Although C-3PO didn't get the chance to share his story in the few seconds he was on screen in The Force Awakens, the mystery of his red arm has been solved.
As first reported by Screen Rant, C-3PO has more of a backstory in the comic book Star Wars Special: C-3PO #1, where the ever-loyal protocol droid goes on a mission for the Resistance on a hostile planet.
Spoiler alert if you want to read C-3PO's standalone comic on your own. Otherwise, if you're dying to know where his red arm really came from, read on!
In the comic, C-3PO reportedly accompanies OMRI, a black protocol droid from the First Order who is the only one who knows the secret of Admiral Ackbar's location.
The two were on a Resistance ship but crash on a planet where, among other things, C-3PO's arm gets torn off him by a sea monster right before they seek shelter in a cave from a downpour of acid rain. He is, of course, used to getting torn limb from limb time and time again. In the Original Trilogy, even Chewbacca had a hand at helping rebuild him when he was blown up.
But in this Star Wars Special, the droids' predicament is looking so dire that in a last-ditch effort to ensure that C-3PO would be rescued, OMRI tells him the secret of Admiral Ackbar's location and braves the acid rain in order to reach an abandoned TIE fighter and send out a distress signal.
As the acid rain pours down on him, OMRI's black First Order paint is stripped away to reveal a red undercoat before he dies.
When he is eventually rescued by Poe Dameron and BB-8, C-3PO attaches OMRI's red arm to replace his own to honor the fallen droid's bravery and sacrifice.
It is a touching story that shows another side of C-3PO apart from his comedic friendship with R2-D2. It almost makes us wish that Abrams didn't give in to Anthony Daniel's request for his character to retain his all-gold look for his final shot in the movie as he waved goodbye to Rey and R2-D2.
So another mystery in The Force Awakens can finally be put to rest. Although he's arguably been through the most traumatic experiences out of anyone in the Star Wars saga (blown up, torn apart, decapitated, memory wiped and his maker turning out to be Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader), it will be good to see him again, and not CG animated, when Episode VIII comes out on Dec. 15, 2017 so he can help all the old and new heroes of the galaxy in his own special way.
