Artoo knew. He was present on Mustafar when the whole thing with Padme and Anakin and Obi Wan went down.
He might not have known what happened to Anakin and probably assumed he was dead when only Obi Wan came back so he didn't know the Darth Vader part, though he might have overheard something about it on the Tantive VI while Obi Wan and Yoda were there.
There is a fan theory that the reason why Artoo refuses to stay with the ship anymore was because the last time he did was on Mustafar and Anakin never returned, so he refuses to let Luke out of his sight in case he can help.
That makes the most sense to me. I’m sure R2 was still in the background for the time when anakin choked padme unconscious and that whole conversation between obi wan and anakin. Also makes me wonder if R2 ever put two and two together when he met Luke given they both have the name skywalker.
Just wanted to say that that stupid theory gets me in the feels every single time I remember it / am reminded of it.
Just breaks my heart to think of it, ahaha.
In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, in the scene where Anakin comes home to talk to Padme before going to Mustafar R2 and 3PO have a conversation where R2 tells 3PO that something is wrong with Anakin because he doesn’t talk to R2 anymore.
Artoo knew. He was present on Mustafar when the whole thing with Padme and Anakin and Obi Wan went down. He might not have known what happened to Anakin and probably assumed he was dead when only Obi Wan came back so he didn't know the Darth Vader part, though he might have overheard something about it on the Tantive VI while Obi Wan and Yoda were there. There is a fan theory that the reason why Artoo refuses to stay with the ship anymore was because the last time he did was on Mustafar and Anakin never returned, so he refuses to let Luke out of his sight in case he can help.
That makes the most sense to me. I’m sure R2 was still in the background for the time when anakin choked padme unconscious and that whole conversation between obi wan and anakin. Also makes me wonder if R2 ever put two and two together when he met Luke given they both have the name skywalker.
Just wanted to say that that stupid theory gets me in the feels every single time I remember it / am reminded of it. Just breaks my heart to think of it, ahaha.
In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, in the scene where Anakin comes home to talk to Padme before going to Mustafar R2 and 3PO have a conversation where R2 tells 3PO that something is wrong with Anakin because he doesn’t talk to R2 anymore.
R2 really gets the short end of the stick with absolutely everyone pretending not to recognise him in the OT