Captain Tarpals – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight
This week, Captain Tarpals will be the focus of our _Star Wars_ Character Spotlight. Roos Tarpals was a captain in the Gungan Grand Army, one of the more competent Gungans to appear in _The Phantom Menace_. While he has a fairly minor role in the film, there is more to his story heading into the Clone Wars.
## **Invasion of Naboo**
We know almost nothing about Captain Tarpals prior to _The Phantom Menace_ , other than that he was already a Gungan captain and that he knew Jar Jar Binks in some capacity.
His first appearance is in the film when Jar Jar returns with Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Tarpals realizes that Jar Jar has returned from his exile, he tells him he is “in big doo-doo this time” and brings the three of them to Boss Nass for judgement.
Tarpals has little to do after this until the actual Battle of Naboo. He can be seen throughout the film standing at attention when Boss Nass first meets the Jedi and later when he grants an audience with the Queen of Naboo, but he doesn’t speak again until the big battle.
It’s here that he shines, guiding the hapless and clumsy Jar Jar through the battle. It’s unclear how Tarpals felt about Jar Jar’s promotion to Bombad General, but he put his life on the line for Jar Jar regardless, scooping him up to save him from an AAT on his Kaadu mount.
Despite an impressive effort, the Gungan Grand Army was outnumbered and overpowered, with the Gungans fleeing the swarming droid forces. Both Captain Tarpals and Jar Jar are surrounded by battle droids, with Tarpals sighing in disappointment as Jar Jar doesn’t hesitate to put his hands up in surrender rather than fight to the death.
Fortunately, they both survived after Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Droid Control Ship and their mechanical foes all shut down, saving their lives. At the end of the film, Captain Tarpals plays a significant role in the victory parade at Theed.
## **The Clone Wars**
Captain Tarpals appears in two separate story arcs in _The Clone Wars_ , by which point he had been promoted to General of the Gungan Grand Army. The first is a brief one, when Yoda appeals to the Gungans to assist the Mon Calamari against the Quarrens and Separatists early in Season 3. While Tarpals is in the room when Yoda first approaches the Gungans, he is not seen at the Battle of Mon Calamari, as Jar Jar Binks leads the Gungan forces instead.
His second and final appearance is much more significant. In Season 4, war returns to Naboo when the Gungans plan to invade Theed, with Boss Lyonie under mind control by one of her ministers, who is secretly working for Count Dooku.
Once Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala freed Boss Lyonie of her mind control, a plan was concocted to stop the Theed invasion, which was still planned to go ahead. Lyonie was not in the right physical state to call off the attack, so Jar Jar assumed her identity in an attempt to fool the Separatists.
General Tarpals once again accompanied Jar Jar as he boarded a Separatist landing ship under the guise of coordinating the Gungan invasion. When they realized that General Grievous was leading the Separatist forces on the planet, Tarpals contacted Padmé to warn her of his presence.
## **Death**
General Grievous soon realized that Jar Jar was an impostor, but only after his droid forces had been disabled. Without his droids to back him up, he duelled General Tarpals one on one. Unfortunately, even without reinforcements, Grievous was more than a match for Tarpals and the Gungan general knew that it was extremely unlikely he would survive the encounter.
Grievous mortally wounded Tarpals, but the Gungan still managed to shock him powerfully enough to short out his systems and incapacitate the general. Grievous was captured by the Gungan forces and although he would die from his wounds, Tarpals won the battle. He was one of the first people to actually defeat General Grievous in the war.
Though the Gungans were forced to release Grievous in a prisoner exchange with Anakin Skywalker, General Tarpals accomplished something that very few people managed. His sacrifice ultimately managed to keep Naboo out of the Separatists’ clutches. He died saving his planet from subjugation.
## **What next?**
There is plenty of time to expand on Roos Tarpals’ life, particularly before _The Phantom Menace_ , but given the Gungans’ relative lack of importance on the galactic stage, it seems unlikely that we’ll see Captain Tarpals again anytime soon.
##### Josh Atkins
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Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
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