R2-D2 was first designed to serve the Royal House of Naboo. The royal mechanics gave all astromechs, including R2, special upgrades, including magnetized treads and booster rockets. R2 was the first to discover that if he used all his fuel in a single take off, he could "fly" over the planet, rather than in weightless space, as was intended. The other Astromechs caught on quick and R2 became known as a trouble maker. Under King Veruna, R2 was a plug-in for the N-1 Starfighters Bravo Squadron used in space missions. R2 flew on missions across the galaxy. Following Veruna's abdication, R2 became a maintainence and repair unit on the Queen's Royal Starship. During Queen Amidala's escape from Naboo during the Trade Federation's invasion, the ship's power coupling was damaged and 5 astromechs, including R2, were sent to repair it. R2 was the only one to survive, saving the lives of all on board. He accompanied the Queen to Tatooine, where he met a custom-built protocol droid named C-3PO. During this brief encounter, they became friends. During the Battle of Naboo, Artoo and young Anakin Skywalker, who had snuck on board an N-1 Starfighter, flew into space and destroyed the Trade Federation control ship, winning the Battle. R2-D2 stayed in the service of Padmé Amidala, even after she finished her term as Queen and became a senator. He accompanied Amidala and Anakin Skywalker to the planet of Tatooine when she was fleeing assassination attempts and was once again reunited with C-3PO. They voyaged to the nearby planet of Geonosis to rescue Anakin's Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. There, R2 saved Padmé's life when a vat of molten metal nearly poured on top of her. He later served in the Battle of Geonosis, fixing C-3PO, who had had his head switched with that of a battle droid in a very confusing incidant. He was also present at Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala's wedding ceremony. During the Clone Wars, he served to protect the Senator as she stayed hidden on the planet Ilum. After the death of Amidala and Anakin's fall to the dark side, he and C-3PO fell into the possession of many careless owners, who stripped him of some of his royal upgrades, including his booster rockets, to make room for pointless additions, like laser pointers and underwater propellors. They did find a few responsible owners, such as the speeder pilots Jord Dusat and Thall Joben. Joben's speeder had an astromech compartment and R2 rode with him through his victory in the Boonta speeder race. The droids went through many more owners and had many other owners and had many other jobs, including one in which R2 fell in love with KT-10, a small pink astromech droid. Through the years, C-3PO and R2-D2 eventually fell into the service of the Royal House of Alderaan. They were on board Princess Leia Organa's ship, the Tantive V, when it was attacked by Imperial Forces. At the last minute before they were boarded, Leia uploaded the plans for the Empire's battle station, the Death Star and a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2 and 3PO took an escape pod down to the planet of Tatooine (R2 and 3PO no longer remembered the planet, as their memories had been wiped since then). They were captured by Jawas, small rodent-like beings who scavenged the desert picking up droids and a equipment that was abandoned out there. The Jawas stopped by at the moisture farm owned by Owen Lars, who had expressed interest in purchasing maintainence and protocal droids. He purchased 3PO and a red unit named R5-D4. R2 tried to go with 3PO, but he was restrained. However, when R5's motivator blew, Lars changed his mind and traded in the faulty robot for R2. The two droids quickly befriended Owen's nephew, Luke Skywalker. R2 let him run across part of the princess's recording. He tricked him into believing that removing his restraining bolt would allow him to play the whole message. With the bolt removed, he escaped and set off to find Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke and 3PO came looking for him. Before they could take him back, they ran into Tusken Raiders. Luke and 3PO were both badly injured before the Tuskens were scared away. It turned out to be Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi himself who saved them. He brought them back to his hut, where Luke and 3PO recovered. After seeing the message, they went to Mos Eisley to hire a pilot to take them to Alderaan. This all led up to a culmination at Yavin 4, where R2 flew with Luke in the Battle of Yavin, which the Rebel Allience was able to win because of the plans R2 was able to deliver to them. He stayed with the Alliance until shortly after the Battle of Hoth, when he and Skywalker went to Dagobah so that Luke could further train to become a Jedi under the Jedi Master Yoda. However, when he received a vision of the future, in which Leia and Captian Han Solo were being tortured by Imperials, they went to Bespin to try to prevent this from happening. By the time they got there, Solo had already been incased in carbonite. Skywalker went on to face Darth Vader and R2 helped the others flee Bespin. In the years that followed, R2 performed many difficult tasks for the Alliance, including having to pilot the Millenium Falcon while escaping the crimelord Prince Xizor. During the Han Solo rescue, R2 and 3PO were sent to Jabba the Hutt's Palace to announce that Luke Skywalker would be coming to negotiate with the crimelord. However, the same message stated that the droids now belonged to Jabba. When Luke came to the palace, he was captured to be executed on board Jabba's Sail Barge. R2 served the drinks during the rescue, but had already cooked up a plan with Skywalker. Before they were to be executed, R2 shot Luke's lightsaber to him from a secret compartment. Skywalker was able to rescue Solo and kill all of Jabba's henchmen. He was also among the ground crew during the Battle of Endor. After the Battle of Endor, he and Luke became a part of Rogue Squadron. It was during the reborn Emperor's Campaign that he and Luke were captured and brought before the cloned Palpatine himself. The Emperor turned Luke to the darkside, but even as the pilot knelt at Palpatine's feet, he made it a point to load the command codes for his World Devastators into R2's memory. The droid returned to the New Republic and delivered them the information. During the Battle of Mon Calamari, the Emperor was killed, the Devastators destroyed, and Luke once again walked the light path. When Luke started his Jedi Academy, R2-D2 became his personal assistance droid, rarely seeing C-3PO. On one of those rare occasions, they proved instrumental in the quelling of the Almanian New Rebellion. During the Yuuzahn Vong invasion, R2 and 3PO stayed out of the spotlight since the invaders hated droids with a passion. They did however collaborate on a holo-documentary in commemoration of Chewbacca, a friend of the droids who had died in one of the early battles of the invasion. Now, with the Vongs defeated and the Imperial Remnant under control, it is difficult to imagine what will happen to the duo.