WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars #20 on sale now.
The Force-wielding Jedi have fought on the frontlines of almost every conflict within the Star Wars universe, whether it's a domestic dispute confined to a single planet or an intergalactic war spanning multiple star systems. As recent releases like Star Wars: The High Republic highlight the integral role that the Jedi play throughout galactic history, it's easy to assume that only those who have a connection with the Force are capable of changing the galaxy in a meaningful way. However, many of the franchise's greatest heroes aren't Jedi, and one of them has been subtly saving force-users for decades.
R2-D2, the astromech droid that has accompanied the main cast through all three Star Wars film trilogies, has played an integral role in shaping the fate of the galaxy, even though he can't speak. Throughout the Skywalker Saga, R2 has saved his organic companions countless times through clever and unconventional uses of his rather-limited toolset, but the little droid's greatest weapon may just be the endless emotional support he offers to his allies. In Marvel's Star Wars #20 (by Charles Soule, Marco Castiello, Rachelle Rosenberg, and VC's Clayton Cowles), R2 gave a despondent Luke Skywalker the encouragement he needs to resume his quest to learn the secrets of the fallen Jedi Order, ensuring that Luke would fulfill his destiny and once again proving himself the saga's unsung hero.
Marvel's Star Wars has seen Luke seek to learn more about the Jedi, and hope to complete his training and deepen his shallow understanding of the Force. Unfortunately, the near-total annihilation of the Jedi following Order 66 has made that task very difficult, and Luke's quest has been plagued by setback after soul-crushing setback. Back in Star Wars #19 (by Soule, Castiello, Rosenberg, and Cowles), Luke finally managed to get his hands on a Jedi Holocron created by Master Yoda, but the message only appeared to re-iterate basic facts regarding the Force that Luke has already heard from Yoda himself. Luke nearly tossed the Holocron into a canyon on a remote world out of doubt but was stopped by R2, who implored him to listen to the entire message. Sure enough, the message led Luke to the planet of Gazian, where he communed with the preserved spirit of a Jedi who lived during the era of the High Republic and discovers one of the sacred Jedi texts featured in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
By simply allowing Luke to vent his frustrations and motivating him to not give up on his dream of upholding Obi-Wan's legacy, R2 ensured that Luke would continue down the path that will ultimately lead to him confronting Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine as a full-fledged Jedi in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This is just one of the many times throughout the Skywalker Saga that R2 saved the entire galaxy through small acts of heroism. R2 has saved his friends from death time and time again, sometimes without them even knowing that he did, from saving Padme from a vat of molten metal in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones to shutting down the Death Star's garbage compactor in Star Wars: A New Hope. As a result, this otherwise unremarkable droid has shaped the course of galactic history.
Droids are generally viewed as nothing more than mass-produced tools within the Star Wars universe, but R2's bravery and loyalty to his friends have allowed him to move beyond his station as a simple maintenance droid and become one of the galaxy's greatest heroes. R2 has survived the Clone Wars, the Galactic Civil War, and the Uprising against the First Order, and he's played a key role in ensuring that the Skywalker Family survived through all of them. In doing so, R2 has indirectly kept the Jedi Order alive through some of its darkest moments, ensuring that the Order's ideals of compassion, empathy, and peace are passed down from one generation to the next. Throughout it all, the only thing that's motivated him to do so is his love for the people who accepted him as an equal.
Even without an innate connection to the Force, R2 has played an integral role in the continued survival of the Jedi. Without his intervention, the Skywalker family would never have survived, and the millennia-spanning legacy of the Jedi would have died out with them. R2 has served the Light Side of the Force in ways that even the most powerful Jedi haven't been able to by simply being a loyal friend, and although he may not be remembered as well as Luke or Anakin, R2 has proven himself as a true member of the Skywalker family.