Poggle the Lesser

Poggle the Lesser is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. In the films he created with CGI animation and is voice by a digitally altered Marton Csokas. He first appeared in Attack of the Clones.

Poggle the Lesser is the Archduke of Geonosis as seen in Attack of the Clones. As planetary leader of the Geonosians and member of the Techno Union, Poggle controls the vast droid factories found on his planet.

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 Colony, the ruling hive of Geonosis, and Hadiss was executed in the Geonosian arena.

Once Poggle the Lesser was in power, Darth Sidious' intentions became clear: he wanted control of the droid factories to supply battle droids to the Trade Federation for an invasion of Naboo. Poggle, grateful for Sidious' help, gladly struck a deal with the Trade Federation. That Poggle and the Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray do not get along is greater testament to the influence of the Sith Lord.

Ten years later, Poggle the Lesser was again called to the service of Darth Sidious, by way of his apprentice Darth Tyranus, the rogue Jedi Count Dooku. Poggle ensured that Geonosis was among the founding worlds of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and even hosted the first meeting in the Stalgasin Hive. Poggle's job on the Separatist council was to supply a great deal of battle droid units (incidentally, the battle droids are abstract models of the Geonosians themselves) and even to create several newer units for heavy battle use. The Geonosians captured Obi-Wan Kenobi, 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 Republic Army arrived. Poggle and the Separatists retreated to a war room and watched helplessly as the Republic slaughtered their droid army. Poggle ordered his soldiers to retreat and hide, but before he joined them, he turned over plans to the Death Star- a secret project he had been contracted to build by the Separatists- to Count Dooku and erased all data from his computers.

Poggle the Lesser is large and insectoid like all Geonosians, but his frame is slightly large and he has a set of fleshy, beard-like tendrils growing around his mouth as well as a prominant head-crest. At full height, Poggle stands almost as tall as Count Dooku. He carries with him a command staff which is rumored to be made from the bones of a murdered political rival- possibly a grim trophy from the execution of Hadiss the Vaulted.

Poggle the Lesser, like Nute Gunray, is aware of the existance of Darth Sidious, but like Jango Futt and unlike the viceroy, he also knows that Count Dooku is a Sith Lord. It is doubtful that Poggle knows the true identity of Sidious and it is unknown if the other Separatists are aware of the Death Star contract. Though not the most intelligent or diplomatically-versed being in the Star Wars universe, it is notable that the Sith have placed a great deal of trust in him, even if he is, for the most part, unaware of their true intentions.