BD-1

This article is about the droid who adventured with Cal Kestis. You may be looking for the BD unit who served with Peli Motto or the BD-1 Cutter vibro-ax.

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"Hope will always survive in those who continue to fight. Like you, BD-1. I believe you will find someone just as brave and persistent as you have been."

―Eno Cordova, to BD-1^[4]

BD-1 was a BD explorer droid that accompanied Jedi Master Eno Cordova during the last years of the Galactic Republic. Following Order 66 and the rise of the Galactic Empire, the droid befriended Cal Kestis, a former Padawan who endeavored to rebuild the fallen Jedi Order.

Biography

The BD explorer droid^[2] designated BD-1 was an exploration droid. Prior to the end of the Galactic Republic's reign, the programmed droid accompanied Jedi Master Eno Cordova on the Jedi's journey to explore the history of the Zeffo. Cordova later realized that they were in danger, and programmed BD-1's memory to be blocked, only revealed by someone the droid trusted.^[4]

BD-1 then remained on Bogano in the vicinity of the Zeffo Vault until^[4] 14 BBY,^[6] when the Padawan Cal Kestis, a survivor of Order 66, arrived on the planet at the behest of Cere Junda in order to find a holocron key to rebuilding the Jedi Order. Kestis quickly gained the support of BD-1, and they entered the vault. Along the way, the droid's scomp link was broken by the local wildlife. Unable to unlock the deepest reaches, Kestis took the droid back to his starship and crew, the Stinger Mantis.^[4]

They then traveled to other worlds on their quest to uncover the secrets of the Vault and that of the Zeffo. BD-1 scanned other Zeffo artifacts, showing recordings of Cordova to Kestis. When they were confronted on Zeffo by the Second Sister, BD-1 activated a force field between the combatants, saving Kestis' life. During their journey, Kestis upgraded BD-1 with several different gadgets to assist them, and also repaired the scomp link.^[4]

During their exploration of Zeffo, Kestis was stunned by a Haxion Brood droid bounty hunter, and both he and BD-1 were imprisoned on Ordo Eris. Kestis broke them both out, and they were rescued by the Mantis.^[4]

CalKestis BD1 EnoCordova BoganoVault JFO

Following a Force vision on Dathomir that left the Jedi's lightsaber damaged, they traveled to Ilum for a new kyber crystal. After battling Imperial forces guarding the cave, Kestis finally acquired a new crystal, only for it to break in his hands. The Padawan almost gave in to despair, but with BD-1's support, rallied and completed his new lightsaber. BD-1 was then able to unlock his memory, showing the recording of Cordova.^[4]

Kestis then returned to Bogano and gathered the holocron, but it was stolen by the Second Sister, and the Mantis crew followed her to the Fortress Inquisitorius. BD-1 traveled underwater with Kestis to the fortress. They recovered the holocron, but were confronted by Darth Vader. The droid charged the Sith Lord and delivered a shock, but Vader shrugged it off. They only escaped by breaking the tunnel and escaping in the onrush of water. Once back aboard their ship, Kestis decided to destroy the holocron to prevent the Galactic Empire from finding the young Force-sensitives, and then asked the crew of their next destination.^[4]

BD-1 continued to accompany Kestis on his adventures. On Coruscant, Kestis was on a mission to retrieve military intel from Daho Sejan yacht, and BD-1 assisted in hijacking the yacht and freeing Kestis from his stuncuffs. BD-1 then accompanied Kestis to Koboh, where the droid accidentally discovered the Chamber of Duality, kicking off Kestis' quest to reach Tanalorr. On Koboh, BD-1 acquired the ability to fire Koboh matter as well as Electro darts. Kestis eventually traveled to The Archive on Jedha, where BD-1 was reunited with Cordova. However, Bode Akuna later betrayed Cordova, killing him with a blaster. Enraged, BD-1 rushed towards Akuna, but Kestis grabbed the droid, and narrowly avoided an explosion which would have likely destroyed BD-1. After Kestis' mission for Tanalorr was complete, BD-1 continued to accompany Kestis.^[5]

Characteristics

As a BD unit, BD-1 was bipedal, and had white plating with black sensors.^[4] Designed to assist with exploration in remote and dangerous locations, BD-1 was enthusiastic about research and data collection, but often disregarded self-preservation.^[2]

Equipment

"The scomp link is busted, but this should get you moving for now."

―Cal Kestis^[4]

BD-1 was equipped with various tools, including a healing stim dispenser, a thruster for hovering but not flying, a spotlight, a holoprojector, and a scomp link. During his travels with Cal Kestis, BD-1 was upgraded with a transformer to control Imperial machines, two processing devices to hack probe droids and KX-series security droids, and a motor to carry Kestis up zip-lines.^[4] BD-1 later gained the ability to fire Koboh matter and electro darts on Koboh.^[5]

Behind the scenes

Milestones

"He's your best pal, and he's kind of going to experience the entire story with you, every step of the way."

―Narrative Lead Aaron Contreras, on BD-1^[7]

BD-1 was created for the 2019 video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, developed by Respawn Entertainment.^[4] The droid was first revealed at the panel for Fallen Order at Celebration Chicago on April 13, 2019, which was subsequently covered in an article on StarWars.com.^[8] The "BD" in the droid's name was derived from "Buddy Droid," Respawn's internal nickname for the character. Sound designer Ben Burtt provided the audio for BD-1's voice.^[9]

On November 12, 2019, the Star Wars Legends massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic announced RE-1, a droid mini-pet for players that was inspired by BD-1 and the then-upcoming release of Fallen Order. RE-1 was derived from a piece of Lamarre-Wan's early concept art for BD-1 in order to ensure that its design was influenced by Fallen Order's character while also fitting within the Old Republic era.^[10] An additional droid based on BD-1, the JR-4 Recon Droid, was released for the game in 2023 to celebrate the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.^[11]

Development

The design process for BD-1 took over two years, during which Respawn worked closely with Lucasfilm to determine his appearance, personality, and functionality. Initially, they were determined to pair Kestis with a droid, but had not settled on the nature of the character. They raised the possibility of giving BD-1 actual dialogue, though the final design instead utilized beeps to produce emotional cues.^[12] The development team researched other iconic droids in the Star Wars franchise, such as BB-8 and R2-D2. Initial designs drew inspiration from familiar objects, such as appliances. Narrative lead Aaron Contreras based BD-1 on his own dog,^[13] while other inspirations included the characters of Snoopy and Woodstock, created by Charles Schulz.^[12]

In the initial design phase, BD-1 was instead a kitbashed booster repair droid with large thrusters and welding arms, and could provide a boost to extend the player's jumps. His design was later distilled around his essential functions^[14] and the purpose he served in the game,^[7] scanning and creating a database, which resulted in his large lens eye and holoprojector. Early designs for Cal Kestis featured a backpack which was meant to be a retrofitted carrier and charging base for BD-1.^[14] Concept art for numerous designs was created by Jordan Lamarre-Wan.^[14] Some earlier concepts included features reminiscent of R2-D2, with a large central eye, while others appeared more menacing.^[15] BD-1's final design was a mix between the bipedal stance and head-to-body proportions of a bird with the loyalty and friendliness of a dog. His vacuum-formed shapes drew inspiration from electrobinoculars, while his legs are based on those of an R2 unit and his default color pattern and heat sink are similar to that of a snowspeeder.^[14]

BD-1 also had to be small enough to ensure he would not be in the way during combat and exploration.^[16] In order to allow dialogue and interaction with BD-1, the developers created the droid to emote with his head and antennae. BD-1 climbing onto the player's back was pulled from Luke Skywalker carrying Yoda during his training in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.^[17] When Cameron Monaghan was performing motion capture for Cal Kestis, a physical BD-1 prop was occasionally used to track the droid's movements on Monaghan's back.^[13]

BD-1 shares traits with BT-7274, the deuteragonist of Titanfall 2, another title developed by Respawn Entertainment. Both are the mechanical companions of player characters, Cal Kestis for Jedi: Fallen Order, and Jack Cooper in Titanfall 2. Their similar name schemes, BD and BT, are short for both "Buddy Droid" and "Buddy Titan" respectively.^[18]

Gameplay

In Fallen Order, BD-1 is responsible for numerous gameplay functions; healing the player, manipulating doors and other technology, acting as a flashlight in darkened areas, and scanning objects or the environment to add entries to the in-game databank. The player can unlock and upgrade abilities for BD-1 over the course of the gameplay.^[4]

Non-canon history

The 2022 LEGO Star Wars set "75335 BD-1" stated that BD-1's manufacturer was Behold-Urwar Droid Concepts and that he had a height of 0.43 meters.^[19]