R5-D4's Timeline | Star Wars Guide

R5-D4 (Red)

R5-D4, nicknamed "Red" by Luke Skywalker, is a red-and-white R5-series astromech droid built by Industrial Automaton — one of the last units off a budget production line notorious for malfunctions. Active on Tatooine as early as the era of the Clone Wars, when he was glimpsed rolling through the streets of Mos Espa, he later fell into the hands of a band of Jawas who wiped his memory and hawked him from their sandcrawler. His moment of galactic consequence came shortly before the Battle of Yavin: offered for sale to Owen Lars alongside R2-D2, R5-D4 blew his own motivator so that Lars would take R2-D2 instead, ensuring the astromech carrying the stolen Death Star plans reached Luke Skywalker. R5 survived the Imperial raid that destroyed the sandcrawler and its Jawa crew, and was still operational decades later in the New Republic era, working out of Peli Motto's hangar in Mos Eisley, where he projected a holomap of Tatooine for the Mandalorian Din Djarin. Motto later sold him to Djarin outright, and R5 accompanied the Mandalorian to Mandalore, surviving an Alamite ambush to confirm the ruined planet's atmosphere was breathable — a scan that opened the way for the Mandalorians' return home.

Homeworld: Unknown

Species: Droid

Force Sensitive: No

Unknown date - Manufacture by Industrial Automaton

R5-D4 is produced as one of the last units of the R5-series astromech line, a low-cost design plagued by defects and poor customer reception. Canon does not give a construction year.

~22 BBY - Seen in the streets of Mos Espa

R5-D4, then serving a master on Tatooine, rolls through Mos Espa around the time Anakin Skywalker returns to the planet in search of his mother.

~4 BBY - Acquired by Jawas and memory-wiped

The droid falls into the possession of a Jawa scavenger crew, who wipe his memory and press him into service as salvage stock aboard their sandcrawler.

0 BBY - The blown motivator

Jawas offer R5-D4 to Owen Lars at the Lars moisture farm. On R2-D2's advice, R5 deliberately blows his own motivator, causing Lars to buy R2-D2 — and the Death Star plans hidden in his memory — instead.

0 BBY - Survives the sandcrawler massacre

Imperial stormtroopers hunting the missing droids destroy the sandcrawler and slaughter its Jawa crew. R5-D4 survives the attack.

9 ABY - In service at Peli Motto's hangar

Now working for Mos Eisley hangar manager Peli Motto, R5-D4 projects a holographic map of Tatooine to help Din Djarin locate the Tusken Raiders and a mudhorn-hunting job.

9 ABY - Continued work in Mos Eisley

R5 remains part of Motto's hangar operation during Boba Fett's rise on Tatooine, assisting with repairs and errands around Docking Bay 3-5.

9 ABY - Sold to Din Djarin

Motto sells the reluctant droid to Din Djarin — persuading him with the threat of being sold back to the Jawas — so the Mandalorian has an astromech for his journey to Mandalore.

9 ABY - Atmospheric survey of Mandalore

Sent out alone onto the ruined surface of Mandalore, R5 is attacked by an Alamite but escapes and confirms the atmosphere is breathable, allowing Djarin to explore the Mines of Mandalore and ultimately enabling the Mandalorians' return to their homeworld.

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