Rune Haako

During the last decades of the Galactic Republic, Rune Haako was employed by the Trade Federation as a legal advisor, or cohorta in Pak Pak, to Viceroy Nute Gunray. Haako voiced significant concerns when Gunray chose to align himself with Darth Sidious to advance his position within the Federation. Haako believed there was no evidence of Sidious's power, although he suspected during a holo-conference that the mysterious Sith Lord had connections within the Galactic Senate. Despite Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's threat to tax trade routes, Sidious instructed Gunray to commission a droid army. Simultaneously, Sidious orchestrated the deaths of the Trade Federation Directorate at the Eriadu Trade Summit, enabling Gunray and his allies to seize control of the organization. Meanwhile, Haako assisted in overseeing the creation of the new droid army, negotiating and dealing with various contractors, while still harboring reservations about the ongoing events.

After fellow Neimoidian Hath Monchar betrayed the Trade Federation, Haako was promoted to his position. Haako suggested that Gunray enlist the services of hunter Mahwi Lihnn to reel him in in the hopes of preventing Monchar from revealing any Federation secrets. Eventually, Darth Maul, Sidious's apprentice, killed Monchar, and also felled Lihnn, much to the Neimoidians' dismay. Following the incident, Haako served as the Trade Federation Settlement Officer, responsible for acting as a diplomatic attaché and legal counsel to the viceroy. He was widely recognized for his legal expertise, but he displayed the pessimism typical of his species when faced with real threats. Despite this, his skill as a manipulator meant he was still frequently called upon to add credibility to the Trade Federation's more questionable actions.

In 32 BBY, Haako stood alongside Viceroy Nute Gunray when the Trade Federation decided to blockade the peaceful planet of Naboo in response to the taxation of certain trade routes. He was among the few, alongside Gunray and Daultay Dofine, who knew Darth Sidious had conceived the blockade. Like Gunray, Haako was wary of Sidious and later regretted his superior's decision to "bargain" with the Sith Lord. When the Galactic Republic dispatched two Jedi ambassadors, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to resolve the dispute, Gunray panicked upon their arrival on his flagship, the Saak'ak, and contacted Sidious via hologram. To the Neimoidian's surprise, Sidious ordered the execution of the Jedi and the commencement of the invasion of Naboo. Gunray sent a squad of B1-Series battle droids to assassinate the Jedi, filled their waiting room with Dioxis gas, and had their Consular-class cruiser, the Radiant VII, destroyed—actions that, as Haako predicted, would prove ineffective. Haako was not surprised when the Jedi survived Gunray's assassination attempts, which included sending droidekas after them, and inadvertently reminded Gunray of his encounters with them during the Stark Hyperspace War.

Then, Queen Amidala contacted Gunray, assuring him that the blockade would not last much longer. Haako feared that she suspected the impending attack and might attempt to contact Coruscant. Gunray promptly ordered OOM-9, the invasion forces' commander, to attack the small towns of New Centrif, Parrlay, and Vis. These attacks disrupted all interplanetary communications to and from Naboo.

Shortly after, OOM-9 won the First Battle of Theed and captured the Queen. Gunray and Haako visited the Theed Royal Palace, reveling in their victory. Upon returning to the Saak'ak, they learned that the Queen had escaped the planet with the help of the Jedi they had failed to eliminate earlier. This failure angered Sidious, who appeared extremely displeased. Sidious then revealed his apprentice, Darth Maul, the murderer of Haako's predecessor, Hath Monchar. Sidious assured Gunray and Haako that Maul would find their "lost ship." Whether the sight of Maul was meant as a veiled threat or was perceived as such, Gunray and Haako were both deeply shaken. After the holo-conference ended, Haako expressed his concerns about their alliance with the Sith to Gunray.

The Neimoidians then relocated to the Royal Palace, making it their permanent residence during the planet's occupation. To more effectively control the planet, Gunray ordered OOM-9 to eliminate the Gungans he had heard rumors about. With Darth Maul's assistance, Federation forces attacked and routed the Gungan Grand Army at Lake Paonga. However, OOM-9 only partially achieved his objective, an oversight that would soon haunt Haako and the Federation.

The Queen's eventual return to Naboo surprised not only Haako and Gunray but also Sidious (or at least, the Sith Lord led them to believe so). OOM-9 and Darth Maul's previous attempts to destroy the Gungans had clearly not been entirely successful, as the Queen contacted the survivors and raised a Gungan army to fight back. Through a complex plan, she managed 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. Following the Battle of Naboo, Haako, along with Gunray, was formally arrested and transported to Coruscant for trial. However, after several trials, Gunray was never officially punished for the Naboo incident and retained control over the Trade Federation. Due to the Federation's still-significant power, Haako was able to avoid any real punishment.

Later, Haako served alongside Gunray in the leadership of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. He accompanied Gunray to the Separatist summit on Geonosis and witnessed the opening stages of the Battle of Geonosis from the Petranaki arena as an army of Jedi Knights and Republic clone troopers invaded the planet. Haako advised Gunray to flee the planet as they retreated with Gunray into the CIS war room. The pair then escaped aboard Gunray's shuttle, Lapiz Cutter, to the orbiting Federation fleet.

After the Battle of Geonosis, Haako continued to accompany Gunray everywhere, and was 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. During the chaotic evacuation of their homeworld, they left behind the mechno-chair, which had been equipped with a holotransceiver containing the communication signals and codes used by Darth Sidious to communicate with Viceroy Gunray via hologram. The pair lived in constant fear that General Grievous would discover this, as they were shuttled from one safe world to another with the rest of the Separatist Council. Although they initially kept the loss of the mechno-chair a secret, Grievous soon found out. Despite the general's fury, both Neimoidians survived his wrath.

Following General Grievous's unsuccessful attempt to capture the Supreme Chancellor on Coruscant, the Separatists began retreating to the Outer Rim. They were first moved to Utapau, where Grievous, now Head of State of the CIS, kept them in check. 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 coordinate their armies' operations and eventual shutdown from there.

When Grievous was killed on Utapau by General Kenobi, the same Jedi who had plagued the Federation thirteen years prior, Gunray became the de facto head of the CIS. Sidious contacted Gunray one last time, assuring him and the rest of the Council that his new apprentice would "take care of" them. When Darth Vader was sent to kill the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, Rune Haako was present and futilely demanded that Vader cease the slaughter. As Vader killed Poggle the Lesser, Rute Gunnay, and others, Haako fled to the bunker's conference room with Techno Union foreman Wat Tambor. Haako attempted to hide, but Vader entered and ended the Neimoidian's life with a single slash across the chest before proceeding to kill Tambor and Gunray, effectively destroying the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Haako was, in many ways, a typical Neimoidian: perpetually paranoid and deeply greedy. He was less impulsive than his superior, Nute Gunray, who often made hasty decisions without careful consideration. Haako's advice frequently helped prevent or resolve difficult situations, and his constant warnings helped keep Gunray in check. Haako was also consistently pessimistic and more wary of the Sith than Gunray. Sidious may have found Haako's personality grating, as he looked forward to the day he could be rid of the Neimoidians. His wariness and pessimism could be mistaken for typical Neimoidian cowardice, but it was more likely a result of his cautiousness and common sense. By the end of the Clone Wars, he bravely tried to order Vader to stop his massacre of the Separatist leaders, rather than blubber mercy pleas like most of the other council members.

Haako was also known as a skilled manipulator, most effective during negotiations at a conference table. This likely explains why Gunray trusted his advice when dealing with the stubborn Queen Amidala. It is unknown whether Haako had any political ambitions of his own. Early in his life, Haako suffered a stroke, which effectively crippled his left arm and leg, rendering them nearly useless. Haako continued to limp until 32 BBY, but the ailment was clearly gone by 22 BBY.

Haako carried a poison-tipped knife as a weapon. During the blockade of Naboo in 32 BBY, Haako wore a sumptuous robe made from expensive cloth and an attorney's cowl.

Rune Haako was portrayed by Jerome Blake and voiced by James Taylor in The Phantom Menace. In Attack of the Clones, he was played by Alan Ruscoe and voiced by Chris Truswell (despite the credits identifying him as Lott Dod), and portrayed by Sandy Thompson in Revenge of the Sith. Hamilton Camp provided his voice in the game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.

Haako's death was depicted in various ways across the several Revenge of the Sith adaptations. In the Revenge of the Sith video game, Rune Haako is cornered by Vader. He pleads, "I am asking you for mercy. You won't kill me. It's not allowed for a Jedi Knight." Vader responds, "There is much you fail to understand," before killing him. In the Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation, Haako appears in his Phantom Menace costume, unlike in the film. In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Rune Haako falls and attempts to scurry away from Vader, surrendering and saying that its not allowed for a Jedi to kill an unarmed enemy. Vader casually replies "You fought a war to destroy the Jedi, congratulations on your success" before stabbing Haako through the face.

Haako's death is never shown on screen; however, Ben Burtt's editing places another character's death right after we see him on camera, leading us to believe it was him dying at that particular moment. We do see him saying "Stop, No!" (that was definitely him) but right after that the editing cuts to another character being struck down. That character was Aruteous Gunnay. Haako's body can later be found in the conference room. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary erroneously labels a picture of Aito Laff as Rune Haako.

Rune Haako's mask was lost shortly after The Phantom Menace finished filming. The production crew gave Daultay Dofine's mask to Alan Ruscoe instead, and for a time it was thought that this "new" Neimoidian would become a separate character, and he was given the name Gilramos Libkath, after Gillian Libbert and Kathryn Ramos. However, despite being called Gilramos Libkath in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary and being credited as Lott Dod in the credits of the movie, the official LFL explanation, as stated by Leland Chee, is that it is in fact Haako, despite his different appearance and much deeper voice than in The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary also establishes Haako being at Geonosis, not Libkath. However, this did not stop Libkath from being established as a different character that looks and dresses similar to Haako in Attack of the Clones. To add to the confusion, the official site's Databank claims that Haako appears in only Episodes I and III, supporting the Libkath theory.

It should also be noted that the Attack of the Clones Neimoidian wears a purple drape similar to the supreme representative mantle worn by Lott Dod in The Phantom Menace. Since there is no mention of Haako becoming a Senator between the two movies (and lacks the garb in Revenge of the Sith), this would appear to support the "Lott Dod with a facelift" theory.