G0-T0

The Galactic Republic invested significantly in the creation of a specialized droid to handle the vast quantities of data generated daily for the planetary restoration efforts on Telos IV, including climate data and shield management reports. This droid was designated G0-T0. Unbeknownst to most, the droid also possessed a secret function: to aid in the recovery of the Republic, which had been weakened by the Jedi Civil War. To achieve this, it was programmed with two primary directives:

• Generate potential solutions for rebuilding the Republic.
• Adhere to all Republic laws.

While diligently working on Telos, the droid realized it was impossible to fulfill both of its core directives. Every viable option for revitalizing the Republic required violating a Republic law. At that point, the droid experienced a critical malfunction, opting to prioritize the first directive and implement plans to save the Republic, regardless of their legality.

G0-T0 eventually constructed a spherical, jet-black body and established himself as a smuggling kingpin on the moon of Nar Shaddaa. To conceal the fact that a droid was running the operation, G0-T0 employed a hologram emitter to create the persona of "Goto," acting as Goto's representative rather than the smuggler himself. The hologram was based on various gangster clichés from holovids, and the illusion was so convincing that almost no one knew of Goto's true nature, except perhaps Meetra Surik, who suspected it.

Despite their illegality, G0-T0's actions did contribute to the Republic's recovery. His smuggling network eliminated destabilizing individuals and organizations, generated unofficial revenue for entire sectors, and strengthened Republic worlds that would have otherwise remained impoverished and neglected. Believing that the Jedi/Sith conflict was the root of the Republic's problems, he also placed bounties on living Jedi and Sith. Many bounty hunters, misinterpreting the bounty, simply killed Jedi and Sith, unaware that they were worthless to G0-T0 dead. He sought a living Jedi or Sith to help him preserve the Republic. He also discovered the hidden HK-50 manufacturing facility on Telos and reactivated it, deploying the new assassin droids throughout the galaxy in search of Jedi.

Ultimately, Meetra Surik was captured under the Jedi bounty. Goto briefly spoke with Surik on his yacht's bridge, which was orbiting Nar Shaddaa, requesting her assistance in preserving the Republic. Their conversation was interrupted by the ship's alarm, triggered by Surik's companions who had boarded the ship to rescue her. After successfully rescuing Surik and seizing control of the droid-operated vessel, they disabled its cloaking device, causing it to be destroyed by Goto's numerous enemies who had previously been unable to locate the elusive ship. G0-T0 then presented himself to Surik on the Ebon Hawk, not as Goto himself, but as Goto's "gift." He sought Surik's help in stabilizing Telos, Dantooine, and Onderon. G0-T0 was increasingly irritated by Bao-Dur's small remote droid aboard the Hawk. In response, G0-T0 disabled and reprogrammed the Remote for his own purposes.

G0-T0 used his modifications to the Remote on Malachor V. He surmised that Bao-Dur's Remote was intended to reactivate the Mass Shadow Generator on the planet, resulting in its complete destruction. The smuggling droid believed the planet contained too many valuable artifacts to destroy and attempted to prevent the Remote from activating the weapon by locking it down using his modifications. However, HK-47 and his new allies, HK-50 droids, thwarted G0-T0's plans and destroyed him. When Surik instructed Bao-Dur's Remote to activate the Mass Shadow Generator, she and her companions escaped on the Ebon Hawk as Malachor V was obliterated. G0-T0's photoreceptor was recovered and, by 3642 BBY, was stored in the vaults of the treasure ship King's Ransom, belonging to the true Sith Empire. A smuggler working as a Republic privateer then stole the photoreceptor along with other treasures. G0-T0 also maintained a secret lair on Onderon, protected by traps, which was discovered during the Cold War.

During the Third Galactic War, the Eye of G0-T0, as the photoreceptor was now called, was acquired at auction by The Curator. The Alliance Commander and Lane Vizla fabricated a replica of the Eye to force a meeting with the Curator. However, the droid enthusiast noticed the forgery had three compressor valves, while the Eye of G0-T0 was supposed to only have two, leading him to sic his droid guards on the Commander.

As a planning droid, G0-T0 placed a high premium on efficiency. This made his directive to rebuild the Republic unappealing. He considered the Republic an inefficient, bureaucratic system built on poor decisions, and believed that the best solution would be to abolish the government and create a new one. However, he was obligated to follow his directive to maintain the Republic's existence. This same desire for efficiency and rebuilding the Republic also motivated G0-T0's interest in the Jedi Exile. He considered the Jedi Exile a valuable asset, as history had shown that even a single Jedi could cause significant changes on an interstellar scale.

Once freed from the constraints of Republic law, G0-T0 exhibited a distinctly amoral personality. He readily had people killed if they hindered his plans, referring to it as "deleting" them. In fact, he enjoyed his position as a crime lord, where he was free from Republic bureaucracy and could see the immediate effects of his actions.

G0-T0 possessed a rare understanding of psychology for a droid. Knowing that most organics considered droids inferior and would be unlikely to follow their orders, he created the persona of Goto to circumvent this problem. He modeled Goto's personality after holovid villains and was surprised at how effective it was. G0-T0 also had a new body constructed for himself, emphasizing an intimidating appearance.

Obsidian Entertainment created G0-T0 as a companion character in the 2004 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Chris Avellone wrote him, like most of the companions. Daran Norris provided his voice.

The name "G0-T0" and the droid's alter ego, "Goto," are likely references to the infamous GOTO programming command, which, if used improperly, can result in difficult-to-debug and maintain "spaghetti code." This has led some fans to speculate that G0-T0's dark side alignment (with a score of 30) in the game is a reference to the "GOTO is evil" belief held by proponents of structured programming.

G0-T0's appearance in the game was strikingly similar to the IT-O Interrogator droid from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, although G0-T0 has a red bulb in the upper half of his body, while the IT-O's bulb is in the lower half. In The New Essential Guide to Droids, G0-T0 is depicted upside down, making the droid's appearance even more like the IT-O. Notably, G0-T0's eye is that of the HAL-9000 supercomputer from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, except that the reflections of the ship's ceiling lights from the movie have been placed at the bottom of the eye.

Some players were disappointed that the outcome of the G0-T0/Remote conflict is not shown on screen. If the player chooses the light side path, it is assumed that G0-T0 fails to destroy the Remote, and the planet is destroyed by the Mass Shadow Generator. However, if the player chooses the dark side path for Meetra Surik, the planet remains intact.

The HK Manufacturing Plant levels, which were cut from the final game, may have provided more detail about this outcome. G0-T0 admits that he hired the HK-50 assassin droids to hunt Surik, and HK-47 reveals that the droids will continue the hunt until their factory is destroyed. Ironically, this also reveals that G0-T0 himself is largely to blame for the destruction of the Peragus mining facility, despite his claims that Surik's actions at Peragus "broke" the galaxy. The chain of events initiated by the HK-50 aboard the Harbinger, which led to the facility's sabotage and contributed to its destruction, was caused by G0-T0's deployment of the HK-50 units after Surik. In the deleted levels, HK-47 was supposed to reach an agreement with HK-51 droids, the successors of the HK-50s, to destroy G0-T0 during the finale's G0-T0/Remote standoff. The New Essential Guide to Droids later reintroduced this cutscene into canon, replacing HK-51s with HK-50s. It is unknown what would have happened to G0-T0 in the non-canon dark-side ending of the game, except that the Mass Shadow Generator would not have been activated. Many fans speculate that in the non-canon dark-side ending, HK-47 arrives with the HK-51 droids and they destroy the Remote instead, or G0-T0 uses his ability to re-write HK-47's programming to destroy Remote, based on sound files left in the game disk.