The Gungan Army...Should the Naboo have been worried?

Jar Jar proudly points out in Ep. I that the Gungans have "a grand army."

My question is...why? It seems like they pretty much just kept to themselves in their underwater cities. Sure, they seemed to have some sort of hatred for the Naboo. But they shouldn't have felt threatened by the Naboo as they only had their little security volunteers. It just seems out of place for them to have had such a developed military force.

So I wonder, if things in Ep. I hadn't played out as they did, were the Gungans eventually thinking about invading the Naboo?

 

The reason they have a grand army is because they're an insulated society. Many closed-off societies have a large defense force to protect themselves from who they see as invaders or "outlanders".

Switzerland has been neutral in most conflicts for over a century, but maintain a powerful citizens militia.

NK is a closed society that maintain a very large military.

Insulated and isolated societies tend to keep large militaries to keep "others" out.

 

were the Gungans eventually thinking about invading the Naboo?

BOSS NASS : Wesa no like da Naboo! Un dey no like uss-ens. Da Naboo tink day
so smarty den us-ens. Day tink day brains so big.


Not a bad question. I think maybe if the Gungans perceived they were abused by the Naboo, they may have. And by the looks of their forces, it looks like the Naboo security forces were geared to defending against the Gungans, more so than defending themselves from anyone else.

 

Not to mention that some Gungans, like Roos Tarpals, can approach the height of Chewie (Tarpals is 2.24 meters tall, while Chewie stands at 2.28 meters). While Otolla Gungans like Tarpals are more lanky than a Wookiee, they'd STILL be FAR more powerful than a human, especially big ones like Tarpals himself.

And you can imagine Ankura Gungans like Boss Nass being REALLY powerful, just from their massive builds.

Then we get into all the Gungans' awesome weapons, their shield tech, and their kaadu cavalry, and yeah, the Naboo would be pasted, as Jar Jar once so eloquently put it.

Sure, the Naboo have their speeders and fighters, but due to the EMP effect of Gungan plasma balls, one good booma and those things aren't going ANYWHERE.

 

The Gungans had their own civilization on their own. Every civilization needs an army so obviously the grand army was their for the reason of protection. But I don't think that it would come to the Gungans invading Naboo and even if they did I doubt that Naboo had anything to fear as the Gungan "grand army" was ultimatly being defeated by the droids in TPM.

 

The various nasty sea creatures we see on screen are the reason for the army according to the various visual directories and other print material. This reason is not stated on screen, but it is a reasonable inference given the aquatic cities of the Gungans.

 

As were the Naboo whenever they faced similar amounts of battle droids, if you'll recall- besides, are you REALLY comparing a handful of minimally-equipped Security Forces to the massive droid army fielded at the Battle of the Grassy Plains?

 

Well, the Gungan Grand Army was formed when the opposing Gungan tribes unified into one nation so it kinda symbolizes the unity of the Gungan people. Plus, they did fight one war with Naboo(hundreds of years before TPM) which the victor was never really decided. So it may be that the Army was kept just in case the war started up again.

However, I don't think the Naboo would be the only reason for having an army. A good society is always prepared for any threat, not just one. Plus, looking at just the films, it seems like the Grand Army also acted as a police force within their society.

 

It seems like the Naboo have highly advanced space vessel facilities. Look at their starfighters and their luxury cruisers. If things did come down to a fight I'd like the Naboo over the Gungans for the simple matter of air superiority. We've seen it a number of times that whoever controls the skies over a battlefield will have a very good chance at winning. See Desert Storm, the Iraqi's had the 5th biggest army before then, afterwards they had crap and most of what was destroyed was from our planes.

 

I'm wondering if Gungans have any air technology. The bombs and shields on the Naboo starfighters look awfully similar to the "boomas," and shiled that the Gungans used.