Rune Haako/Legends

"We should not have made this bargain."

- Rune Haako

Rune Haako was a male Neimoidian and the Settlement Officer of the Trade Federation, as well as a lieutenant to Viceroy Nute Gunray in the years leading up to and through 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 when tried by the Supreme Court, and continued to serve the Trade Federation and the Confederacy of Independent Systems throughout the Clone Wars. His death occurred mere minutes before the war officially ended.

Haako was significantly more paranoid than Gunray and more pessimistic; however, he was able to provide sound advice to the often panic-stricken Viceroy, and often prevented a bad situation from 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 the sort of pessimism that was typical of his species.

Invasion of Naboo (32 BBY)
"I want droidekas up here at once!" "We will not survive this&hellip;"

- Nute Gunray and Rune Haako



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 devised the idea of the blockade. Haako was, like Gunray, cautious of Sidious, and later lamented his superior's choice to "bargain" with the Sith Lord. 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 his flagship at the time, the Saak'ak, and contacted Sidious via hologram. Much to the Neimoidian's surprise, Sidious ordered the execution of the Jedi and the commencement of the invasion of Naboo. Gunray dispatched a squad of B1 battle droids to kill the Jedi even as he filled their waiting room with poison gas and had their Consular-class cruiser, the Radiant VII, destroyed; these were actions that, as Haako predicted, would prove to be ineffective. Haako was not surprised when the Jedi survived Gunray's assassination attempts which included sending droidekas after the Jedi, and proceeded to inadvertently remind Gunray of his encounters with them during the Stark Hyperspace War.

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 thereafter, OOM-9 won the First Battle of Theed and captured the Queen. Gunray and Haako visited the Theed Royal Palace, savoring their victory. Upon their return to the Saak'ak, the two officers received news that the Queen had escaped the planet with the aid of the Jedi that they had earlier failed to destroy. 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 or if it was perceived as such, Gunray and Haako were both badly shaken. When the holo-conference was over, Haako expressed his fears about their alliance with the Sith to Gunray.



The Neimoidians then 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 more fully and effectively control the planet. With the help of Darth Maul, Federation forces attacked and routed the Gungan Grand Army at Lake Paonga. However, 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 contacted 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 d'etat. 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)
"This is not looking good at all!" "We must get the starships back into space."

- Nute Gunray and Rune Haako

Haako would later serve at Gunray's side within the leadership of 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.



After the Battle of Geonosis, Haako continued to follow Gunray everywhere, and was present with the viceroy in Koto-Si on Neimoidia.

In the final days of the war, Rune Haako's forgetfulness was responsible for the Jedi Order's acquisition of Gunray's mechno-chair, which had been equipped with a holotranceiver that contained the communications signals and codes that was 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, although they did fear that Grievous would find out, which he did.

Endgame
"Stop! No!"

- Haako's last words



After General Grievous's failed attempts to capture the Supreme Chancellor at Coruscant, the Separatists began to retreat to the Outer Rim. They were first moved to Utapau, where they were kept in check by Grievous, now Head of State of the CIS. Sidious, through Grievous, then ordered the Separatist Council to relocate to Mustafar. Haako and the other Separatist leaders were sent to the lava planet to orchestrate their armies' operations and eventual shutdown 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 thirteen years prior, Gunray became the de facto head of the CIS. Sidious contacted Gunray one final time, assuring him and the rest of the Council that they 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 futilely demanded that Vader stop the slaughter. As Vader killed Poggle the Lesser and Rute Gunnay, Haako retreated into the conference room of the complex with Wat Tambor. Vader strode in and struck Haako down, ignoring his pleas.

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 without thinking. Haako's advice would often help avoid or save a "situation" from occurring or getting out of hand, 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 was possible that Haako's personality grated on Sidious, who always looked forward to the day that he could be rid of the Neimoidians. By the end of the Clone Wars, Rune appeared to be somewhat more courageous compared to most Neimoidians, as he tried to order Vader to stop his massacre of the Separatist leaders, rather than blubber mercy pleas like the other council members.

Rune was also known to be a skilled manipulator, who was at his best when sitting at a conference table conducting negotiations. This was more than likely why Gunray trusted his advice when dealing with the stubborn Queen Amidala. It was not known whether Haako had any political ambitions of his own.

At some stage in his early life, Haako was struck with palsy. It effectively crippled his left arm and leg, leaving them virtually useless. Haako would continue to limp until 32 BBY, but the ailment was clearly gone by 22 BBY. Whether this had anything to do with his radical facial restructuring was unknown.

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.

In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Rune Haako falls over and attempts to scurry away from Vader, surrendering and saying that its not allowed for a Jedi to kill an unarmed enemy. Vader casually replies "You fought a war to destroy the Jedi, congratulations on your success" before stabbing Haako through the face.

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 the confusion, the official site's Databank claims that Haako appears in only Episodes I and III, supporting the Libkath theory.

It should also be noted that the Attack of the Clones Neimoidian wears a purple drape similar to the supreme representative mantle worn by Lott Dod in The Phantom Menace. Since there is no mention of Haako becoming a Senator between the two movies (and lacks the garb in Revenge of the Sith), this would appear to support the "Lott Dod with a facelift" theory.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Episode I Adventures 1: Search for the Lost Jedi
 * Episode I Adventures 2: The Bartokk Assassins
 * Episode I: Anakin Skywalker
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 14:10:05 Edition
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24