R5-D8

«Ah. Red Six. Tough call sign. We lost a Red Six at the first Death Star battle, too. Jek Porkins, and R5-D8.»

―R2-D2, to BB-8^[4]

R5-D8 was an R5 series astromech droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton that served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Massassi Group during the Galactic Civil War. In 0 BBY, it flew with Rebel pilot Jek Porkins as Red Six during the Battle of Yavin. R5-D8 was destroyed during the battle when Porkins' X-wing starfighter was blown to pieces by enemy fire.

Biography[]

R5-D8^[5] was the designation of an R5 unit that served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. It was part of the rebel^[2] Massassi Group^[6] based in the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4 and flew in a T-65B X-wing starfighter with Rebel pilot Jek Porkins as Red Six in Red Squadron.^[2]

In 0 BBY,^[1] the Empire's Death Star superweapon entered the Yavin system with the aim of destroying Yavin 4 and the rebels based there. R5-D8 and the rest of Red Squadron were part of the force mobilized to try and destroy the Death Star. During the battle they engaged the turbolaser turrets on the superweapon's surface in order to draw fire from the BTL-A4 Y-wing starfighters of Gold Squadron.^[2]

Roasted Porkins — R5-D8 perished during the Battle of Yavin.

After R5-D8 and Porkins provided cover for fellow rebel Biggs Darklighter as he destroyed a deflection tower on the Death Star's surface,^[2] the pair's X-wing developed a mechanical fault that left Porkins struggling to maneuver. Before R5-D8 or Porkins could fix the problem,^[7] they both perished when their X-wing starfighter was destroyed by enemy fire. The rebels ultimately destroyed the Death Star and won the battle.^[2] Around thirty four years later,^[8] the astromech R2-D2, who had flown with Luke Skywalker as Red Five at Yavin, remembered R5-D8's sacrifice and told the Resistance astromech BB-8 about the droid.^[4]

Description[]

R5-D8 was an R5 unit astromech droid with white plating detailed with red.^[2] Like all R5 units, it was manufactured by Industrial Automaton and stood ninety-seven centimeters tall.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

R5-D8 first appeared as a prop in the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.^[2] The character's name was first confirmed to be canon in the 2015 video game LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens.^[5] Despite the game being non-canon, Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group confirmed that the names provided by the game, which included R5-D8, were considered canon.^[9]

The name originated in Star Wars Legends, where it was first used in 2000 in a "Force File" included with a Jek Porkins action figure released by Hasbro Inc. as part of the Star Wars: Power of the Jedi line.^[10]