PT Why does the Trade Federation Invades Naboo?

That's not in the film. That's in the comics. The film never states why Han didn't pay off Jabba. It wasn't important to the film.

 

Strictly, there's lots of explanations in the comics. The first of which (the Crimson Jack arc) was "Han was robbed on the way to Jabba".

 

Going by the movies, it's assumed that Han sticks around to help the Rebels, and maybe had feelings for Leia, too. But after the bounty hunter altercation, and Leia being in denial about her feelings for him, he decided it was time to go and pay Jabba back.

 

Right. But even then, it wasn't a major point. If it was, it would have been dealt with between films as ANH implies it was going to be. Lucas, Brackett and Kasdan may have discussed it, but the end result was that it wasn't important why. Just that Han hadn't done it.

 

In real life trade taxes are not just a source of money for governments, it is also a way for them to control and restrict trade. Trade taxes also decrease demand, increase supply, and drive down prices. So not only does the TF has to pay trade taxes, but they also would be force to sell at lower prices cutting into their profits even more. The TF is like the space version of the East Indie Trading company that had it's own armed forces and controlled territory like a government. East Indie signed treaties, declared war like a government even though it was a corporation. These days there are laws preventing modern corporations from becoming qusi-governments but it seems the Republic lacks such laws since it is a failing government. The TF probably did use the fear of their battle droid forces to outright rule their trade territories but in a way that doesn't consuetude as war on the Republic itself. They are just strong arming local weak governments, it would not be until AOTC where the TF and the other mega corporations join together to overthrow the Republic for freetrade. The irony is they are helping Palps, the man who will nationalize all trade under the Empire according to Biggs in the deleted ANH scene.


My view is that the Republic passed the taxes to reign in the large qusi-government corporations such as the TF. However the TF wasn't just going to take it lying down, Sids took advantage of this by making a deal with the TF. If they blockaded and invaded Naboo, he would use his influence to lift the taxes and the TF would gain control of another world, Naboo. The treaty would make the TF's control of Naboo legal. What Sids/Palps gains from this is he would use this situation as a springboard to becoming chancellor. Of course the TF doesn't know that the Sith was planning to throw them under the bus.

 

I'm not going to pretend like I understand the plot of TPM completely.

The Trade Federation, I assume is a guild of merchants that move goods for planets and keep a percentage of the profit. So if the senate votes to tax trade routes that were once tax free, the TF would be upset.

Perhaps Naboo was a major exporter (guess) and by blockading the system, the central government is not able to tax trade leaving that system (since no ships are leaving).

Palpatine then orders the invasion of the planet, jams communications, and he wants the TF to make Amidala sign a treaty legalizing the occupation.

I'm guessing that the senate knew full well that the Trade Federation was the aggressor here. When Amidala calls for the vote of no confidence, there's not shortage of people that vote against Valorum, and as Palpatine says, he expects a strong sympathy vote. It's corrupt bureaucrats in the senate that stall Valorum and convince him to defer to a committee and bureaucratic procedures (Palpatine points out that these bureaucrats are on the payroll of the TF).

So my guess is that the plan all along was to get a sympathy vote.

Had everything gone according to plan (I'm just guessing that this was the plan):

1. TF invades Naboo
2. Amidala signs the treaty and then is killed.
3. Palpatine tries to get the senate to take action, but Valorum refuses because of bureaucratic procedure
4. Palpatine calls for a vote of no confidence.

But Amidala didn't sign the treaty and escaped to Coruscant, so Palpatine had to modify the plan by convincing Amidala to make the call for a vote of no confidence, something she seemed reluctant to do since Valorum was their "strongest supporter" (he sent the two Jedi in secret at the beginning of the film).

I think the reason that Palpatine did not want Amidala to reach Coruscant is because she held a certain appreciation for Valorum's help, quick could thwart Palpatine's plan if she refused to call for a vote of no confidence against him. But fortunately for Palpatine, he was able to convince her to.

The thing I find harder to understand is why he'd send Maul against the Jedi on Naboo and tell the TF to wipe the Naboo resistance out. At that point Palpatine got Valorum out of office and was expecting a strong sympathy vote anyway, why commit Maul to a useless fight in which the Sith stood nothing to gain?

 

Well, Sidious still had to keep up appearances with the TF. He couldn't just suddenly abandon them and say "Sorry buds, you're on your own now. I got what I wanted."

I can't recall if the Darth Plagueis novel sheds light on Maul's participation at Naboo or not, but what the novel does say is that Maul was never actually a Sith. Maul was highly skilled, yes, but he was nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded at Palpatine's whim. He didn't embody the true ideals of the Sith. Let us also remember that when Sidious ordered Maul to go to Naboo, he was already aware of Anakin's existence, so maybe he was already beginning the plot to seduce him.

Regardless of Palpatine's ultimate goals regarding Naboo, it is clear that Maul would have had to be eliminated sooner or later to make room for Anakin. So by putting Maul into a dangerous situation, it would possibly accomplish that goal for him. It's a similar reason why Palpatine let Anakin know of Grievous' presence on Utapau in ROTS. Grievous had to be eliminated too, so by having Obi-Wan do the deed for him, it accomplished two goals at once: Get rid of Grievous, and make sure Obi-Wan is far enough away not to interfere with Anakin's turn.

 

As I said before, the Trade Federation is clearly a powerful mega corporation that has reached qusi-government status like the East Indie Trading Company. It is why the TF has a senator because they are a sovereignty in their own right. It took decades for the British government to restrict the East Indie's power since they were becoming an internal rival in the British empire. I think the same thing was happening with the TF and the rest of the mega corporations, Lucas is a history buff afterall. Qusi-government level mega corporations are a stable of Scifi.

In real life, trade taxs always drives down prices, so the TF would have been hurt three different ways, 1 pay taxes (increased cost), 2 less demand (less goods are abled to be sold), and 3 lower prices ( in an attempt to increase demand). No wonder they wanted to stop it.

As far as Naboo, Palps wanted the TF to dig itself into a deeper hole with attacking the Gungans and set the Jedi order on edge by killing two of them. The other thing is Palps probably was already working on Count Dooku and wanted Maul out of the way. Palps uses people, then disposes of them once they are of no more use or there is someone better, like with wanting Luke to replace Vader in ROTJ.

 

No, but he does send Maul after her to bring her back.

Its pretty clear his plan up-until her arrival on Courscant (maybe even after) was to have her sign the treaty.

 

I've said that many times in this thread.

 

Maul's Sithhood is only treated as though it's in question because of the rule of two and the decision to keep Plagueis alive through most of TPM. Before that decision, Maul's Sithhood was never in question, and Maul is still that same Maul. It was important for Plagueis to see Maul as a mere tool, but the fact remains that Palpatine didn't intend for Maul to be killed defeated at Naboo, so when Palpatine killed Plagueis the intended result was that Palpatine and Maul would go forward as the two Sith. Maul was at the very least a Sith-in-waiting.