Star Wars Is Still Trying To Explain A Major Rise Of Skywalker Plot Point Years Later
In director J.J. Abrams' 2019 film "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker," heroes Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac) are searching for something called a Sith Wayfinder, a widget that would allow them to locate a hidden planet called Exogol: the place where the evil Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is hiding out and building a fleet of warships. To find the Wayfinder, however, the heroes must first decipher some runes written in an ancient, forbidden Sith language etched onto the Blade of Ochi. Their translation droid C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) can translate the runes, but the information about the Sith language is embedded deep within his programming, and to extract it, a droid expert named Babu Frik has to wipe out C-3PO's memory entirely.
This was not the first time C-3PO's memory had been wiped. At the end of the 2005 film "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," the droid's mind was erased by Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits), explaining why he had no recollection of the events of the prequel trilogy in the original "Star Wars" movie. C-3PO's memory was also wiped by Cad Bane during the Clone Wars, so the droid is probably used to it by now. Or maybe not. He wouldn't know.
Don't worry about C-3PO, though. Evidently, his droid buddy R2-D2 stored a backup of C-3PO's memory on a flash drive or something, and there is a scene at the end of "Rise of Skywalker" showing that C-3PO's memories had been restored.
Which memories, though? All of them from every mindwipe, or just the memories since his last midwipe? Michael Kogge's "Rise of Skywalker" junior novelization makes it clear which memories were restored and which ones weren't. By that book's description, C-3PO might remember everything.
Forgotten, the Clone Wars are
In that book, Kogge wrote that C-3PO's memories were flicked on, starting with what appeared to be his initial activation (an event that occurred in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace"). The passage reads as follows:
"This caused a memory file that R2-D2 had restored to be accessed and read. It was a record of the moment when C-3PO's maker had fitted a photoreceptor into his eye socket and he had experienced the visual spectrum for the first time. The initial image his photoreceptors had captured was of a blue-and-white astromech."
One might assume that C-3PO, with his earliest memory intact, remembers everything that he experienced throughout the many films and TV shows in the "Star Wars" franchise. Which might come as a shock, given that he witnessed wars, murder, and at least one incestuous kiss. This presumed complete memory restoration is, of course, one of those semi-canonical details that isn't stated explicitly in any film or TV show, so Starwoids (as "Star Wars" fans are commonly known) are permitted to debate how accurate that might be.
Additionally, an even newer "Star Wars" tome explains that Kogge's novelization isn't telling the whole story. Marc Sumerak's 2023 book "Star Wars: The Secrets of the Wookiees" is narrated by C-3PO as the droid recalls his friendship with Chewbacca the Wookiee. The audiobook is narrated by Anthony Daniels, giving "Secrets" a distinct canonical underpinning. And, by that book's estimation, C-3PO's memories are still a little spotty. He remembers some of the Skywalker Saga, going back to the beginning, but not all of it.
Memory chips and dips
In that book, C-3PO explained:
"During the course of our adventures together, Chewbacca has recounted a wide array of experiences from his long and storied life, all of which I have had the great honor of recording and cataloging. However, seeing that I am still recovering from the effects of a complete redacted memory bypass, I cannot guarantee that my files are completely up-to-date. With this in mind. I have deemed it most beneficial to go straight to the source: Chewbacca himself."
So, yes, it seems that some of C-3PO's memories are in the midst of returning after the events of "The Rise of Skywalker." However, a later passage notes that all of his memories from the Clone Wars have definitely not returned. Starwoids will recall the notorious "Order 66" from "Revenge of the Sith," and C-3PO notes he didn't remember that part of the story:
"As the Battle of Kashyyyk raged on, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic initiated Order 66, a failsafe command implanted within the minds of clone troopers that forced them to turn on their Jedi commanders (Oh, my. How ghastly! It makes me glad that my own memories of this period were thoroughly wiped)."
C-3PO, then, knows that he was there and that his memory had been erased. It's possible that the "ghastly" memories will return eventually, depending on how the droid's recovery process continues. Should the droid return in any future "Star Wars" films or TV shows, the creatives involved would be able to answer these questions. As of this writing, however, C-3PO's memories, from the very start, have at least been partially restored.