Human-Gungan conflicts

The title of this article is conjectural. Although this article is based on official information from the Star Wars Legends continuity, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.

Violent conflicts were fought between Human Grizmallti colonists of the planet Naboo and its native Gungans in the decades following the landing of the colonists in approximately 3900 BBY. The conflicts ended with a non-aggression treaty in which both sides agreed to avoid each other. Tensions between the Humans, who came to call themselves the Naboo, and the Gungans continued until the two socities were united during the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY.

Prelude

The amphibious Gungan species was believed to be indigenous to the Mid Rim planet Naboo, which was untouched by Humans until around 4000 BBY. Members of the Grizmallti, the Human inhabitants of^[1] the Core Worlds^[2] planet Grizmallt, discovered Naboo, which was then used as a vacation spot by Grizmallti aristocrats and as a hunting preserve. This caused the Gungans to withdraw into their world's lakes and swamps to keep to themselves.^[1]

In approximately 3900 BBY, colonists from Grizmallt fled a civil war on their homeworld aboard a trio of colony ships: Beneficent Tasia, Constant, and Mother Vima.^[3] Led by the scout Kwilaan,^[5] they lost contact with their homeworld and landed on Naboo,^[3] although one of their ships crashed^[6] and the Beneficent Tasia was unable to contact Grizmallt. Within weeks of their arrival, the Grizmallti encountered the Gungans.^[7]

The conflicts

The Humans were warlike and initiated many of the conflicts between themselves and the Gungans,^[8] who united their clans in response to the new arrivals.^[9] Despite their best efforts, diplomats on both sides failed to negotiate peace, and the Gungans and Humans fought brutal conflicts for territory and access to resources in the following decades.^[1] In response to the unwanted presence of the Humans, the Gungans developed their own dialect of Galactic Basic Standard called Gunganese which served as a protest against the colonizers while also opening up communication with them. Due to their ability to communicate,^[8] the two species eventually signed a peace treaty^[10] in which both sides agreed to avoid each other while maintaining an intense distrust.^[1]

Aftermath

As a result of the conflict, the Humans reinvented their culture to focus on peace, art, and knowledge, also calling themselves the Naboo. The Gungans abandoned their surface settlements and retreated to their underwater cities^[5] where they discovered locap, a plant from which they could extract plasma to use as an energy source. This allowed them to maintain their underwater settlements permanently.^[11] The following generations of Gungans would occasionally return to the ruins of their surface cities in what Galactic Republic sociologists speculated were religious rituals.^[5] Both civilizations eventually had their own civil wars, with the Gungan tribes warring with each other in 3000 BBY and the Naboo entering the Time of Suffering^[2] from approximately 1032 BBY to 832 BBY.^[1]

The animosity between the Humans and Gungans persisted for generations,^[10] although some Gungans reluctantly traded with the Naboo.^[9] Another war between the Gungans and the Naboo occurred in approximately 127 BBY or 125 BBY, in which Naboo's queen was killed.^[12] Both species later united under the leadership of Queen Padmé Amidala of the Naboo and Boss Rugor Nass of the Gungans to repel the Trade Federation in the Invasion of Naboo^[10] in 32 BBY.^[3]

The Essential Guide to Alien Species, a work adapted by a writer from the notes of Senior Anthropologist Mammon Hoole and published during or after 25 ABY, referenced the conflicts and their impact on the Gungan language.^[8] An updated version of the guide published during or after 36 ABY stated that there were no historical records of armed conflict between Humans and Gungans, instead attributing the conflict between the species to communication difficulties.^[13] The war between the Humans and Gungans was mentioned in a chronicle of the galaxy compiled by the Galactic Alliance Historical Council in 36 ABY.^[3]

Behind the scenes

The conflict that forced the Gungans to live underwater was first mentioned in Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I, a reference book by Kristin Lund published in 2000.^[11] The conflict was established to have been between the Gungans and the Humans in Secrets of Naboo, a 2001 sourcebook for the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Roleplaying Game.^[5] A variety of sources suggest that no war between the Gungans and the Humans ever took place. In the 1999 prequel trilogy film Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace, Queen Padmé Amidala states that both Gungan and Naboo societies had lived in peace.^[14] The 2015 sourcebook Nexus of Power, published by Fantasy Flight Games for use with the Star Wars: Force and Destiny roleplaying game, suggested that the Human colonists did not refer to themselves as the Naboo until after their conflict with the Gungans.^[1]

The Databank on StarWars.com also specified that the Gungans and Naboo had never been at war.^[15] Another source to refute the existence of the conflicts was the DataBank in the 2001 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, which stated that neither Humans or Gungans attacked each other and instead maintained a tense relationship.^[7] Additionally, during the game's development, early levels of the Gungan campaign were intended to involve a conflict between the Gungan Boss Gallo and Human Naboo tyrants, but the members of the creative team, including level designer Stephen J. McManus, were informed that canonically no war between the two civilizations had taken place. McManus therefore redesigned the campaign to become a war between Gungans.^[16]

In 2004, Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed: Prima Official Game Guide stated that the Humans and Gungans did not attack each other despite their opposition, but acknowledged that armed clashes were rare.^[17] The 2006 reference book The New Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis, styled as a partially in-universe guide, states that there were no historical records of armed conflict between the species.^[13] 2008's Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide also described the Gungans as "unperturbed" by the arrival of Humans.^[18] This article follows sources that establish that the conflicts occurred.

The entry for the Naboo people in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that a war occurred several centuries before the Battle of Naboo in which large numbers of Naboo and Gungans were killed, which lead to the realization that they could not survive independently and the establishment of trading relationships. However, this could be referring to the later war between them or the war between the Gungans and a group of mercenaries.^[19]

Sources

• Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I (First mentioned)
• Secrets of Naboo
• The Essential Guide to Alien Species
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 24 NAB 1-4: Naboo
• Naboo on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (original site is defunct)
• Ultimate Alien Anthology
• Star Wars: Complete Locations
• The New Essential Chronology
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook
• The Essential Atlas
• Nexus of Power

Notes and references