Rune Haako/Legends

"We should not have made this bargain."

- Rune Haako

Rune Haako was the Settlement Officer of the Trade Federation, as well as the Neimoidian lieutenant to Viceroy Nute Gunray in the years before and up to the end of the Clone Wars.

He was Gunray's advisor during the Blockade of Naboo, and often offered sage and cautious advice to the Viceroy. Despite being arrested shortly after the Battle of Naboo, Haako was, like Gunray, found "not guilty" of the charges laid against him, and continued to serve the Trade Federation, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems throughout the Clone Wars. His death occurred mere hours before the war ended.

Haako was significantly more paranoid than Gunray, and almost twice as pessimistic, but he provided sound advice to the often panic-stricken Viceroy, and often prevented a bad situation becoming worse.

Early career
Haako was promoted to his position after fellow Neimoidian Hath Monchar betrayed the Trade Federation. He served as the Trade Federation Settlement Officer, meaning that his primary duties were to act as a diplomatic attaché and legal counsel to the viceroy. He was widely known for his jurisprudential acumen, but when confronted with real threats, he reacted with typical pessimism.

Invasion of Naboo (32 BBY)
"We will not survive this!"

- Rune Haako to Nute Gunray



Haako was at Viceroy Nute Gunray's side when the Trade Federation decided to blockade the peaceful planet of Naboo, as a response to the taxation of certain trade routes. He was one of the few people, besides Gunray and Daultay Dofine, who knew that the Sith Lord Darth Sidious was the one who had ordered the blockade. Haako was, like Gunray, cautious of Sidious, and later lamented his superior's choice to "bargain" with the Sith. When the Galactic Republic dispatched two Jedi ambassadors, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to settle the dispute, Gunray panicked when they arrived on Saak'ak, and contacted Sidious via hologram. Much to the Neimoidian's surprise, Sidious ordered the execution of the Jedi, and the Invasion of Naboo. Gunray dispatched a squad of B1 battle droids to kill the Jedi; an action that Haako predicted would be ineffective. In addition, Gunray had toxic gas leaked into the conference room in which the Jedi were waiting, and had their ship, Radiant VII destroyed. Haako was not surprised when the Jedi survived Gunray's attempts, and proceeded to remind Gunray of his encounters with them during the Stark Hyperspace War. Gunray promptly ordered droidekas to the bridge, forcing the Jedi to make an escape.

Gunray was then contacted by Queen Amidala, who assured Gunray that the blockade would not last much longer. Haako was fearful that she suspected the impending attack, and suspected that she might try to contact Coruscant. Gunray promptly ordered OOM-9, the invasion forces' commander, to attack the small towns of New Centrif, Parrlay, and Vis. The attacks disrupted all interplanetary communications to and from Naboo.

Shortly after, OOM-9 won the First Battle of Theed, and captured the Queen. Gunray and Haako visited the Theed Royal Palace, savoring their victory. They returned to Saak'ak, and received the news that the Queen had escaped with the aid of the Jedi that they had failed to destroy earlier. This failure incurred the wrath of Sidious, who appeared to be extremely displeased. Sidious revealed his apprentice, Darth Maul, the killer of Haako's predecessor, Hath Monchar. Sidious assured Gunray and Haako that Maul would find their "lost ship". Whether or not the sight of Maul was meant to be a veiled threat, Gunray and Haako were shaken. When the holo-conference was over, Haako expressed his fears about their alliance with the Sith to Gunray.



The Neimoidians moved to the Royal Palace, making it their permanent residence during the occupation of the planet. Gunray ordered OOM-9 to eliminate the Gungans that he had heard rumors about, in order to fully and effectively control the planet. With the help of Darth Maul, Federation forces attacked and routed the Gungan Grand Army at Lake Paonga. OOM-9 only partially completed his goal, an oversight that would soon come back to haunt Haako and the Federation.

Defeat on Naboo and arrest
The Queen eventually returned to Naboo, a move that not only surprised Haako and Gunray, but Sidious as well. OOM-9 and Darth Maul's previous attempts to destroy the Gungans had obviously not been a total success, as the Queen contact the survivors and raised a Gungan army. Through an elaborate plan, she was able to have the droid armies deactivated, and Gunray and Haako captured, in a stunning reverse coup. When the Battle of Naboo was concluded, Haako was captured along with Gunray, and the two were transported to Coruscant for trial. After several trials, however, Gunray was never formally punished for the Naboo incident and maintained control over the Trade Federation; Haako was also shielded from any convictions due to control wielded over the courts by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was in fact secretly Darth Sidious.

Clone Wars (22 BBY–19 BBY)


Haako would later serve at Gunray's side in the Confederacy of Independent Systems throughout the Clone Wars. He went with Gunray to the Separatist summit on Geonosis, and viewed the opening stages of the Battle of Geonosis directly from Petranaki arena, when an army of Jedi Knights and Republic clone troopers invaded the planet. Retreating with Gunray into the CIS war room, Haako advised the Viceroy that they should flee the planet. The pair then escaped aboard Gunray's shuttle, Lapiz Cutter, to the orbiting Federation fleet. "We must get the starships back into space!"

- Rune Haako to Nute Gunray

In the final days of the war, Rune Haako's forgetfulness was responsible for the Jedi's acquisition of Gunray's mechno-chair, which was equipped with a holotranceiver used by Darth Sidious to communicate via hologram to Viceroy Gunray, during the First Battle of Cato Neimoidia. The chair also contained intelligence capable of leading the Jedi toward finding Darth Sidious. However, Haako was never truly punished for this misdeed&mdash;he was merely chastised by Gunray, as their evasion of the Republic forces was a clear priority at the time.

Endgame


After General Grievous's failed attempts to capture the Supreme Chancellor at Coruscant, the Separatists began to retreat to the Outer Rim. They were moved to Utapau, where they were kept in check by Grievous, now Head of State of the CIS. Sidious, through Grievous, ordered the Separatist Council to re-locate to Mustafar. Haako and the other Separatist leaders were sent to the lava planet to orchestrate their armies' operations from there. When Grievous was killed on Utapau by General Kenobi, the very same Jedi who had been a thorn in the Federation's side 13 years ago, Gunray became the de facto head of the CIS. Sidious contacted Gunray, for the final time, and assured him that he would be "taken care of" by his new apprentice. When Darth Vader, was sent to kill the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, Rune Haako was present and pleaded with Vader for mercy. As Vader killed Poggle the Lesser and Rute Gunnay, Haako retreated into the conference room of the complex. Vader merely strode in, and, blue lightsaber and yellow eyes flashing, struck Haako down.

Post-mortem
Simultaneously with the deaths of Haako and the rest of the Separatist Council, the Declaration of a New Order was made, and Vader shut down the Separatist armies, ending the Clone Wars. It is assumed that Haako's body was recovered along with Gunray's, taken back to Cato Neimoidia, and given a proper funeral.

Personality and traits
Haako was a typical Neimoidian&mdash;constantly paranoid and devoutly greedy. He was less brash than his superior, Nute Gunray, who would often jump to conclusions and act before thinking. Haako's advice would often help avoid or save a "situation" from occurring, and his constant warnings helped keep Gunray in check. Haako was also persistently pessimistic, and ever fearful of the Sith, possibly more so than Gunray. It is possible that Haako's personality grated on Sidious, who always looked to the day that he could be rid of the Neimoidians.

Rune was known as a skilled manipulator, who was at his best at a conference table. This is more than likely why Gunray trusted his advice when dealing with the stubborn Queen Amidala. It is not known whether Haako had any political ambitions or not.

Haako also walked with a slight limp&mdash;perhaps a left-over from the encounter with the Jedi that he mentioned during the Blockade of Naboo.

Behind the scenes



 * Rune Haako was played by Jerome Blake and voiced by James Taylor in The Phantom Menace. In Attack of the Clones he was played by an uncredited David Healey and voiced by Christopher Truswell (despite an error in the credits saying he is Lott Dod and is played by Alan Ruscoe), and played by Sandy Thompson in Revenge of the Sith. He was voiced by Hamilton Camp in the game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.


 * In the Revenge of the Sith video game, Rune Haako dies when he is cornered by Vader. "I beg you for mercy," he pleaded. "You won't kill me. It's not allowed, for a Jedi Knight." Vader replied, "There is much you fail to understand," before killing him.


 * In the Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation, Haako appears in his The Phantom Menace costume, unlike in the film.


 * Haako's death is never shown on screen; however, Ben Burtt's editing leads the viewer to believe that he is the Neimoidian struck down shortly after we see the close-up of Haako shouting "Stop! No!". On closer inspection, the Neimoidian struck down is in fact Rute Gunnay, and Haako's body can later be found in the conference room.

Confusion over Attack of the Clones appearance
Rune Haako's mask was lost shortly after The Phantom Menace finished filming. The production crew gave Daultay Dofine's mask to David Healey instead, and for a time it was thought that this "new" Neimoidian would become a separate character, and he was given the name Gilramos Libkath, after Gillian Libbert and Kathryn Ramos. However, despite being called Gilramos Libkath in Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary and being credited as Lott Dod in the credits of the movie, the official LFL explanation, as stated by Leland Chee, is that it is in fact Haako, despite his different appearance and much deeper voice than in The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary also establishes Haako being at Geonosis, not Libkath. However, this did not stop Libkath from being established as a different character that looks and dresses similar to Haako in Attack of the Clones. To add to confusion, the official site's Databank claims that Haako appears in only Episodes I and III, supporting the Libkath theory.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 14:9:15 Edition in Star Wars Insider 71
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241