Nododo

Nododo was the male god of trickery in the religion of the Gungan species of the planet Naboo. He was considered one of the less serious guds in the pantheon who would choose to provide entertainment in spite of his divine nature. Other such guds included Kobble, the goddess of good food and feasting, and Wamka Pol, the god of games. Nododo had the power to change his appearance, taking the form of animals to visit and insult Gungans.^[1]

Behind the scenes

"This was a bit of extreme referencing, extrapolated from the Lucas Learning children's game Yoda's Challenge where one of the puzzles revolved around the player recovering some sacred statues from a series of catacombs. The statues were in the shape of an opee sea killer, a kaadu, a peko peko, and a shaak, which seemed to fit well into the already-established tenets of Gungan pantheism."

―Daniel Wallace, explaining information about Nododo written for the canceled reference book The Essential Guide to Episode I^[2]

Nododo was originally created for the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, written by George Lucas. In the film's revised rough draft, the Gungan Jar Jar Binks attempts to convince his companion, the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, that their impending journey through Naboo's core will lead to their deaths. Kenobi retorts that his access to the power of the Force will protect them, but Binks responds in disbelief that reliance on the Force is comparable to praying to Nododo.^[3] The scene where Nododo was mentioned did not appear in the finished film,^[4] which premiered on May 19, 1999,^[5] although it was described in the CD-ROM Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide,^[3] which was released on June 23, 1999.^[6] Nododo was then established to exist canonically within the Star Wars Legends continuity when he was mentioned in the French language version of the Gungan DataBank in the 2001 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.^[1]

The animal statues in Yoda's Challenge Activity Center that were going to be retroactively linked to Nododo by The Essential Guide to Episode I — The animal statues in *Yoda's Challenge Activity Center* that were going to be retroactively linked to Nododo by *The Essential Guide to Episode I*

Author Daniel Wallace planned to elaborate on Nododo's nature in the ultimately canceled reference book The Essential Guide to Episode I. In a blog post on StarWars.com that explored the content intended for the book, Wallace stated that Nododo would have been identified as a trickster god who could only appear as an opee sea killer, a kaadu, a peko peko, or a shaak. Nododo's forms were intended to reference a puzzle from^[2] the Lucas Learning video game Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center,^[7] which was released on August 11, 1999.^[8] In the game's "Explore the Gungan Caves" activity, the player had to recover sacred statues that bore the shapes of the aforementioned species from a series of catacombs. Wallace believed that the statues fit well into existing details about the Gungan religious beliefs.^[2]