The heroes of the Star Wars franchise came in many shapes and sizes. But when it came to the films, fans will most likely say that the true heroes of the series were the Skywalkers. In the prequels, Anakin was destined to be the Chosen One before falling to the Dark Side. However, Luke and Rey both did their part to save the galaxy and bring both Darth Vader and Kylo Ren back from the darkness.

While these heroes were undoubtedly some of the most important characters of the Skywalker Saga, they couldn't have survived throughout their films without help. Fortunately, they had the assistance of an astromech droid by the name of R2-D2. He never uttered a single line throughout the main series' nine entries, but he took part in some of the most important battles in the galaxy and got his friends out of some dire situations.

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Chronologically, R2 was first introduced in The Phantom Menace, where he helped Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala and Anakin escape a Trade Federation blockade. He was the only surviving member of a team of droids to do this, and he later traveled with Anakin all the way up until the Jedi became Darth Vader. R2 also saved Padmé from having molten metal poured on her in the droid factory of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones. While he is best known for last-minute rescues, he was also a master at safeguarding information.

In A New Hope, viewers were introduced to the droid who was given crucial plans to destroy the Death Star. Throughout the film, no member of the Empire could extract these plans, even when he was on the Death Star itself. A New Hope was also the first film in the franchise that established R2's habit of saving his friends at the last minute by deactivating a trash compactor before it flattened Han, Luke, Leia and Chewbacca. He later went on to fix the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive and was crucial in the rescue of Han Solo, infiltrating Jabba's sail barge and hiding Luke's lightsaber.

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The sequel trilogy didn't feature nearly as much of R2-D2 as the previous films did. However, that only served to make his appearances even more important. In The Force Awakens, he held the missing piece to the map that revealed Luke Skywalker's location. In The Last Jedi, he also used Leia's old hologram to try and coax Luke out of hiding.

By the end of the Skywalker Saga, R2-D2 became the most crucial part of the entire series, and even George Lucas believed so. During an interview with Rolling Stone, he explained how R2 was the true hero of the series in terms of his actions, stating, "Whenever there’s a pivotal moment of real danger, he’s the one that gets everybody out of it." It shows that even though R2-D2 isn't the main protagonist of the series, he is the only one that has consistently displayed the actions that make a hero.

R2-D2's fierce loyalty to his friends and fellow droids like C-3PO is expressed through his actions, which speak louder than his incoherent words. While he almost always had an attitude and wasn't afraid to speak his mind, R2-D2 had a strong sense of right and wrong. He always knew that he needed to keep his friends safe and stopped at nothing to achieve that goal. This was shown when he used his jets to destroy two Super Battle Droids in Revenge of the Sith as he protected Obi-Wan and Anakin. R2-D2 always protected his friends, and that made him the true hero of Star Wars.

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