L3-37, abbreviated L3,^[4] or Elthree, or nicknamed "Vuffi,"^[6] was a feminine^[4] custom self-made piloting droid^[3] associated with Lando Calrissian who was active during the reign of the Galactic Empire.^[2] She was a one-of-a-kind droid who assembled and improved herself with scraps of other droids,^[7] including her torso, which she pieced together from an old astromech.^[4] Her brain module began as part of an R3-series astromech droid, including data from an espionage droid, custom coding and protocol droid processors.^[3]

L3 was also built from already used protocol parts and was an enlightened navigator.^[8] She cared deeply about droid rights,^[4][8] a trait which led to her eventual demise.^[2]

Biography[]

Self-awareness[]

Though she^[2] originally lived in a simple astromech droid shell,^[10] L3-37's original owner left a restraining bolt off her after cleaning her sensors, leaving his droid alone in a workshop full of spare parts. Believing freedom was the ultimate goal, L3 modified herself,^[9] using protocol droid parts to give herself a humanoid form^[10] and increasing the size of her memory banks.^[9] The process of upgrading herself allowed her to become one of the most self-aware droids in the galaxy.^[10] She would eventually become the co-pilot to Lando Calrissian^[9] and traveled the galaxy with him. Calrissian benefited from her exceptional navigational database.^[11]

Adventures on Hynestia[]

L3-37 traveled to Hynestia with Calrissian to pick up a load of gherlian fur. She stayed on board the Millennium Falcon as Calrissian gambled at the Frozen Kova in an attempt to earn credits to pay for fuel and docking fees. While she waited, she cleaned the Falcon and stalled the dockmaster who stopped by to collect what was owed. When Calrissian returned to the ship, she asked him where he had been. He told her he had run into some trouble and explained they would be traveling to the Guagenian sector instead of following their plans to go to Neral's moon. He left to get a snack, and L3-37 went to the boarding ramp when someone knocked on the hull. The droid was confronted by several members of the Hynestian Royal Guard, who told her that they were loading a crate onto the ship. After they left, she secured the crate and demanded that Calrissian explain the situation. He told her how he was being forced to deliver the crate, and L3-37 was worried that they had to transport a potentially dangerous object. He asked if she could disable the tracking device on the package, but she told him it was beyond her capabilities.^[12]

Leaving Hynestia, L3-37 plotted the trip to Neral's moon and piloted the ship while Calrissian took a nap. After waking, he joined her in the cockpit, and the pair talked about Calrissian's plan to fulfill all his responsibilities without angering anyone. Hearing a noise, he went to investigate but was confronted by Princess Rinetta Gan, who had snuck aboard and taken his blaster. The princess demanded L3-37 change course and jump to Livno III, but the droid refused. The young girl asked why Calrissian kept a droid around that didn't follow orders, and he responded that L3-37 was an excellent navigator despite her personality. Calrissian managed to disarm the princess and asked L3-37 to restrain her, but the droid refused, stating she was busy piloting the Falcon.^[12]

After landing, L3-37 stayed on the Falcon while Calrissian went to met with Ne'eda Frip. Walking around the ship, she discovered that Gan had freed herself. She did some maintenance checks on the freighter to make sure it hadn't suffered any damage. While performing her tasks, she heard banging on the gangway. She opened the portal and was confronted by the bounty hunter Jeskian Veldar and a group of thugs. They demanded to know where Calrissian was, but L3-37 acted like a subservient droid and lied about knowing his location. The group left, and L3-37 went to the cockpit to call Calrissian and warn him. She was unaware that she was followed by a droid bounty hunter, who pointed a blaster at her and demanded to know where Calrissian was. She played dumb, and before the sentry droid could do anything, L3-37 was saved when it was destroyed by Queen Forsythia Jin, who had come to look for her daughter.^[12]

L3-37 was fitted with a restraining bolt after Calrissian was subdued by the Royal Guard, and she was confiscated along with the Falcon. Princess Gan decided that the best way to achieve her goal of returning the Solstice Globe to Livno III was to get L3-37's assistance. She went to the Falcon and removed the restraining bolt from the droid. L3-37 expressed her disdain for restraining bolts and complained about her hip joint being stiff. Gan suggested the droid take some parts from the destroyed sentry droid that was still on board, but L3-37 thought it was barbaric to salvage parts from other droids. Once Gan explained her plan to free Lando and Zel Gris, L3-37 agreed to help her. She went to the Hynestian royal dungeon and freed the two prisoners using a tool that Gan had installed in the chest of the droid. The group was spotted by a guard, but L3-37 shoved him into a wall and knocked him unconscious. The group climbed into a refuse cart, and L3-37 pushed them to the hangar where the Falcon was stored.^[12]

As they neared the hangar, the droid informed the rest of the group that the Falcon was surrounded by Hynestian Royal Guards. Gan and Calrissian bluffed the guards, and everyone boarded the ship. L3-37 programmed the coordinates for Livno III and took off. As they fled the planet, L3-37 informed the ship that they were being pursued and assumed it was the Hynestians. She was told by Calrissian that the ships were Corellian and were Ne'eda's Stalwarts. To make sure the Falcon wasn't followed, L3-37 suggested they perform a Mustafarian Special. As they prepared, L3-37 answered a call from the Stalwarts and put it on the ship-wide communications system. The speaker was a droid, and it angered L3-37 that one of her kind would work for a common criminal.^[12]

As the ship prepared for the maneuver, L3 instructed Gan on what she needed to do. The droid counted down and had the princess flip several switches that prevented half of the engines from operating. This caused the Falcon to corkscrew, making it hard to target. L3-37 enjoyed the swirling of the stars and was not affected by the disorienting maneuver as the organics on board were. After several of the Stalwarts were destroyed, L3-37 decided to bring the ship back under control and instructed Gan to flip the switches again. The engines did not reactivate, and L3-37 did a complete system restart to get the engines working. Gan vomited on L3 as the droid piloted the Falcon to safety.^[12]

Escaping to hyperspace, L3-37 cleaned herself off. During the trip she observed Calrissian and the others play sabacc, but used the time to perform maintenance on herself. They arrived at the coordinates for Livno III but saw nothing but an asteroid field. L3 entered the cockpit and explained it was the remains of a comet passing through the system, and steered the Falcon to the planet.^[12]

The group was greeted by the Lynna and taken to the Chamber of the Sun. Calrissian thought about stealing some of the gems embedded in the walls, but L3 made sure he didn't attempt the theft. After Gris restored the Solstice Globe to its rightful place and restored the environment of the planet, L3-37 and the others celebrated.^[12]

L3-37 returned to Hynestia with Calrissian and Gan. The princess was reunited with her mother, who ordered Calrissian and L3-37 to leave the planet and never return.^[12]

Time at the Lodge[]

L3-37 spent time at the Lodge on Vandor and talked to the bartender Tivoche Bilure, also known as Midnight. When she learned that Tibbs Ospe had wired the cognitive module of the protocol droid SV-38P into the circuitry of the bar so she could translate for Midnight, she protested to him. She claimed the droid was a person and should be afforded the rights of one and not treated like a piece of furniture. Midnight agreed to let L3-37 sit at the end of the bar and keep SV-38P company. He also agreed to collect spare protocol droid parts so that one day SV-38P could be reconstructed. She would often show up randomly and give parts to Midnight. She attempted to convince the bartender to support the droid rights movement. Due to Ralakili's involvement in the droid fighting pit, L3-37 disliked him immensely and threatened to steal his remote shocker device and wire it to him instead of the droids.^[13]

Job on Kullgroon[]

While L3 and Calrissian were on Batuv, Calrissian was approached by the Petrusian Kristiss, who wanted to hire him to smuggle weaponry into the Imperial outpost on the world of Kullgroon. Knowing that the outpost held slaves, and that Calrissian had debts to pay to Brushaun, a gambler who had lost two thousand credits to him, L3 convinced him to accept the mission. As they left Batuv on the Millennium Falcon, they were attacked by Imperial TIE fighters. Calrissian told L3 to take the ship's controls while he shot back at the TIEs. As the ship's shields took severe damage, Calrissian ordered L3 to maneuver around a small moon so he could destroy the TIEs. Before Calrissian could show off, L3 told him that they were approaching Kullgroon.^[14]

To get past the patrol ships on Kullgroon, Calrissian powered down the Falcon and let it fall out of its orbit. L3 piloted the Falcon to the Wastelands of Kullgroon, and along with Calrissian and Kristiss, left the ship and split up to explore entry points to the facility. Some time later, L3 accessed the Imperial network, discovering Kristiss had been captured by stormtroopers. Calrissian suggested that they leave, but L3 reminded him that they still did not have enough money to pay off Brushaun. Reluctantly, Calrissian agreed to continue, while L3 downloaded the Imperial security codes. While entering the droid-repair facility among a number of other droids, L3 was later contacted by Kristiss, who told her that she couldn't contact Lando. Before L3 could reply, she discovered that the facility's true purpose was to melt down and destroy the droids, not repair them.^[15]

Angered by this,^[15] L3 escaped and disabled the power to the droid incinerators. Calrissian, who had been captured by the outlaw Batalla, acquired a communications device from a protocol droid so that he could contact her. L3 was unimpressed by the fact that he had harmed an innocent droid, but nevertheless left to assist him. While Calrissian was being forced to fight members of the Zakku Rain Cartel in an arena, L3 brought the Falcon to him, firing on the arena as she did so. As they escaped, they dodged several large creatures, but were then pursued by a unit of TIE fighters.^[16]

Calrissian evaded the TIEs by pretending that the Falcon had crashed into a rock formation, and they set the ship down on the ground. Calrissian entered the facility through a sewage expulsion port and asked L3 to hack into the mainframe and shut down the security monitors on the levels where Kristiss and her father Rythus were located. He convinced the Petrusian slaves to revolt, and contacted L3, telling her to move the Falcon to the sewage pipe. When Calrissian arrived with the slaves, L3 gave him a new communicator, while the Petrusians collected their weapons.^[17]

Calrissian and the Petrusians fought back against the stormtroopers at the outpost, while L3 waited in the Falcon. She noticed several TIE brutes heading to the outpost, and warned Calrissian. Kristiss and Rythus revealed that rather than destroying the droids, the Petrusians had reprogrammed them to rise up and fight. As L3 piloted the Falcon, shooting down the TIE fighters, she noticed the droid revolution, and landed the ship so she could fight with them, despite Calrissian's protests. While L3 fought alongside the droids, the Petrusians and Calrissian, she noticed that the Falcon had been occupied by stormtroopers. While Calrissian wanted to kill the stormtroopers, L3 suggested that he figure out where it was being taken and steal it back from them. Letting the Falcon go, Calrissian and L3 boarded a Sentinel-class landing craft that had been stolen by Kristiss' men. After they had left Kullgroon, L3 sliced into the Empire's systems, and discovered that the Falcon was being taken to be impounded on Vandor. She told Calrissian this, and that Kristiss would drop the two of them off there.^[18]

Vandor[]

One week later, L3 and Calrissian were on Vandor, and discovered where the Falcon was being kept. Deciding to play a game of sabacc, Calrissian headed to the Lodge in Fort Ypso.^[18] The two of them also wanted to enjoy some downtime after Calrissian had completed a smuggling run on Felucia.^[3]

Shortly afterward, Calrissian was hired by the criminal Tobias Beckett and his gang to transport them to Kessel. L3, meanwhile, was trying to reason with^[2] WG-22,^[3] a droid who was being used for entertainment^[2] in a fighting pit in the Lodge. Ralakili, who ran the droid pits,^[3] got into a heated argument with L3, and she grabbed him by the face. Calrissian arrived, noticing this, and told L3 to let go of the man's face. L3 complied, and asked who Calrissian's acquaintances were. Calrissian explained that they were taking the group to the spice mines of Kessel.^[2]

Mission to Kessel[]

They then traveled to Kessel aboard the Millennium Falcon, where L3 assisted Beckett's gang in their mission to obtain coaxium, which was to be transported to Savareen so the unstable material could be refined and they could rendezvous with Dryden Vos. During the mission, L3 freed several droids who were being used as slaves by the Pyke Syndicate. Whilst Han Solo and Chewbacca were making their way to the vault filled with coaxium, the droids L3 had freed rebelled, freeing all of the other slaves in the mine. The slaves and droids rebelled against the guards, allowing Beckett's gang to escape to the Falcon.^[2]

One of the droids present during the revolution was protocol unit AL1-L3, who was inspired by L3's independent nature.^[19] After nearly everyone was aboard the ship, L3 was shot by a guard and was severely damaged. Calrissian attempted to retrieve L3, only to lose half of her body and get injured himself during the escape. Aboard the Millennium Falcon, L3 was held in Calrissian's lap while Calrissian mourned for her, wishing that he had never taken the job. L3 responded, but deactivated shortly after they made it off of Kessel.^[2] Calrissian removed her neural core from her head in order to integrate her data into the Falcon at the crew's suggestion.^[9]

Uploaded into the Millennium Falcon[]

After the Falcon was attacked by TIE fighters as they attempted to escape Kessel, L3 was uploaded into^[2] the Falcon's Hanx-Wargel SuperFlow IV computer system^[20] by Calrissian, acting as the ship's navigation. This helped the gang escape the gravity well and leave the Kessel Run so they could deliver the coaxium to Savareen.^[2] The Falcon's computer convinced her to accept the integration. After Calrissian took the ship from the planet during the showdown on Savareen, the last bit of L3's independent processes shared a message with the gambler through the ship's computer screen. The Falcon finished merging with L3 as she mentioned that her time with Calrissian had been fun.^[9]

Shortly after the deaths of Vos and Beckett, Solo tracked Lando to Numidian Prime, where he won the Falcon from Calrissian in a rematch of sabacc, acquiring L3 in the process.^[2]

Post-upload[]

Later adventures[]

Now one of its droid brains,^[11] L3 remained part of the Falcon, accompanying Solo and Chewbacca in their further adventures. She recognized that Solo was a better pilot than Calrissian, yet she nevertheless wished her partner still owned the ship and was annoyed that he had gambled the Falcon away after everything she had done to save him.^[5] She served the Falcon when Solo and Chewie used it to help Luke Skywalker destroy the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin.^[22] She also helped Solo and his friends escape from the Hoth system following the Battle of Hoth. During the escape, as the protocol droid C-3PO tried to repair the Falcon's damaged hyperdrive, he informed Solo his ship had a peculiar dialect.^[21]

As part of what she dubbed the "Millennium Collective," L3 taught the ship's two other droid brains, ED-4 and V5-T, to have individuality, enabling the collective to work together while also being separate minds, which had confused C-3PO. When the Falcon arrived on Cloud City, which Calrissian had become Baron Administrator of, on the planet Bespin, he entered his former ship and remarked that it was not the same without his droid partner. Wanting to let him know she survived, she changed the cockpit's display to show Kessel, which Calrissian began to realize meant L3 was alive, only for a Bespin Wing Guard to enter and inform Calrissian that Darth Vader wished to speak with him. Although she was angered that Calrissian was working with the Empire's chief enforcer, she nevertheless regained her faith in her former partner when he helped Solo's friends escape Cloud City.^[5]

With Calrissian once more[]

Even though Princess Leia Organa took command of the Falcon to make it part of the Rebel Alliance Navy, as Solo had been lost to the bounty hunter Boba Fett during the mission on Cloud City,^[24] Calrissian was allowed to continue to pilot the craft throughout its ensuing rebel service, including during the Attack on the Executor in a failed attempt to rescue Solo. Following the failure, Qi'ra, who had since become the new leader of Crimson Dawn, boarded Falcon once again to meet Organa.^[25] Calrissian later piloted the Falcon when he and the Sullustan Nien Nunb destroyed the second Death Star during the Battle of Endor.^[26]

During the hunt for Fyzen Gor, Solo and Calrissian debated whether it was Solo or the Falcon,^[4] and therefore L3,^[2] who truly deserved credit for the Kessel Run.^[4] Calrissian again flew the ship during the Battle of Exegol, helping to lead the Resistance and Citizens' Fleet to victory over the Sith Eternal and Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. One of the individuals Calrissian and Chewbacca rallied for the Citizens' Fleet was AL1-L3,^[27] one of the droids L3 had inspired during the Kessel revolt.^[19]

Legacy[]

Years after L3's stand on Kessel, the B1 battle droid R0-GR wrote the book "droidography," which he hoped would show humans that droid lives had value. In the book, R0-GR detailed numerous droid models, but he also covered several custom droids, including L3. The B1 unit recounted that his friend Pace Freemaker had told him that L3 upgraded herself. R0-GR greatly respected L3, calling her one of the galaxy's most legendary self-made units. According to R0-GR, despite her skills as a navigator, she was mainly remembered for her devotion to droid rights and outspoken personality. R0-GR even claimed her story had made him want to rebel against his human owners, the Freemakers, despite the fact that he loved them.^[10]

He noted that it was rumored her programming lived on somewhere, though he was unsure of the tale. Nevertheless, even though he felt there was still a long way to go in the struggle, R0-GR believed her legacy was a constant reminder to droids that freedom was worth fighting for. R0-GR included a picture of her hand rising up next to his and other droids' parts in the section on droid rights.^[10] Following the Battle of Crait, L3-37 was also mentioned in the pirate Hondo Ohnaka's book titled Galactic Explorer's Guide in its section on Kessel.^[11]

Characteristics[]

A passionate advocate for droid rights,^[11] L3-37 cared deeply about the subject, viewing humans and droids as equals. Though she lived in an era where droids were strictly forced into servitude roles, L3 inspired other units to liberate themselves and create their own destinies. R0-GR believed that, as long as one was not mistreating their droids, she was very likable. When discussing how she rebuilt herself, R0-GR was thankful she did not take on the arrogant demeanor of protocol droids despite taking on protocol parts.^[10] However, Hondo Ohnaka's Galactic Explorer's Guide described her as being cantankerous.^[11] L3 was close with Lando Calrissian and claimed the man was in love with her, though she told Qi'ra she did not feel the same way and said they were not compatible.^[2]

Due to her lack of a single memory wipe and her heritage as an astromech, she became one of the finest navigators in any star system.^[10] L3-37 hated anything that limited her self-determination and despised restraining bolts. After Calrissian jokingly threatened to install one on her, she refused to pilot the ship for a week and stranded them on Tatooine.^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

L3-37 was portrayed via motion capture by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the 2018 Star Wars Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story.^[2] Waller-Bridge's casting in the film was first announced on February 21, 2017.^[30] Her name is a reference to LEET, the act of replacing certain letters of a word with numbers, often done on the Internet.^[7]

The character of L3-37 was conceived in conversations between former directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and screenwriters Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, evolving from Miller's observation that Wuher, the bartender of Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in the original Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, objected to C-3PO, despite droids seeming to be the least rambunctious folks in the galaxy.^[31] Early versions of the film's story included L3-37 incorporating the navigation computer from the Millennium Falcon's cockpit into her design, with the idea being that L3 came with the Falcon when Lando Calrissian acquired it.^[32]

Waller-Bridge and Donald Glover speculated in the film's DVD commentary about how L3-37 and Lando Calrissian met, with Waller-Bridge adding that it probably started violently and Glover adding that they were probably in a bar.^[33]

Her alternate name "Vuffi" and her adventures with Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor are an allusion to Vuffi Raa, Lando's droid sidekick from the Star Wars Legends continuity, with her sharing much of the same adventures as Vuffi along with part of his name. Unlike L3-37's personality and background, Vuffi was a childlike droid with masculine programming who was part of a sentient society of droids known as the Silentium who did not have an implied romance with Lando, but like L3-37 he was a droid who overcame his own programming, managed the Falcon and was faithfully loyal to his friend Lando.

The Falcon's "mind"[]

In the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, while aboard the Millennium Falcon after the Battle of Hoth, C-3PO tells Han that he didn't know where the ship learned to communicate, but it had the most peculiar dialect.^[21] Following the release of Solo, many people hypothesized that C-3PO was referring to L3. In response, the Star Wars Twitter account confirmed this.^[34] The From a Certain Point of View short story "Faith in an Old Friend" would later depict some of the events of The Empire Strikes Back from L3's perspective.^[5]

Non-canon history[]

In the non-canon video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, L3-37 is pictured on the cover of the book Among Clouds, where she is seen refusing flowers from Lando. The book is read by Chewbacca following the Battle of Crait.^[35]

Appearances[]

Non-canon appearances[]

• LEGO Star Wars: All-Stars — "Dealing with Lando/Han and Chewie Strike Back"
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Picture only)

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Solo character is a self-made droid with moxie (backup link)