Everyone keeps talking about how Luke Skywalker doesn’t get shown in the new trailer, and besides what we believe is he bionic hand being placed on R2-D2 in one of the earlier trailers, his absence may point that his role is darker and more sinister.

In addition to Luke Skywalker returning from the Original Trilogy, we know that Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Admiral Ackbar, along with the aforementioned R2-D2 are all returning. And so too is his good buddy, and lifelong companion C-3PO.

But, as we don’t see C-3PO in the new trailers, maybe, just maybe, this protocol droid is breaking away from his programming and had turned to the Dark Side. Or maybe, he has a good reason to switch sides.

Every Star Wars fan is familiar with this bucket of bolts built by the Original Trilogy’s bad guy Darth Vader when he was the sweet and innocent Anakin Skywalker, a nine-year-old slave living on Tatooine.

And even though C-3PO would have seen Anakin as his master, we know that as young Skywalker (the original young Skywalker, in chronological terms that is) turned from being a good Jedi to becoming an evil Sith Lord, he soon parted ways with everyone from his past except for Sheev Palpatine otherwise known as Senator Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Sidious (yes, with that many aliases, he was bound to be a bad guy, right? #IdentityFraud).

There’s a scene in Return of the Jedi where Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke that his father is “more machine now than man…” and that “his mind is twisted and evil.” It’s a reference to the fact that after the lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the latter then already taking on the Vader persona, Kenobi severs the limbs of the newly turned Sith and leaves him to die by the side of a river of lava, with the Emperor finding him and taking him to be fitted with his mechanical limbs in the life support suit that we’re accustomed to Darth Vader wearing.

It is alluded to in Return of the Jedi that Luke’s new prosthetic hand which he gets at the end of The Empire Strikes Back is just the beginning of him becoming like his father. After he severs Darth Vader’s hand and the Emperor says “now fulfil your destiny, and take your father’s place at my side,” Luke looks are his gloved mechanical hand and then looks at the wires inside the end of the severed wrist of his father and makes the connection.

But, is that enough? Is getting a mechanical hand or mechanical limbs enough to make you less of who you were as a good guy, and someone who mind is evil and twisted? Maybe it is.

Have you seen the new Duracell Christmas advertisement? The one that stars our lovable droids. If not, take a look. I have embedded it for your viewing pleasure.

The story continues after this advert, but please note, this is not a sponsored post for Duracell and I actually prefer Energizer.

Did you see it? C-3PO’s left arm and hand has been replaced by a red arm and hand. I noticed it on the action figure at the toy store the other day. Here’s a screen shot in case you missed it or you couldn’t watch the video.

Look at him with that replacement arm. Okay, sure, you couldn’t exactly say that with this new mechanical arm and hand he’s more machine now than man, but you know what? He IS a machine. Always was, and always will be (unless he tries that trick that Robin Williams’ robot did in Bicentennial Man and turns himself into a human).

But I have a feeling that the reason that we don’t see him in the first official trailer, nor the second one, or even the third one is because he’s joined the Dark Side, possibly along with Luke.

And maybe it’s not just our golden friend who has switched his allegiance along with his maker’s son. There’s a scene in the trailers where Luke places his hand on R2-D2, possibly using the Force to and his Jedi mind tricks (or, if the rumours are true, his Sith mind tricks) to reprogramme the little droid to forget about being part of the Rebel Alliance or Resistance as it’s now called in the new movie.

And why wouldn’t R2-D2 and C-3PO want to leave the Light Side and join the Dark Side? I mean, both of them are on the outer now that a new even more fun droid is taking their place.

Enter BB-8.

Now that “he” has entered the scene and taken the love away from R2-D2 and C-3PO, for them to continue to be useful, and for them to obey their real true master, the guy who purchased them from the Jawas in A New Hope, if Luke is switching side, they must switch sides too.

So what do you think? Will R2-D2 and C-3PO become part of the Dark Side?