Hey there, Rebelscum fans! This week on the site we’ve been looking at the planet of Mustafar that’s spotlighted in the climax of Revenge of the Sith. Make sure to check out our “Expand Your Mind” article first to read all about the sequence’s importance within the franchise, but stay tuned throughout the week for more articles, insights, videos, and information about the most essential merchandising content that collectors will want to be looking out for.


Prior to taking on his master, Anakin performs a critical task for the newly honored Emperor Palpatine: wiping out the Separatist Council. It’s important that the Separatists, who were never anything more than pawns, are defeated to maintain Palpatine’s lies that the Empire has saved the galaxy. Anakin shuts down the droid army and brutally murders Nute Gunray, Wat Tambor, Poggle the Lesser, San Hill, Shu Mai, Po Nudo, Passel Argente, Rogwa Wodrata, Rute Gunnay, and the fan favorite Tikkes.


Among his victims is the Trade Federation official Rune Haako, who has been a thorn in the Republics’ side since The Phantom Menace. The Settlement Officer of the Trade Federation served as the chief lieutenant to Nute Gunray throughout the prequel trilogy. In events that are alluded to in The Phantom Menace and shown in more detail in the novel Cloak of Deception, Gunray and the entire Trade Federation enter into a secret deal with Darth Sidious.


Rune Haako is the voice of reason to his boss’s more aggressive and impulsive behavior. While Gunray has the haughty derisiveness of a bureaucrat, Haako understands the priorities that the Trade Federation should actually be focusing on. He’s constantly wary of Sidious’s influence and questions Gunray’s decisions, but he’s mostly ignored. Haako serves as Gunray’s loyal advisor throughout the prequels, but he’s skeptical of his boss’s personal vengeance quest against Padme Amidala.


Haako appears at the first meeting of the Sepratist Council in Attack of the Clones. Through the combined strength of Count Dooku’s charisma (thanks to his political experience on Serrano) and the Trade Federation’s dominance within the outer rim, the new Confederacy of Independent Systems is able to gather a collection of the galaxy’s corrupt manufacturers, organizations, and guilds. Characters like Poggle the Lesser and Wat Tambor were fleshed out in greater detail in The Clone Wars.


After surviving the Battle of Coruscant, Haako travels with the Council to Utapau and later to Mustafar when they’re under the command of General Grievous following Dooku’s death. While Haako is of a lower rank, he still is present for the important meetings. His insights end up getting him a little too close to the top, as like his allies he’s murdered by Anakin.


Haako was portrayed by the actor Jerome Blake and voiced by James Taylor in The Phantom Menace, but he was played by Alan Ruscoe and voiced by Chris Truswell in Episode II. Sandy Thompson played him in Revenge of the Sith. In the original credits for Attack of the Clones, he’s mistakenly referred to as Lott Dodd, a different Neimoidian Trade Federation senator entirely. Haako actually has a few lines that were cut from Revenge of the Sith during this sequence, but they are featured in the Episode III game, comic, and novel.

What do you think, Rebelscum fans? Are we alone in our appreciation of Rune Haako? Are you as surprised as we are that he never showed up on The Clone Wars? Let us know in the forums, and as always, may the Force be with you!

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