Anakin Skywalker, a Tatooine boy, was gifted in engineering and was strong with the Force. To help his mother, Shmi, he secretly built a droid: C-3PO. In his earliest form, Threepio had no outside covering, and so appeared “?????,” with his internal parts and motors showing. When Anakin befriended a group of stranded travelers, C-3PO was introduced to R2-D2, their heroic astromech. The two quickly became a duo, though when Anakin departed Tatooine to become a Jedi, he left his droid behind.