Rune Haako

Rune Haako is a Star Wars minifigure first released in 2011 in the video game LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and later in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. He is a Neimoidian lieutenant and a right-hand man of Viceroy Nute Gunray.
== Description ==
Rune Haako has never been released as a minifigure in a set so far. Haako appears in LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars as a non-playable character who is seen only in cutscenes on the Geonosian Arena level. However, he reappears in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as a playable character this time.
==Background==
In the final decades of the Republic Classic era, Rune Haako was employed by the Trade Federation, as a legal advisor—or cohorta in Pak Pak—to Viceroy Nute Gunray. When Gunray decided to ally himself with Darth Sidious in order to further his position in the Federation, Haako expressed his grave concern. There was no proof of Sidious' power, to Haako's mind, although during a holo-conference, he suspected that the shadowy Sith Lord had connections in the Galactic Senate. Sidious ordered Gunray to commission a droid army, in spite of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's threatened taxation of trade routes. Simultaneously, Sidious arranged the deaths of the Trade Federation Directorate at the Eriadu Trade Summit, allowing Gunray and his allies to assume control of the organization. Meanwhile, Haako helped oversee the formation of the new droid army, negotiating and dealing with the various contractors, while still holding his reservations about the goings on.
Haako was promoted to his position after fellow Neimoidian Hath Monchar betrayed the Trade Federation. In the hopes of preventing Monchar from betraying any Federation secrets, Haako suggested that Gunray enlist the services of hunter Mahwi Lihnn to reel him in. Monchar was eventually slain by Sidious' apprentice, Darth Maul, who also felled Lihnn, much to the concern of the Neimoidians. Following the incident Haako served as the Trade Federation Settlement Officer, meaning that his primary duties were to act as a diplomatic attaché and legal counsel to the viceroy. He was widely known for his jurisprudence, but when confronted with real threats, he reacted with the sort of pessimism that was typical of his species. Despite this, he would still be called upon to lend an air of credibility to any of the Trade Federation's more dubious activities, due to his skill as a manipulator.
In 32 BBY, Haako was at Viceroy Nute Gunray's side when the Trade Federation decided to blockade the peaceful planet of Naboo, as a response to the taxation of certain trade routes. He was one of the few people, besides Gunray and Daultay Dofine, who knew that the Darth Sidious was the one who had devised the idea of the blockade. Haako was, like Gunray, cautious of Sidious, and later lamented his superior's choice to "bargain" with the Sith Lord. When the Galactic Republic dispatched two Jedi ambassadors, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to settle the dispute, Gunray panicked when they arrived on his flagship at the time, the Saak'ak, and contacted Sidious via hologram. Much to the Neimoidian's surprise, Sidious ordered the execution of the Jedi and the commencement of the invasion of Naboo. Gunray dispatched a squad of B1 battle droids to kill the Jedi even as he filled their waiting room with Dioxis gas and had their Consular-class cruiser, the Radiant VII, destroyed; these were actions that, as Haako predicted, would prove to be ineffective. Haako was not surprised when the Jedi survived Gunray's assassination attempts which included sending droidekas after the Jedi, and proceeded to inadvertently remind Gunray of his encounters with them during the Stark Hyperspace War.
Gunray was then contacted by Queen Amidala, who assured Gunray that the blockade would not last much longer. Haako was fearful that she suspected the impending attack, and suspected that she might try to contact Coruscant. Gunray promptly ordered OOM-9, the invasion forces' commander, to attack the small towns of New Centrif, Parrlay, and Vis. The attacks disrupted all interplanetary communications to and from Naboo.
Shortly thereafter, OOM-9 won the First Battle of Theed and captured the Queen. Gunray and Haako visited the Theed Royal Palace, savoring their victory. Upon their return to the Saak'ak, the two officers received news that the Queen had escaped the planet with the aid of the Jedi that they had earlier failed to destroy. This failure incurred the wrath of Sidious, who appeared to be extremely displeased. Sidious revealed his apprentice, Darth Maul, the killer of Haako's predecessor, Hath Monchar. Sidious assured Gunray and Haako that Maul would find their "lost ship". Whether or not the sight of Maul was meant to be a veiled threat or if it was perceived as such, Gunray and Haako were both badly shaken. When the holo-conference was over, Haako expressed his fears about their alliance with the Sith to Gunray.
The Neimoidians then moved to the Royal Palace, making it their permanent residence during the occupation of the planet. Gunray ordered OOM-9 to eliminate the Gungans that he had heard rumors about, in order to more fully and effectively control the planet. With the help of Darth Maul, Federation forces attacked and routed the Gungan Grand Army at Lake Paonga. However, OOM-9 only partially completed his goal, an oversight that would soon come back to haunt Haako and the Federation.
The Queen eventually returned to Naboo, a move that not only surprised Haako and Gunray, but Sidious as well (as the Sith Lord, at least, led them to believe). OOM-9 and Darth Maul's previous attempts to destroy the Gungans had obviously not been a total success, as the Queen contacted the survivors and raised a Gungan army to fight back. Through an elaborate plan, she was able to have the droid armies deactivated, and Gunray and Haako captured, in a stunning reverse-coup d'etat in which she used her decoy-handmaiden Sabé at the last moment to help her accomplish that. When the Battle of Naboo was concluded, Haako was formally arrested along with Gunray, and the two were transported to Coruscant for trial. After several trials, however, Gunray was never formally punished for the Naboo incident and maintained control over the Trade Federation, and due to the Federation's still-considerable power, Haako was able to avoid any real punishment.
Haako would later serve at Gunray's side within the leadership of the Confederacy of Independent Systems throughout the Clone Wars. He accompanied Gunray to the Separatist summit on Geonosis, and viewed the opening stages of the Battle of Geonosis directly from Petranaki arena, when an army of Jedi Knights and Republic clone troopers invaded the planet. Retreating with Gunray into the CIS war room, Haako advised the Viceroy that they should flee the planet. The pair then escaped aboard Gunray's shuttle, Lapiz Cutter, to the orbiting Federation fleet.
After the Battle of Geonosis, Haako continued to follow Gunray everywhere, and was present with the viceroy in Koto-Si on Neimoidia. In the later stages of the war, Haako, along with Gunray, was caught up in the Battle of Cato Neimoidia. In the panic of evacuating their homeworld, they left behind the mechno-chair, which had been equipped with a holotransceiver that contained the communications signals and codes that was used by Darth Sidious to communicate via hologram to Viceroy Gunray. The pair lived in constant fear that General Grievous would find out, as they were shuttled, along with the rest of the Separatist Council, from safeworld to safeworld. Although at first, they were able to keep the loss of the mechno-chair a secret, Grievous soon found out. Despite the fact that the general was livid, both Neimoidians escaped his wrath alive.
After General Grievous's failed attempts to capture the Supreme Chancellor at Coruscant, the Separatists began to retreat to the Outer Rim. They were first moved to Utapau, where they were kept in check by Grievous, now Head of State of the CIS. Sidious, through Grievous, then ordered the Separatist Council to relocate to Mustafar. Haako and the other Separatist leaders were sent to the lava planet to orchestrate their armies' operations and eventual shutdown from there.
When Grievous was killed on Utapau by General Kenobi, the very same Jedi who had been a thorn in the Federation's side thirteen years prior, Gunray became the de facto head of the CIS. Sidious contacted Gunray one final time, assuring him and the rest of the Council that they would be "taken care of" by his new apprentice. When Darth Vader was sent to kill the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, Rune Haako was present and futilely demanded that Vader stop the slaughter. As Vader killed Poggle the Lesser, Rute Gunnay and others, Haako escaped to the conference room of the bunker with Techno Union foreman Wat Tambor. Haako attempted to hide, but Vader strode in and ended the Neimoidian's life with a single slash across the chest before proceeding to kill Tambor and Gunray, destroying the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
==Gallery==
Haako.jpg|Haako in LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Separatists.jpg|Rune Haako with Count Dooku and Nute Gunray
Rune Haako.png|Rune Haako on a CIS meeting in Droid Tales
==Appearances==
===Video Game Appearances ===
* LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
* LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
=== TV Appearances ===
* LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales
** "Exit from Endor"
** "Crisis on Coruscant"
Category:Star Wars minifigures
Category:Minifigures introduced in 2011