Poggle the Lesser

"You're committing an act of war, Archduke. I hope you're prepared for the consequences."

- Padmé Amidala to Poggle the Lesser

Poggle the Lesser was the Archduke of Geonosis before and during the Clone Wars, and was a leading member of the Separatist Council. He would later be killed by Darth Vader, along with the rest of the Council, on Mustafar at the conclusion of the conflict in 19 BBY.

As planetary leader of the Geonosians and a member of the Techno Union, Poggle controlled the vast droid factories found on his planet.

Biography
Originally, Poggle was a member of the Geonosian lower caste, hence his surname "the Lesser". He sought the position held by then-Archduke Hadiss the Vaulted and organized a revolt against him, which seemed to be of little concern to Hadiss, who easily dealt with the rebels.

That was until the Sith Lord Darth Sidious came to Poggle's aid and secretly funded his revolution. Over time, Poggle's rebels finally seized power and Poggle at last became Archduke of the Stalgasin Hive, the ruling hive of Geonosis, and Hadiss was executed in the Geonosian arena.

Once Poggle the Lesser was in power, Darth Sidious's intentions became clear: he wanted control of the droid factories to supply B1 battle droids to the Trade Federation for an invasion of Naboo. Poggle, grateful for Sidious's help, gladly struck a deal with the Trade Federation. The fact that Poggle and Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray hated each other but still worked together was a great testament to the influence of the Sith Lord.

Shortly after the Trade Federation was defeated at the Battle of Naboo, Poggle was approached by the rogue Jedi Count Dooku, revealing himself as Darth Tyranus, the new apprentice of Darth Sidious. Dooku formed a partnership with Poggle; the Archduke would ensure that Geonosis was among the founding worlds of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and would supply a large amount of the Separatist Droid Army. In return, Poggle would be paid large sums of money for his trouble and Geonosis would earn a place on the high order of the new Confederacy. This partnership was lucrative; Poggle even took the liberty to create a new B2 super battle droid for the Confederacy.



Poggle also assisted Count Dooku and InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill with another project: the rehabilitation of the Kaleesh warlord General Grievous. Poggle's engineers were responsible for the cyborg body given to the injured Grievous. Following the procedure, Grievous was promoted to Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies.

The Clone Wars
Nearly ten years after their initial meeting, Poggle the Lesser hosted the first official meeting of the Confederacy in the Stalgasin Hive. The Geonosians captured Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Padmé Amidala soon after this meeting, and Poggle himself presided over their trials, charging them with espionage and sentencing them to execution at the Geonosian arena. Senator Amidala warned Poggle that to execute three officials of the Republic was an act of war; Poggle scoffed that as a builder of weapons, he was more than prepared for it.

The execution did not go as Poggle planned, but despite the prisoners managing to outwit the arena beasts (and Nute Gunray's constant complaining), Poggle was satisfied by the display, until Mace Windu and several Jedi arrived to rescue them. Poggle's battle droids outnumbered the Jedi and victory seemed sure, until the clone army arrived. Poggle and the Separatists retreated to a war room and watched helplessly as the Republic Army, suddenly manned by squads of clone troopers, engaged their droid army. Poggle ordered his soldiers to retreat and hide, but before he joined them, he turned over plans to the Ultimate Weapon&mdash;a secret project he had been contracted to build by the Separatists which would later become the Galactic Empire's feared battle station, the dreaded Death Star&mdash;to Count Dooku and erased all data from his computers.



Following a string of Republic victories, General Grievous ordered the members of the Separatist Council to remain under his protection. Grievous hid them on Utapau while he prepared a strike on Coruscant; following Count Dooku's death and Grievous's failure at Coruscant, Poggle and the other Separatist leaders were sent to a fortified bunker on Mustafar, by order of Darth Sidious.

When Darth Vader, Sidious's new apprentice, arrived on Mustafar, the Separatist leaders discovered that he was sent not to reward the council, but to execute them. Poggle attempted to defend himself using his staff, to no avail, and was quickly bisected.

Personality and appearance
Poggle the Lesser was Human-sized and insectoid like all Geonosians, but his frame was slightly larger than his servants and he had a set of fleshy, beard-like tendrils growing around his mouth as well as a prominent head-crest. At full height, Poggle stood almost as tall as Count Dooku. As a member of the worker caste, Poggle most likely looked like an average Geonosian when he was younger; it is believed his current physique is normal for a Geonosian of advanced age, and few outside the higher castes likely ever live that long. He carried with him a command staff which was rumored to be made from the bones of a murdered political rival&mdash;possibly a grim trophy from the execution of Hadiss the Vaulted.



Poggle the Lesser was described as "analytical and pitiless, but also pragmatic&hellip; reasonable" (in comparison to "monster" General Grievous). Among the Separatist Council, Poggle was the only member to be an actual head of state and military, giving him some insight into military strategy. Weaponry was one of Geonosis's primary trades and its production increased dramatically during Poggle's reign.

Poggle the Lesser, like Nute Gunray, was aware of the existence of Darth Sidious, but like Jango Fett, he also knew that Count Dooku was Darth Tyranus. What Poggle didn't know, however, was the true identity of Lord Sidious or that the very clones used to attack him were commissioned by Sidious and Tyranus. Though not the most intelligent or diplomatically-versed being, it is notable that the Sith placed a great deal of trust in him, and that he and Count Dooku respected each other mutually (Dooku's solar sailer was a gift from Poggle), even if he was, for the most part, unaware of their true intentions. It is especially surprising in light of Dooku's Speciesist attitudes.

Behind the scenes
Poggle the Lesser was voiced by Marton Csokas in Attack of the Clones. Patrick Pinney provided the voice in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns. He will be voiced by Matthew Wood in Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series.

In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Poggle tried to escape, but lost his head. However, in the video game adaptation, as Anakin Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut through the door of the Separatist command center, Poggle held out his hand as he backed up against a holographic display table. When Vader finished slicing through, he Force pushed the piece of the door toward the holographic display table, crushing the Geonosian between the metal and the table. It is noted that a "juice" flies out of his body as Poggle the Lesser is squashed to death, almost as if he was a bug being whacked with a fly swatter (and is reminiscent of a menu animation on the Attack of the Clones DVD).

In the DVD commentary, it is to be said that Poggle the Lesser was made to look a lot different than other Geonosians in order to establish the fact that he was leader, just as with Boss Nass and the Gungans.

A piece called "Poggle" is one of the Separatist Leader tokens in Risk: Star Wars Clone Wars Edition.

The surname "The Lesser" signifies his position in the Geonosian lower caste. Actually in history, some individuals were named 'the Lesser', to distinguish them from other persons of the same name, who were known as 'the Great'. An example has been Ajax 'the Great' and Ajax 'the Lesser' from Greek mythology, who not only had the same name, but also both fought in the Trojan War.

Appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * The Eyes of Revolution
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones novel
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones junior novel
 * Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * Evasive Action: Reversal of Fortune
 * The Clone Wars: Wild Space
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Death Star
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Death Star