Battle of Bothawui

|width=
|prev=Fall of FalleenThe War of the Ring: Wild Space
|conc=*Battle of Angmar
|next=*Ambush on the Vulture's Claw
|name=Battle of Bothawui
|image=
|conflict=War of the Ring
|date=July 10, 1981
|place=Both system
|result=*Galactic Republic victory
*The Mouth of Sauron escapes
*R2-D2 missing in action
|side1=Galactic Republic
|side2=Confederacy of Independent Systems
|commanders1=*General Frodo Baggins
*Admiral Wullf Yularen
*Commander Eowyn
*Captain CT-7567
|commanders2=*The Mouth of Sauron
*OOM command battle droid†
|forces1=*2 Jedi
*Clone naval officers
*Clone tank gunners
*Clone troopers
*Clone trooper pilots
**Gold Squadron
*V-19 Torrent starfighters
*1 Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor
**Frodo Baggins's Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor
*All Terrain Tactical Enforcers
*3 Venator-class Star Destroyers
**Resolute
**Pioneer
**Dauntless
|forces2=*1 Mordor general
*At least 1 OOM command battle droid†
*At least 1 OOM pilot battle droid†
*6 Munificent-class star frigates†
**The Mouth of Sauron's Munificent-class star frigate†
*1 Belbullab-22 starfighter
**Soulless One
|casual1=*2 V-19 Torrent starfighters
*1 Venator-class Star Destroyer severely damaged
|casual2=All forces except The Mouth of Sauron and Soulless One
}}
The Battle of Bothawui was a space battle that took place in July 1981, during the War of the Ring. After learning that the Confederate General The Mouth of Sauron was planning to invade the planet Bothawui, the Jedi High Council dispatched Jedi General Frodo Baggins and a fleet of three newly constructed Venator-class Star Destroyers to blockade the Both system in preparation of The Mouth of Sauron's arrival. Accompanied by his Padawan, Jedi Commander Eowyn, as well as a unit of clone troopers, Frodo engaged The Mouth several times before arriving over the gas giant Bothawui Prime.
Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex," took multiple AT-TE walkers to the planet's asteroid belt, intending to attack The Mouth of Sauron's frigates from the rear once they passed by. The Mordor general arrived in the system, and Frodo led the starfighter unit Gold Squadron in his Delta-7B fighter. After the Confederate fleet went through the asteroid belt and passed by the walkers, the AT-TEs opened fire, crippling the frigates. The Mouth of Sauron attempted to escape in his personal fighter; and, as Baggins and his astromech droid R2-D2 gave pursuit, the Jedi's fighter was damaged by flying debris. Rex was able to save Frodo, but R2-D2 was salvaged by the Trandoshan scavenger Gha Nachkt.
==Prelude==
In 1981, during the War of the Ring, the Jedi High Council received intelligence from diner owner Dexter Jettster that the Confederate General The Mouth of Sauron was planning on invading the planet Bothawui. The planet was home to the Bothan people, who possessed extremely adept information-collecting abilities and who were vital to Galactic Republic intelligence. Intending to prevent The Mouth of Sauron from taking Bothawui, Jedi Masters Bilbo Baggins and Elrond devised a plan to blockade the Both system. The Mouth of Sauron would be drawn to the bold offensive, and the Republic would be able to trap and eliminate the Mordor general.
Three new Venator-class Star Destroyers from the Allanteen Six shipyards were to be sent to Bothawui under Jedi General Frodo Baggins's command. The assignment pleased Baggins, as it was the first time he was to be given his own battle group. The three Star Destroyers of Skywalker's new fleet—Resolute, Pioneer and Dauntless—arrived on the galactic capital of Coruscant, and Frodo himself took the Resolute as his flagship. Admiral Wullf Yularen was assigned to be Baggins's deck officer aboard the Resolute, while Commanders took charge of the Pioneer and Dauntless. Frodo was accompanied by his Padawan, Jedi Commander Eowyn. A unit of clone troopers—under the command of Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex"—was assigned to the battle group, and after preparations for the fleet's departure were completed, the three Star Destroyers left Coruscant.
En route to Bothawui, Frodo was pursued by four Munificent-class frigates under the command of The Mouth of Sauron, and the Republic cruisers were knocked out of their hyperlanes multiple times. In their third engagement with the Confederate frigates, Frodo was able to delay The Mouth before taking a direct hyperspace course to Bothawui. However, The Mouth of Sauron delayed his pursuit of Baggins to coordinate attacks on Republic forces on separate fronts. The Mordor general picked up two more frigates and invaded the planet Falleen, overwhelming a Republic battle group stationed there, before regaining his original course to Bothawui.
Frodo arrived over the gas giant Bothawui Prime before The Mouth of Sauron and learned of the defeat at Falleen from High Jedi General Sam Gamgee. Although outnumbered two-to-one in vessels, Frodo was intent on preventing The Mouth of Sauron from taking Bothawui. Frodo deployed AT-TE walkers under the command of Rex to the asteroid belt surrounding the planet. Once the Confederate fleet passed through the asteroids, Rex's squad would be able to outflank The Mouth of Sauron's frigates.
==The battle==
The six Confederate frigates arrived in the system, and The Mouth of Sauron ordered his ships to navigate through the asteroid belt, believing that the asteroids would provide suitable protection from the Republic's laser fire. Unaware of Frodo's deployed AT-TE walkers, the Mordor general ordered all of the power of the frigates to be diverted to the forward shields. In his Delta-7B fighter, Frodo himself led the starfighter unit Gold Squadron toward the Confederate fleet, in order to draw The Mouth of Sauron's attention away from the deployed walkers and make the three cruisers' defense appear authentic to the Mordor general.
As the frigates approached, Frodo and the V-19 Torrent starfighters of Gold Squadron held position. Aboard the Resolute, Eowyn ordered the cruisers to hold their fire until the AT-TE walkers could engage The Mouth of Sauron's fleet. The Confederate frigates emerged from the asteroids and commenced fire at the Republic cruisers. Outgunned, all of the cruisers sustained damage, and one of the Republic vessels was crippled. Frodo led his squadron toward the Confederate fleet, but one of the V-19 fighters was hit by laser fire and crashed into another fighter. While his squadron retreated, Baggins and his astromech droid, R2-D2, headed toward the Confederate frigates to confront the fleet at a closer proximity.
The unsuspecting Confederate frigates passed by the walkers, and Rex and his men opened fire. As The Mouth of Sauron realized he had been outflanked, the walkers attacked the frigates' unprotected sterns. One of the Confederate vessels was destroyed, and Eowyn ordered the Republic fleet to commence fire at their adversaries. A frigate fell to laser fire from the Republic cruisers, and Frodo destroyed the bridge of another vessel with his fighter, disabling the frigate.
Realizing that he had been defeated, The Mouth of Sauron boarded his personal fighter, Soulless One, and fled from his command ship and the rest of his outmatched frigates. As the Republic cruisers targeted what remained of the Confederate fleet, Frodo gave pursuit of The Mouth of Sauron, but the Jedi's fighter was hit by flying debris. While The Mouth of Sauron was able to jump to hyperspace and escape, Frodo's fighter exploded and veered toward the asteroid belt.
==Aftermath==
Rex led the search-and-rescue mission that saved Frodo from the asteroid belt, and the Hobbit was tended to by a medical droid aboard the Resolute. However, Rex was unable to save R2-D2. Frodo was left sad, as he had developed an attachment to the droid. As such, the Hobbit had never wiped the droid's memory banks of secret Republic information. When Sam—who had been witness to the battle in a Force vision—learned of this, he ordered Frodo to find the droid, as the information would prove fatal to the Republic in the hands of the Confederacy.
Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the Trandoshan scavenger Gha Nachkt found R2-D2 and promised the droid to The Mouth of Sauron in exchange for credits. Frodo and Eowyn were assigned a replacement astromech droid, R3-S6, and departing the Republic fleet in Baggins's personal ship, the Twilight, the Jedi searched the asteroid field for R2-D2. Frodo and Eowyn discovered the wreckage of Frodo's fighter but found that R2-D2 was missing from the fighter's astromech socket. The Jedi came across the Vulture's Claw, Nachkt's freighter, and disguised themselves as peasants before entering the ship and searching for R2-D2 among the scavenger's wares. The Mouth of Sauron's loss at Bothawui added to a number of his recent defeats, eventually leading Confederate Head of State Saruman the White to arrange a test for him.
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Bothawui was featured in "Downfall of a Droid," an episode in the first season of the The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring television series. The battle was later expanded upon in the December 2008 novel The War of the Ring: Wild Space, written by Karen Miller. Series Director Dave Filoni and Series Writer Henry Gilroy noted that the element of the AT-TE walkers in space was used to make the battle more dynamic and interesting because of a lack of assets available for producing the episode.The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring The Complete Season One, DVD Featurette for "Downfall of a Droid"
==Appearances==
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*The War of the Ring: Wild Space 
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==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:War of the Rings battles