Every day a new article pops up describing why Anakin, Luke, Rey or Kylo Ren are the "Chosen One" of the prophecy that would bring balance to the Force, educating the masses about midichlorians, redemptive arcs, divine twins and sacred unions -- and although George Lucas confirmed that Anakin still carries the official title of Chosen One, there might be another hidden Messianic figure in the Skywalker Saga whose journey has more similarities to Jesus Christ himself than any other character in any Star Wars trilogy -- we are talking about C-3PO, the protocol droid that has appeared in every single one of the movies. Let's take a look at the similarities between Threepio and the Son of God himself.
First of all, C-3PO shares Jesus' humble origins with a twist: In The Phantom Menace he was born of a virgin father, Anakin, who he calls "Creator" in the backwater planet of Tatooine. His creation coincided with the arrival of Three Wise Men, or Force Users, to Tatooine: Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. Although none of them honored him directly, as they didn't know of his real importance, they still tried to establish a bond (in the case of Darth Maul, a violent one) with his Creator. When his Creator departed to train as a Jedi, Threepio joined a new humble family in a distant part of Tatooine, the Larses, where he helped them out as well as he could, like child Jesus helped his human father Joseph in his carpentry business.
By the end of The Attack of the Clones, C-3PO is a guest at a very exclusive wedding, just like Jesus's first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and heads to Coruscant to assist Senator Amidala with her mission of bringing peace and stability; other than working directly for the Jedi, there's no better parallel for Jesus formative years in the Temple.
Revenge of the Sith coincides with the end of the childhood cycle, and the movie shares many Nativity motifs: the killing of the younglings in the temple mirrors the massacre of the innocents conducted by King Herod, Padmé's rushed delivery of babies fathered by a more-than-human, vengeful man under the surveillance of an "angel" figure (Obi-Wan) and a human "father" (Bail Organa) repeats the pattern of Jesus birth, and both Obi-Wan and Bail Organa have to flee with the babies and the droids to a distant place where their presence won't be detected by Palpatine. As a security measure, given C-3PO's unsolicited evangelization parables about delicate topics, Organa and Kenobi decide to erase his memory before taking him to Alderaan. The visual parallel with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph escaping to Egypt is established with the Tatooine desert scene where the Lars' adopt Luke.
A New Hope marks the beginning of C-3PO's trials, starting with his temptation in the desert. Because he's a droid, the usual temptations of food and power do not apply, but C-3PO is sorely tempted by immortality, which for him means finding owners that take care of him instead of being sold for pieces. It is only R5-D4's malfunction that makes him recommend R2-D2, his conscience, to the Lars's, and it is only R2-D2's relentless pursuit of Leia's mission that redeems him from his earlier sin.
By Return of the Jedi, C-3PO has made a lot of progress in his messianic career and is hailed and recognized as a prophet and god in Endor. Just like Christ did during his preaching years, the droid evangelizes the Ewoks and encourages them to join the Rebellion's cause by joining forces against the Empire (this was actually what the Roman Empire feared about prophets in their Eastern colonies, that they might unite the people against them. In a way, C-3PO's results were faster than Jesus himself. He even brings the Ewoks from the heathen side by saving Han Solo from being eaten alive. This episode could be set roughly around the Christian Easter, where Jesus was at the heights of his influence and had many followers.
The Last Jedi marks the beginning of the end for C-3PO -- due to the increased pressure of the First Order, by the time the Resistance reaches Crait, there are only a handful of rebels left. The visual imagery when Luke appears to perform a miracle (his character is most similar to Jesus' relative St. John the Baptist) small cross-shaped lights illuminate the cavern where Threepio, Leia, Poe, Finn, Rose and the other eight rebels are hiding. And it is partly C-3PO's observation that there might be a natural opening in the cave system that leads the Resistance to its salvation, another small miracle performed by the golden droid.
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After two movies of playing peacemaker, the C-3PO that we saw in The Rise of Skywalker's final trailer seems all set to sacrifice himself for his friends, and he even says so. Instead of an abundance of followers, he's surrounded by three apostles, Rey, Poe and Finn, just like Jesus was accompanied by Peter, John and James in the Gethsemane Garden. Threepio is ready to die for their sins, and his Father and Creator, Anakin, is nowhere to be seen while this happens ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?")
Finally, the "rising" of C-3PO, coupled with Anthony Daniel's assertions that the droid is going on an adventure and is going to be really helpful in this final installment runs parallel to the Bible stories about Christ's resurrection and miracle-working three days after his death, before Jesus ascended to the Heavens until His Second Coming, which would mark the start of the Apocalypse.
There's a chance that given the many times that C-3PO has been disconnected, torn apart and resurrected, his rising in The Rise of Skywalker marks the Second Coming and the end of the Galaxy as we know it. There are "signs" all over the trailer that seem suspiciously similar to some of the early Christian eschatological prophecies: the most obvious one is the resurrection of the dead, with undead Palpatine and those sinister Star Destroyers. "The Son of Man coming into His kingdom" line could certainly match Kylo Ren's ascendancy to the position of Supreme Leader of the Galaxy, and the "heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up," sounds an awful lot like Death Star technology destroying another planet.
In any case, whether C-3PO's role in The Rise of Skywalker is to redeem every sinful stormtrooper or to judge each Gungan using his implacable robotic logic, we will know for sure come December 20.
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker stars Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong’o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, with Ian McDiarmid and Billy Dee Williams. The film arrives on Dec. 20.