Rugor Nass/Legends

Boss Rugor Nass was an Ankura Gungan. As he was the Boss of all the Otollo Gungans, he was also the Boss of Otoh Gunga and the Gungan High Council at the time of the Battle of Naboo. As probably all the Bosses, he was a descendant of Gallo.

Biography
Born on Naboo in the Gungan city of Otoh Gunga, Rugor Nass quickly cut a figure above his contemporaries with his warrior's spirit and unwavering determination.

A popular fable concerns his inborn leadership abilities even as early as a tadpole. He was the first to sprout legs in his collective pool, and also seemed to organize the other tadpoles and help them develop, roughly according to age.

He became famous among his people by winning the Big Nasty Free-For-All, a grueling physical challenge in the annual Gungan Festival of Warriors, an unprecedented three years in a row. By the time the elections for Top Boss came around, everybody knew who Nass was, and he won the election in a landslide.

Decked out in his finery, the new Boss was an imposing sight. His royal garments, with his mangana aqua jeweled crown, epaulets of military authority, and Otoh swirls, never fit anyone quite as well as Rugor.

Rather more conservative than the other Otollo leaders, Nass developed a reputation for stern, no-nonsense, yet fair and just leadership. Exceedingly proud of his city, Nass made unprecedented steps towards civic improvement, the most notable being the construction of the public concourse he dubbed City Bigspace. Nass even showed remarkable patience with the ever-bungling Jar Jar Binks, letting the hapless Gungan off with minor punishments for his misdeeds where most Bosses would have demanded Binks' head on a pike. However, Nass did vehemently draw the line at Binks romancing his niece Fassa, revoking a life debt she had sworn to Jar Jar on a technicallity. It was only after Jar Jar crashed Nass' personal heyblibber while trying to save it from a gas explosion he had also caused earlier that day, that Nass reached the end of his patience, although Binks' sentence was banishment under threat of death if violated, rather than instant death. For a while, Binks was gone and Boss Nass ruled Otoh Gunga in relative peace.

Boss Nass was furious when Binks not only returned, but brought with him two outlanders: the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Nass blamed the Jedi for bringing the "mecha-neeks" (his term for the Trade Federation's battle droids) that were currently ravaging the surface of Naboo en route to Theed. The Jedi argued that the Trade Federation's attack on the Naboo would adversely affect the Gungans as well, but Nass stubbornly refused to involve himself in the Naboo's problems. He then offered the Jedi a bongo submarine for their passage to Theed, not realizing that the Jedi had used the Force to sway his mind in the decision, and reluctantly waived Jar Jar's death sentence to allow him to fulfill his life-debt to Qui-Gon by being their navigator through the treacherous core of Naboo. Since even the most experienced of navigators had fallen prey to the perils of the core, Boss Nass felt secure in the knowledge that he would never see Binks or the Jedi again.

A few days later, the Trade Federation droids discovered Otoh Gunga, and Nass quickly evacuated the Gungans to their hidden Sacred Place deep in the swamps. Much to his chagrin, Binks and the Jedi showed up again, this time with the Queen of Naboo and her royal guard. The Queen, Padmé Amidala, humbled herself before Nass and pleaded for his help in fighting off the Trade Federation. Realizing that the Naboo were not as unreasonable and elitist as he had been led to believe, Nass heartily pledged his allegiance to them, combining their forces against a common threat.

Nass personally commanded the Gungan army which liberated Spinnaker and Harte Secur. They assaulted Camp 6 and freed the captured fambaas in order to use later in the upcoming battle.

During the Battle of Naboo, the Gungan Grand Army held off the bulk of the Trade Federation's droid contingent long enough for the Naboo to ambush Viceroy Nute Gunray in his palace and destroy the control ship Profiteer, rendering the droid army immobile and helpless. In the aftermath of the battle, Nass solemnly attended the funeral of Qui-Gon Jinn, and then jubilantly participated in the grand parade in which the Naboo and the Gungans made their peace after centuries of rivalry.

After the battle, Boss Nass took his plans for the betterment of the Gungans even further. Deciding that Otoh Gunga was too small to house the Gungan population, Nass emigrated some of his people to the Naboo moon Ohma-D'un. Moving Gungans out from the seas of Naboo and onto a planetiod of their own greatly improved Gungan relations with the rest of the galactic community. During the Clone Wars, the bounty hunter Durge, under orders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, poisoned Ohma-D'un, nearly wiping out the Gungan population. Fortunately, Nass and Obi-Wan Kenobi were able to find a cure, and the Gungans were saved.

Nass ruled the Gungans throughout the Clone Wars. On the eve of Palpatine's rise to absolute power and the creation of the Galactic Empire, he attended the funeral of Padmé Amidala with a heavy heart. Along with Binks, Queen Apailana, and the other Naboo and Gungans, he bid his final respects to the queen who had helped unite the Gungans and the Naboo, bringing peace and co-operation to the planet.

In 18 BBY, Nass agreed to aid Ferus Olin by lending Gungan aid to Naboo troops who attacked and destroyed the Imperial headquaters on Naboo, along with an illegal Imperial stockpile of explosives. Nass continued to fight against the Imperial occupation throughout the Emperor's reign.

During the Galactic Civil War, Nass had a daughter named Lan Lan, who became the leader of a small Rebel cell on Naboo. Resentful of the Imperial presence on Naboo, yet not strong enough of a force to drive them off, she and her followers gladly supported the actions of those would would fight against the Empire.

Behind the scenes

 * The Gungan boss was first named "Governor Nass," in the first rough version of The Phantom Menace and he spoke in normal English as the distinctive Gungan-Basic dialect had yet to be conceived.
 * The original model of Boss Nass originated from the elementary figure of Jar Jar Binks. In the initial drawings of the Gungan boss the similarity was clear cut, but the figure changed conspicuously as time went on, and his build increased. The finalized character was a hefty, thickset and striking being with a evident variation in origin from other Gungans.
 * Boss Nass was voiced by Brian Blessed in The Phantom Menace.
 * The term "nass" was first coined by DC Comics' sci-fi "Legion of Super-Heroes" in the mid-70s as a swear word roughly synonymous with either "hell" or "crap". Whether Lucas was aware of this when naming the character is unknown. It is also an adjective meaning "wet" in German&mdash;quite appropriate for an aquatic creature. Also befitting his character, and role as a ruler, "nass" means "people" in Arabic.

Appearances

 * Episode I Adventures 9: Rescue in the Core
 * Episode I Adventures 10: Festival of Warriors
 * Episode I Adventures 11: Pirates from Beyond the Sea
 * Episode I Adventures 12: The Bongo Rally
 * The Death of Captain Tarpals
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Republic: The New Face of War
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * The Gungan Frontier
 * Deep Spoilers
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * ''Empire Star Wars 20th Anniversary bonus mag