Battle of Naboo The Battle of Naboo was the final conflict of the Trade Federation ' s invasion of the planet Naboo . The battle was conceived by Queen Padmé Amidala upon returning to her planet , after unsuccessfully pleading with the Galactic Senate for help . The plan would be to use the Gungan s and their Grand Army to lure the Trade Federation army away from Theed , the capital city , so Amidala and her security forces could infiltrate the palace and capture Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray . Meanwhile , a team of starfighter pilots would enter orbit in an assault on the Federation command ship , the destruction of which would disable all Federation battle droids on the planet . When the battle began , the Gungans fought the Federation army away from the city at Great Grass Plains , while the queen and her team made their way to the palace . Once inside , and as the starfighter pilots made their way into orbit after being freed , the Naboo were confronted by the Sith Lord Darth Maul . The queen ' s Jedi protectors , Qui - Gon Jinn and Obi - Wan Kenobi , fought the Sith Lord throughout the palace while Amidala and her forces made their way to the Viceroy . By the battle ' s end , the Federation control ship had been destroyed by Anakin Skywalker , saving the Gungan army from destruction ; Amidala and her security personnel captured Gunray ; and Darth Maul was defeated and presumed dead after having killed Jinn in lightsaber combat . The battle liberated Naboo from the Federation , led to Kenobi ' s promotion to Jedi Knight , and convinced the Jedi Council to accept Skywalker for Jedi training . The Battle of Naboo was ultimately part of a much larger plot . The invasion itself had been orchestrated by Naboo ' s Senator Sheev Palpatine , who was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious , in a successful effort to be elected Supreme Chancellor . He later engineered the Clone Wars to amass total control over the Galactic Republic so he could transform it into the Galactic Empire and destroy the Jedi Order . During the war , in which Palpatine achieved his goals Count Dooku remarked that , despite ten years passing between them , the Clone Wars truly began during the Battle of Naboo . Prelude . Ten years before the Clone Wars , the Trade Federation was forced to invade the planet Naboo by its hidden master , Darth Sidious . Over the course of the engagement , the Federation failed to capture the planet ' s Queen , Padmé Amidala , despite the assistance of the Sith Lord Darth Maul . She fled to Coruscant to plead her case to the Galactic Senate , to no avail as many Senators were , as Palpatine put it , " on the Trade Federation ' s payroll " . Deciding to take action herself , she returned to Naboo and , with the aid of the exiled Gungan Jar Jar Binks , the Queen went to the Gungan Sacred Place to convince Boss Rugor Nass , leader of the Gungans , to align with the human population of Naboo . The Trade Federation had managed to drive the Gungans to their sacred place after invading their homes . Amidala humbled herself before the Gungans , begging them for their help , and Nass pledged to support to her , forging a historic pact between the Naboo and the Gungans . Once what remained of the Royal Naboo Security Forces had been summoned to their hiding place , the Queen , head of security Captain Panaka , and Nass devised a plan to retake Naboo . By the time Amidala returned to the planet , only one Droid Control Ship was left in orbit . During the planning session , Nass made Binks a Bombad General for the upcoming battle . The plan for the Gungan Grand Army was to lure out the main bulk of the Federation ' s Droid Army onto the Great Grass Plains for the head - to - head assault , allowing Amidala and her strike force , along with the two Jedi , Qui - Gon Jinn and Obi - Wan Kenobi ( with Anakin Skywalker tagging along ) , to attack capital city of Theed and capture the main hangar . Naboo pilots would then attack the Droid Control Ship in hopes of deactivating the Federation Army , and allowing Amidala to capture Viceroy Nute Gunray , and thus regain control of the planet . The battle . Battle in the Great Grass Plains . The Grand Army had moved into their position by midday , taking up much of the level part of the Great Grass Plains , 40 kilometer s from Theed , where Captain Roos Tarpals ordered the activation of their shield generators , set up on the backs of fambaas . The army was encased in at least three enormous energy domes impervious to any bombardment . The Droid Army descended from the hills into the valley , in a formation of Armored Assault Tank s escorting Multi - Troop Transport s . Settled into position , facing the massive Grand Army , OOM - 9 ordered a preliminary bombardment , firing on the Gungans ' shields , with his AATs , to little effect . After a while , OOM - 9 ordered the other AATs to hold fire ; the Gungans believed the battle to be won . The tanks fell back , and the Federation ' s MTTs unloaded thousands of battle droid s , much to the horror of the Gungans . The B1 battle droid s slowly marched through the Gungan shield and fired on the unprotected soldiers . The Gungans , led by Captain Tarpals and Bombad General Binks ( whose kaadu tossed him off early in the battle ) , fought with personal shields , catapults , booma s , cesta s and atlatl s , destroying dozens of battle droids . The Gungan energy catapults launched large plasma boomas at the droid ranks , but they could not halt the persistent droid march . A squad of droideka s rolled onto the battleground , further increasing Gungan casualties as the MTTs moved in to trap the Grand Army . At some point , a battle droid , having been severed at the waist , fell onto General Binks , eventually getting him off and he started stomping and kicking it , eventually accidentally getting his foot entangled with the severed wiring . This setback eventually came with an advantage when he took down some droids , including one destroyer droid , due to the wiring causing the droid to fire its blaster when he moved the entangled foot . Ultimately , the shield generator was destroyed by concentrated droid fire , deactivating the protective dome . OOM - 9 immediately called upon all AATs , battle droids , Single Trooper Aerial Platforms , to advance . Tank shells now ripped unobstructed into the Gungan lines , tearing up the previously untouched Great Grass Plains . Gungan ranks fell to the mechanized Trade Federation Army ; the two armies engaged each other at close range among several ruins and mounted laser cannons . A retreat was quickly ordered . In the confusion , Binks , running on foot since his kaadu had been lost , jumped onto a cache of boomas carried by falumpaset . The weight of the Gungan opened the door and released the large boomas ; one impacted with an AAT , destroying it while others disabled destroyer droids . An explosion then sent the harried Binks flying onto a tank . Tarpals drew up alongside on his kaadu and threw a booma at him to aid Binks , as Binks lacked a booma to take down the tank . However , Binks clumsily deflected it onto the tank ' s pilot , causing the vehicle to crash . In the end , both Gungan officers were captured by a battle droid squad . Their army defeated , Binks surrendering easily , much to Tarpal ' s dismay . Assault on Theed . Battle in the streets . Sneaking into the city , the Queen ' s strike team and the remains of the Royal Security force waited for an opening . After exchanging signals with the queen , Panaka ' s forces opened fire on the droids , destroying an AAT and many B1 units . The destruction of the AAT surprised Gunray , who had expected the final battle to take place elsewhere . Under cover of the confusion , Amidala led her team into the Theed Royal Palace . As the battle raged in Theed , the strike force entered the hangar , but was slowed down down by battle droids . The Naboo forces cleared out the hangar in short order . During the engagement , the Naboo pilots were able to to take off to attack the Droid Control Ship , although one was shot down by an AAT stationed outside of the hangar . Panaka ordered Red and Blue Groups to regroup , and the strike force moved toward the Palace . As they approached the hanger doors , however , Darth Maul appeared on the other side blocking their way . The two Jedi moved to confront him , while the rest of the Queen ' s strike force decided to take the longer route to the throne room in order to avoid the imminent duel . They were then pinned down by the Federations reinforcements , a squad of destroyer droids . Anakin Skywalker , taking refuge in a N - 1 starfighter cockpit at Qui - Gon ' s request , while trying to find the fighter ' s trigger in order to help the security force , accidentally took off , but managed to destroy the droids with the craft ' s far stronger laser blasts . The fighter ' s auto - pilot then engaged , and took Skywalker into space to join the assault , with Skywalker telling R2 - D2 to try and override the autopilot . Skywalker ' s fighter , while leaving the hangar , also managed to evade fire from the aforementioned AAT . The Jedi and Sith , meanwhile , engaged in a 2 - on - 1 lightsaber duel . Amidala , Panaka , and their security forces managed to leave the hangar relatively unscathed through a separate door . Retaking of the Palace . The Queen ' s battle continued further into the Royal Palace , traveling through the ceremonial halls before she was stopped by a contingent of battle droids . She split up with her handmaiden , Sabé ( who was once again disguised as the queen ) , who led a second squad of Naboo soldiers through the palace corridors . Amidala , Panaka , and other soldiers escaped through the window to the outside of the palace , and used their ascension gun s to get up to the throne room level . Amidala ' s own group tried to break through to the throne room which their target , Viceroy Gunray , had taken over . However , a squad of destroyer droids surrounded Amidala ' s soldiers and managed to force their surrender . Amidala ordered Panaka and the others to throw down their weapons , seeing that resistance at this point would be pointless . The destroyer and battle droids brought the Queen ' s squad to the throne room , then left the area , leaving only around a dozen battle droids to accompany them in the room , where Gunray and Rune Haako waited . After being led to the throne room as captured enemies , the Queen and her protectors were not to be prisoners for long . Sabé and her team , responding to Amidala ' s signal , suddenly appeared and fooled Viceroy Gunray into thinking Sabé was the Queen . The battle droids were distracted just long enough for Amidala to open a secret compartment in the throne full of blasters and throw them to her allies . The confused battle droids were quickly shot down and the doors to the throne room jammed , locking the Viceroy and Haako in with Queen Amidala . Two of the most prominent leaders of the Trade Federation were now in custody . Theed had been taken back from Federation control . Duel on Naboo . Meanwhile , the lightsaber duel between Qui - Gon , Obi - Wan and Darth Maul raged on . The trio fought through a pair of blast door s connecting the hangar to the Theed power generator . On a catwalk across the complex , the duel raged for a long time , Maul being a more formidable opponent than either Jedi had ever faced before , wielding his saberstaff with lethal efficiency . Despite Maul ' s seeming dominance on the battlefield , he continually gave ground over the entire battle , leading the two Jedi into a labyrinth of catwalks . Maul then leapt up to a higher level , with the Jedi following . Maul split the two Jedi apart after he forced Kenobi over the ledge . Jinn forced the Sith Lord back down to the central catwalk , which met a hall with laser fields . By the time Obi - Wan caught up to the two combatants , he was kept back by the laser barriers . The laser barriers also separated Jinn from his Sith adversary ; the Jedi meditated while Maul paced until the barriers opened . Kenobi did not catch up before the barriers closed again , leaving Qui - Gon to duel alone with Maul . Eventually , Maul slammed the handle of his lightsaber into Qui - Gon ' s face , stunning the Jedi Master , and the merciless Sith Lord quickly took the moment to stab Qui - Gon in the abdomen , while Obi - Wan could only watch in horror . The laser fields soon switched off , and Obi - Wan ran through to avenge his master ' s fatal blow . Overcome with hatred , Obi - Wan lashed out at Maul . He succeeded in slicing the Sith Lord ' s double - bladed lightsaber hilt in half , leaving Maul with only one blade . However , the Sith Lord remained in control and eventually Force - pushed Obi - Wan into the pit . The Jedi Padawan could do nothing but clung for his life and watch as Maul kicked Obi - Wan ' s lightsaber into the pit . As the Sith Lord tried to disloge him with lightsaber strikes on the edge of the pit , Obi - Wan managed to Force - jump himself out of the pit , Force - pulled his master ' s lightsaber into his hand , and landed with a single sweeping near - death blow into Darth Maul ' s middle . The Sith Lord fell into the pit , sliced in two and barely able to survive . By then , the rest of Naboo had been liberated after the Droid Control Ship orbit ing the planet was destroyed , thereby shutting off the droid army and ending the Invasion of Naboo . Battle in space . Once in orbit over Naboo , the pilots of Bravo Squadron , including Porro Dolphe , assaulted the Droid Control battleship , which coordinated all droid forces on the planet . Dineé Ellberger , also joined the assault . After the first wave of droid starfighters was down , Bravo Squadron moved in close to engage the Control Ship . Olié ordered another pilot to attack the bridge . One of the pilots was killed during a strafing run by the battleship ' s turbolaser cannons , but the Naboo pilots managed to land hits on the Droid Control Ship with their proton torpedoes . The torpedoes were not strong enough , however , to affect the Federation ship . As the battle raged in space , down on the planet the young Force - sensitive Anakin Skywalker accidentally entered the battle when he accidentally launched his starfighter and took off from the Theed Hangar on autopilot . He asked his astromech droid R2 - D2 to disengage the autopilot ; Although R2 - D2 demanded that Skywalker return to the hangar , Skywalker refused , citing that Qui - Gon had earlier told him to " stay in the cockpit . " Skywalker then succeeded in shooting down several droid starfighters before having his own starfighter shot down , and he landed in the battleship ' s left hangar . In the hangar , Skywalker ' s ship landed on the hangar floor , overheated . He attempted to restart the fighter by fiddling with the controls . After his starfighter rebooted , he unintentionally launched a pair of torpedoes into the main reactor when trying to escape and fire on the droids attacking him . Communications officer Tey How reported the disturbance to Captain Daultay Dofine , who dismissed these reports after claiming that it was impossible for anything to get past the deflector shields . However , the reactor explosion caused by Skywalker managed to create a massive explosion that ripped the ship in half . Shocked over the explosion , Skywalker quickly escaped through the ship ' s main hangar , also comparing it to podracing . The ship ' s impending destruction was also seen by the remaining Bravo Squadron pilots , initially baffling them as they had never actually hit the vessel , until they saw Skywalker ' s starfighter escaping from one of the hangars . A puzzled Dofine and crew failed to realize what was happening when the control computer in front of them malfunctioned and exploded , killing Dofine and the entire crew in an instant ; this also deactivated all the battle droids stationed on Naboo and thus marked the end of the Federation ' s invasion of Naboo . The Bravo Squadron pilots cheered , for the day was won . Despite a crushing defeat for the Gungans on the Great Grass Plains , events altered dramatically when the Droid Control Ship over the planet was destroyed , deactivating the droid army , and leaving the Gungan survivors liberated from their recent capture . They watched dumbstruck as their droid captors , and enemy vehicles all around them suddenly shut down , realizing that while their own battle had been lost , the battle above must have been won . They promptly celebrated by tipping over the deactivated droids . Aftermath . After the battle was over , peace finally returned to Naboo . Viceroy Gunray was captured and forced to sign a treaty , officially ending the invasion . The Gungan people and the Naboo united as one world , and a celebration took place in Theed . During the Clone Wars , Skywalker recounted his story to members of the 501st Legion ; the story later served as an inspiration for three clone trooper s who , acting against orders , utilized Skywalker ' s tactics of taking out a ship ' s reactor from the inside when they blew up a Separatist supply ship during the Battle of Umbara . Palpatine had been elected Supreme Chancellor in the meantime , replacing Finis Valorum . The next day , Palpatine arrived on Naboo with members of the Jedi High Council to oversee the arrest of Gunray and Haako . Yoda promoted Kenobi to full Jedi Knight and assigned him to train Skywalker . That evening , Qui - Gon was given a Jedi funeral . The Council members believed that Kenobi had destroyed Darth Maul , but he had in fact survived and gone into hiding . The day after , the Gungans and Naboo celebrated with a parade in Theed , complete with overflights by N - 1 starfighters , Despite what the Jedi and even Darth Sidious were led to believe , Darth Maul did not die on Naboo . Instead he survived through his all - consuming hatred for Obi - Wan Kenobi and managed to escape the planet . Knowing his master would never forgive his failure , Maul fled to the reclusive world of Lotho Minor , where , despite the strength of his rage , the pain he felt from his near - fatal wound drove him to insanity and made him lose his mind . The only thing he remembered was the reason why he had become what he was now : Kenobi . The only person who knew of Darth Maul ' s survival was Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters . At the height of the Clone Wars , after having incurred the wrath of Count Dooku , Talzin sent her new servant , Savage Opress , Maul ' s brother , to find him . Sidious would later learn of Maul ' s survival during the Clone Wars from Kenobi in person when debriefing him on the events on the Skirmish on Florrum . Sidious later tracked Maul down to Mandalore and managed to subdue him , sparing him as he still had use for him to track down Mother Talzin . Maul eventually escaped from Sidious and went into hiding for several years after the fall of the Republic and the Jedi Order . He finally re - emerged on Malachor , when the Jedi survivors Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus , as well as Kanan ' s apprentice Ezra Bridger , arrived on the planet seeking information about how to destroy the Sith . Maul would manipulate the Jedi ( particularly Ezra ) in assisting him for his own purposes , eventually leading to him discovering that Obi - Wan Kenobi was still alive . After learning that Obi - Wan was hiding on Tatooine , Maul manipulated Ezra to draw Obi - Wan out and then confronted his old enemy on the desert planet . However , when Maul attempted to defeat his opponent in the same manner as he had done with Qui - Gon Jinn years before , Obi - Wan countered in anticipation with a fatal slash of his lightsaber ; thus finally bringing an end to Maul ' s threat to the galaxy . Behind the scenes . The Battle of Naboo first appeared in George Lucas ' s , released in May of 1999 . Like the Battle of Endor that featured in Richard Marquand ' s , The Great Grass Plains battle is inspired by the Vietnam War , in particular , the concept of a technologically inferior race besting a more advanced culture in battle . However , unlike Endor , Great Grass Plains is not won by the protagonists , and they are only saved due to luck , and outside intervention . According to Lucas during the audio commentary , Binks ' antics were inspired by Buster Keaton . The battle also had Japanese themes to it . According to the 1999 reference book " , " the battle was originally perceived as taking place between Naboo / Gungan piloted airwhales and Federation " air bikes " . " " described the production process of the special effects for the battle . First , the scene was mapped out by animatics . Then , FX artist Dennis Muren assembled pictures of Earth locations , and these images were distorted by Industrial Light & Magic to appear alien . CGI images of the Trade Federation vehicles and Gungan armies were subsequently inserted into the shot . Animators received horse - riding instructions to illustrate the kaadu realistically . In addition , hundreds of effects such as laser blasts were rendered . Explosions were made on stage in real life , then scanned into the digital compositing system for alterations . The droids , at the suggestion of George Lucas , were made to be pigeon - like , with different actions randomly assigned to individual droids . The Theed portion appeared first in " Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace " in 1999 . According to " Star Wars : The Making of Episode I : The Phantom Menace , " the space sequence was produced through a combination of computer animation and motion - control model photography . There are inconsistencies as to the number of N - 1s participating . " Star Wars : Battle for Naboo " shows seven starfighters , not including Skywalker ' s in the opening cutscene . Four are seen leaving , including Skywalker , with one confirmed loss ( Palmer ) during a cutscene . In a deleted animatic from Episode I , 12 starfighters participate , with one shot down by a droid starfighter .