Capture of Theed

The Capture of Theed, also known as the fall of Theed or the Battle of Theed, was when the Naboo capital of Theed was taken over during the early stages of the Trade Federation's Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. The Trade Federation Droid Army, lead by OOM command battle droid OOM-9, moved its forces into the capital, consisting of Armored Assault Tanks, Multi-Troop Transports, vulture droids, and thousands of B1-series battle droids. In addition, battle droids flying STAPs and groups of OOM-series security droids were in Theed as well. When Queen Padmé Amidala and other captives were being transported, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, fought of the droid escort and lead them to the Theed Royal Palace's hangar, where the group escaped in a Naboo Royal Starship.
==Prelude==
In retaliation to the taxation of the Free Trade Zone voted by the Galactic Republic's Galactic Senate,Star Wars: Card Trader the Trade Federation, an interstellar shipping and trade conglomerate, blockaded the planet Naboo, in an attempt to force Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's hand in the matter. The Federation's actions were guided secretly by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. Valorum dispatched ambassadors from Coruscant on the Judicial Department Consular-class space cruiser Radiant VII to the Lucrehulk-class Battleship Saak'ak over Naboo. The ambassadors were secretly two Jedi Knights, the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, sent to negotiate the ending of the blockade with the Viceroy Nute Gunray. After Sidious ordered Gunray to begin the invasion of Naboo, the viceroy was skeptical, as he was concerned over the legality of invading Naboo. Sidious assured the Viceroy he would "make it legal" and told Gunray, upon being inquired as to what to do with the Jedi, to kill them. Gunray then tried to kill the Jedi with dioxis gas but failed.
==Capture of Theed==
Gunray then spoke with Queen of Naboo Amidala where the viceroy reassured her no action would take place with the approval of the Senate and denied any ambassadors were sent. Amidala told Gunray he had gone too far before ending the transmission. He then promptly ordered a blackout of all communication arrays on the planet. At the behest of Sidious, the Federation began their invasion of Naboo.
Meanwhile Senator Palpatine with the Royal Advisory Council in the Theed Royal Palace only to lose communication. The Governor of Naboo, Sio Bibble was one of the first to suspect it was the start of an invasion. While Quarsh Panaka recognized the significant threat and that the Royal Naboo Security Forces would not be able to defend the world against the Trade Federation Droid Army. However, Queen Amidala refused to condone any action that would lead them to war and believed the Federation would not dare go that far.
Instructed by their control ship, the Vuutun Palaa, several C-9979 landing crafts departed from the Lucrehulk-class Battleships to Naboo and landed in a forest on the planet's surface, where the two Jedi had stowed away aboard who planned to warn the Naboo that the invasion was coming. After learning the Jedi had escaped, Gunray contacted the invasion commander, the OOM command battle droid OOM-9, and warned him of the Jedi's presence among them and to not underestimate them. Once on the surface, Jinn rendezvous with Kenobi where he met a Gungan named Jar Jar Binks in the chaos of the Federation invasion. After saving Binks from a troop carrier, he swore a life debt to Jinn for saving him, rendezvoused with Kenobi and planned to find shelter, which Binks offered to give them in the Gungan city beneath the ocean to avoid the approaching Federation forces.
On the surface, Bibble's suspicions proved correct and upon realizing an invasion was underway, Amidala soon switched places with her decoy Handmaiden Sabé. Within minutes, the droid armies consisting of Armored Assault Tanks, Multi-Troop Transports and Single Trooper Aerial Platforms took Theed, subduing Naboo's small security forces and leaving the planet completely under Federation control. The Royal House of Naboo capitulated and surrendered.
Arriving in the Lapiz Cutter, the viceroy then landed in Theed and assumed control from Queen Amidala's own throne room. After Amidala refused to sign a treaty legalizing the occupation, she and the rest of the prisoners were to be processed into Camp Four. However unexpected resistance was met by the escaped Jedi Knights who freed the queen and her party after a brief skirmish against the escorting droids, Bibble and several handmaidens decided to stay while the Queen went to Coruscant to plead for help in the Galactic Senate. The party then retook the Theed Hangar from the battle droids stationed there, entered Amidala's Royal Starship, and blasted away from Naboo. However, in trying to slip through the blockade, the ship's hyperdrive engine took heavy damage under fire from the Saak'ak, and the Royal House of Naboo had gone into exile.
After the Queen and her escorts had escaped, Governor Bibble and two of the Queen's handmaidens, Saché and Yané were captured by battle droids. Bibble was escorted away by the droids while the handmaidens were given a blood test and imprisoned in the tent for Camp Four alongside Mariek Panaka and Tonra. During their incarceration, Yané used her skills as a weaver to create strips of cloth mapping out the prison camp and detailing the droids shift changes using the fabric from her and Saché's outfits and utilizing the underside of their cot as a make-shift loom. Over the course of their incarceration, the inhabitants of the tent passed out the pieces of fabric to other prisoners who were instructed to memorize the information contained on them and then destroy them. The information passed along to the prisoners via these cloths helped the prisoners more successfully revolt against their captors when the Naboo reclaimed Theed.
==Aftermath==
The fall of Naboo's capital city was remembered as the "Capture of Theed"Star Wars: Complete Vehicles and the "Battle of Theed." When Gunray informed Sidious of Amidala's failure to sign the treaty and that the queen had escaped, the livid Sith Lord introduced them to Darth Maul, whom he dispatched to find and recapture Amidala. Due to Amidala's ship sustaining damage in the escape, the queen opted to land on the obscure desert world of Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories, that was controlled by the Hutts, to repair the ship. Maul managed to ascertain the queen's location, but he failed to kill the Jedi or retrieve Amidala.
The Trade Federation's droid army succeeded in occupying Naboo with little resistance. The viceroy and his Settlement Officer, Rune Haako presided over the occupation of Naboo. On Coruscant, the exiled Queen Amidala requested the Galactic Senate intervention, however the Federation's Senator Lott Dod managed to block Senator Palpatine's efforts. Meanwhile, Naboo's population was forced into camps where they experienced starvation and hardship. In Amidala's absence, the viceroy attempted to force Governor Sio Bibble to sign the treaty with the Trade Federation but the governor refused to back down.
The OOM command battle droid Commander OOM-9 meanwhile has sent troops to investigate the various rumored Gungan underwater villages on the planet. The Second Battle of Theed, which was also known under the name of the "Battle of Theed" like the city's capture, would later occur as part of Amidala's effort to liberate her planet.
==Behind the scenes==
The capture of Theed appeared in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.
==Appearances==
*Queen's Peril 
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*The Phantom Menace Little Golden Book 
*The Phantom Menace Read-Along Storybook and CD
*Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Graphic Novel Adaptation
*Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
*Queen's Shadow 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: A Galaxy at War
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*Star Wars: Complete Locations 
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*Star Wars: Complete Vehicles 
*Cinematic Classics: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of the Invasion of Naboo
Category:Conquests and occupations