Ruwee Naberrie

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"I wonder who she got her work ethic from."
"Are you saying it's our fault?"
"We had her on aid missions when she was seven. I just feel that might have contributed to her calling."
"I suppose you're right, my love."

―Jobal and Ruwee shortly before Amidala became queen of Naboo^[4]

Ruwee Naberrie was a human male and a member of the Naberrie family. He was the father of Sola Naberrie and Padmé Amidala. During his lifetime, his strongest ally in the Galactic Senate was Onaconda Farr of Rodia. His daughter Padmé became elected queen and later member of the Senate of the Galactic Republic for their homeworld.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Son of a cloth weaver in the Naberrie family,^[2] Ruwee married a woman named Jobal, with whom he had two daughters, Sola and Padmé.^[3] He also held careers as an educator, builder, and relief worker.^[5] At some point, Ruwee met Senator Onaconda Farr of Rodia, who became his strongest ally in the Galactic Senate^[6] and with whom he worked side-by-side.^[5] Affectionally regarded as "Uncle Ono,"^[6] Farr also developed a friendship with the Naberrie family^[7] and a particularly strong bond with Padmé.^[6]

Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie had spent the first years of their lives with their daughters Padmé and Sola helping build a small village hidden in one of Naboo's mountain ranges. A strong-shouldered individual, Ruwee was a skilled builder and an integral part of all construction efforts. Despite the emotional and physical contributions Ruwee and Jobal made to the village during the founding of the house, they both felt that their two young daughters, born there, would benefit from growing up in Theed's cosmopolitan environment. Without remorse, they left the village when their children were still young and went to the capital city of Naboo.^[8]

They chose a solid house with an elegant design that Ruwee had admired from the very beginning, and it had seen several generations come and go, witnessing the many changes that Naboo went through. Everything about the home spoke of permanence and reflected Naboo's enduring values of generosity and neighborliness. It was also the fact that their elder daughter, Sola, lived near her parents and could visit them almost daily. His proximity compensated for the fact that Padmé was such an itinerant politician, and he was happy.^[8]

Raising a future leader[]

When Padmé was a child, she traveled with her father on relief missions to suffering planets.^[4] With Farr,^[7] they traveled to Shadda-Bi-Boran to help resettle the population after an ecological disaster when Padmé was seven years old. The effort, however, failed, as Shadda-Bi-Boran could not adapt to their new homeland. It caused Ruwee to declare that he would try 10,000 times to save a person later in his life.^[3]

When Padmé turned fourteen years old, she ran and was elected Queen of Naboo and adopted the name of "Padmé Amidala."^[9] In the few days leading up to the election, Ruwee had not seen Padmé except on holos as she gave last-minute campaign speeches and the morning of the election when she and the other candidates cast their live ballots. Ruwee voted for his daughter, though he secretly wished she hadn't run. After Padmé leaned that she had won the election, she called her parents, who told her they were proud of her and reminded her that they loved her and to be herself, before the call had to be ended for Ruwee's usual post-election get-together.^[4]

Successful and well-liked, she served two two-year terms, including during the Invasion of Naboo. Though she'd planned to retire from public life, Padmé was asked by her successor, Réillata, to represent Naboo in the Senate. That same day she informed Ruwee and Jobal of her decision.^[3]

In 28 BBY,^[10] While Amidala was a senator from Naboo, Panaka made it a habit to occasionally visit the Naberrie family for lunch. During their visit, Ruwee engaged in a series of friendly but heated arguments with Naberrie about Naboo's military actions. Ruwee began to understand Panaka's beliefs, but did not agree with them, and Amidala's sister Sola always tried to leave before arguments turned into shouting. Also Ruwee's daughter Sola had her first baby, Ryoo, making him a grandfather. Shortly after Ryoo's birth, Padmé returned home, and she and her entourage helped Ruwee with a greenhouse he was building for the local school so that they could have flowers to study and draw during the cold season. Ruwee came to greatly like Padmé's new handmaiden Dormé, who he claimed was the best carver he had seen in ten years. Sola joked that Ruwee should adopt her.^[11]

For Ruwee, the area he lived in was a powerful reminder of the village life he left behind nearly 20 years ago. It could have been almost another world, albeit only a short step out of his house and into the lawns and flower beds. Frequently, he and Jobal wandered there to get away from the universe where their daughter was the focus of repeated assassination attempts. But shortly before the Clone Wars, their daughter, Padmé Amidala had visited her own family with Anakin Skywalker, and after dinner together, Ruwee had taken Anakin to the gardens, where he found peace. The two of them had the opportunity to better understand Padmé's danger alone. This was not the only reason he spoke. Although there was an instant connection between the two and the conversation went smoothly, most of their conversation remained unspoken. In many ways, Anakin felt at home here.^[8]

Death of Padmé[]

Following the end of the Clone Wars and the execution of Order 66, Padmé died on Polis Massa. Ruwee attended Padmé's funeral with Jobal, Sola, Ryoo and Pooja Naberrie.^[1] The family wore black to reflect their sadness and mourning.^[12]

Personality and traits[]

Ruwee had ruddy cheeks along with blue eyes and dark hair.^[1]

He was a staunch pacifist.^[3] By the time his daughter became queen, he had left politics in the distant past, save when some cause pulled him back in and made use of his extensive off-world contacts. However, he was no stranger to its workings. Ruwee didn't want Padmé to become queen, though he did vote for her, as he wanted his daughters to be happy first and to provide their service to the planet outside of that happiness. He knew that being elected would make Padmé happy, but it would always be tied to something else. While his wife, Jobal, always encouraged Padmé's dreams, Ruwee tempered them with practicalities just as much, though both were expressions of their love for their daughter.^[4]

Ruwee was known at least by reputation to most of the important people of Naboo and had a gift of knowing how to be friends with powerful people, though he hardly took advantage of it — something his daughter, Padmé, greatly admired about him. He rarely slipped up.^[4]

Although Ruwee didn't always agree with the methods of Captain Quarsh Panaka, Ruwee came to understand him as he kept everyone safe so that they could keep his daughter safe. Ruwee was also fond of Padmé's handmaiden Dormé due to her wood-carving skills. Ruwee himself was a talented wood carver, having made a greenhouse for a local school so that they could have flowers to study and draw during the cold season.^[3]

Equipment[]

Ruwee wore a somber black and dark red robe to his daughter's funeral, with the dark tones reflecting the family's sadness and mourning at Amidala's death.^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

Ruwee Naberrie was portrayed by Graeme Blundell in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.^[13]

During the filming of Attack of the Clones, Blundell traveled to Lake Como, Italy in order to shoot his scenes as Ruwee Naberrie,^[13] but all his scenes were deleted from the film's final cut.^[14] His scenes at the end of Revenge of the Sith, however, remained unchanged and made it into the finished version of the film.^[1]