icy world. After contact was lost with a military outpost on the planet, Skywalker and Kenobi brought the droids and a group of Clone cold assault troopers to investigate. They were accompanied by Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora and Chi Cho, the Chairman of the Pantoran Assembly, due to the planet's location in Pantoran space. When the Jedi discovered that a group of local Talz had wiped out the clone troopers stationed on Pantora, C-3PO and Cho joined them in meeting with Thi-Sen, the Talz's tribal leader. C-3PO translated as Thi-Sen welcomed Cho in peace, but Cho responded by angrily declaring war on the natives. The conflict quickly stopped when Chuchi received permission from the Pantoran Speaker of the Assembly to negotiate peace. C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Chuchi, the Jedi, and the clone troopers who were not fighting to the scene of the battle, where Chuchi, with C-3PO's translation, made peace with Thi-Sen.

Shortly after the Mission to Orto Plutonia, Queen Neeyutnee of Naboo summoned Amidala home after a scouting party of battle droids was discovered on the planet. Amidala brought C-3PO and Representative Binks in another new Nubian yacht to investigate, hoping to secure military aid. After landing in the hangar of Theed's Royal Palace, Neeyutnee and Typho took the three to a secure room where a deactivated T-series tactical droid was being analyzed. When the droid activated but could not use its photoreceptors, C-3PO convinced it that it was aboard a Separatist ship. He learned that there was a secret lab producing some kind of virus before Binks's clumsiness destroyed the droid. However, Binks had found an insect inside the droid that he identified as coming from Naboo's Eastern swamps. The entire group contacted Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu to request the help of Skywalker and Kenobi. C-3PO and Typho remained in Theed to try to extract data from other captured battle droids while Amidala and Binks scouted the swamps and discovered a hologram of the scientist Doctor Nuvo Vindi inside a B1's head. Joined by the Gungan Peppi Bow, who had discovered traces of the deadly Blue Shadow Virus in a nearby river, they greeted Skywalker, Kenobi, Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano, and R2-D2 as they arrived on-planet. They showed them the hologram before the Jedi set out to find Vindi's laboratory. The mad doctor was synthesizing an airborne strain of the virus, but the Jedi and their clone troopers subdued him and prevented it from escaping his laboratory.

Shortly after the blue shadow crisis, C-3PO was back on Coruscant and accompanied Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan to Amidala's office in the Republic Executive Building. The two escorted Amidala to the lobby of the Senate Building, where the Gran Senator Philo had called a meeting of influential senators in anticipation of a vote on the proposed Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. However, the meeting was interrupted by the bounty hunter Cad Bane and several other mercenaries, who took the senators and their aides hostage to force a pardon for Ziro the Hutt. Bane shot and killed Philo, and his companions subdued Skywalker, who had been elsewhere in the Senate Building at the time. After an unconscious Skywalker was brought to the group of hostages, the bounty hunters left, but rigged a system of lasers that would trigger planted explosives with the slightest touch. After regaining consciousness, Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut a hole around the group, dropping them to safety in the room below just before Bane remotely activated the explosives.

C-3PO remained on Coruscant for some time afterward. When Skywalker arrived at Amidala's apartment to surprise his wife with dinner, the protocol droid greeted his Maker warmly before being promptly ignored and dismissed by Amidala. Soon after, the Jedi Council sent the married couple to Cato Neimoidia along with Senator Rush Clovis of the Banking Clan, and they brought C-3PO and R2-D2 with them. Amidala was to meet with Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation while simultaneously spying on Clovis, as both Dod and Clovis were suspected of being in league with the Confederacy. After Amidala's star skiff landed outside of Dod's Palace, C-3PO accompanied Amidala and Clovis as they greeted the Neimoidian Senator, but he soon found himself largely unnecessary. Clovis dismissed him for the night following dinner, and he retired to the quarters that Amidala had been assigned. There, he found an agitated Skywalker, who quickly left after being contacted by his wife. Amidala was soon poisoned by Dod and was brought to her quarters by Clovis to be attended to by C-3PO and a 2-1B surgical droid. Skywalker sought an antidote to her poison and brought her to the palace's lobby to confront Dod, followed by C-3PO and Clovis. When Clovis threatened Dod's life, C-3PO accepted the antidote from one of Dod's aides. With the antidote and a datacard that Amidala had obtained implicating Clovis in a Separatist scheme, Skywalker, Amidala, and the droids left the planet, leaving Clovis at the mercy of the Trade Federation.

Remaining at Amidala's side, C-3PO accompanied her and Kenobi in the senator's repulsorpod within the Senate's Grand Convocation Chamber as Amidala presented evidence to the gathered senators revealing the wishes of Mandalore's Deputy Minister Jerec that his planet remain neutral in the war. With the evidence presented, the Senate overturned an earlier vote that had called for Republic occupation of the planet. Shortly thereafter, Amidala and some of her allies in the Senate introduced a bill proposing cuts to military spending, believing that diplomacy was the solution to war. C-3PO attended several meetings of the informal coalition in Amidala's office and accompanied his master as she addressed the Senate regarding their views. While he was serving drinks at one such meeting, Senator Farr of Rodia suffered what appeared to be a heart attack and died. C-3PO attended his funeral, and Amidala and Senator Organa soon discovered that his aide Lolo Purs had poisoned him.

After Skywalker and Mace Windu discovered a massive Zillo Beast on Malastare and brought it to Coruscant, opinions differed greatly among those who knew of its existence regarding what to do with the creature. Amidala learned of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's plan to kill the beast and invited Skywalker and Kenobi to meet her and C-3PO in the Senate building. Skywalker arrived with R2-D2, whom C-3PO greeted and ensured was staying out of trouble. The Senator convinced her husband to appeal to his friend Palpatine, and the droids joined their masters in appearing before Palpatine in the Chancellor's Suite. As Skywalker and Amidala discussed their options with Palpatine and Vice Chair Mas Amedda, the Zillo Beast escaped from its captivity and rampaged through Coruscant's cityscape. Amidala assigned C-3PO to evacuate the staff of the Republic Executive Building. After he completed the task, the beast reached the Chancellor's office. Amedda had previously excused himself from the discussion, but Palpatine, Skywalker, Amidala, R2-D2, and C-3PO evacuated through an emergency escape route and boarded an executive ship piloted by a Senate Commando. As the commando flew the ship into the air, one of the Zillo Beast's massive hands grabbed it.

Skywalker used his lightsaber to slice the ship in half, sending the bow and all six passengers sliding down the exterior of the Senate Rotunda. C-3PO landed on top of R2-D2, who had attached himself to the side of the building with a tow cable. However, the astromech droid soon detached himself from the cable and used his booster rockets to reach Palpatine and fly the Chancellor to safety. C-3PO lost his grip on the cable and fell to the ground, but clone troopers in LAAT gunships used gas bombs to kill the creature and end the threat it posed to Coruscant's citizens. Skywalker, along with Yoda and Aayla Secura, who had been trying to engage the beast, used the Force to hold back the emitted poison. C-3PO, R2-D2, Palpatine, Amidala, and the three Jedi remained safe from the poison gas. The following morning, the entire party was present as the Zillo Beast's corpse was removed from the scene.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were later sent on a mercy mission to Aleen with the clone trooper Wolfpack. A series of deadly groundquakes had struck the planet, and C-3PO was to act as a translator between the clones and the native Aleena. The group arrived in LAATs at a ruined city, where they were greeted by the Aleena King Manchucho. He welcomed their arrival as a sign that the "Gods below" would once again know peace. A brief aftershock then shook the ground, and C-3PO's insistence that the Aleena remain calm earned him cheers from the pleased locals. While R2-D2 left to download information about the delivered equipment into the mainframe computer station, C-3PO remained with Clone Commander Wolffe, who was overseeing the setup of temporary hospitals and kitchens. However, Manchucho refused the kitchen, insisting that the relief team first needed to "make peace in the ground." C-3PO soon left Wolffe's side to find R2-D2, who was finishing his download in a destroyed building. A small group of Aleena insisted that the two droids come and see something, and C-3PO and R2-D2 followed them to a large hole in the ground that was mostly covered by a heavy seal. Another aftershock sent C-3PO tumbling into the hole, and R2-D2 followed his friend down using his booster rockets.

After arriving in a shadowy, underground grotto, the droids looked for a route to the surface, utilizing R2-D2's illumination device. What C-3PO initially believed was sunlight was actually luminescent flora within a subterranean forest. Soon after, C-3PO found himself surrounded by what seemed to be glowing insects, but R2-D2 used his foam-based fire suppression system to repel the bothersome creatures. This action, however, caused several of the forest's arboreal growths to rise up and surround the droids. These were, in fact, members of the Kindalo race, who demanded an explanation for the droids' presence and the surface dwellers' disruption of their tranquility. C-3PO began to offer an explanation, and a Kindalo individual disclosed that the seismic activity was intended to prevent the lethal surface atmosphere from entering the underground realm. C-3PO volunteered to assist in resolving their issue, and he was instructed to consult with a being named Orphne, after which he and R2-D2 promptly departed. Within a chamber, the luminous insects reappeared and transformed into a shining female entity: Orphne.

Orphne recounted an age-old agreement between the Aleena and the subterranean inhabitants, which had been recently violated by the influx of toxic surface air into their domain without undergoing the customary filtration process. The subterranean dwellers had instigated the groundquakes as a form of reprisal. Anxious to avert further Aleena fatalities, C-3PO proposed sealing the rupture, but the enigmatic Orphne vanished after presenting them with a conundrum: "You can run but can not walk. You have a mouth but cannot talk. You have a head but never weep. You have a bed but never sleep. Ask yourself, who are you?" C-3PO directed R2-D2 to replay the riddle for further consideration. Unbeknownst to the protocol droid, R2-D2 identified several floor circles adorned with symbols representing the four classical elements. He then sprayed water on the corresponding circle, which aided C-3PO in deciphering the riddle—a river. Subsequently, the chamber's central circle ascended into the air on a jet of water, transporting both droids back to the surface of Aleen.

The droids were propelled skyward and deposited near the hole through which they had initially descended. Noxious subterranean air was emanating from the breach, causing nearby Aleena to cough, which prompted R2-D2 to secure it with his cable launcher. C-3PO augmented the effort by applying his own physical force, and together, the droids sealed the opening. The two worlds were once again isolated. At that juncture, a contingent of clone troopers materialized; dubious of C-3PO's account of their adventure, they escorted the droids back to the LAATs. Manchucho expressed his gratitude to C-3PO for his assistance, and the group departed to rejoin their vessel and proceed to a rendezvous with Jedi Master Adi Gallia.

While aboard Gallia's Venator-class Star Destroyer en route to Republic territory, C-3PO engaged in communication with a holographic representation of Amidala projected by R2-D2. She informed the protocol droid that his services were required back on Coruscant, but this plan was thwarted by the emergence of a Separatist armada. An evacuation order was issued after the Venator's primary power generator sustained damage, and a Separatist assault team boarded the capital ship. Within a corridor, C-3PO and R2-D2 witnessed General Grievous engaged in a duel with lightsabers against Master Gallia, prompting them to flee in search of an emergency escape vehicle. Eventually, they arrived at a vehicle bay, where C-3PO reluctantly accompanied R2-D2 into a Y-wing aircraft designed to drop bombs, which the astromech piloted from the droid socket, launching them into the unfolding space battle. R2-D2 neutralized a Separatist droid fighter but ultimately directed them to the nearby planet Patitite Pattuna when the Venator was reduced to space debris. A pursuing droid fighter disabled the fighter's power plant, but when it lost sight of them in the planetary atmosphere's cloud cover, R2-D2 maneuvered the Y-wing behind it and destroyed it. The Y-wing's power plant then failed, and the droids executed a crash landing in a swamp.

Upon exiting the wrecked vessel, C-3PO and R2-D2 were confronted by the planet's inhabitants: the minuscule Patitites, who stood at less than half a meter in height. The droids' dismissal of them as a threat was met with strikes from the Patitites' electrically charged lances, which discharged electrical currents, incapacitating both droids. C-3PO and R2-D2 were subsequently restrained and informed of the virtues of the Big Hay-Zu, their chieftain. Hay-Zu soon arrived and banished them from the planet, but when the droids were freed, an incensed R2-D2 approached the Patitite leader with combative intentions. C-3PO attempted to intervene but inadvertently knocked the astromech down and transformed Hay-Zu into a puddle of goo. Liberated from their leader's tyranny, the Patitites cheered their liberators and commenced repairs on the Y-wing. Several of them requested that C-3PO assume leadership, but he instead opted to introduce them to the concept of democracy. The three most intelligent and compassionate Patitites were presented, with the new leader to be chosen through applause, but discord erupted among the divided populace. C-3PO and R2-D2 promptly boarded the repaired starfighter and departed, leaving the Patitites to their newfound democracy, while knocking them over with the ship's ion propulsion system's exhaust in the process.

During their flight from Patitite Patuna, the droids realized that the ship and its occupants were experiencing a power shortage. Consequently, they landed on the nearby planet of Balnab, and a apprehensive C-3PO followed his companion into the fog after R2-D2 detected a potential power source. However, a group of Balnab hunters quickly located them and trapped them in a woven snare. The two droids were transported to a clearing enclosed by canyon walls, where an immense hologram of Albee Dewaw—a being of the same species as the majority of the Balnab hunters—executed one of his subordinates with a bolt of lightning for displaying independent thought by presenting non-living entities before him. C-3PO promptly pointed out that he was a hologram, and Dewaw responded by directing additional lightning strikes around the protocol droid. Concurrently, R2-D2 discovered a concealed chamber within a canyon wall and ascertained that Dewaw was merely a fabricated persona projected by four DUM-series pit droids operating computers. When he pushed one of the droids into view, the deception was revealed, and the Balnab hunters stormed the hidden chamber. A battle involving light ensued, and C-3PO and R2-D2 departed from the resulting explosions that reverberated through the canyon.

The droids returned to the Y-wing but were compelled to halt beneath a sizable mushroom as their power reserves depleted. Shortly thereafter, a band of Weequay buccaneers discovered them and transported both droids and the Y-wing aboard their pirate vessel, the Marauder. C-3PO and R2-D2 were connected to a power source for recharging, but upon awakening, they were ushered into a droid combat arena, where the ASP-series droid K0-5D was defeating all challengers with lethal incendiary devices. C-3PO and R2-D2 were forced into the arena but were spared by a structural breach when General Grievous's command ship entered the system and designated the Marauder as a target for practice.

C-3PO secured himself to R2-D2 as the astromech employed his booster rockets to propel them through space, safely delivering them to a hangar aboard Grievous's vessel. A contingent of B1 battle droids promptly apprehended them and dispatched them to the incinerator, where they were positioned on a conveyor belt that gradually advanced them toward their demise. However, a Republic fleet arrived at that moment and launched an offensive, and R2-D2 propelled both himself and C-3PO away from the incinerator amidst the chaos. They encountered both Adi Gallia and Master Plo Koon eliminating a small resistance force of battle droids, as Grievous had fled upon the initial indication of trouble. A bewildered Commander Wolffe recognized C-3PO and R2-D2, and C-3PO regaled him with a narrative of their escapades as the Republic forces returned to their fleet.

During the third year of the conflict, Senator Amidala continued to seek the allegiance of neutral worlds to the Republic, and she embarked on a mission to Bri'ahl with C-3PO and Captain Typho. R2-D2 accompanied the trio, and while Amidala engaged in negotiations with President Vuul, she instructed the droids to remain in close proximity to the Presidential Residence. Nevertheless, they embarked on a ride on a Bri'ahlian Sky-sled and crashed in a forest. C-3PO's head became detached from his body, and following an argument with R2-D2 regarding responsibility for the mishap, the astromech departed to retrieve the body. In his absence, a verdant creature contemplated consuming C-3PO's head but ultimately discarded it down a hillside. It rolled into a river, and R2-D2 arrived with C-3PO's body in tow to execute a rescue. However, a sizable mammoth was grazing by the riverbank, and following an electrical discharge from R2-D2, it swatted both droids high into the air.

The droids' forceful landing crushed three Bri'ahlian insurgents who had secretly aligned themselves with Count Dooku. The rebels had equipped their soldiers with clone trooper armor and planned to assault the Presidential Palace. C-3PO's head was hastily reattached by R2-D2, and when the droids encountered the counterfeit troopers, loose actuators within C-3PO caused his hand to strike one trooper in the face. The rebel fell to the ground and inadvertently discharged his weapon, striking a companion, which triggered panic among the rebels and a barrage of blaster fire. A thermal detonator was launched, and C-3PO and R2-D2 were suddenly the sole survivors. Unaware of the plot they had just thwarted, they returned to the Palace, where Amidala reprimanded them for their tardiness.

In the same year, the Republic drove the Confederacy from the Core Worlds and Inner Rim and extended the conflict to their adversaries in the Outer Rim. Amidala's Loyalist Committee of senators perceived this as an opportunity for the Supreme Chancellor to relinquish his emergency powers and scheduled a meeting with him to deliberate on the matter. C-3PO and Amidala joined their loyalist colleagues outside Palpatine's office, where they were dismissed by Sate Pestage, one of his principal advisors. Despite this, the group awaited Palpatine's conclusion of a meeting with his inner circle and was eventually welcomed by the Chancellor. As Senator Organa requested that Palpatine repeal the Enhanced Security and Enforcement Act that authorized warrantless searches and seizures, the Chancellor directed him to present it before the Senate and recognized C-3PO as having been constructed by Skywalker. C-3PO was honored that the Chancellor recalled him.

The diversion provided by the Outer Rim Sieges enabled the Separatists to initiate a siege of Coruscant and abduct the Supreme Chancellor. During the battle, an explosion breached the side of Amidala's residence, causing considerable distress to C-3PO. His master, however, remained composed and, with the assistance of C-3PO and Typho, commenced evacuating the building's occupants. Subsequently, C-3PO and Amidala proceeded to the Senate Rotunda and rendezvoused with Senators Organa and Mon Mothma, who were accompanied by Jedi Masters Shaak Ti and Stass Allie. As Separatist vulture droids and droid tri-fighters traversed the planet's skyways, wreaking havoc upon the Coruscanti populace, the two Jedi were searching for and attempting to safeguard the Chancellor. They offered Allie's repulsorcraft to the Senators and departed on Ti's speeder bike for Palpatine's residence at the 500 Republica building. C-3PO and the senators boarded the skimmer, and Organa piloted it through dense traffic, but they were soon shot down by vulture droids and executed a crash landing on a landing platform. After exiting the downed vehicle, Amidala and Organa employed projectile weapons to deter vulture droids in patrol mode, enabling LAAT gunships to secure clear shots at them, and the group then sought refuge in the Embassy Mall shopping center.

Civilians thronged the mall, and C-3PO conferred with a silver protocol droid, who cautioned him that perilous times were imminent. He advised C-3PO to accept a data erasure if offered, as the alternative would be enduring confusion as the lines between good and evil blurred. The silver droid departed, and C-3PO and Amidala observed the Embassy's HoloNet monitor as General Grievous displayed the kidnapped Chancellor and proclaimed the impending demise of the Republic. Kenobi, Skywalker, and R2-D2 returned from the Outer Rim, however, boarded Grievous's flagship, the Invisible Hand, eliminated Count Dooku, and rescued the Chancellor; Grievous and the Separatists then fled the planet. C-3PO joined the Senate's Loyalist Committee and Mace Windu in welcoming the day's heroes outside the Senate Building. After greeting R2-D2, C-3PO was entertained by the astromech's accounts of the rescue.

As Amidala grew increasingly concerned by Palpatine's expanding authority, she drafted a formal request urging him to relinquish his emergency powers and hosted meetings in her apartment with other concerned senators. During at least one such gathering, C-3PO served beverages to the assembled senators. The days following the Separatist attack were harrowing for both Amidala and Skywalker, and they ultimately witnessed the latter succumb to the corrupting influence of the Force under Palpatine's manipulation, who was, in reality, the Sith Master Darth Sidious and had been plotting against the Jedi. As Jedi across the galaxy were assassinated, Skywalker, now known as Darth Vader, led the 501st Legion of clone troopers to the Jedi Enclave and massacred all the Jedi present. As Amidala observed the temple ablaze from her apartment window, C-3PO contacted the Chancellor's official space and learned that Skywalker had returned to the temple. Vader and R2-D2 then arrived at the apartment in Vader's Jedi interceptor; C-3PO briefly conversed with R2-D2 before Vader piloted the fighter to Mustafar, where he eradicated the entire Separatist Directorate, ending the war. After learning of his descent into darkness from Kenobi, Amidala brought C-3PO to Mustafar to confront him; C-3PO piloted the skiff, providing a respite for the distraught senator.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Kenobi had secretly boarded the skiff, and his arrival at Mustafar provoked an enraged Vader to constrict his wife's throat with the Force. As he and Kenobi departed the platform and engaged in combat with lightsabers, C-3PO and R2-D2 transported Amidala back aboard the skiff and attempted to stabilize her condition. Kenobi soon returned, having vanquished Vader, and piloted the skiff with C-3PO to the planetoid Polis Massa to rendezvous with Yoda and Senator Bail Organa. Amidala was admitted to a medical facility, where C-3PO, R2-D2, Kenobi, Organa, and Yoda witnessed the birth of twins she had been carrying: Luke and Leia. Weakened and devoid of the will to continue living, Amidala succumbed on the operating table. As the five survivors conveyed her body to Naboo aboard Organa's light warship, the Sundered Heart, Kenobi and Yoda discussed the situation with Organa: The Jedi Order had been nearly annihilated, and the Republic had been reorganized into a Galactic Empire with Palpatine as its Supreme Ruler. Yoda and Kenobi retreated into hiding, the latter watching over Luke, who was entrusted to the Lars family on Tatooine. Leia was adopted by Organa and his spouse; the twins would be shielded from the Sith Order during the impending dark era. Organa entrusted C-3PO and R2-D2 to Raymus Antilles, the Captain of the Tantive IV, who was instructed to treat them with respect and, to C-3PO's dismay, to erase the protocol droid's memory. As Organa intended for the droids to one day serve Leia, he recognized that eliminating all knowledge of the child's parents from C-3PO was the most effective means of preventing the garrulous droid from revealing her true lineage. 3PO ultimately initiated the memory wipe process himself to erase his own memory (also ensuring to bid farewell to R2-D2 before proceeding), although he inadvertently ended up erasing an RA-7 protocol droid who was guiding him through the process. During his tenure with the Alderaanian royal family, C-3PO served for a period as the Tantive IV's culinary expert and head server.

During the early years of the Empire's dominion, the droid duo were situated within one of the Tantive IV's escape modules while the ship's highest ranked non-commissioned officer, Corla Metonae, oversaw test launches of the modules in the Maramere system. The Lok Revenants, a local band of outlaws, attacked the Tantive IV, compelling it to flee and abandon its jettisoned pods. Bail Organa designated the recovery of such valuable assets as a paramount priority, but the droids were captured by the Lok Revenants. They shared a few adventures with the freebooters, but after inexplicably finding themselves free of their captors, C-3PO and R2-D2 sought employment with the Intergalactic Droid Agency. They were assigned to a transport vessel bound for the planet Dodz to meet their new employer: the crystal trader Lott Kemp.

While on board the transport, several other droids made derisive remarks about the diminutive world's desolate landscape. Upon landing, the droids proceeded to the designated address, only to discover Kemp's residence in ruins. A young Human male named Jost Ellon appeared, brandishing a blaster, but when C-3PO identified himself, Ellon calmed down and revealed that Dodz's Chief Executive Kugg had deployed a massive combat automaton against anyone who refused to remit his exorbitant tax levies. Kemp had been the latest casualty, although he had survived and disappeared. Ellon enlisted C-3PO and R2-D2 to serve him and assist him with heavy lifting; they then boarded Ellon's open-topped land vehicle and proceeded to the boy's home.

Having lost his family because of Kugg's Destroyer, Ellon resided in a humble cave home filled with salvaged technology that he bartered. C-3PO and R2-D2 stumbled upon an ancient Ranger X-One defense robot, which only powered on when Ellon gave it a quick punt. The Ranger's energy was nearly gone, but a chance push that caused C-3PO to fall into a water container convinced Ellon that he now possessed the means to confront Kugg. The boy, along with his three droids, hurried to the central residence of the planet's Citizen's Council, only to discover that Kugg had just threatened them and forced them to pay three times the amount he had previously demanded. Head Councilman Althon had lost all hope, but a mysterious old man persuaded Ellon to oppose Kugg's oppression. C-3PO and R2-D2 went with Ellon to Kugg's mansion the following day with his Ranger, and when Kugg released the Destroyer, a fight ensued. The Ranger gained an advantage but soon began to run out of energy; when Ellon attempted to intervene, the Destroyer easily knocked him aside. The Ranger was able to rejoin the fight when R2-D2 shot his cables at the droid and used himself as a conductor to transfer energy from the Destroyer to the Ranger. However, he overloaded, and although the Destroyer exploded, R2-D2 was left with critically low power. Kugg was taken into custody by the citizens, and Ellon ensured the droids were safely aboard an Intergalactic Droid Agency shuttle that had been sent to retrieve them for repairs. It was headed for the droid repair station of the scientist Lonn Idd, whom they hoped could fix R2-D2's microsynapse damage.

When the Annoo-dat gangster Tig Fromm arrived at the space station to pilfer a potent laser from Idd, C-3PO and R2-D2 aided Idd's children, Vik and Nikki, in freeing the scientist; C-3PO put on the exterior of a guardian droid and destroyed all of Fromm's hover guard droids, enabling Vik to ensnare Fromm in a packing net and hand him over to the authorities. Lonn Idd gratefully repaired R2-D2, and his children transported both droids to a nearby Intergalactic Droid Agency station, where they were almost immediately bought by Ambassador Zell of Majoor and assigned to serve as tutors and companions to Zell's son Llez, who had plans to disassemble C-3PO and use R2-D2 for amusement. During a diplomatic mission to Armath where Zell commanded a fleet of Majooran consular ships, Llez ran away from his father and joined the pirate Reddjak, but returned to his father after Reddjak was personally defeated by Zell.

After promising to be more involved in his son's upbringing, Zell realized that the droids' services were no longer required. They were dismissed, and the Intergalactic Droid Agency arranged for their sale to a financially struggling branch of the Republic Diplomatic Corps in the Thanium sector. Their new job was to be diplomatic couriers, which C-3PO believed would make them distinguished droids. Upon arriving at the Royal Palace of the planet Sooma, they discovered that Plooz—son of King Gokus of nearby Alzar—had secretly boarded a Sooman freighter and ended up in the court of Sooma's King Zornog. Sludd, First General of Alzar's forces, had actually devised a plan to overthrow his King, and had tricked Plooz into boarding the freighter. C-3PO and R2-D2 prevented an overexcited Plooz from strangling Zornog, and the King gave them his fastest starship to use to transport the Prince back to his enraged father. On the way, C-3PO was annoyed when Plooz started consuming Neuvian sundaes from the ship's food synthesizer, but panicked when a more serious threat appeared: battleships commanded by General Sludd. C-3PO hailed the ships and informed them that Plooz was aboard, but Sludd prepared to attack regardless. The protocol droid instructed R2-D2 to ready the ship's hyperdrive, and Plooz, wanting to help, accidentally disrupted the ship's antimatter pods. With electron torpedoes approaching, C-3PO ordered his counterpart to jump to hyperspace immediately.

Realizing that there were no stars visible within a bright pink opening surrounding the ship, C-3PO was surprised to learn from R2-D2 that their ship had created a time warp by causing an antimatter overload when jumping to hyperspace. After zooming through the Endor Gate they had created, the ship traveled years into the future and into the Endor system. C-3PO stopped a crying Plooz from rushing towards an escape pod, but lost control of the child while trying to give instructions to R2-D2. As Plooz's pod headed towards the forest moon of Endor, C-3PO and R2-D2 landed the ship to pursue him. On the moon, they encountered Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, an Ewok Princess and the daughter of Chief Chirpa of the Ewok's Bright Tree Village, who spoke an obscure dialect of the Inner Zuma that C-3PO understood. Kneesaa led them to a peace conference taking place between Chirpa's Council of Elders and King Gorneesh of the Duloks, another sentient species native to the moon. Gorneesh was holding a terrified Plooz over a ravine, and C-3PO demanded that he be released. Just then, rays from Endor's primary star Ibleam reflected off of C-3PO's plating, giving him the glowing appearance of what the Duloks believed to be an Ewok demon. The Duloks ran away, and Ploz was rescued from the ravine by R2-D2 and the Ewok Wicket Wystri Warrick.

After the Ewoks escorted the droids and Plooz back to their Sooman ship, the trio piloted the ship through the Endor Gate just before it closed, and returned to their own time. Sludd's fleet remained where they had left it and fired on them, but C-3PO took charge of the situation and directed R2-D2 to land the damaged ship outside Gokus's palace. As Plooz entered the palace to find his father, Sludd landed his own ship and held the two droids at gunpoint. When Gokus arrived, demanding an explanation from his general, R2-D2 played a recording of Sludd's earlier threat to kill Plooz and seize control of both Alzar and Sooma. Furious, Gokus had his general and his accomplices thrown in prison. C-3PO and R2-D2 remained in Zornog's service, but the restless king quickly grew tired of their constant arguing. The final straw came when R2-D2 accidentally shorted out the palace's power system, and the droids were abandoned on the planet of R-Duba. They made their way to The Droid Store of businessman Van P. Quist.

When R2-D2 was purchased by the human Kirk Windjammer, C-3PO found a new owner of his own after Baron Gavern Starlock bought him to work as a translator for R-Duba's Prince Jagoda. Starlock soon betrayed his Prince by assisting the people of Dorande in their attempt to conquer R-Duba, but his efforts were thwarted by C-3PO, R2-D2, and Windjammer. During the conflict, C-3PO prevented Starlock's droid BX-00 from assassinating the Prince. Reunited, the droids left Jagoda's court and suggested that Windjammer be appointed Jagoda's Chief Advisor. Continuing their journey through the stars, C-3PO and R2-D2 secretly boarded a ship bound for Ord Gertoth.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were ejected from the ship, however, at a one-woman refueling station run by a Bimm businesswoman named Sindee. As their new owner, Sindee taught R2-D2 how to play dejarik, but her gambling problem caused her to lose both droids to the smuggler Zevel Hortine in a game of Liar's Cut. In the year 15 BBY, Hortine dumped a large quantity of contraband from his ship while being arrested above the planet Ingo. The droids were in the ship's cargo hold at the time. After landing in the planet's Vaj Desert, the droids trudged across the sands before being spotted by two speeder jockeys, Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. Having been looking for an R2 unit, the two declared themselves the new masters of the droid duo and welcomed them into Joben's speeder. While traveling to their auto-shop, the jockeys crossed into the desert's restricted zone and were pursued by seeker probe droids; during the chase, C-3PO fell from Joben's speeder and landed in the desert's sands, where he was confronted by a large droid tank. Throwing a rock at it, the protocol droid was surprised to see it explode. Unbeknownst to him, the Fromm Tower Droid had actually been destroyed by Kea Moll, a young resistance fighter from Annoo who had traveled to Ingo.

With the seekers successfully evaded, the jockeys brought the droids back to their shop. C-3PO and R2-D2 helped repair Joben and Dusat's speeders and were shown the White Witch, a heavily modified speeder that the jockeys intended to enter into an upcoming race with R2-D2 flying in its droid socket. Joben then left the shop for the night and took the droids with him, but noticed that they were being followed by an unknown party and hid his speeder accordingly. With the pursuers avoided, the trio returned to the shop, only to find that Dusat had been kidnapped. Following the arrival of Kea Moll, who had been searching for a mechanic, R2-D2's sensors detected movement outside. Investigating, Joben discovered that his speeder had been sabotaged, and soon found himself surrounded by hostile droids. C-3PO, R2-D2, and Moll took the White Witch outside and saved Joben, before tracking the droids to a base belonging to Tig Fromm, the Anoo-Dat gangster that C-3PO and R2-D2 had previously encountered while in the service of Lonn Idd.

After R2-D2 infiltrated the base, a Fromm Tower Droid opened the complex's doors in an effort to locate the intruder. It was quickly decapitated by the White Witch, which zoomed into the open doors and made its way through a cave system after locating Dusat on a map of the base. After coming to a locked door, Joben cut his way through with a lightsaber that a customer had previously left him, before taking R2-D2 in the White Witch through the base's tube system to rescue Dusat. Remaining at the computer that displayed the map, C-3PO and Moll monitored Joben's progress and redirected tube traffic out of his way. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a patrol droid and a maintenance droid, but C-3PO tricked the two into inadvertently destroying each other. The protocol droid's cunning continued as he directed all patrol droids away from the Witch over a loudspeaker, and convinced two more of the units that he was their ally and had captured Moll.

After rescuing Dusat, Joben and R2-D2 recovered C-3PO and Moll, and piloted the speeder to the base's exit, only to find several droid cruisers waiting outside and firing at them. C-3PO located a computer and overrode orders from Tig Fromm that had deactivated several tower droids; the reactivated tanks battled the cruisers, allowing the White Witch to escape in the confusion. Joben destroyed several seeker probes that attempted to follow it, before taking the speeder to Moll's ship, the Sand Sloth, where Moll, the droids, and their masters prepared to take the Witch to the Boonta Speeder Race. Aboard the ship, C-3PO and R2-D2 had a conversation about speeder racing before the ship jumped to the Annoo system. Following the jump, the droids made their way to the ship's hull to perform repairs. C-3PO and the ship's hyperdrive began to float away, but R2-D2 wheeled the protocol droid back towards the ship using a rope that C-3PO had attached himself to. C-3PO's servomotors seized up when R2-D2 tried to keep him stuck to the hull, temporarily locking his torso in a position perpendicular to his legs. The crew of the Sand Sloth needed a new hyperdrive, and traveled to Annoo to find one.

Following a scuffle with another droid at Annoo customs, C-3PO and R2-D2 spotted two members of the Fromm Gang and created a disturbance, providing a distraction that allowed their human companions to escape. Joben, Dusat, and Moll took the droids to the home of Kea's mother Demma, where C-3PO and R2-D2 performed various chores while their masters slept. After a sand sloth knocked him into a wall, C-3PO unintentionally activated a secret door leading to a rebel base of the Annoo resistance. When the droids went to wake Joben up and inform him of their discovery, they found an assassin droid spraying the jockey with gas. A brief fight ensued that ended with Moll arriving and shooting the assassin; her mother quickly arrived home and informed her guests that Sise Fromm, the leader of the Fromm gang, was trying to kill Joben and Dusat for having discovered his secret base on Ingo. In that base, the Fromm gang was developing a secret and deadly weapons satellite called the Trigon One. When the humans returned to their slumber, C-3PO prepared himself for a future confrontation with the Fromms by practicing hand-to-hand combat, but found the task difficult when his servomotors seized up again.

Tig Fromm moved the Trigon One into hiding among Ingo's desert cliffs at some point, and Joben and Dusat intercepted a transmission between Tig and his father that revealed this information. Along with C-3PO and R2-D2, they raced to the weapons satellite in the White Witch and another speeder; C-3PO and Joben fired their vehicle's blasters to distract some guards while Dusat and R2-D2 entered the Trigon One and disconnected the computer's main memory. The group then returned to the speeder racers' shop to celebrate.

The morning after the gas attack, Dusat and Moll took the White Witch to a ship that belonged to the Fromm gang, hoping to ride it back to Ingo and sabotage the Trigon One. When Joben, still recovering from the gas, later woke up, he took the droids and followed his friends, finding them held captive by a pair of Annoo-Dat thugs at one of the gang's freighters. The gangsters were knocked unconscious in a subsequent confrontation, and Joben and Moll hid themselves in two cargo containers, giving C-3PO a thermal detonator to hold until they reached Ingo. The droids and Dusat pretended to be laborers when more gang members passed by, and Dusat then left the scene, intending to remain on Annoo and protect Demma. C-3PO and R2-D2 soon after overheard a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm regarding their plans for the Trigon One. Under their guise as laborers, they boarded the freighter and were confronted by two other droids during the journey to Ingo. A lucky passage through a meteor shower saved them, but also caused them to lose track of the cargo container that Joben and Moll were hiding in.

At the Fromm gang's base on Ingo, C-3PO saved the life of the gang's head of security, Vlix Oncard, by pushing him out of the way of falling debris. After quickly identifying the container that held his companions, C-3PO asked the grateful security chief to take it to the hangar that held the Trigon One. Oncard agreed, and the droids began making their own way to the hangar, mentioning Oncard's name in order to avoid trouble with rowdy gangsters that they passed. Two of the gangsters, however, accidentally activated the thermal detonator. With only ten minutes until it detonated, the droids hurried to the hangar and met up with their companions, who, with R2-D2's help, fought off attacking guard droids and boarded the Trigon One. After the thermal detonator destroyed the scaffolding holding the satellite in place, the team took the satellite into the atmosphere, where R2-D2 destroyed several attacking droid fighters.

After Joben, Dusat, and the droids escaped with the weapons satellite, agents of the Fromm Gang captured Moll. Oncard met the droids and their masters at their shop on Ingo and presented Tig Fromm's demands: the return of the Trigon One in exchange for Moll's freedom. R2-D2 instead devised a plan to rescue their friend, and the droids flew a starship to Sise Fromm's stronghold on Annoo and infiltrated the base. After R2-D2 distracted several guards with a blinding ray and knocked a guardian droid out of commission with his circuit board disruptor beam, the droids rescued Moll, escaped, and returned to Ingo.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon afterward kidnapped by the Fromm Gang and brought to their mining facility on the moon Auren. Imprisoned at the bottom of the complex's eight levels, the droids managed to escape from their cell and ascend all eight levels, evading various Fromm Tower Droids, ceiling-mounted gun emplacements and other hazards along the way, and activating turbolifts by entering correct sequences of colored keys. After exiting the facility, the droids found Joben and Dusat waiting to rescue them.

Back in Joben's care, the droids traveled back to Ingo with their masters. R2-D2 and Joben hid and sabotaged the Trigon One, ensuring that any subsequent activation of its drives would send it on a collision course with the Fromm gang's stronghold on Annoo. While they were away, C-3PO was modifying a subspace transceiver in Joben's auto-shop when he unintentionally tuned in to the frequency used by the Fromm gang. Overhearing a conversation between Sise and Tig Fromm, he and Moll learned that Oncard had brought a group of Fromm gangsters to the shop. A quick arrival by Joben and R2-D2 in a speeder saved them, but a subsequent chase through a nearby city ended with the Fromm gang trapping them in a warehouse.

The quartet was captured as prisoners and transported to the Annoo fortress of the Fromm gang. It was there that Joben revealed to Sise Fromm his actions of taking the Trigon One to Ingo. Subsequently, they found themselves confined within a cell alongside Dusat, who, along with Demma, had been previously apprehended. R2-D2 devised a strategy for their liberation, and C-3PO, capitalizing on the guard's greed, loudly proclaimed that his droid companion's dome was brimming with precious gems. Upon investigation, the guard was unexpectedly sprayed with foam by R2-D2, who then utilized his electric prod to release Joben from his restraints. Joben then freed his four fellow captives and escorted Moll to rescue Demma, while Dusat and the droids made their way towards a hangar, where they seized control of a spacecraft. Upon learning of the Trigon One's impending arrival, R2-D2 informed Dusat and C-3PO about the sabotage, leading them to commandeer a cargo sled with C-3PO to assist Joben and Moll, colliding with multiple patrol droids during their journey. These droids then triggered an evacuation signal, facilitating the return of Joben, Moll, and Demma to the spacecraft, which Dusat had managed to start without the key. Nevertheless, he required C-3PO's servomotors to effectively navigate the stolen vessel. By connecting himself to the ship's navigation system, C-3PO guided the spacecraft away from the rapidly exploding base.

With the Trigon One destroyed and the Fromm gang dismantled, Joben and Dusat were finally able to turn their attention to the upcoming speeder race. On their way to Boonta, C-3PO and R2-D2 found themselves on the exterior of the Sand Sloth, engaged in repairing the White Witch's power couplings when another starship materialized and initiated an attack. Reacting swiftly, R2-D2 activated the hyperdrive via external controls, and the droids experienced a ride through hyperspace while clinging to the hull. Upon their arrival at Boonta, an engine damaged during the firefight caused the Sand Sloth to crash into a scrapyard. An aged Proto Droid known as Proto One emerged and, after developing a rapport with R2-D2, offered to repair the damaged ship. Moll concurred, and together with Joben and the droids, they transported Dusat to a local medical facility, as he had sustained an arm injury during the earlier conflict. The White Witch had also suffered damage in the crash, and when R2-D2 suggested that Proto One undertake its repair, a jealous C-3PO sought the assistance of a droid named BL-17 instead. BL-17 proposed the use of a garage that he claimed belonged to his master, an offer that Moll accepted, unaware that BL-17 was, in fact, working for Boba Fett. Fett, now operating as a bounty hunter, had been contracted by Sise Fromm, who sought vengeance against those responsible for the downfall of his gang.

While R2-D2 and Moll were occupied with repairing the Witch, C-3PO, oblivious to BL-17's treachery, quickly formed a friendship with the droid. BL-17 suggested that they depart the garage in search of Joben, seizing the opportunity to lock the door and remotely trigger a gas leak in the garage's welding tanks. Upon returning with C-3PO to discover the door ajar and R2-D2 guarding the Witch, C-3PO placed the blame for any potential issues on his old friend and agreed to BL-17's proposal to relocate the speeder to the perceived safety of a nearby processing plant. At the plant, C-3PO and BL-17 encountered Proto One, with whom BL-17 had a longstanding rivalry. A confrontation ensued, leading C-3PO to recognize his error and lament the wedge he had driven between himself and R2-D2. As if on cue, the astromech droid appeared, and C-3PO capitalized on the distraction by physically shoving BL-17 into a pile of debris, which then collapsed upon the deceitful droid. Joben and Moll arrived, but when Fett materialized and opened fire on the group, Joben and R2-D2 fled in the Witch to participate in the imminent Boonta Race. Proto One then alerted C-3PO and Moll to a thermal detonator that the Fromms had concealed within the Witch, programmed to detonate after ten laps of the race had been completed.

Unable to directly intervene, C-3PO and Moll arrived at the racetrack and observed as Joben and R2-D2 participated in the race, skillfully evading Fett's speeder in the process. When the thermal detonator detached and landed on Fett's vehicle, Joben emerged victorious. During the celebration, he and Dusat were approached by Zebulon Dak, the proprietor of a prominent speeder corporation, who extended job offers to both of them. The jockeys eagerly accepted, but their joy was interrupted by the arrival of Sise Fromm, Tig Fromm, and Vlix Oncard, who were enraged at having been thwarted once again. Proto One also appeared, placing them under arrest; however, Fett, unimpressed by their interference after having hired him, apprehended them with the intention of delivering them to Jabba the Hutt. C-3PO and R2-D2 joined their masters and Moll aboard the Sand Sloth, where they overheard a conversation among the humans: Dak would only permit C-3PO and R2-D2 to accompany the jockeys if they underwent reprogramming. Having developed an affection for the droids' personalities, Joben and Dusat decided to decline the job offers. Consequently, the droids departed the ship in an escape pod, hoping that their masters would be free to pursue their aspirations.

C-3PO and R2-D2 made their way back to the Intergalactic Droid Agency, where agents secured them a new owner: Doodnik, a crotchety chef who owned and operated a café on the planet Tyne's Horky. Upon arriving at the establishment in one of the world's mining colonies, the droids anticipated being assigned roles as a translator and maintenance droid, respectively, but were instead relegated to serving as waiters. C-3PO struggled with the task of remembering orders, and after tripping and disrupting the meal of the crime lord Kleb Zellock, he and R2-D2 were dismissed by Doodnik and instructed never to return to the café. Desiring to have a master, they made their way to a public auction within the colony, where an initial price of 500 keschels was requested for the pair. When C-3PO voiced his offense at what he considered to be a low price, the auctioneer retaliated by including an android in the deal. C-3PO singled out a young Human male in the crowd and inquired if he would purchase them, but the sale was made for sixty keschels to Yorpo Mog, the bodyguard of Zellock, whom R2-D2 had previously caused to fall face-first into his boss's soup. When Mog began roughly handling the android, the young man that C-3PO had appealed to intervened and traded his mining droid for Mog's three acquisitions, with C-3PO providing translation. The young man, named Jann Tosh, took his new companions to his wheel bike, but was pursued by Mog, who remembered that Zellock had tasked him with acquiring the android. C-3PO piloted the vehicle away from Mog, but the bodyguard boarded it before being swiftly ejected. Tosh and his companions then returned to Tosh's mine.

Tosh's uncle, Gundy, was far from pleased that Tosh had returned home without a mining droid, and his displeasure only intensified when R2-D2's sensors revealed that the android was, in fact, a dim-witted member of the Tammuz-an species. Nevertheless, all three were put to work; C-3PO performed tasks such as making stew, carrying water, and working in the mine. He was frequently assisted by the Tammuz-an stranger, who displayed remarkable strength and impressed Gundy by using it to rescue the miner from a collapsing mineshaft. Tosh dubbed the stranger Kez-Iban, a Bocce term meaning "he that returns from death," and brought him and the droids along as he transported an injured Gundy to a local hospital. When R2-D2 witnessed Mog abducting Kez-Iban from the medical facility, Tosh returned with the droids to Doodnik's, where they confronted Zellock, leading to a brawl erupting throughout the café. After a young female Human paralyzed one of Zellock's thugs with a miniature stunner, Tosh and the droids hurried out of the eatery, only to find Mog and several more thugs awaiting them. They were taken to Zellock's Nergon-14-filled mine and sentenced to perform labor, but escaped their chains when R2-D2 used a detached lower leg segment of C-3PO to deactivate the power restraints of the mine's power conductor. Their efforts were nearly thwarted by a mining droid, but C-3PO neutralized the threat by hurling a piece of machinery. When the Tammuz-an Sollag arrived and presented Kez-Iban with a scepter, Kez-Iban's vitality was restored, and he revealed himself as Mon Julpa, Prince of Tammuz-an. He expressed his gratitude to Tosh for his kindness, but the joyous moment was cut short when R2-D2's sensors detected escalating levels of combustible gas. Fearing the impending activation of the Nergon-14, Tosh, Julpa, Sollag, and the droids fled the mine.

Several mining droids attempted to impede their escape, but were neutralized by R2-D2, the power of Julpa's scepter, and C-3PO, whose reattached lower leg segment acted independently due to crossed wires and kicked a droid over. Seizing control of a bulldozer, the desperate team drove it through a large door before ascending to Zellock's control platform in a turbolift. The Nergon-14 was activated by the gas leak just as they confronted Zellock and Mog, who fled from the base, pursued by Tosh and his allies. When the latter group split up in order to navigate their way out of the mine's labyrinthine tunnels, it was C-3PO and R2-D2 who stumbled upon Zellock and Mog arriving at their getaway ship. C-3PO's autonomous lower leg segment lunged forward, dislodging a miniature stunner from Zellock's hand into Mog's, and Mog, feeling betrayed by his boss, discharged the weapon at Zellock. Tosh, Julpa, and Sollag arrived, and the group loaded Zellock's unconscious form onto the ship and escaped from the base moments before its destruction. Upon returning to his mine, Tosh discovered that his uncle had unearthed a substantial deposit of keschels where the mineshaft had previously collapsed; Gundy polished and shined C-3PO and R2-D2, but informed them that he intended to keep them working diligently at the mine.

Hoping to assist Julpa in reclaiming his rightful position as King of Tammuz-An, Tosh sought the assistance of a stranger known as Old Iron Pants to transport him, his droids, Julpa, and Sollag to the planet. Before Tosh departed his mine, Gundy recorded a farewell hologram inside of R2-D2 and instructed both droids to ensure that only Tosh received it. On the bridge of Iron Pants's ship, she revealed to Tosh that she was, in fact, Jessica Meade, the stranger who had rescued him in Doodnik's Café. C-3PO and R2-D2 then hurried onto the bridge, where the astromech droid played the hologram to both Tosh and Meade, disregarding Gundy's request. Julpa and Sollag entered the bridge just before the ship was attacked by the Dianoga, a hostile starship belonging to the pirate Kybo Ren. R2-D2 detached the bridge, a starship in its own right, from the rest of the vessel, before the bounty hunter IG-88, having been hired by Tammuz-an's Vizier Zatec-Cha to capture Julpa alive, arrived in-system in his own ship and crippled the Dianoga. Free from pirate interference, Meade landed her ship on the planet's surface and was hailed by ships belonging to the forces of Zatec-Cha. Thinking quickly, C-3PO asserted that the ships' guards' ineptitude had allowed them to be attacked by pirates; the guards, fearing retribution from Zatec-Cha, left Meade's ship undisturbed.

Injured during the firefight, Meade was taken to a hospital by Sollag, while the others reserved a room at a local inn. At the inn, Julpa revealed that he needed to infiltrate Zatec-Cha's fortress and reach the royal tower in order to hold his scepter up to the rising sun at dawn and be crowned King. Tosh noticed a spy outside their room and gave chase, while the droids left the inn to check on Meade at the hospital. Upon discovering that Meade and Sollag had been escorted out of the hospital by the Vizier's guards, they attempted to return to the inn but became disoriented, eventually finding Tosh surrounded by the spy, named Vinga, and several of his companions in an alleyway. The distraction caused by the droids' arrival prompted Tosh to initiate a fight with his adversaries, which C-3PO and R2-D2 helped him win by each seizing a guard's wig and pulling on it, spinning the guard around until he collapsed. With less than three hours until dawn, they rushed to the Vizier's palace to rescue their missing comrades, whom Julpa had joined the ranks of after being captured by IG-88. After entering the palace via a secret door that Julpa had revealed to them, Tosh and C-3PO fell through a trap door and were followed down by R2-D2. Landing unharmed, they were pursued by a giant droid that fired lasers from its photoreceptors, but their foe fell from a partially extended bridge into a pit of lava. The next room that the trio entered saw its ceiling begin to descend upon them, but the crisis was averted when R2-D2 pressed a floor panel that caused the walls to follow suit; the stress created by the walls acting against the ceiling caused both elements to cease their movement, allowing the trio to escape.

Undeterred by the dangers, the trio pressed on, soon entering a pit where Julpa was being chased by a Durkii. The beast's tail lifted C-3PO from the ground and onto its back, but the Durkii lost its aggression and fell asleep when R2-D2 removed several bothersome kleexs from its body. The droids and Tosh, joined by Julpa and Sollag, rushed after Zatec-Cha to rescue Meade and recover the scepter. They evaded several barrels before Tosh mounted a Floater-935 repulsorlift vehicle to pursue Zatec-Cha and his henchmen, who rode Ubrikkian Airhooks out of the fortress and into Tammuz-an's pre-dawn sky. In a chase around the royal tower, the scepter changed hands repeatedly before R2-D2, riding on an Imperial Sniper vehicle awkwardly piloted by C-3PO, grabbed it with his claw-arm. It fell again into the hands of Zatec-Cha, who prepared himself to approach the Keeper of the Tower and present it at dawn. Landing his vehicle, C-3PO stood atop R2-D2's dome and donned a cloak over both of them, impersonating Vinga, Zatec-Cha's assistant. When Meade wrestled the scepter from the Vizier's hands, C-3PO recovered it and tossed it to Julpa, who presented it to the Keeper of the Tower and was declared King of Tamuz-an. Now loyal to Julpa, the guards took Zatec-Cha and Vinga into custody. C-3PO and R2-D2 received medals, were polished and shined, and, along with Tosh, were appointed advisors to Julpa's court.

Driven by a need to power his R-22 Spearhead fighters, Julpa tasked Tosh, Meade, and the droids with acquiring fuel and transporting it to Tammuz-an. Tosh flew in a Spearhead while Meade brought the droids aboard her ship. On the return flight to Tammuz-an, a ship containing the fuel was sent ahead, but C-3PO and R2-D2 were kept uninformed and told that it was a decoy intended to attract pirates. The pirate Kybo Ren fell for the deception, deploying the Dianoga and several stolen Imperial TIE fighters against Meade and Tosh. Tosh crippled the TIEs, but Ren and several of his crew boarded and seized control of Meade's ship. C-3PO contacted Tosh and informed him of their predicament before being stunned with an ion bolt. When R2-D2 reactivated him, C-3PO discovered that Tosh had surrendered to Ren and that the pirate was taking his captives to his base, an island grotto on Tarnoonga.

Captivated by her spirited nature, Ren personally brought Meade as a guest of honor to his court, while Tosh and the droids were escorted separately by guards. C-3PO was too slow to board a turbolift, and after falling off a ledge, he landed on an inflatable mattress released by R2-D2. Bouncing and landing on his feet, C-3PO's bipedal stabilizers contracted, causing his knees to briefly lock in a bent position. Brought before Ren, Tosh and the droids learned that the pirate was planning to invade Tammuz-an and had pursued the fuel to leave the planet vulnerable. The following morning, he brought the trio on his skiff to the ocean surrounding his base, fitted Tosh with stun cuffs, and threw him into the ocean to be devoured by a Miridon sea monster. R2-D2 plunged into the water after his master, inadvertently bringing C-3PO with him. Tangling with a squid-like creature, the protocol droid sank to the sea floor while his counterpart used a built-in propeller to navigate the lake's depths. R2-D2 fitted Tosh with a breath mask and broke his stun cuffs with an electric shock, then began evading the Miridon, with Tosh clinging to the droid and C-3PO clinging to Tosh. The monster became trapped inside a sunken ship, and R2-D2 propelled his allies back to Ren's base, which the trio entered via an underwater pipe.

Inside the base, they pulled two fishing guards into the water, and the droids donned their uniforms to infiltrate the base and rescue Meade. C-3PO mistakenly woke a sleeping guard who wore his hair similar to Meade, causing a scuffle that saw Tosh and the droids commandeer a boat and pilot it through the base's waterways. Several guards gave chase in a boat of their own, but were intercepted by the Miridon, the beast having entered the base through the same pipe as Tosh and the droids. With the guards distracted, Ren stood alone against the trio, and was ensnared in a net by Meade, who had escaped from her cell. She joined Tosh and the droids in racing to their ships and escaping the planet, the droids inside Tosh's Spearhead. Several TIE fighters gave chase, leading the starfighter into the tractor beam of Ren's Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Demolisher that the pirate had stolen from an Imperial repair dock. When the spearhead was brought into a hangar of the Star Destroyer, Tosh was imprisoned and the droids were put to work loading arms as the warship jumped to Tammuz-an.

As C-3PO and R2-D2 busied themselves with the task of loading proton torpedoes, the astromech droid made a critical error, inverting one such that their droid overseer was inadvertently trapped on a magnetic hoist. Subsequently, the pair navigated their way to the detention level where they successfully liberated Tosh, who promptly made a dash for the bridge, while the droids proceeded to further compromise the ship's arsenal. Upon reaching Tammuz-an, the Demolisher unleashed its turbolasers upon Meade's vessel, only for Ren to be taken aback by the revelation that it was merely a decoy. Emerging from the planet's atmospheric veil, the fully armed Tammuz-an space navy arrived on the scene and engaged the Demolisher, which was rendered incapacitated after its attempt to deploy the inverted torpedo backfired. Tosh, along with the droids, made a swift escape from the ship aboard his Spearhead, returning to Tammuz-an where the droids were rewarded with a luxurious oil bath, while Ren and his subordinates found themselves confined to the dungeons.

Not long after Ren's capture, Julpa extended an invitation to the esteemed warrior chief Toda to grace his court, with the intention of brokering a peace treaty and putting an end to the longstanding discord between the royal court and the warrior chief. C-3PO and R2-D2 took on the task of preparing dessert for the momentous occasion, but after a mishap involving the accidental ejection of the prepared food out of a window, they hastily concocted a second cake and burst into the courtroom, colliding with a wall and becoming completely covered in the confection. Despite their clumsy entrance, their antics managed to diffuse the mounting tension between Toda and Sollag, although Toda remained skeptical of Julpa's true intentions and opted to postpone his response until the following morning. Later that evening, as the droids and Tosh were occupied with Tosh's spearhead, C-3PO inadvertently sealed the hatch, trapping both Tosh and R2-D2 inside. While searching for Meade, in the hopes that she could assist in their liberation, C-3PO spotted Kybo Ren making his escape from the palace and gave chase. He ended up in Ren's grasp and was hurled at Gerin, Toda's daughter, who had been poised to fire a miniature stunner at Ren just before C-3PO's unexpected arrival. Ren seized the stunner and discharged it at both Gerin and Tosh, the latter having managed to free himself from the spearhead, before abducting Gerin and fleeing the planet in another spearhead. Enraged by this turn of events, Toda demanded C-3PO's destruction, but Julpa appeased the warrior chief by dispatching Tosh and Meade on a mission to rescue Gerin and surrendering himself to Toda until her safe return was secured.

Driven by a desire to atone for his past mistakes, C-3PO devised a scheme to ascertain Ren's whereabouts. He ventured into the prison cell of Ren's second-in-command, Jyn Obah, and commenced shouting, with R2-D2 in tow, brandishing a menacing array of the astromech droid's weaponry and tools. C-3PO implored a bewildered and terrified Obah to divulge the location, managing to extract the word "Bogden" from Obah's incoherent ramblings. He promptly relayed this information to Tosh and Meade, who, accompanied by the two droids, embarked on a journey to Bogden aboard spearheads. Upon reaching the planet's orbit, R2-D2 detected life-form signatures emanating from a derelict starcruiser on the surface, prompting the rescue team to proceed towards Ren's makeshift stronghold. After separating, C-3PO and Tosh stumbled upon Gerin, who had escaped from her confinement, surrounded by a pack of snarling Sungwas. Still burdened by guilt over his previous blunder, the protocol droid gallantly offered himself as a sacrifice to the Sungwas and fled, with the beasts in hot pursuit. After they chewed off his left arm and lost interest in his non-organic form, the Sungwas abandoned him, and he was subsequently discovered by Tosh and Gerin. The trio was then contacted by Meade via the base's surveillance system, who alerted them to Ren's presence in the hallways, drawing near to their location. They sought refuge and observed Sungwas chasing Ren, and after reuniting with R2-D2 and Meade, they trailed the pirate to one of the base's landing platforms. Obah and several of Ren's cohorts had arrived in Ren's ship with a captive Julpa, as Ren had contacted Toda and orchestrated a prisoner exchange. However, when Ren reneged on the agreement, Toda and a contingent of his warriors emerged from a hidden compartment within Ren's ship and launched an assault on Ren's gang. As Ren attempted to flee, C-3PO tripped him, enabling Julpa and Toda to overpower the pirate.

Upon their return to Tammuz-an, Meade prepared for her departure back to Tyne's Horky, and Toda's young son Coby insisted that C-3PO regale him with tales of the rescue mission. Coby was subsequently accepted into the Imperial space academy, and the droids and Tosh were tasked with escorting him there. They traveled from Tammuz-an to Chuzalla aboard a passenger vessel, with plans to catch a connecting flight from the planet's spaceport Zallakesh. While Tosh searched for their connecting flight, the droids kept a watchful eye on Coby, safeguarding the inheritance he had received from his great-uncle and cautioning him against squandering it frivolously. When members of Starhunter's Intergalactic Menagerie spotted Ingey, Coby's beloved pet tessellated Arboreal binjinphant, they absconded with the creature and made their escape aboard their ship. As Coby pounded on the door, C-3PO attempted to negotiate with the starhunters, but ended up crashing to the ground when the ship ascended, resulting in the stretching of his neck and the fracturing of his vocal synthesizer.

Having been separated from both Coby and R2-D2, C-3PO wandered aimlessly through the spaceport's streets until his two companions located him in a Blackhawk Destroyer. Within the ship's cockpit, Coby diligently repaired C-3PO's loose neck while R2-D2 piloted the vessel, pursuing the starhunters. C-3PO intervened and secured the destroyer to the side of the starhunters' ship via magnetic landing gear; consequently, the trio journeyed alongside the starhunters through hyperspace to the planet Dandelo. Upon entering Dandelo's atmosphere, they detached the destroyer, only to discover that it had run out of fuel, resulting in a crash landing in the forested terrain. Despite the ship's destruction, R2-D2 managed to transmit a distress signal just before Dandelo's indigenous Fuzzums subdued the trio. C-3PO, fluent in their language, averted their spears by explaining Coby's missing pet. Moved by the boy's plight, the Fuzzums escorted the trio to the starhunters' base, where they witnessed Ingey being confined to a cell. After C-3PO and R2-D2 restrained Coby from impulsively rushing out of their hiding place in the woods, they devised a plan to rescue both Ingey and several Fuzzums who were also held captive by the starhunters.

The protocol droid's contribution to the plan involved creating a distraction: C-3PO imitated the call of a native spotted jugadoo, prompting the starhunters gathered around their base to rush into the forest in pursuit of the elusive creature. However, when a genuine spotted jugadoo heard the call, it charged through the forest towards C-3PO and enveloped the droid in its trunk. A horrified C-3PO managed to escape, only to find himself ensnared in a net that the starhunters had set as a jugadoo trap. After freeing himself, he emerged from the forest and discovered Coby, Ingey, the Fuzzums, and an elderly man named Greej standing in the base clearing. The jugadoo, still in hot pursuit, charged into the clearing, dragging the net along with it. When it released the net and seized C-3PO once more, the group noticed that the starhunters had all become entangled in the net. They managed to extricate themselves, and their leader acquired a blaster that Greej had pilfered from a patrol droid, only to have it knocked from his grasp by Jann Tosh, who had picked up R2-D2's distress signal and traveled to Dandelo to offer assistance. The starhunters were subsequently imprisoned, and as the Fuzzums celebrated with a dance, Tosh and Greej repaired R2-D2, who had sustained damage from a patrol droid. Coby and Greej made arrangements to return all of the starhunters' captive creatures to their natural habitats, and Tosh revealed that he had been accepted into the Imperial academy. After heartfelt farewells were exchanged, Tosh, Greej, and Coby departed the planet, and the spotted jugadoo returned, chasing a bewildered C-3PO yet again.

Tosh brought C-3PO and R2-D2 along on his journey coreward to the Imperial Academy on Raithal. The droids were left at a spaceport on Manda, where Tosh boarded a commercial starliner. For weeks, the droids worked at a hotel in the spaceport, spending their mornings scrubbing saltwater tanks after aquatic guests checked out. A wealthy heir to the Baobab Merchant Fleet, Mungo Baobab, purchased C-3PO and R2-D2, and the droids journeyed to the planet Biitu to meet him. They discovered that their new master was imprisoned by Admiral Screed of the Empire and a colossal droid known as the Great Heep. Together, the three foiled the Heep's plans, and the droids later accompanied Baobab on adventures on Roon, where they unearthed Roonstones, took the place of the droid BIX in the Roon Colonial Games, and brought down Governor Koong of the Tawntoom province.

Following Koong's downfall, C-3PO and R2-D2 remained in Baobab's service, supporting him as he expanded the Merchant Fleet and established lucrative trade routes between Roon, Manda, and Ryloth. C-3PO discovered that the crystalline structure of the Roonstones had "Dha Werda Verda," an epic poem, etched into them, prompting Baobab to dispatch both droids to the Baobab Archives to translate the engravings. However, the researchers at the archives were content with the TelBrinTel science droids already assigned to the task and saw no need for a protocol or astromech droid to assist them. They also took offense to C-3PO's know-it-all demeanor and R2-D2's pushiness, leading them to "mistakenly" arrange for the droids to be sold to Krellus Barzane, an Arkanian trafficker of used technological goods and a renegade technolord. Despite C-3PO's indignant protests, he had little recourse without electronic confirmation of their orders. The droids aided Barzane in staying ahead of her adversaries, but she eventually met with misfortune. C-3PO and R2-D2 also discovered, to their dismay, that the Fromm Gang had been released by Jabba the Hutt.

At some juncture, the droids, now without a master, arrived at a ship garage on Roon in a damaged hotrod, which R2-D2 repaired. Upon discovering that the ship had been stolen, C-3PO alerted a technician named Nik, who informed them that the ship had departed just moments prior. The droids shared their secret communication code with Nik, allowing them to identify the ship thief on a computer monitor: Vlix Oncard, a member of the Fromm Gang. R2-D2 then revealed the modifications he had made to the ship by accessing the computer and overriding the craft's controls. The ship returned to the garage, and Oncard pleaded to be imprisoned for an extended period rather than face the wrath of his boss.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were reunited with Jann Tosh and accompanied him to Roon's communications satellite to visit his old friend, Professor Akary Smith. Upon their arrival, Smith's droid XR seized the trio and brought them before Smith, who revealed that his droid had been sabotaged. One of Smith's friends appeared on a wallscreen, but XR terminated the conversation with a laser blast. As the malevolent General Koong was controlling XR via a television camera, C-3PO and R2-D2 searched for the device, but the astromech ultimately fired his blaster at a mirror. The blast ricocheted and destroyed XR, thus rescuing Smith and thwarting Koong's schemes.

Tosh also brought them to a space station to make some purchases, and C-3PO fell through a trap door into the laboratory of Professor Cantebarius H. Broom. Broom, with an evil laugh, revealed that he captured and experimented on droids, and he drew a blaster on R2-D2 and Tosh when they entered the laboratory. However, the distraction allowed C-3PO to strike the professor in the head with a piece of metal.

The masterless droid duo visited Kea Moll on Annoo at some point, and she offered to serve as their master for the duration of their stay. While aboard a starship, they were attacked by several fighters, and Moll deduced that they were intentionally missing in order to retrieve a top-secret information disk from her possession. The Fromm Gang sought the disk, which contained instructions on how to build a nuclear-powered missile, and Vlix Oncard soon appeared on the starship's monitor, demanding that they proceed to Tig Fromm's fortress. R2-D2 devised a plan and copied the disk's contents; C-3PO then erased the original, and when they were brought before Fromm, the trio willingly handed over the empty disk and departed.

While searching for new adventures aboard a starship, C-3PO and R2-D2 flew into a peculiar cloud, and C-3PO became frightened upon seeing several phantom-like apparitions. The droids then discovered and boarded a satellite that was generating smoke and thus the cloud—the satellite belonged to Tig Fromm, who was plotting to use the cloud to conceal passing vessels. When the droids viewed a video of Fromm revealing his plans on a monitor, they simply flipped a switch to deactivate the device and left the satellite.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were assigned mundane and unremarkable tasks until they were acquired by Wena Havid, the indulgent governor of the Kalarba system, who traveled the galaxy as a roving ambassador. Aboard his lavish diplomatic starship, every droid was retuned, recalibrated, and treated to a luxurious oil bath at least once daily. C-3PO was in paradise and never wanted to leave. However, Wena's superiors discovered his extravagance and cut off his funding, forcing him to repay millions of credits. C-3PO and R2-D2 were auctioned off along with most of his possessions, and the two were purchased by a junk trader for a pittance. In 5.5 BBY, the droids were placed on a barge bound for Hosk Station, a city-covered moon orbiting Kalarba in Wena's own home system.

On Hosk Station and Kalarba, the droids were involved in several adventures with Nak Pitareeze and his family, Olag Greck, and Jace Forno. Despite Nak's frequent disrespect, C-3PO cared for the boy and his family. When Nak was kidnapped by Greck, C-3PO and R2-D2 came to the rescue and thwarted Greck's plans. On one occasion, C-3PO fell out of a speeder and cracked his faceplate. The makeshift repair involved two pieces of tape in the shape of an X, which led him to be mistaken for C-3PX, a notorious assassin droid wanted in seven systems. Some Hosk Arena promoters, believing C-3PO to be C-3PX, attempted to force him to fight in a droid death match. C-3PX later sacrificed himself to save C-3PO, deciding that he had no desire to remain alive in a galaxy where death was inevitable.

C-3PO and R2-D2 later accompanied a police droid named Unit Zed to Nar Shaddaa, where Jace Forno blasted off C-3PO's right leg below the knee. However, the replacement leg contained secret programming that overrode his regular personality. The new C-3PO led a droid rebellion against Boonda the Hutt. However, his original programming was restored when R2-D2 replaced his leg. Subsequently, the two droids were owned by an Ithorian botanist named Zorneth and then a diplomat, Counselor Harthan, before ending up in the possession of Mistress Larka Nimondro, a young Tahlboorean who dreamt of exploring the stars.

Larka eventually relinquished ownership to other masters and mistresses. C-3PO held a variety of jobs, including programming binary loadlifters and converters. He once spent a month operating a shovel loader and, on another occasion, served as the personal caregiver of a Huttlet. Eventually, the droids returned to the Royal House of Alderaan. C-3PO felt that he had finally found his place after years of aimless wandering. Political formalities kept him busy and content, as did the endless state dinners and masquerades. As a member of the Organa Family's entourage, he attended the annual Emperor's Ball one year and encountered the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who had been encased in black armor since his accident. While attempting to make conversation, C-3PO mistook Vader for a new model of guard droid, resulting in his assignment to a year of duty at the palace preschool, which he found to be incredibly frustrating.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were eventually reassigned to the Tantive IV and its droid labor pool. They were instructed to never again enter an escape pod unless explicitly ordered to do so. Sometime between 1 BBY and 0 BBY, Captain Raymus Antilles lent the two droids to the Star Tours travel agency, a new intergalactic space line aiming to preserve unrestricted travel in a galaxy increasingly controlled by the Galactic Empire. As the Empire suspected the Royal House of Alderaan of having ties to the nascent Rebel Alliance, Antilles's action fueled their suspicion that Star Tours was operated by the Rebels.

Star Tours Flight 1401 was the agency's inaugural flight, scheduled to depart from a Star Tours space station. Prior to departure, C-3PO and R2-D2 were tasked with making last-minute repairs to the StarSpeeder 1000 that would transport civilian passengers across the galaxy. C-3PO took the pilot's seat to inspect a faulty binary motivator while the pilot droid, AC-38, inspected the vessel's exterior, and R2-D2 settled into the ship's droid socket. When the ship was quickly elevated to the passenger boarding level, the two droids were forced to pilot the ship on its maiden voyage, even as Imperials attempted to halt them after discovering that a Rebel spy was aboard. After escaping the space station and entering hyperspace, the droids piloted the ship through a perilous journey and eventually received coordinates to a Rebel rendezvous point, safely delivering the Rebel spy. Following the ordeal, C-3PO, along with R2-D2, were quietly returned to Antilles.

The Organa family were, in fact, Rebels, and in their service, C-3PO and R2-D2 deactivated an Imperial defense system during the Battle on Wayland, allowing the Alliance Fleet to land on Fresia.

As the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebellion raged, C-3PO continued his service aboard the Tantive IV. Although he served as Captain Antilles's translator for a period, he was assigned to the corvette's droid labor pool on diplomatic missions that did not require interpreters. He and R2-D2 were paired, with C-3PO acting as the interpreter counterpart to R2-D2. C-3PO found the work to be demeaning and tedious. In 0 BBY, Princess and Senator Leia Organa took the Tantive IV to Ralltiir to deliver military equipment to Alliance operatives under the guise of a diplomatic mission to deliver supplies to the Ralltiiri High Council. Contact with the operatives during the Empire's subjugation, combined with information revealed by The Empire's Lord Tion during a dinner with Organa and her father Bail back on Alderaan, alerted the Royal House of Alderaan to the existence of a secret Imperial construction project: The Death Star, a massive battle station capable of destroying an entire planet. A tip from a horrified Bail allowed Alliance agents on Toprawa to intercept the plans for the Death Star, and Leia Organa prepared to take the Tantive IV there to retrieve them. As the corvette prepared to depart Alderaan, C-3PO and R2-D2 boarded while father and daughter embraced in farewell.

During their voyage to Toprawa, C-3PO and R2-D2 were compelled to assist the labor pool overseer, who was in need of both an astromech droid and an interpreter for a specific assignment. Princess Organa and Captain Antilles then briefed the droids, providing them with a voice override that mandated the protection of any information indicating the Princess was aboard and absolute obedience to her commands. After the Tantive IV exited hyperspace in the Toprawa system, Princess Organa instructed R2-D2 to venture out through an airlock and feign repairs on the navigation computer sensor suite, all while keeping C-3PO informed via comlink. When the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator inquired about the corvette's presence in a restricted area, Princess Organa cited the supposedly malfunctioning navigation computer as justification. As the Death Star plans were transmitted to the Tantive IV, R2-D2 re-entered the vessel; once the transmission ended, Antilles steered the ship into hyperspace, evading the pursuing Devastator.

Bail Organa, convinced that Obi-Wan Kenobi's aid was essential in this critical moment, directed the Tantive IV towards Tatooine. However, the Devastator had detected the corvette's reception of the Death Star plans and tracked them to the Tatoo system. Upon exiting hyperspace, the Devastator initiated an attack. As explosions rocked the Tantive IV, C-3PO and R2-D2 navigated the ship's corridors. When the Devastator ensnared the corvette in a tractor beam, Imperial stormtroopers boarded and engaged the stationed Rebel troopers in combat. The two droids dodged the incoming laser fire. As the Rebel defenders quickly succumbed, a blast struck the wall behind C-3PO, causing exposed circuitry to send an electric shock through him. His counterpart freed him from the tangled wires, and both went unnoticed by Darth Vader, the Imperial Dark Lord of the Sith, as he passed by with a stormtrooper escort.

Amidst the chaos, C-3PO became separated from R2-D2, eventually locating him near the labor pool. Suspecting a crewmember had betrayed them by smuggling a homing beacon aboard, Princess Organa and Antilles had rapidly devised a plan to utilize her voice override and secretly transfer the Death Star plans to R2-D2. C-3PO rejoined his counterpart just as Princess Organa completed giving the astromech droid the plans. As the Princess departed, C-3PO dismissed R2-D2's claims of a secret mission and attempted to prevent him from boarding an escape pod. However, he changed his mind when a laser blast struck a nearby bulkhead, and the two launched towards the surface of Tatooine. Captain Antilles had already launched several decoy escape pods, and the Devastator's gunners chose not to target the droids due to the absence of detected life forms aboard.

R2-D2, determined to deliver the plans to Kenobi, guided the pod towards a location provided by Princess Organa. Despite this, the pod crashed in the middle of a desert, and C-3PO assisted in manually extracting the astromech from the wreckage. C-3PO refused to believe his counterpart's claims of a mission, even as the astromech droid proceeded towards rocky terrain. The two initially went their separate ways, but C-3PO turned back to issue one final warning. R2-D2 persisted on his course, but when he suddenly fell through the sand, C-3PO rushed to his aid and also fell through. They landed in a network of subterranean tunnels, where they were promptly surrounded by a group of mole creatures. C-3PO attempted to communicate with them, and his limited understanding suggested that the moles would serve the droids as their new masters. The underground dwellers then carried the new arrivals through the tunnels, repeatedly chanting the word "Gotar," which was revealed to be the name of a giant, hungry acid lizard. As it turned out, the moles would indeed "serve" the droids—as dinner for Gotar. The lizard consumed the droids but held them in its mouth to allow the acid to dissolve them. However, R2-D2 short-circuited his electrical system, causing Gotar to spit them out with such force that they landed back on the sand above. C-3PO implored R2-D2 to follow him one last time, but R2-D2 continued towards the mesas, and the two finally parted ways.

After several hours of aimless wandering through Tatooine's seemingly endless Dune Sea, C-3PO was nearing an overheat shutdown. He voiced a suspicion that R2-D2 had deceived him into taking that route, but the sudden appearance of a vehicle on the horizon lifted his spirits. He called out to it, and the vehicle—a Jawa Sandcrawler—converged on his location. With blasters drawn, the Jawas compelled C-3PO to wear a restraining bolt. Accepting his capture, he inquired if they had seen an astromech droid wandering through the desert, but they remained silent and instead loaded him onto the transport. Later, R2-D2 was indeed brought aboard, leading to a joyful reunion between the counterparts. As the Sandcrawler traversed the desert, R2-D2 powered down both to conserve energy and to block out C-3PO's complaints. Guided by a flare launched by the homestead's residents, the Jawas arrived at a dwelling: the Lars homestead, where C-3PO had resided long ago, before his memory was erased. After waking R2-D2, C-3PO joined the line of droids being presented to a potential buyer.

Despite C-3PO's objections, R2-D2 secretly made adjustments to R5-D4, another astromech in the line. Owen Lars, now considerably older, approached the Sandcrawler alongside a nineteen-year-old Luke Skywalker and chose R5-D4 over R2-D2 before approaching C-3PO, whom he did not recognize. Although the moisture farmer had no need for a droid proficient in etiquette and protocol, C-3PO emphasized his ability to understand both the binary language of moisture vaporators and the Bocce trade language. Lars was convinced, and his two new droids accompanied Skywalker to the homestead. However, R5-D4's motivator malfunctioned, and C-3PO persuaded Skywalker and Lars to purchase R2-D2 instead. The droids were taken by the young Skywalker to the homestead's tech dome, where C-3PO received an oil bath, R2-D2 recharged, and Skywalker worked on a T-16 skyhopper. He expressed dissatisfaction with his mundane life on a boring planet, and C-3PO's mention of the Rebellion sparked Skywalker's interest. While cleaning a dirty R2-D2, Skywalker discovered the datacard that the Princess had inserted, and an excerpt from Organa's holographic recording suddenly appeared on the dome floor. She spoke a single line: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

When C-3PO questioned his counterpart, the astromech suggested that he could play the entire message if his restraining bolt were removed. A captivated Skywalker complied, but R2-D2 subsequently stopped playing the message altogether. Frustrated, Skywalker delegated the task of uncovering the rest of the message to C-3PO and left to have dinner with his aunt and uncle. The protocol droid reprimanded his counterpart for disobeying their new master, and when R2-D2 promptly left the homestead to continue his search for Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO realized that he had tricked Skywalker into removing the bolt. Ashamed, C-3PO hid in a corner, and when Skywalker returned and discovered him, the protocol droid revealed what had transpired. Given that the planet's twin suns had set and night had fallen, Skywalker decided to search for R2-D2 in the morning, ensuring safer passage across the desert for himself and C-3PO. The protocol droid recharged overnight and was awakened at dawn by Skywalker, who wished to conceal the missing astromech from his aunt and uncle. As the homestead's power was still off, C-3PO pushed an X-34 landspeeder outside while Skywalker manually held the door open, and the two then set off with C-3PO at the controls. As R2-D2's tracks had vanished, C-3PO suggested checking the area towards which the astromech had been headed from the escape pod, and Skywalker scanned the terrain with his macrobinoculars.

As C-3PO drove them towards the mesas of Tatooine's Jundland Wastes, Skywalker told C-3PO about an old hermit named Ben Kenobi who lived in the desert. Since R2-D2 was searching for the similarly named Obi-Wan Kenobi, the youngster wondered if the two Kenobis were related. When they eventually located and confronted R2-D2, Skywalker wanted to take him home, and C-3PO suggested deactivating him. However, the astromech detected approaching lifeforms, and the group was soon attacked by the Tusken Raider URoRRuR'R'R. C-3PO tumbled backward over a sand dune and lost his left arm in the process. Several minutes later, he was retrieved by Skywalker and Ben Kenobi, who had come to the group's rescue by imitating the call of a local Krayt dragon. As it turned out, Ben and Obi-Wan were the same person, and the elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi brought the group to the safety of his desert hut.

Shortly after being repaired and R2 showing Obi-Wan the message from Leia, they discovered the ruined Sandcrawler and the Jawas who had sold him. Luke had sped off to discover that Owen and Beru Lars had been murdered by Imperial stormtroopers, leaving C-3PO and R2-D2 in Luke's care. After traveling to Mos Eisley while evading stormtroopers, C-3PO and R2-D2 escaped on the Millennium Falcon with Luke, Obi-Wan, the ship's captain Han Solo, and his first mate Chewbacca, whom he would assist R2-D2 against in a game of dejarik. After hearing that Wookiees were known to rip people's arms out of their sockets when they lost, he gave R2-D2 one final piece of advice: "let the Wookiee win."

Upon finally arriving in the Alderaan system, they discovered that the planet was gone and found themselves brought aboard the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star. He and R2 were left in the hangar control center, with instructions to lock the doors if they were discovered. This nearly became the end for C-3PO's master when Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and the now-rescued Princess Leia escaped stormtroopers by jumping into a trash compactor, which was then activated. C-3PO had left the comlink he had been using to stay in touch with the group out while he and R2 hid from stormtroopers. Moments after C-3PO found the comlink, he lamented his metal body, believing that they had been killed. However, R2 halted the compactor and unlocked the door. Finally, the group made it back to the Falcon and escaped after Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed himself while fighting Darth Vader.

Rushing to the Rebel base on Yavin 4, a plan was devised to attack the Death Star. Despite being constantly irritated by R2-D2's recklessness and impulsive nature, Threepio realized that he considered R2 his best friend and told R2 that he had better return, or his life would become boring. When the battle was won, R2-D2 did return. However, he was badly damaged, and C-3PO offered to donate any of his parts that would be helpful in his repair. R2-D2 was repaired and looked as good as new.

Following the Battle of Yavin, C-3PO accompanied Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 on numerous missions for the Alliance. On one such mission, Threepio and Luke encountered the bounty hunter Beilert Valance on Feriae Junction while they were searching for parts to repair Artoo. While exploring Junction City, Threepio and Luke met a man named Skinker, who took them to his salvage yard. Unaware of Darth Vader's bounty on himself, Skywalker, and R2-D2, C-3PO and the others walked into a trap. Sensing danger, Skywalker shoved C-3PO into Skinker's office and dove in after, then sent the droid out the back while he tried to fend off the bounty hunter. As Valance was about to deliver the final blow, C-3PO suddenly reappeared and positioned himself in front of his master, willing to sacrifice himself to save Skywalker. The boy, in turn, concerned for his droid's safety, tried to send him away. Valance, not understanding the droid's actions, questioned Threepio. He answered, "Certainly it's not widely accepted. But perhaps if it were, even being a cyborg might be easier to bear." Because of Threepio's selfless act, the bounty hunter spared them, allowing C-3PO to pick up Skywalker's fallen lightsaber and carry him back to their ship. On another occasion, C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Luke when he reluctantly returned to Tatooine after a transport capsule suspected to contain information vital to the survival of the Alliance landed on the planet and was recovered by Jawas. After Luke was infected with Bledsoe's Disease, Threepio, under R2's suggestion, ended up using the Sandcrawler to travel to the Imperial base to rescue Luke, but the plan only succeeded in demolishing a wall and resulting in their capture and near disposal by the base's personnel before Luke rescued them.

During this time, Threepio served as an interpreter for and worked with Leia Organa at the Rebels' ring base. He traveled with Luke Skywalker on a mission to Panna to rescue Han Solo for the first time. After arriving on Panna, Threepio and the others encountered the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who was also on the planet seeking information from Luke Skywalker about the Rebel Alliance.

C-3PO later related many of these events to Mistress Mnemos, an Alliance BRT supercomputer, for historical preservation.

In 1 ABY, C-3PO and R2-D2 visited a droid factory on Corellia to study the programming of the helper droids manufactured there. C-3PO requested a spacer to retrieve several droid interfaces for further analysis.

When the Alliance relocated to the ice world of Hoth, C-3PO continued to assist Princess Leia with personal matters, such as drying her clothes in the frigid environment. The situation worsened when Luke Skywalker went missing on a scouting mission. After failing to pinpoint his exact location, Threepio could only wait until Han Solo returned with him. Skywalker's rescue was attributed to Solo's efforts. The evening after Skywalker recovered from his bacta treatment, Echo Base was attacked by a horde of wampa ice creatures. Threepio, along with R2-D2, played a crucial role in informing the base's defenders how to effectively stop the creatures. They observed that behind each individual attack, there was a common factor: the high-pitched beeping of the base's astromech droids seemed to drive the wampas into berserker rages. They informed Major Bren Derlin, the base's head of security, and the Rebels finally gained an advantage. They used recordings of astromech droids to round up the remaining wampas still hiding within the base, stunned them into incapacitation, and secured them in highly shielded pens. Later, C-3PO was responsible for identifying the Empire's probot, alerting the Rebels to the Empire's awareness of their location.

Shortly afterward, during the Battle of Hoth, C-3PO joined Solo, Organa, and Chewbacca in a desperate race to the Millennium Falcon while an advanced group of the Empire's invading snowtroopers pursued them. During the escape, C-3PO encountered one of the wampa pens. Affixed to the door was a yellow and orange hazard label. An ancient part of him, a holdover from one of his earlier daring masters, seemed to take over. C-3PO tore off the label. He ran faster than before after his party, disappearing around the next bend in the corridor. The group of pursuing snowtroopers came upon the door and marched inside with military efficiency. They were quickly slaughtered by the caged wampas inside, buying the escaping Rebels just enough time to flee the planet. C-3PO escaped with Solo in the Millennium Falcon, while his partner joined Skywalker in his pursuit of the mysterious Yoda.

During this time, C-3PO and Han developed a strange relationship, with C-3PO quoting odds and Han defying them. Normally, Han would have simply shut C-3PO down, but due to the mechanical failures on the Falcon, C-3PO was plugged into the ship and communicated with it to determine the problem (which Han took credit for). C-3PO later commented that the Falcon had a most peculiar dialect. After a chase through the Hoth asteroid field, the Falcon escaped to Cloud City on Bespin.

Almost immediately after their arrival, C-3PO encountered a fellow protocol droid, E-3PO, and greeted him as they passed each other, only to be insulted in response. From the room the other droid had come from, C-3PO heard the sound of an astromech droid. Exploring out of curiosity, he was then blasted by Corporal Drazin, a stormtrooper from Gamma Squad. Vader demanded his memory be retrieved, and when he saw his parts, recognized his creation and ordered its destruction. However, after C-3PO was gone for too long, Chewbacca headed to the Ugnaught recycling facility, where he found the dismembered droid. When Darth Vader revealed his presence to the group, Chewbacca was sent into a holding cell but, after an apparent change of heart from Vader, was permitted to rebuild the droid, which, much to the displeasure of C-3PO, was done poorly. While still being repaired, Chewbacca carried C-3PO on his back during Han Solo's encasement in carbonite.

With the help of the city's administrator, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO escaped. Although Chewbacca upon release instantly choked Lando for Han Solo's capture, C-3PO apologized for the enraged Wookiee's behavior, fearing it would be the end of him. Having C-3PO on Chewbacca's back was beneficial: when Boba Fett escaped the city with Han Solo, C-3PO notified them of pursuing stormtroopers. Finally, after a chase through the corridors of Cloud City, the group made it to the Millennium Falcon. R2-D2, whom they found after Luke Skywalker arrived to rescue them, unlocked the door to the landing pad under C-3PO's command. After the group escaped Vader's flagship, the Executor, C-3PO was fully repaired by R2-D2.

Shortly after escaping Imperials on Cloud City, C-3PO joined in the search for Solo. When the rendezvous point, Haven, ended up in danger of being exposed by the Imperials, C-3PO attempted to persuade Luke (who was still recovering from his injuries from his duel with Darth Vader), eventually pointing out with R2-D2 that his ship was undergoing maintenance, thus finalizing the decision. After the danger was narrowly averted, C-3PO told R2-D2 that his earlier repairs may have been faulty, as C-3PO had an unnatural urge to kick himself, although R2-D2 claimed it was not unnatural, with his explanation apparently hurting the protocol droid. On one occasion, he and Artoo piloted Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon, and rescued Leia from Prince Xizor.

Roughly a year after escaping Cloud City, Luke commanded C-3PO and R2-D2 to deliver a message to Jabba the Hutt, the gangster who held the encased Han Solo in his palace. Unbeknownst to him, Luke had given the droids to Jabba as a ploy to gain entrance. C-3PO was placed as Jabba's replacement translator, while R2-D2 served on his sail barge. C-3PO's first translation for the crime lord was of Boushh claiming the bounty for Chewbacca, whom he had on a chained leash. The meeting became tense when Boushh demanded 50,000 credits, and in surprise, Jabba the Hutt smacked C-3PO, who then noticed Boushh had a thermal detonator. C-3PO was undamaged and negotiated the deal of 35,000 credits to Boushh (which came as a relief to the paranoid droid).

While Boushh was discovered to be Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker infiltrated the palace and killed Jabba's pet rancor in a fierce duel. This angered Jabba, and he transferred his court to the sail barge with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as food for the Sarlacc, while Leia served as Jabba's slave. Just as Luke Skywalker was pushed off the plank, he bounded back up, and R2-D2 tossed him his lightsaber. In the midst of the battle, C-3PO was attacked by Salacious B. Crumb, yanking one of his sensors out of its socket. Salacious was forced off by R2-D2, which gave C-3PO and R2-D2 a chance to escape the sail barge. Making their way to the platform, R2-D2 pushed C-3PO off and rolled off himself into the sands of the Dune Sea. As the sail barge was burning, the two were quickly rescued, and the group headed off-planet to the Rebels' gathering on Home One.

C-3PO accompanied the assault team to the forest moon of Endor with the purpose of deactivating the shield generator that protected the Death Star II. When the Ewoks captured him, along with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and R2-D2, they believed him to be a divine figure prophesied as the Golden One. Despite C-3PO's assertion that acting as a deity was "against [his] programming," he was welcomed to Bright Tree Village as a revered guest for a feast. Conversely, his comrades were taken to the Ewok settlement as captives, intended as the main dish at a banquet honoring "the Golden One."

At the banquet, Luke Skywalker, despite the droid's hesitation, persuaded C-3PO to demand the release of the prisoners. C-3PO informed the Ewoks that if his companions were not freed, he would unleash lightning, fire, and wrath. Skywalker then levitated the frightened droid above the excited crowd, thereby "proving" to the Ewoks that the droid indeed possessed "magical" abilities. Later that evening, C-3PO assumed the role of a storyteller, recounting the history (help·info) and objectives of the Rebels to the tribe. This act garnered sympathy from the Ewoks and influenced them to assist the Rebels in the Battle of Endor.

However, C-3PO's contribution to the Battle of Endor was not yet concluded. After infiltrating the shield bunker and being seized by Imperial forces, C-3PO initiated the Ewoks' attack on the Empire by luring a squad of stormtroopers with a fabricated surrender. As Ewoks emerged from their hiding places, attacking the Imperials, chaos erupted, enabling Han Solo and Leia to gain access to the bunker controls. When R2-D2 was called upon to aid in breaching the bunker, C-3PO followed, dodging enemy fire. The confrontation culminated in the destruction of the Death Star II and the demise of the Emperor. C-3PO was present at the subsequent celebration.

Wedge Antilles, while in Endorian space, intercepted an Imperial message drone addressed to the deceased Emperor one day following the victory at Endor. The message detailed an invasion of the distant planet Bakura by a mysterious extraterrestrial race. C-3PO and R2-D2 joined a team led by Organa, dispatched by Rebel High Command to aid in countering the invasion and to seek the allegiance of Bakura, a world under Imperial control. The team arrived at Bakura and engaged in negotiations with Imperial governor Wilek Nereus while Rebel and Imperial fleets collaborated to repel assaults by the Ssi-ruuk from the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. The Bakurans were unaware of Palpatine's death, and following a provisional truce, C-3PO translated the Ssi-ruuvi language and assisted in deciphering the aliens' codes. During a session of the Bakuran Senate, when the Ssi-ruuvi puppet Dev Sibwarra disclosed his masters' intentions of enteching the life forces of Bakura's population into robotic bodies, C-3PO conveyed his dismay and horror at the spectacle on behalf of all droids. Despite this, it did little to alleviate the widespread anti-droid sentiment among numerous Bakuran senators, who responded with jeers.

After C-3PO and R2-D2 translated the Ssi-ruuvi communications, they discovered the Ssi-ruuk's scheme to capture Skywalker and launch an attack on Bakura within the hour. C-3PO relayed this information to Solo, along with the whereabouts of Organa, who had been apprehended by Nereus after negotiations broke down. C-3PO, after providing Solo with a highly illicit override code, was instructed to don a suit of stormtrooper armor forcibly obtained by Solo. He then proceeded to the Millennium Falcon to meet with Chewbacca and warn Skywalker. However, upon reaching the light freighter, Chewbacca mistook C-3PO for a stormtrooper and shot him down. Although he only sustained minor damage and successfully alerted Skywalker about the capture attempt, the protocol droid felt deeply offended by the Wookiee's actions.

The combined fleets repelled the Ssi-Ruuk, and a Bakuran uprising ousted the treacherous Nereus from his position of power. The Rebel Alliance evolved into the Alliance of Free Planets, and the Ssi-Ruuk were not the only invaders from beyond, as the Alliance found itself at war with the Nagai, a warlike species originating from the satellite galaxy known as Firefist. C-3PO participated in the conflict, during which the Alliance and the Nagai ultimately united to defeat the Nagai's former adversary, the Tofs. The Dark Lady of the Sith, Lumiya, had secretly been fueling the war.

The New Republic soon replaced the Alliance of Free Planets, and Leia Organa served on the new government's Provisional Council as a representative of Alderaan. C-3PO accompanied her in this capacity as a translator. Around 4.3 ABY, he and R2-D2 were briefly loaned to the Star Tours travel agency while their owners were engaged in combat during the final stages of the Nagai–Tof War. The agency was launching its new StarSpeeder 3000 models on an Endor Express tour, attempting to capitalize on the moon's newfound fame, but C-3PO questioned the competence of the pilot droid, RX-24, who still had a "Remove Before Flight" factory tag attached. During this period, C-3PO and R2-D2 were diligently working to repair one of the 3000 models, Transport 22, encountering near-disasters such as C-3PO neglecting to shut off the main valve when the fuel pressure reached dangerous levels, nearly causing the cannons to fire, and commenting on the various advertisements for destinations such as Hoth, Tatooine, and Endor. While C-3PO expressed a desire to revisit Endor, he wished to avoid returning to Hoth and Tatooine. Nevertheless, RX-24 piloted Star Tours Flight 45 from a Star Tours spaceport with R2-D2 in the droid socket, and the protocol droid's fears proved justified when a harrowing flight resulted in the StarSpeeder's return to the spaceport in a battered and shaken state.

One year following Endor, C-3PO attended several meetings of the Provisional Council where they discussed an offer from Sate Pestage, the former Imperial Grand Vizier who had claimed Palpatine's throne after the Emperor's death. Pestage offered Coruscant to the New Republic in exchange for sanctuary from his political rivals, but his enemies ultimately thwarted his plans, leaving both the Empire and Coruscant under the control of Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard. Around the same time, C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Solo, Organa, Skywalker, and Chewbacca during the Battle of Mindor against the Imperial warlord Lord Shadowspawn. Also in 5 ABY, the Central Committee of Grand Moffs asserted their claim to the Imperial throne, opposing Isard. C-3PO and R2-D2 served as members of the Senate Planetary Intelligence Network (SPIN) and were modified by the Droid Modification Team to resemble Kessel droids. They then infiltrated a gathering of Committee-loyal Imperials to identify the individual planning to seize control of the Grand Moffs' Imperial faction. The leader was revealed to be the three-eyed mutant Trioculus, who was later defeated by the New Republic.

In 6 ABY, the New Republic Provisional Council convened on the planet Noquivzor to strategize for a planned conquest of Imperial-held Coruscant. Organa was accompanied by C-3PO, who translated the remarks of the Wookiee Councillor Kerrithrarr into Basic. The plan proved successful, as the New Republic indeed captured Coruscant and established it as their new capital world. Still facing threats from Imperial warlords who had broken away from the chain of command, the New Republic subsequently dispatched Organa on a diplomatic mission to the Hapes Consortium to request assistance in the ongoing war. In 8 ABY, Hapan delegates visited Coruscant in return, offering their aid in exchange for a marriage between Organa and the Hapan Prince Isolder. While Organa met with the Hapan delegates in Coruscant's Grand Reception Hall, C-3PO observed from a balcony alongside Solo, Chewbacca, and Mon Mothma, translating words spoken in the Hapan language. A jealous Solo enlisted C-3PO to monitor Isolder and Organa during Isolder's stay on the capital world, and the protocol droid discovered computer data identifying Solo as a descendant of the Corellian King Berethron e Solo. Consequently, C-3PO proposed to the Alderaanian Council that Organa marry Solo instead.

While accompanying Solo and Chewbacca to the planet of Dathomir, which Solo had won in a game of sabacc, C-3PO was shocked to discover that a desperate Solo had kidnapped Organa and smuggled her aboard the Millennium Falcon. Their subsequent adventure on the planet led C-3PO to compose a song with at least fifteen verses titled "The Virtues of King Han Solo," which he performed in a voice reminiscent of the popular vocalist Jukas Alim and accompanied by the sound of a full symphony orchestra. The adventure included an encounter with the Force-using Witches of Dathomir and a final showdown with Warlord Zsinj, and in the end, Organa and Solo realized their true love for one another, while Isolder fell for a witch named Teneniel Djo. On the day of the Solo-Organa wedding, C-3PO learned that Solo's great-grandfather had only been a pretender to the Corellian throne. His panicked decision to spread the news prompted Skywalker to deactivate him and conceal him in an empty office of Coruscant's Alderaanian Consulate, but, as C-3PO was the ring-bearer, he was reactivated in time to attend the ceremony.

Following the wedding, C-3PO accompanied the newlyweds back to Tatooine in their search for the Alderaanian moss painting Killik Twilight, which contained a valuable code. The protocol droid reunited with Kitster Banai and W. Wald, childhood friends of Anakin Skywalker, and with their assistance, C-3PO and the others discovered Shmi Skywalker's diary. Inside was crucial information about the man who had become the most feared figure in the galaxy. After reading the diary, Organa remarked that the droid her grandmother described reminded her of C-3PO. The code was eventually located and destroyed, and Organa, having learned about her father's innocent childhood, firmly resolved to have children of her own, despite her family's dark legacy.

By 9 ABY, five years after Endor, the New Republic had established itself as the dominant force in the galaxy. However, the remnants of the Empire posed a significant challenge to that dominance when Thrawn, the last Imperial Grand Admiral, returned from exile in the Unknown Regions and assumed control of the Imperial fleet. During the Thrawn campaign of 9 ABY, Noghri commandos loyal to the Grand Admiral repeatedly attempted to abduct Organa Solo, who was pregnant with twins—Thrawn's ally, the deranged Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth, sought to train the twins according to his own twisted ideology. C-3PO was part of a New Republic team that had to repel a Noghri assault on the planet Bimmisaari, and he later accompanied Solo and Organa Solo to Lando Calrissian's latest mining operation on the world of Nkllon. There, Organa Solo decided to hide from the Noghri on Kashyyyk, and C-3PO reluctantly participated in the deception used to conceal her disappearance. Despite his insistence that it was not covered by protocol, the droid's programming was altered, making his voice identical to Organa Solo's. While Organa Solo escaped aboard Calrissian's Lady Luck, C-3PO sent a transmission from the Millennium Falcon intended to be intercepted by the Empire.

Following the Battle of Sluis Van, C-3PO accompanied Captain Solo back to Coruscant aboard the Falcon, but he was forbidden from being in the annoyed pilot's presence for most of the journey home. Despite the deception, Organa Solo had been tracked to Kashyyyk, but there the Noghri warrior Khabarakh—who had served Darth Vader before the Sith Lord's death—recognized Organa Solo's scent and declared her the Mal'ary'ush, "daughter of the savior." Consequently, Organa Solo, C-3PO, and Chewbacca traveled with Khabarakh to the Noghri homeworld of Honoghr to learn more about their servitude to the Empire. C-3PO served as a translator, but the group was compelled to quickly seek refuge inside a Noghri dukha building when Thrawn himself arrived to impose his will upon his subjects. They evaded the Imperials and later returned to Coruscant, where Organa Solo gave birth to her twins: Jacen and Jaina Solo.

One of the New Republic's newest allies, Mara Jade—a former Emperor's Hand—helped the Skywalker/Solo clan obtain a piece of vital intelligence: before his death, Emperor Palpatine had maintained a cloning facility on the planet Wayland. Given that Thrawn was utilizing clones to bolster his war machine, a strike team was assembled for a mission to Wayland to sabotage the clone production. C-3PO and R2-D2 joined Skywalker, Solo, Calrissian, Chewbacca, Jade, and several Noghri commandos; on the planet's surface, as they navigated through dense undergrowth toward the facility, C-3PO assisted them in communicating with the world's native Myneyrshi. When Skywalker convinced them that the New Republic team was there to assist rather than invade, the Myneyrshi granted the group passage across the planet. Inside the cloning facility, a confrontation with C'baoth and a clone of Skywalker resulted in Jade killing both of their adversaries, and the mission was successful. Simultaneously, Thrawn was assassinated by his Noghri bodyguard Rukh during a battle with New Republic forces over the Bilbringi Shipyards, bringing his campaign to an end.

In 10 ABY, shortly after the loss of their last Grand Admiral, the remaining Imperial Fleet Commanders united with surviving members of the Imperial Ruling Council and launched a sudden and aggressive campaign from the Deep Core. The New Republic, with its fleet out of position in the Rim, swiftly lost Coruscant and several other key systems. However, various Imperial factions subsequently turned against one another, and the Imperial Mutiny saw them fighting among themselves to seize the spoils of the Empire's recent gains. As the Imperial Civil War raged, the New Republic exploited the chaos by employing two captured Star Destroyers to conduct hit-and-run attacks within war zones. When the Liberator crashed onto Coruscant, stranding Skywalker, Calrissian, Antilles, R2-D2, and the entire crew on-world, C-3PO participated in a rescue mission aboard the Millennium Falcon alongside Solo, Organa Solo, and Chewbacca. Solo piloted the ship through the pandemonium of a battle between Imperial factions and landed in Imperial City, where C-3PO was reunited with his counterpart.

Having sensed a significant disturbance in the Force, Skywalker chose to remain on the planet while the rest of the New Republic squad made their escape. Much to C-3PO's dread, R2-D2 stayed by his master's side, and both the human and the droid were swallowed up by a hyperspace wormhole spawned by a potent Force storm. C-3PO and the remaining members of the team went back to the New Republic's Pinnacle Base situated on the moon Da Soocha V. Some days later, the protocol droid discovered that Organa Solo had collapsed within her private quarters following a Force-based apparition of her sibling. Skywalker had dedicated himself to the teachings of a reborn Emperor Palpatine, intending to dismantle the dark side from its core. After Organa Solo was transported to a medical bay, C-3PO and Mon Mothma tracked down Solo and escorted him to his wife. The Force communicated to her that Skywalker was located somewhere within the galaxy's Deep Core, a region unreachable without the assistance of Solo's long-time acquaintances. Despite Organa Solo's reservations about the rescue mission being too perilous for C-3PO, he insisted on joining, hoping to aid R2-D2.

Following an encounter with a group of bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa, C-3PO, Solo, Organa Solo, and Chewbacca enlisted Solo's former associates Shug Ninx and Salla Zend to transport them to the Deep Core world known as Byss. Inside the Emperor's Citadel, Skywalker declined to accompany them. While the Emperor imprisoned Solo and Chewbacca, C-3PO and Organa Solo were granted unrestricted access to the Citadel as Palpatine attempted to sway the latter. Ninx and Zend swiftly rescued everyone except Skywalker, who reassured the doubtful group that he knew his course of action. Aboard the Millennium Falcon, the group hastened to the besieged planet of Mon Calamari to utilize Palpatine's master control signal and priority battle strategies, which Skywalker had secretly deposited inside R2-D2. The codes deactivated the Imperial World Devastator superweapons that were attacking the planet, bringing the battle to a close. Later, Skywalker and Organa Solo combined their abilities to overcome the Emperor, but he soon resurfaced in a new clone body.

With the feuding Imperial factions now unified under his command, Palpatine's Dark Empire initiated a ruinous campaign against the galaxy. Amidst the widespread destruction, C-3PO found himself on the planet Nespis VIII when Organa Solo gave birth to her third offspring: Anakin Solo. While stationed on Nespis VIII, C-3PO and R2-D2 narrowly avoided destruction after spotting an Imperial installing a homing beacon on the Millennium Falcon, only to be rescued by the timely arrival of Captain Solo and Chewbacca. Palpatine's campaign was brought to an end in 11 ABY following his final death and the obliteration of his remaining superweapons. With the Empire in shambles, the New Republic reclaimed Coruscant.

After being secretly cared for by Organa Solo's friend Winter for much of the Imperial Civil War, Jacen and Jaina were brought back to Coruscant, where C-3PO assisted Organa Solo in their upbringing. The protocol droid uploaded data about raising children into his memory and embraced the task with initial enthusiasm, although the results were mixed. C-3PO sometimes narrated stories like The Little Lost Bantha Cub and accompanied the twins on field trips alongside Chewbacca, who kept a watchful eye on them. However, on one occasion, while attending a diplomatic gathering, the twins began playing near a tentacle-cactus. When C-3PO approached to retrieve them, he himself became entangled in the plant, but was eventually freed. On another instance, Jacen and Jaina slipped away from Chewbacca's and C-3PO's supervision during a visit to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals on Coruscant and ended up in the planet's lower levels. Distraught, the protocol droid frantically searched for them, but they were discovered by the underworld King Onibald Daykim and reunited with their parents.

After Solo and Chewbacca stumbled upon the Imperial Maw Installation, which had been isolated from the galaxy for many years, the Wookiee addressed the New Republic Ruling Council with C-3PO's translation assistance. They consented to his proposal to occupy the installation, liberate its Wookiee prisoners, and seize any lethal weapon designs created by its engineers. Organa Solo assigned C-3PO to the mission alongside Chewbacca and the Katarn Commandos, tasking him with analyzing the data found in the installation's computers. While boarding the assault shuttle, C-3PO voiced repeated objections to the assignment. When Chewbacca deactivated the droid's power, the Wookiee was met with applause from the assembled commandos. After the team arrived inside the Kessel Maw, C-3PO aided the former Imperial scientist Qwi Xux in examining the station's computers. However, the New Republic's occupation force soon came under attack by the station's Death Star prototype and the Gorgon, the flagship of the deranged Imperial Admiral Daala. Chewbacca lifted the protocol droid into the co-pilot's seat of a Gamma-class assault shuttle, where he employed his electronic brain to coordinate the movements and attacks of five shuttles in total. The battle resulted in a New Republic victory, and with Daala's campaign concluded, C-3PO resumed assisting in the upbringing of Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin.

11 ABY also marked the beginning of Skywalker's training of members of a New Jedi Order. One year later, C-3PO accompanied Skywalker to a Herd Meet on the planet Ithor, where the Jedi Master hoped the Ithorian healers could assist his Jedi student, Nichos Marr. After contracting Quannot's Syndrome, Marr had his consciousness transferred into a droid body using Ssi-Ruuk technology. Skywalker believed that C-3PO's translation skills were essential for the healers to help Marr become the man he once was. Their journey led them to Pzob, where they were picked up by the massive dreadnaught known as the Eye of Palpatine. Having remained dormant for years, the former Imperial superweapon had recently been reactivated by former Emperor's Hand Roganda Ismaren, and it was following its programming by gathering sentients from across the galaxy to serve as stormtroopers in its original mission to destroy a group of renegade Jedi.

C-3PO aided Skywalker in navigating the ship and communicating with its diverse inhabitants, including Jawas, Talz, Kitonak, and Gamorreans. While they unraveled the ship's mysteries, C-3PO supported the Jedi Master after he sustained a leg injury inflicted by a Gamorrean wielding a vibroblade. When the Eye reached its target, the planet Belsavis, Marr and his partner Cray Mingla sacrificed themselves to destroy the dreadnaught. Although Mingla perished, her body became a vessel for the consciousness of Callista, a Jedi of the Old Order whose essence had been residing in the Eye's computers for over three decades following her original sabotage of the ship. While communicating aboard the Eye, Skywalker and Callista had fallen in love. As her new body was completely insensitive to the Force, she and Skywalker embarked on a galactic journey to rediscover her Force connection, and C-3PO returned to Coruscant, where he resumed his duties with the Solo children. He also assisted Organa Solo—now the New Republic's Chief of State—in receiving Lord Durga the Hutt of the Besadii kajidic, who was making a diplomatic visit to the galactic capital.

R2-D2, who had been spending time at the Jedi Academy, was left in the Solos' care during Skywalker's journey. He and C-3PO discovered that Durga had pilfered the plans to the Death Star from the Imperial Palace. The droids accompanied Solo, Organa Solo, and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon on a followup mission to the Hutt world of Nal Hutta, where they learned that Durga was constructing his own superweapon, the Darksaber. Even more concerning was the news that Admiral Daala had unified the surviving Imperial Warlords into a united fleet and was plotting to attack the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. During the defense of the world, C-3PO was left alone aboard the Falcon, where he fired upon an Imperial AT-ST walker, preventing it from killing his friends. Skywalker's Jedi students repelled the attack, and Durga's plans were also thwarted when the incomplete Darksaber attempted to fire its superlaser, ultimately destroying itself. Callista, however, vanished into the galaxy, believing that she needed to rediscover the Force on her own.

In 13 ABY, C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Chief of State Organa Solo to Nam Chorios, where she met with Representative Seti Ashgad aboard her flagship, the Borealis. When Ashgad and his ally Dzym abducted Organa Solo and unleashed the Death Seed plague upon the ship's crew, the droids escaped in a lifeboat alongside Yeoman Marcopius, who quickly succumbed to the plague's effects. After being rescued by the scout Bortrek, the captain of the Pure Sabacc who claimed C-3PO and R2-D2 as his property, the droids took control of the ship and coerced Bortrek into dropping them off on Nim Drovis, which, like Nam Chorios, was located in the Meridian sector. Stranded on the planet, their repeated attempts to secure passage offworld eventually led them to nearby Cybloc XII, where they encountered Admiral Daala, now the leader of the pro-Imperial Independent Company of Settlers. Daala tortured C-3PO and R2-D2 into revealing that Ashgad had unleashed the Death Seed plague, and she pledged to fight against Moff Tol Getelles of the new Imperial Remnant, Ashgad's corrupt associate. A New Republic fleet also participated in the Battle of Nam Chorios, which resulted in Getelles' defeat, Organa Solo's rescue, and the containment of the Death Seed plague.

A year later, when Solo received several enigmatic messages in a nearly extinct language, C-3PO assumed responsibility for translating and responding to them. They spoke of mysterious occurrences linked to a lost Jedi on Crseih Station, a former Imperial prison orbiting a black hole and a crystallizing white dwarf star in the Crseih system. C-3PO, Solo, and Skywalker traveled to the station incognito; the protocol droid's coat was covered in purple lacquer. Upon arrival, C-3PO ventured into the asteroid station to meet their contact, leaving his Human companions alone. When he located her—the Human female Xaverri, an old flame of Solo's—he and his masters were led by Xaverri to the Altar of Waru. Beings of various species knelt before Waru, a large blob-like entity from another dimension, calling upon him to heal them.

Xaverri presented C-3PO to Waru, who had never encountered a droid before. After waxing poetic to Xaverri about the state of the universe, the being healed a sick Zeffliffl by encasing it within his golden, syrupy ichor, which failed to impress a skeptical Solo. When Solo later witnessed Waru kill an Ithorian seeking healing, he concluded that Xaverri was correct about the danger the being posed to the New Republic. As it turned out, Waru had been summoned to Crseih Station by Hethrir, leader of the Empire Reborn insurgency, who had also kidnapped the Solo children. When Hethrir arrived on the station with baby Anakin, intending to sacrifice him to Waru, C-3PO confronted them and demanded that he release the child. Hethrir responded by swinging a lightsaber, which cracked C-3PO's purple varnish but inflicted minimal damage to the droid himself. C-3PO was discovered and revived by R2-D2, who had arrived on-station with Organa Solo and Chewbacca in pursuit of the kidnapped children. The ensuing confrontation resulted in Hethrir and Waru's defeat and the children's return to their parents.

When Skywalker embarked on a personal journey in 16 ABY, he brought C-3PO to Yavin IV to oversee the administrative needs of the Jedi Academy. Shortly thereafter, Lando Calrissian arrived on the jungle moon and recruited both C-3PO and R2-D2 for a mission organized by the New Republic Intelligence Service. C-3PO initially refused, until Calrissian fabricated a story, stating that Skywalker had reassigned both droids to the New Republic Defense Fleet. Calrissian himself had been enlisted by Admiral Hiram Drayson—the mission was to investigate the enigmatic ghost ship known as the Teljkon Vagabond, which Intelligence had located in deep space near Gmar Askilon. The droids and Calrissian then traveled to Cloud City and picked up Lobot, Calrissian's former aide, before joining the Belarus-class medium cruiser Glorious and the rest of the Teljkon Vagabond task force. They trailed the ghost ship for twenty-two days, during which it gave no indication of acknowledging their presence. When a communication from the Vagabond was finally received, C-3PO and R2-D2 matched it to a signal it had broadcasted during a sighting four years earlier, but C-3PO was unable to translate the mysterious language. Concerned that the task force's impatient Colonel Pakkpekatt would jeopardize the mission with his next action, Calrissian, Lobot, and the droids brainstormed their options aboard the Lady Luck. Lobot identified the language as that of the extinct Qella species.

When R2-D2 determined that the communication from the Vagabond was a partial representation of the Qellas' genetic code, Calrissian steered the Lady Luck toward the ghost ship, which shielded them from the Glorious's tractor beam after C-3PO sang the missing fragment of the genetic code over an open channel. After securing the retroactive approval of a furious Pakkpekatt, the Vagabond began communicating with them through a series of lights. C-3PO suggested following the lights to their source, prompting the ship to open a portal on its surface. The four of them ventured inside to a zero-gravity environment, and R2-D2 assisted Calrissian in locating a handle within a membranous bulkhead of the airlock, which Calrissian touched with his bare skin after removing the glove of his enviro-suit. The portal then closed, and the Vagabond fled into hyperspace. Suddenly separated from the rest of the task force, the quartet assessed their surroundings. C-3PO attempted to communicate with the ship on a secondary comm channel, while R2-D2 searched for inflow vents leading into the airlock. When he found none, Calrissian and Lobot created their own way into the rest of the ship using a cutting blaster. The Vagabond consequently dropped out of hyperspace and attempted to vent them into space, but the quartet hurried through the hole before it sealed, separating them from both the airlock and the void of space.

The quartet explored the mysterious vessel, hoping to gain control of it before the droids ran out of power and the Humans ran out of oxygen. The lack of gravity and the ship's seemingly random arrangement hindered their progress, but R2-D2 created a holographic map as they proceeded. After seventy-one hours, they located a control panel, which shocked and deactivated C-3PO after he inadvertently touched it. The Vagabond re-entered realspace while he was powered off, and Calrissian rocketed toward the outer hull with his blaster, attaching a tracking limpet. R2-D2 mostly repaired C-3PO, but the protocol droid did not fully regain his vocal abilities until all four of them took a nap to recharge. The quartet then began exploring various chambers, with Calrissian and Lobot again using the touch of their bare hands to create doorways. Each room contained a Qellan history lesson, one of which prompted C-3PO to engage Lobot and Calrissian in a philosophical discussion on the nature of sentience. The Vagabond, which was currently within space claimed by the Constitutional Protectorate of Prakith, was suddenly attacked by two frigates of the Protectorate's Grand Imperial Navy. Although one was destroyed by the ghost ship, the other followed the Vagabond into hyperspace.

Although the limpet had been destroyed, Calrissian revealed a beckon call with which he could summon the Lady Luck, intending to use it only after they gained control of the Vagabond. However, when they dropped out of hyperspace and were attacked by the second Protectorate frigate, C-3PO activated the beckon call so that the Lady Luck might come and rescue them. The frigate was destroyed, however, and when Calrissian left them to inspect the damage caused by the attack, Lobot and the droids continued to explore the biological ship. Lobot later left them in search of what he called the Vagabond's "threshold of awareness." There, Lobot communicated with the ship and discovered that it was returning home to Maltha Obex, the Qella's ancestral homeworld, bearing the seeds of Qellan civilization. C-3PO and R2-D2 powered down while Lobot spoke with the ship, and when Calrissian turned them back on, they had arrived at Maltha Obex. Lobot convinced the ship to turn a section of the hull transparent, and through the ersatz viewport, R2-D2 identified the Lady Luck and a Dobrutz DB-Four starliner—Pakkpekatt had followed the Lady Luck after the activation of the beckon call.

The Vagabond sat waiting for contact from its homeworld, but Maltha Obex was in fact undergoing an ice age. Both of the droids finally lost all of their power, and by the time they were recharged, Skywalker had arrived aboard the ship to aid Calrissian. Together with Lobot, the Jedi Master convinced the Vagabond to use its energy beams to thaw the ice on Maltha Obex, allowing it to deposit the Qella's genetic material and help revive the species. The group then evacuated the ship aboard Skywalker's Mud Sloth. After returning to Coruscant to resume his duties with the Solo children, C-3PO was perplexed in 17 ABY when Anakin attempted to replace him with the TDL nanny droid TDL-3.5, but the infant's efforts were thwarted by Winter. R2-D2 recruited his counterpart to help him investigate Skywalker's X-wing, which the astromech believed was being sabotaged. After being briefly imprisoned by a Kloperian mechanic for trespassing in the hangar, the droids found Skywalker's X-wing wrongfully disassembled. They then reported the anomaly to the Jedi Master, who took R2-D2 to investigate. Later, while researching new languages to add to his memory, C-3PO was summoned to the hangar by an emergency transmission sent by R2-D2. He arrived to find that the astromech had been shot and disabled by several Kloperian mechanics who had wrongfully suspected him of sabotage.

General Wedge Antilles and Chief of State Organa Solo were present as well; Organa Solo then powered up R2-D2. The astromech droid then confirmed the story of Cole Fardreamer, a young mechanic from Tatooine: Fardreamer and R2-D2, under Skywalker's instructions, had been repairing the Jedi Master's X-wing when they found a bomb. Discovering that many X-wings contained bombs, Organa Solo commanded that the entire fleet be grounded. Subsequently, C-3PO and R2-D2 went to the Senate Hall to examine the wreckage of the recent bombing. There, the astromech identified five detonators bearing the same Imperial insignia as those on the X-wing bombs. They could not relay this information to Organa Solo, who had resigned from her position as president after Kueller, a warlord, had annihilated the populations of Auyemesh and Pydyr, two moons orbiting Almania, and had taken Skywalker as a prisoner. Mon Mothma, her temporary successor, was unavailable, so R2-D2 hurried to a hangar to meet Fardreamer. Despite C-3PO's objections, the trio immediately departed Coruscant aboard a standard light freighter, using Organa Solo's security codes to bypass space traffic control. R2-D2 asserted he knew the origin of the detonators, leading them to the moon Telti, where they landed at a droid construction facility.

While Fardreamer spoke with Brakiss, the facility's owner, R2-D2 infiltrated the facility. Meanwhile, C-3PO was apprehended by security droids belonging to Kueller's Red Terror army, who intended to wipe his memory. As they escorted C-3PO through the facility, they encountered R2-D2, who had befriended a group of discarded astromech droids. These astromechs attacked the Red Terror, allowing C-3PO and R2-D2 to escape. Hundreds of astromechs then joined C-3PO and R2-D2 in a march through the facility. Brakiss intercepted them, threatening to use a droid scrambler on C-3PO unless R2-D2 stopped, but additional astromechs crashed through a glass panel, causing Brakiss to flee. R2-D2 then connected to a computer terminal and deactivated all the droid detonators throughout the galaxy, a task completed only when C-3PO pressed a button on the console. They succeeded just seconds before Kueller, who was fighting Skywalker on Almania, attempted to detonate all his remaining droid weapons. Subsequently, Organa Solo shot Kueller, ending his rebellion permanently. Back on Telti, C-3PO and R2-D2 rescued Fardreamer from a droid torture chamber and contacted Lando Calrissian, who arrived to transport them home.

In 18 ABY, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Skywalker accompanied Calrissian on a search for a potential spouse. He became infatuated with Karia Ver Seryan from Leria Kerlsil and was close to marrying her when the droids intervened, revealing that she was a life-witch with the power to grant men good health for a few years, followed by sudden death. Calrissian fled and continued his search, which eventually led him to Tendra Risant of Sacorria. He was quite taken with her, but the governing Sacorrian Triad had outlawed marriage between Sacorrians and off-worlders, leading to Calrissian, Skywalker, and the droids being chased off the planet. They also discovered a mysterious interdiction field preventing hyperspace travel within the Corellian system. Upon returning to Coruscant, they were assigned to travel to Bakura and acquire four Bakura-class destroyers from the world's defense fleet, each equipped with a hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer to counter the interdiction field. After arriving in the Corellian system with the fleet, the Lady Luck and Skywalker's X-wing launched from the Bakuran Namana-class light cruiser Intruder and engaged in a space battle with several Pocket Patrol Boats from the Corellian Defense Force loyal to the insurrectionist Human League.

Skywalker and R2-D2 followed the Lady Luck, crewed by Calrissian, C-3PO, Gaeriel Captison from Bakura, and New Republic Intelligence Agent Belindi Kalenda. Their destination was Centerpoint Station, a massive space station in the Corellian system recently destroying stars. Inside, they met Administrator Jenica Sonsen, who led them to Hollowtown at the station's center. When C-3PO pointed out the dangerously rising temperature in Hollowtown, the group fled and soon reunited with the Solos, who were on Corellia for a trade summit. During the crisis's final confrontation, C-3PO was with the Solo children inside Drall's planetary repulsor when Anakin, who had previously imprinted on the repulsor, used the Force to aim it at Centerpoint Station, preventing the station from destroying the star Bovo Yagen. The Human League and their Sacorrian Triad masters were defeated, the Corellian crisis was resolved, and Calrissian and Risant soon married. One year later, a new crisis emerged when a partial copy of the Caamas Document was found in the Emperor's former storehouse on Wayland.

The document implicated members of the Bothan species in the Caamas Firestorm thirty-eight years prior. With anti-Bothan sentiment rising, the Solos embarked on a search for a complete copy of the document to identify specific Bothan perpetrators and exonerate the species. On Bothawui, C-3PO was torn apart by a rioting anti-Bothan mob but was later reassembled. Upon the Solos' return to Coruscant, they met with Calrissian and Talon Karrde, an information broker, in their apartment in Orowood Tower. Karrde agreed to venture deep into the Kathol sector to find his former employer, Jorj Car'das, suspecting he might possess a complete copy of the Caamas Document. C-3PO was assigned to his mission as a translator droid. Aboard the information broker's Wild Karrde, the group first traveled to Pembric II in the Kathol sector's Pembric system, where C-3PO translated the native Jarellian dialect used by Erwithat Space Control. The protocol droid remained with the ship while Karrde and his companion Shada D'ukal secured the protection of Crev Bombaasa, a crime lord, who warned them about another dangerous pirate gang in the sector.

The Wild Karrde fought off a pirate attack at Dayark before landing on the moon. There, C-3PO led Karrde and D'ukal to the Ithor Loman tapcafe, whose sign was written in Ithorese. They met General Jutka, who warned them about the pirate Rei'Kas, and an aide named Entoo Needaan E-elz, whom C-3PO found intriguing and who helped them locate the legendary lost world of Exocron near the Kathol Rift. On Exocron, E-elz escorted C-3PO, Karrde, and D'ukal to Jorj Car'das's fortress, where they found Car'das bedridden, senile, and weak. Karrde was disappointed, but when Rei'Kas tracked him to Exocron, Karrde pledged his ship to the Exocron Combined Air-Space Fleet and assisted in the defense of the world. C-3PO served at a spotting station aboard the Wild Karrde, but the battle ended quickly when a fleet of ships belonging to the mysterious Aing-Tii monks arrived and easily destroyed Rei'Kas's fleet. Realizing that Car'das had used him to lure Rei'Kas to his doom, Karrde returned to Exocron with C-3PO and D'ukal and discovered that Car'das was actually vigorous. The old man was pleased by C-3PO's presence, as he rarely had the opportunity to converse in Old Tarmidian or the Cincher dialectory.

Car'das did not have a copy of the Caamas Document, but he possessed a datacard crucial to resolving the current galactic crisis: The Imperial Remnant had been revitalized under the leadership of a resurrected Grand Admiral Thrawn, but the datacard revealed that "Thrawn" was actually a con artist named Flim. The Aing-Tii monks used their Force ability to fold space and instantly transported C-3PO and the rest of the Wild Karrde's crew across the galaxy. There, Karrde met with the Remnant's Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, who had been excluded from Flim's coup and desired peace with the New Republic. With Flim's deception exposed, Pellaeon's plans materialized, and the Grand Admiral signed peace accords with the New Republic's President Gavrisom. These events, combined with R2-D2's discovery of a complete copy of the Caamas Document during a mission on Nirauan with Skywalker and Mara Jade, finally concluded the Galactic Civil War.

Skywalker and Jade had fallen in love on Nirauan, and C-3PO was with Organa Solo when she announced the couple's wedding plans to the media on Coruscant. When reporters posed outrageous questions involving bizarre conspiracy theories about a new Force-based Empire, Organa Solo left C-3PO to manage them. The protocol droid took the podium and entertained the gathered press with a lengthy account of his many adventures with Skywalker. On the day of the wedding, Skywalker learned that Derran Takkar, a disgruntled former Imperial Moff, was planning sabotage. This prompted the Jedi and Rogue Squadron ushers to rush off to thwart Takkar's plans, while C-3PO and the young Jacen Solo assumed their seating duties. Takkar bypassed the Rogues and confronted the couple during their ceremony, but Skywalker convinced him to join the New Republic, and the rest of the wedding proceeded smoothly.

Jacen and Jaina Solo began their Jedi Training on Yavin IV in 23 ABY, four years after the wedding. However, they returned to Coruscant for a vacation that year, and C-3PO and Anakin Solo assisted them in searching the Coruscant undercity for their missing friend, Zekk, a young bounty hunter. One year later, C-3PO attended the twins' graduation from the Academy inside Yavin IV's Great Temple.

With the onset of the Yuuzhan Vong War and the resulting anti-droid sentiment, C-3PO entered a period of reflection on his own mortality and his role in a biological society. Evidence suggests that the Vong war made him more assertive and less tolerant of mistreatment from his biological companions, particularly Captain Solo. Despite his internal struggles, Threepio continued to support the war effort, notably translating the Yuuzhan Vong language, which greatly aided the New Republic.

When Viqi Shesh, accompanied by Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators, attempted to break into the Solo apartment, Threepio was ready and led them into a trap. They were immediately surrounded and dealt with by Noghri bodyguards, though Shesh escaped. C-3PO also played a crucial role in saving Luke's infant son, Ben Skywalker, from Viqi Shesh after his capture. In 29 ABY, Threepio participated in the Recapture of Coruscant, where he and Artoo helped Han, Leia, and the Priest Harrar pilot the Millennium Falcon into an opening at the Well of the World Brain.

In the years following the Yuuzhan Vong War, C-3PO continued to serve the Solos, often clashing with Han Solo. During a tour of the Solos' new home, C-3PO was outsmarted by a teenage Ben Skywalker and felt humiliated.

During the Second Galactic Civil War, C-3PO was left alone in the Solos' residence because Leia and Han were barred from Coruscant for betraying the Galactic Alliance. Similarly, they were considered enemies of the state on Corellia and had a bounty placed on their heads by Thrackan Sal-Solo. Eventually, Threepio was allowed to join the Solos on the Falcon. The three were summoned to the Kiris Asteroid Cluster, where they met with Wedge Antilles and Dur Gejjen. During their meeting, Threepio attempted to record the discussion but was asked to leave by Leia. He later learned of the Corellians' plan to use the Solos to draw out the Queen Mother, though Threepio strongly opposed Han's role as a decoy, fearing it would embarrass both Han and Leia. Shortly after, Threepio accompanied the Solos on a diplomatic mission to Hapes, where they hoped to meet with her to discuss her role in the war. The Solos and Threepio were forced to make a quick escape when they were caught in an attack on Tenel Ka's life.

Soon after, the Solos encountered the assassin, Nashtah (actually Aurra Sing), who tried to assassinate Tenel Ka in the Hapan Palace. Because the Solos were seen leaving with Nashtah, they were suspected of involvement in the plot to kill Tenel Ka and her daughter, Allana. Unbeknownst to Threepio, the real reason for their temporary alliance with the assassin was to expose the coup's leader. Pursued by Hapan security guards, the four fled deep into Hapan space, where the Solos met Lalu Morwan, who had hired Sing for the job. On the Falcon, Morwan explained her reasons for wanting to kill Tenel Ka and her affiliation with the Heritage Council. Despite Lalu's dislike of the droid, the two briefly collaborated to treat Captain Solo's severely injured arm. As part of the plan to convey valuable information to the Queen Mother, Threepio was tasked with monitoring Morwan to ensure she didn't discover the Solos' true intentions. However, the situation turned ugly when Han was forced to incapacitate Lalu by punching her in the nose. The trio and the Falcon then unexpectedly entered the Battle of Hapes, where they were fired upon by the Anakin Solo, commanded by Jacen, though they managed to escape. While the Millennium Falcon was being repaired at a Tendrando Arms space station at Gyndine, Threepio was assigned to observe and document all the mechanics' work on the Falcon. He later rejoined Han and Leia after the Falcon's repairs were completed.

Following the bombardment of Kashyyyk by Darth Caedus, the New Jedi Order brought C-3PO with them when they evacuated their facilities to Endor. Due to C-3PO's previous experiences on Endor, the Jedi were able to use him to communicate with the local Ewok tribe inhabiting the areas where the Jedi were hiding. Kyp Durron informed Luke Skywalker that the local tribe was working well with C-3PO and that bringing him had been a good decision.

At the end of the war, C-3PO helped coordinate the final assault against Darth Caedus in the Transitory Mists, keeping Han Solo and the Jedi Masters informed of the current situation.

Two years after Caedus's defeat, C-3PO was still serving Solo and Organa Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon. A new member had joined the family: Allana Solo, the daughter of Jacen and Tenel Ka, had been adopted by the Solos after the war. C-3PO assisted the three in a quest to uncover secrets about the Falcon's past, which culminated in an encounter with the wealthy lawyer Lestra Oxic on Tandun III. Following the quest, the crew of the Falcon returned to Coruscant after discovering that Natasi Daala, the former Imperial Admiral who had recently become the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, had issued an arrest warrant for Luke Skywalker. Skywalker made a deal with Daala that resulted in his exile from the Jedi Order; Luke and Ben Skywalker embarked on a journey to understand Jacen's fall to the dark side. Consequently, R2-D2 was assigned to the Solos, joining his longtime friend in their service. Shortly after the Skywalkers left Coruscant, C-3PO received a live holocomm call at the Solos' apartment from Lando Calrissian on Kessel, woke up Han and Leia Solo, and got them some caf. Calrissian requested the Solos' assistance in discovering why his glitterstim mines on the planet were being shaken by groundquakes, and the Solos promptly departed for Kessel, bringing Allana and the droids with them.

As the Solos shared a meal with Calrissian, his spouse Tendra, and the Sullustan Nien Nunb, C-3PO, R2-D2, and a nanny droid kept a watchful eye on Allana and Lando's offspring, Chance. Later, while the Solos were busy delving into the Kessel mines, Allana expressed a strong desire to venture outside and frolic in the planet's weak gravity, a request that R2-D2 granted, much to C-3PO's dismay. The droids observed her playtime from a distance, but they had to catch up with her after she vanished from their visual sensors around some surface undulations. Allana was eager to return with them, having just experienced an unsettling encounter with the dark side entity known as Abeloth, who resided in the Kessel Maw. When her grandparents found themselves trapped behind a rockfall within the glitterstim mines, Allana was insistent on searching for them, but both droids firmly refused her request. Eventually, the Solos reappeared, explaining that the groundquakes were the result of hidden chambers within the planet's mines collapsing due to the activation of a self-destruct sequence in the mysterious ancient technology they contained. This pattern was escalating and threatened to destabilize the Great Kessel Fault, leading to the planet's destruction. Calrissian extended an invitation to a diverse group of retired pilots to assist with a controlled demolition of the remaining self-destruct equipment on Kessel, and C-3PO and R2-D2 both served on the Millennium Falcon during the mission. Despite an energy spider from the mines attaching itself to the Falcon's exterior, Solo managed to dislodge it, and the mission proceeded without any major issues.

Meanwhile, a number of young adult members within the Jedi Order began to succumb to a puzzling illness that distorted their perception of reality. C-3PO went with Han and Leia Solo to visit one of the afflicted Knights, the Falleen Natua Wan, in the depths of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. When Wan began to hiss in the archaic Hsoosh language, C-3PO translated her utterances, which turned out to be death threats directed at the Solos. The Solos collaborated closely with the Jedi Council in an attempt to combat both the illness and Chief of State Daala's efforts to encase the afflicted Jedi in carbonite. C-3PO and R2-D2 frequently took on the role of babysitters for Allana while her grandparents were away. During a rare moment of peace, C-3PO disrupted their tranquil hot chocolate session with Allana to inform them that Wynn Dorvan, Daala's chief aide, had made contact. Despite Dorvan's sympathy for their cause, tensions continued to mount, leading the Solos to decide to smuggle four of the affected Knights from Coruscant to the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad: Seff Hellin, Natua Wan, Yaqeel Saav'etu, and Bazel Warv. Also present on the ship were three Barabel Jedi Knights who served as gunners: Wilyem, Dordi, and Zal. While Allana acted as her grandfather's co-pilot, helping him bluff his way past planetary security and the pursuit frigate Fast Death, R2-D2 was actually performing many of the co-pilot's duties, and C-3PO translated his beeps and whistles for Solo and his granddaughter.

After dropping off the Barabel and the afflicted Jedi on Shedu Maad, the Solos received a hypercomm message from Ben Skywalker, who informed them about a group of Sith that he and his father had encountered while aboard a space station in the Maw. The Skywalkers had pursued the sole survivor of the Sith to Dathomir, and Ben requested the Solos' assistance on the planet. The Falcon was transported to Dathomir and landed at its primary spaceport, after which Solo and Organa Solo departed to find Luke and Ben, leaving Allana in the care of C-3PO and R2-D2. Unbeknownst to C-3PO and Allana, they had also gained the support of Jedi Knight Zekk and his partner Taryn Zel, who landed a Batag Skiff near the Falcon and kept watch over the freighter. C-3PO attended to Allana during her grandparents' absence, providing her with milk and attempting to discourage her from wanting to ride a rancor.

Upon learning that R2-D2 had spotted a SoroSuub yacht in the spaceport and wished to investigate, C-3PO forbade his friend from doing so, but the astromech droid left the ship regardless after C-3PO had put Allana to bed. R2-D2 instructed C-3PO not to contact Solo and Organa Solo unless he was gone for a significant period. Annoyed, C-3PO hid behind the Falcon's hyperspace module until Allana discovered him the following morning, and he assured the child that R2-D2 was still on board. She saw through his deception and attempted to leave the Falcon to rescue the astromech, but C-3PO locked the boarding ramp and decided to monitor R2-D2's preferred communication frequencies until his friend returned. Allana escaped through the turbolift leading to the ship's topside hatch, but she came back after C-3PO contacted her and inquired about her whereabouts. He fed her and made sure she completed her daily studies before putting her to bed. The inquisitive child then left the Falcon once more, and, hoping to enlist C-3PO's help in rescuing R2-D2, she contacted the protocol droid and informed him of her absence.

C-3PO followed Allana to Monarg's Mechanic Works, a repair shop to which she had tracked R2-D2. Upon entering the shop, C-3PO noticed a derelict R2-D2 situated behind a scuffle between Allana and the large mechanic Monarg, and he issued a wake-up command to his friend, hoping that R2-D2 would be able to rescue Allana. Announcing his presence, C-3PO fabricated a story, telling Monarg that he was downloading a comprehensive package of combat maneuvers. The mechanic then proceeded to toss the protocol droid around his shop before being shocked in the buttocks by a now-awake R2-D2. The delaying tactic proved effective, and the droids escorted Allana and her pet Nexu Anji out of the shop and back onto the Falcon. Monarg gathered two companions and pursued them, prompting Allana to attempt to contact her parents. When no answer came immediately, Allana and R2-D2 powered up the Falcon and flew it away from the spaceport. Unable to stop them, C-3PO contented himself with providing Allana with pillows and relaying a belligerent message from the girl to spaceport security. Allana landed the Falcon in nearby marshes, where she once again contacted her mother. When Organa Solo answered, Allana and C-3PO recounted the events to her and her astonished husband.

After returning to their ship, the Solos took it back to Coruscant after learning of a Mandalorian raid on the Jedi Temple that had been authorized by Daala. After landing at the capital, the five crewmembers of the Falcon were greeted by Daala, Wynn Dorvan, and several members of Coruscant Security. The following day, the five of them joined Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel, who was now her fiancé, for a dinner at the Pangalactus restaurant; C-3PO and R2-D2 positioned themselves against a wall while their masters dined. However, the meal was soon interrupted when a terrorist named Kester Tolann and two YVH-Series battle droids blasted a hole through the wall from the adjacent room and attacked the party. The attackers were quickly subdued, with a blaster bolt to R2-D2 being the only injury sustained. Fel's diplomatic speeder then dropped off everyone except himself and Jaina at the Solos' safehouse.

After leaving Dathomir, the Skywalkers reluctantly formed an alliance with the Lost Tribe of Sith in order to combat Abeloth, a mysterious entity residing on a planet in the Maw. When Vestara Khai, the Sith girl whom the Skywalkers had been pursuing on Dathomir, spoke with her father Gavar Khai in their Keshiri language aboard the Skywalkers' ship, the Jade Shadow, Luke suspected deception and contacted C-3PO, hoping that the droid could translate their language. C-3PO dedicated himself to the task, pacing restlessly around the Solos' apartment for several days, alternating between satisfaction at fulfilling his intended purpose and distress at the amount of time the task was consuming. After completing the translation, he contacted Luke and transmitted the translated conversation, but he was overheard by Allana, who burst into the room in tears, believing that her great-uncle had defected to the Sith. Luke reassured her that this was not the case as C-3PO fetched the Solos. After they comforted their granddaughter, C-3PO finished conversing with Luke and then received a prerecorded message from Jagged Fel indicating that Jaina had called off their engagement.

Years later, C-3PO was discovered in a cave on a planet inhabited by the Vindar by two youths named Otalp and Remoh, who had been searching for him due to a vision from their Den-mother. He was missing his lower body, arms, and parts of his faceplate, but he was still partially functional. Initially, he simply muttered incoherently about "Master Luke" and "Artoo" in Basic, but when the two youths began to speak, he adapted to their language. The trio engaged in a brief conversation during which Threepio recounted his past adventures with Luke Skywalker. Threepio was shot by the Vindar moments later, but not before inspiring the two youths to initiate a revolution against the oppressive Vindar. His final gift to the galaxy was a green lightsaber found near his destroyed body.

C-3PO often claimed to be fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. Some of the languages he has demonstrated proficiency in include:

• Galactic Basic Standard [3] [4] [9] [16] [17] [43]
• Ancient Askajian [127]
• B'rknaa language (Learned through interaction with native speakers) [168]
• Bimmini [128]
• Bith [145]
• Bocce [16]
• Binary [3] [4] [9] [16] [17] [43]
• Ewokese [9] (Via Yuzzum) [169]
• Gacerian [145]
• Gamorrese [145]
• Horansi [145]
• Huttese [9]
• Ithorese [170]
• Janguine [171]
• Jawa Trade language [16]
• Myneyrsh [130]
• Old Tarmidian [151]
• Psadan [130]
• Shyriiwook [16]
• Ssi-ruuvi (Self-taught) [105]
• Talzzi [32]
• Ubese [9]
• Tusken [172]
• Yeb language [145]
• Yuuzhan Vong [171]
• Yuzzum [169]

Apart from his linguistic talents, C-3PO also possessed the ability to calculate probabilities and was a skilled speeder pilot.

C-3PO was programmed with over thirty secondary functions in addition to his protocol duties. He was often portrayed as cowardly, such as when he fled in terror during an Imperial attack on Hoth. However, due to remnants of earlier programming, he occasionally demonstrated ingenuity and even rebelliousness. For example, he briefly halted his escape from Imperial forces to remove a warning label over the Wampa pen, creating a trap for the pursuing Imperials. C-3PO was generally polite and quirky towards his companions, especially R2-D2, although he could be sarcastic and resentful when mistreated by individuals like Jabba the Hutt. He also possessed some knowledge of taunts, as evidenced by an earlier misadventure during the Imperial period where he and R2-D2 mocked a group of individuals by putting their hands to the sides of their faces and wagging their fingers. Luke Skywalker believed that C-3PO inherently possessed a certain dignity that deserved respect, regardless of how foolish he might appear in any given situation.

While C-3PO and R2-D2 did not appear in the original fourteen-page story synopsis of "The Star Wars," from 1973, they were featured in the 132-page rough draft of "The Star Wars," completed in May 1974, as See Threepio and Artoo Detoo. Threepio was described as a tall, thin, old, battered droid of Human proportions, and the two droids were depicted as construction robots in an Imperial Space Fortress. As the Fortress came under attack by Aquilaean starships, Threepio made the decision to abandon ship, while ARTWO was reluctant to desert their duty. The two then landed in the dune sea of Utapau, where they encountered Starkiller. By 1975, when George Lucas had written Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, the story began with the two droids aboard a Rebel spacefighter and centered on their evacuation, landing on Utapau, and being captured by Jawas. This storyline, with only minor alterations, went on to appear in the original Star Wars film.

When developing the characters of C-3PO and R2-D2, Lucas drew inspiration from Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, which he has credited as a major influence on Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress is narrated from the perspective of the peasants Tahei and Matashichi, who serve as the film's comic relief duo and travel Japan in the company of a General and a Princess. Despite their low social status, they are privy to an adventure of grand international diplomacy. Lucas created C-3PO and R2-D2 as similar comic characters and narrators in Star Wars, mirroring the peasants from The Hidden Fortress.

Lucas believed that the two droids needed to be distinct in both personality and appearance. He envisioned an elegant and sophisticated anthropomorphic design for C-3PO, whom he imagined as originating from a refined and sophisticated environment. C-3PO's initial appearance, as seen in concept art by Ralph McQuarrie, was inspired by The Maschinenmensch, the robot from the 1927 silent film Metropolis. Lucas wanted C-3PO's face to be completely neutral, allowing viewers to project their own emotions onto it based on the droid's surroundings. He conceived of the character's personality as being similar to a used-car salesman who would say anything to please others.

In an early draft of The Phantom Menace, C-3PO's original name was CPO. The 3 was added when Padmé told Anakin Skywalker that her favorite number was 3.

British actor Anthony Daniels was chosen to play C-3PO, possessing both the slender physique required to fit into the costume and training as a mime artist. Daniels was initially reluctant to audition for the role of a robot, but after being persuaded by his agent to meet George Lucas and read Star Wars's script, he began to see C-3PO as a very likable character with a strong personality. McQuarrie's painting of C-3PO and R2-D2 also influenced Daniels's decision to accept the part, as he saw a vulnerability in the character's face that evoked pity. Instead of portraying C-3PO as a used-car salesman, Daniels adopted the voice of a fussy British butler, believing it suited the character's personality. Lucas briefly considered casting another actor to provide the droid's voice, but he was convinced by sound designer Ben Burtt, among others, that Daniels's vocal performance was excellent and well-synchronized with his body movements. Daniels subsequently re-recorded every line of C-3PO's dialogue. Burtt has credited Daniels's complete performance as creating a fully realized character.

Following the success of Star Wars in 1977, Daniels reprised his role as C-3PO in the film's two sequels, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi. He also reprised the role in all three Star Wars prequels, released in 1999, 2002, and 2005, respectively. Daniels is the only actor to appear in all six main Star Wars films.

He has also appeared in all three radio dramas of the original Star Wars trilogy (making notations in the scripts and revising C-3PO's dialogue). Daniels has voiced C-3PO in the video games Star Wars: Pit Droids.

Beyond the Star Wars continuity, Daniels has made numerous guest appearances as C-3PO, including roles on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Jeopardy!, The Donny and Marie Show, and at the Academy Awards. He has also portrayed the droid in non-canon Star Wars material such as the 1977 television special The Making of Star Wars and the 1980 Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album. Daniels's C-3PO résumé also includes public service announcements promoting whooping cough immunizations and anti-smoking campaigns, as well as commercials for C-3PO-themed breakfast cereal and children's underwear.

Jim Ward provided vocal talents for all three Star Wars: Dark Empire audio dramas.

During the filming of The Phantom Menace, Industrial Light & Magic Chief Model maker Michael Lynch constructed a puppet to represent C-3PO's unfinished appearance, with Daniels providing the character's voice. Lynch acted as a puppeteer, dressed in a full-color suit (sometimes on-set with the other actors, and at other times filmed against a green screen), to realize C-3PO's motions. Daniels remained off-camera, delivering the lines and guiding Lynch's movements as he brought the puppet to life.

Anthony Daniels' C-3PO costume was designed to prevent him from sitting; consequently, he relied on a leaning board for rest between takes. For scenes depicting C-3PO seated, partial disassembly of the costume was necessary. Liz Moore, who previously designed the star child for 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film Daniels initially disliked but later came to appreciate, contributed to the costume's creation.

Principal photography for Star Wars commenced in Tunisia, but on the first day, the C-3PO suit was still incomplete. It took the collective effort of six individuals two hours to fully dress Daniels. Twenty-five years later, Daniels donned the same iconic suit for his role in the prequel trilogy. The C-3PO costume was part of the Star Wars: In Concert tour in 2009 and 2010, and was put on display within the exhibition space of each venue.

C-3PO not only stars in all six core Star Wars films, but also has the distinction of delivering both the first and last lines of dialogue in the entire saga. In the opening scene of the original film, the protocol droid initiates the movie's dialogue by questioning R2-D2: "Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure! This is madness." Almost three decades later, the spoken portion of Revenge of the Sith ends with C-3PO's reaction to the news of an impending memory wipe, exclaiming "Oh no!" Both scenes are set on the Tantive IV starship and were filmed on the same set.

Beyond Episodes I-VI, C-3PO has been featured in numerous works within the Expanded Universe. He and R2-D2 co-starred in an animated series on ABC, as well as in comic book adaptations of the series published by Marvel and Dark Horse Comics. Throughout the 1990s, C-3PO and R2-D2 played significant roles in many novels published by Bantam Spectra that took place after Return of the Jedi, sometimes accompanying Luke, Han, and Leia, and other times becoming involved in their own adventures. When Del Rey assumed responsibility for Star Wars novel publishing in 1999, the droid duo's presence diminished as a new generation of heroes emerged; however, C-3PO did experience a character arc where he contemplated deactivation and questioned his own mortality. Within the in-universe narrative, C-3PO continues to faithfully serve the Skywalker and Solo families forty-three years after the events of the original Star Wars.

George Lucas established his origins via a tape recording in 1977, stating that he was originally constructed on the planet Affa and later reassembled by a young boy working for a junk dealer. Lucas incorporated the latter part of this concept into The Phantom Menace, while the former was made canon by the StarWars.com Databank.

The spelling of C-3PO's name is often incorrect, appearing as C-3P0, even in official materials. In the novel Legacy of the Force: Tempest, he is described as lowering his chin, despite the fact that he does not possess one.

In the novelization of A New Hope, C-3PO refers to himself as "CV-3PO" when introducing himself to Owen Lars. In this instance, C-3PO claims that "V" stands for his "middle name," "Versatility." Leland Chee has stated that this should not be interpreted as part of the droid's official name.

In a 2009 interview, Daniels revealed that C-3PO is an integral part of him and expressed his affection for the droid character. Though he has occasionally considered other roles, the thought has never lasted long. He believes he understands the character better than anyone else and views C-3PO as a close friend, feeling obligated to continue playing him, as C-3PO would be upset otherwise. He also feels a sense of protectiveness towards the character. Daniels emphasizes that he is very different from C-3PO, describing the character as "a strange creation that came out of somewhere," but one he is proud of.

From his initial readings of the Star Wars script, Daniels found C-3PO to have an appealing personality; he sees the character as thoughtful, loyal, and loving, but not heroic, which compensates for his uptight nature and complete lack of humor or irony. He has described the droid as being loyal to his last nut and bolt, and therefore someone who would remain by a friend's side until the end of his existence.

Daniels has stated that portraying C-3PO presented a significant challenge. Because Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2, was unable to speak to him during filming, perfecting their comedic timing was difficult. Speaking in C-3PO's voice is also demanding, as it creates tension and stiffness in his back muscles, resulting in knots and soreness after recording sessions. Since C-3PO is not a relaxed character, Daniels cannot deliver the voice in a relaxed manner. He also mentions the difficulties associated with wearing the suit as obstacles he had to overcome while filming the original trilogy. Dave Filoni, the supervising director of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, has praised Daniels' voice work, crediting him with having fantastic insight into every word and phrase spoken by C-3PO and being able to adapt nearly any line to the character's cadence.

While searching for writers for Dark Horse Comics' Droids series, editors Ryder Windham and Dan Thorsland were disappointed that many potential candidates viewed C-3PO and R2-D2 as mere comic relief. They ultimately chose Thorsland himself to write the series, as he believed the droid duo were intelligent machines often in unfortunate situations, treated worse than slaves. Daniels later commended Thorsland's writing of C-3PO and contributed an introduction to one of the series' trade paperbacks. While writing 2003's The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, the conclusion of the nineteen-book series The New Jedi Order, author James Luceno found himself drawn to C-3PO, among other characters, as the droid had been forced to re-evaluate many long-held beliefs throughout the series.

Being a central character in a hugely successful film saga, C-3PO has become a cultural icon, often cited as one of the most recognizable figures in science fiction. Over the years, a vast array of C-3PO merchandise has been produced, including numerous action figures, busts, a life-size replica, Pez dispensers, and even a breakfast cereal.

C-3PO has been the subject of parody in various forms of media, including appearances on the animated television show Family Guy. Mel Brooks's 1987 Star Wars parody, Spaceballs, features Dot Matrix, a female robot voiced by comedian Joan Rivers, who satirizes C-3PO.

In "Mayored to the Mob," an episode of The Simpsons, C-3PO participated in a tag-team robot wrestling match against the Cylons, where he was easily defeated. He pleaded with R2-D2, his partner, for assistance, but R2-D2 refused and abandoned him. This prompted C-3PO to angrily insult R2-D2, calling him a "stupid little trap," boring, and declaring his hatred for him before being further pummeled. Bill and Marty, portraying aliens, covered the event for Springfield's Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con (Bi-Monthly Science Fiction Convention) and referred to the pair as the "gay robots from Star Wars." Dan Castellaneta voiced C-3PO in this appearance, mimicking Anthony Daniels' voice.

In 2004, C-3PO was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. Daniels accepted the honor on behalf of the character, as C-3PO was unable to attend.

In the alternate comic series Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope, C-3PO is captured by the Empire and reprogrammed with a more aggressive personality, while Princess Leia undergoes Sith training. The sequel, Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back, features Darth Vader recognizing the droid as the one he created years prior and dismantling him, extracting the location of Dagobah from his memory. In the trilogy's final installment, Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi, Jabba the Hutt decapitates C-3PO in a fit of rage, and he is later destroyed when Leia's thermal detonator destroys the gangster's throne room.

C-3PO and R2-D2 also star in another alternate version of the original Star Wars trilogy: Vader vs. Artoo & Threepio, published in Tokyopop's Star Wars Manga: Silver. Combining the endings of the trilogy's last two films, the comic retells the story with the droids taking the place of Luke and Leia.

C-3PO is an unlockable playable character in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The player has the opportunity to wield the droid as a lightsaber-wielding character.

C-3PO appears as a main character in LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, where he is the primary caretaker of the Jedi younglings during their misadventures.

Although not an appearance, Dark Aegis, a villain from the 1994 Iron Man: The Animated Series, refers to Iron Man as "C-3PO" in the episode "Distant Boundaries."

In Angry Birds Star Wars, White Bird plays C-3PO.

C-3PO, along with Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Chewbacca, make a cameo appearance in The LEGO Movie. While trying to build a spaceship, the heroes realize they need a hyperdrive. Batman wonders where they might find one, and the Millennium Falcon arrives just in time. Anthony Daniels reprised his role.

• In Italian, C-3PO was originally called " D-3BO " (" Di-Trebio " or " Trebio ") during the original trilogy.