Nute Gunray

Nute Gunray
Homeworld	Neimoidia
Species	Neimoidian
Gender	Male
Height	1.91 meters
Hair Color	None
Eye Color	Red
Affiliation	Galactic Republic, Galactic Senate (formerly), Trade Federation, Confederacy of Independent Systems

Nute Gunray (—19 BBY) was a Neimoidian from the planet Neimoidia. He was Viceroy of the Trade Federation before and during the Clone Wars, and was a member of the Separatist Council.

Biography

Early political career

By 44 BBY, Gunray served as the Trade Federation's Senator in the Galactic Senate. He accidentally saw action in the Battle of Troiken that started the Stark Hyperspace War.

Gunray became the Viceroy of the Trade Federation after the original Trade Federation leaders perished under mysterious circumstances, Gunray being the only survivor. Under the guidance of the enigmatic Darth Sidious, Gunray filled the remaining positions with his associates, Daultay Dofine, Rune Haako, and Hath Monchar, making the Trade Federation a Neimoidian monopoly.

Blockade of Naboo

Under Sidious' command, Gunray blockaded the peaceful planet Naboo from trade routes. He urged the young queen, Padmé Amidala, to sign a treaty granting the Trade Federation control over the planet. The Queen refused, and when Gunray took the planet by force with his B-1 battle droids, she escaped to the Republic capital of Coruscant with the aid of Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

After unsuccessfully pleading for intervention by the Republic Senate, Amidala called for a Vote of No Confidence on Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, who was unable to outtalk the Trade Federation's Neimoidian Senator Lott Dod. The vote was successful, and in the ensuing election, Naboo's own Senator Palpatine was elected as the new Chancellor.

Despite this, the Senate still would not take action, and Amidala returned home vowing to liberate her planet or die trying. Gunray was smug in his seeming invincibility, but his reign fell apart rather quickly. The young Queen and her army ambushed and captured him in the palace, and the droid army was disabled when a boy named Anakin Skywalker destroyed the central control ship. Gunray was arrested for his actions, but only Darth Sidious knew the true motives behind the invasion.

Clone Wars

After four trials in the Republic Supreme Court, Gunray still maintained control over the Trade Federation, although several of his associates were killed in the Battle of Naboo. Sidious then instructed Gunray to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which wished to secede from the Galactic Republic. Soon the Trade Federation's resources were focused on creating a droid army for the CIS to strong-arm smaller systems to join them.

When Padmé Amidala and two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, were captured on the Confederacy's main base at the time on Geonosis, Gunray saw his chance for revenge and was delighted when the former Queen was sentenced to death. To his fury, she escaped once again with the aid of over 200 Jedi and the Republic's new clone army, and Gunray was barely able to flee for his own life in the melee between battle droids, Jedi Knights, and clone troopers. The Clone Wars had begun, and Gunray suddenly found himself preparing his droids for war. Gunray was a businessperson, not a commander, but there was no way he could break his ties with the CIS without losing his life.

In 19 BBY, near the end of the Clone Wars, Gunray was trapped in his personal redoubt on the Neimoidian purse world of Cato Neimoidia, quickly being advanced upon by clones and Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Though the Republic forces managed to penetrate the fort, Nute was able to narrowly escape to a Lucrehulk-class battleship above the planet.

Gunray also found himself at odds with droid leader General Grievous. Gunray doubted the General's abilities, particularly after the defeat at Coruscant, the loss of Count Dooku, and the escape of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Gunray brought up his concerns in front of the Seperatist Council, but was dismissed by Grievous.

Shortly after, he and the rest of the Separatist Council were moved to Mustafar by General Grievous at Darth Sidious' command, where Sidious later sent his new apprentice, Darth Vader, to kill them as part of his master plan. Nute Gunray unsuccessfully pleaded for his life before the new Sith Lord. He groveled before Vader, pleading, "The war is over! Lord Sidious promised us peace... we only want...!" but the Dark Lord killed him without pity.

His body was recovered and taken to Cato Neimoidia, where the Neimoidians considered him a hero and martyr, and placed him in an elaborate tomb. He was succeeded as Viceroy of the Trade Federation by fellow Neimoidian Sentepeth Findos.

Controversy

Gunray was alleged to be having an affair with Lora Besh, who in 22 BBY, just before the start of the Clone Wars, released an unauthorized biography of Gunray entitled Gunray On Top. It spent at least several months as a top-ten bestseller, and its sales may have increased due to its subject's involvement in the war.

Behind the scenes

• Nute Gunray was played by Silas Carson.
  
• Aside from Darth Sidious, Gunray is the only villain to appear in all three films of the prequel trilogy.
  
• There are many theories regarding the origin of Gunray's name. One is that it is a reference to Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan. Another theory suggests that Gunray's first name is a pun on the word newt and his last name is a reversal of ray gun, which sounds like "Reagan".
  
• A scene cut from Attack of the Clones sees Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala put on trial by the Geonosians. Nute Gunray watches from the side and. when the trial goes on too long. he shouts to Poggle the Lesser: "Get on with it, carry out the sentence, I want to see her suffer!". Poggle the Lesser quickly wraps up the trial and orders his guards to take Anakin and Padmé to the execution arena.
  
• A scene in the script for Revenge of the Sith, which did not make it into the film but was probably filmed, featured Nute Gunray and Rune Haako hiding under a table as Anakin slaughtered the Separatist Council. Rune Haako panicked and tried to escape, but was quickly killed by Anakin (seen in the film), but Nute stayed hidden. As Anakin killed the others, Nute quickly got out from under the table and activated the control panel for the doors to open. As the others council members were all killed, droidekas entered and opened fire on Anakin. Gunray watched as the smoke cleared and Anakin was gone. Anakin then dropped down from the roof and destroyed the droids, jumping over to Gunray. This explains why Nute is so surprised when Anakin jumps at him—he thought he had been killed off by the droids.
  
• In the Revenge of the Sith video game, Viceroy Gunray escaped Darth Vader in the Separatists control center on Mustafar and attempted to flee in his ship, which was destroyed by the vengeful former Jedi and then plunged into the lava river beneath.
  
• In the Revenge of the Sith novelization, Vader responded to Gunray's remark of the promise of peace that Sidious actually said they would be "left in pieces" (though Gunray's body was relatively intact when compared to the other Separatist leaders).
  
• Some fans have gained the belief that Gunray became Head of State of the Confederacy when Grievous was killed on Utapau. However, the time between the Battle of Utapau and the Mission to Mustafar was to brief for there to be any formal election.