On Hoth, Threepio braved having his joints frozen by subzero temperatures to assist in Echo Base's command centers. Threepio's fluency in millions of languages allows him to determine that an intercepted signal was in fact an Imperial code, alerting the Rebels to the presence of a probe droid dangerously close to their base.

During a stop in the Bespin System, in the corridors of Cloud City, Threepio is blasted into pieces by an Imperial Stormtrooper. His shattered remains were the first clue to the Rebel fugitives that Cloud City was an Imperial trap. Chewbacca attempted to piece together Threepio's remains, but lack of time and resources meant that Threepio would have to remain incomplete for the time being.

During a daring mission to rescue a captive Han Solo from the loathsome gangster Jabba the Hutt, Threepio and Artoo were sent into the Hutt's palace on Tatooine. There, they became the crime lord's property. Threepio was pressed into service as Jabba's translator until Luke Skywalker came to rescue his friends.

On Endor, the Rebel forces encounter a native tribe that worship the golden droid as a god. The tree-dwelling Ewoks prove to be valuable allies, however, and were it not for Threepio's impressive retelling of key events of the Galactic Civil War to the Ewoks, the Rebellion would not have been victorious at the decisive Battle of Endor.

C-3PO was stationed at the Resistance base on D’Qar when unsettling news arrived: The First Order had killed Lor San Tekka on Jakku, and the pilot Poe Dameron and his astromech BB-8 were believed lost. Leia told C-3PO to use BB-8’s tracking system, but to his chagrin Threepio had forgotten to activate activate it before the astromech left.

After visiting R2-D2 – who’d been in self-imposed low-power mode since Luke Skywalker chose exile – C-3PO activated the Resistance’s droid network, hoping one might catch sight of BB-8 and report the astromech’s whereabouts.

When a Resistance droid spotted BB-8 on Takodana, the Resistance rushed to the planet, arriving in time to repel a First Order attack – and bringing C-3PO and Leia face to face with Han Solo for the first time in years.

C-3PO returned to D’Qar, where the Resistance prepared to strike at Starkiller Base, site of a dreaded First Order superweapon that had destroyed the New Republic capital of Hosnian Prime – and now threatened the Resistance’s base as well.

The attack succeeded, destroying Starkiller Base. And to C-3PO’s joy, R2-D2 awoke from his slumber, accessing information that complemented the map carried by BB-8. The Resistance could now locate Luke Skywalker.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were soon separated again, as the astromech accompanied Rey and Chewbacca on their search for Luke. The protocol droid – now sporting a restored golden arm -- remained at Leia’s side after the Resistance fled D’Qar, pursued by First Order hunters.

After Leia was badly injured in a First Order strike on her flagship, C-3PO tended her during a slow and uncertain recovery. He attempted to talk Poe Dameron, Finn and Rose Tico out of a rash plan to infiltrate the First Order task force pursuing the Resistance, but found his advice ignored.

The poor treatment would only continue. When Poe mutinied against Vice Admiral Holdo, C-3PO tried to leave the bridge of the Raddus, objecting that mutinies were not correct protocol.

C-3PO joined a recovered Leia and a chastened Poe in evacuating to Crait, where the Resistance sought shelter from a First Order attack in an old rebel base. The protocol droid was reunited with Luke before his former master walked out onto the salt plains to confront Kylo Ren and the First Order.

C-3PO had the grim duty of telling Poe and the surviving Resistance members that the odds of finding a way out of the old base were 15,428-to-1. But the Resistance members managed to escape and C-3PO was reunited with R2-D2.

When Rey went to Pasaana to search for clues to the location of a Sith wayfinder, C-3PO came along, pleased by the chance to visit a civilized planet for once. He was even more delighted to discover it was time for Pasaana’s Festival of the Ancestors, known for both its delectable sweets and colorful kites.

But, inevitably, his friends found themselves in trouble. First they had to flee First Order stormtroopers aboard skimmers, and then they all tumbled into a network of underground burrows – not the afterlife, as C-3PO first thought, but a vexis burrow. They found a Sith dagger that had once belonged to Ochi of Bestoon. This was the clue Rey needed to locate the wayfinder, but C-3PO’s programming forbade him from translating the dagger’s Sith runes.

His friends decided on a risky plan: They’d seek out a black-market droidsmith on Kijimi who could bypass C-3PO’s programming safeguards, allowing him to translate the runes. But Babu Frik could only do so by erasing the protocol droid’s memory. C-3PO reluctantly agreed to make this sacrifice for the greater good, and took one last look at his friends.

C-3PO woke up with no idea who his companions were or what mission they were talking about. All he knew was they seemed to constantly be in grave danger, shooting at people or being shot at or both. Leaving Kijimi, they slipped aboard a First Order Star Destroyer to rescue someone named Chewbacca. This was madness!

C-3PO returned to Ajan Kloss, where an astromech named R2-D2 insisted he was the protocol droid’s best friend. Though nonplussed by this strange introduction, C-3PO was soon wired up to R2-D2 – who, fortunately, had backed up his memories before the Pasaana mission. Soon C-3PO had his memories back, or at least most of them.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were separated again, as the astromech flew with Poe on the Resistance’s dangerous raid on Exegol. There, the Resistance fighters won an enormous victory over the forces of evil, sparking a galactic uprising. They returned to Ajan Kloss to celebrate, hoping the galaxy might now enjoy a more peaceful era.