Mas Amedda

"ORDER! We shall have order!"

- Mas Amedda

Mas Amedda is a recurring antagonist throughout the Star Wars franchise first appearing in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Meanace and has appeared in other installments of both the Prequel trilogy and other media such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and various other comics in both Canon and Legends timelines. He is a Chagrian male politician who served as Vice Chancellor of the Galactic Republic during its final years and later became Grand Vizier of the Galactic Empire as well as one of the closest advisors and right-hand men of Emperor Palpatine.

Personality
Senator Mas Amedda was greedy, ambitious and cowardly, vices that Palpatine (Darth Sidious) detected early in his career in the Senate; he appealed to Amedda’s ruthless desire for status in order to make him his right-hand man and help him topple Chancellor Finis Valorum.

Once Palpatine became Chancellor, Amedda aided him in the Senate and did his best to push forward his public agenda and master plan to take over the galaxy. Following the formation of the Galactic Empire, Amedda happily took over as Grand Vizier and ran the day-to-day affairs of the Empire.

Following the Battle of Endor and its aftermath, Mas Amedda became very desperate to maintain order in the failing Empire as he struggled to gain support from the surviving leaders of the Imperial Military and was desperate to have the New Republic approve of his surrender. He became suicidal and his attempts on his life forced his captors to take extreme measures. When he was found by the child assassins, he was broken and wanted to end everything. After he was rescued by the kids, his surrender was approved of and he had a great sense of relief now that the war was over, but it's unknown what became of Amedda after he became the figurehead of the powerless Coruscant Provisional Government.

Vice Chanellor of the Republic
A canny Chagrian politician with impeccable skills, Mas Amedda served as Vice Chancellor of the Galactic Republic on Coruscant under Valorum where he kept order in debates. During Valorum's term as Supreme Chancellor, Mas Amedda was Vice Chair of the Senate and became embroiled in widespread rumors that he was on the payroll of the Trade Federation. Secretly, Amedda did everything in his power to tie up the Senate in endless debates that Valorum lost the support of many Senators.

During the Naboo crisis, Amedda presided over the special session of congress alongside Chancellor Valorum and Staff Aide Sei Taria when Queen Amidala appeared before the Senate to plea for relief from the Trade Federation's predations. With Naboo suffering, the Senate debated its options but does not act. The Speaker, Amedda knew that this indecision would make Valorum look weak and ineffective but counseled him. The Queen moved for a motion of a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum's leadership following the Senate's inaction in response to the Invasion of Naboo. The Senate Chamber erupted into calls to vote immediately and Amedda called for order.

Despite Valorum's fall from power, Amedda retained his post as Vice Chair under the ambitious new Chancellor, Senator Palpatine. Following Palpatine's election, Amedda continued to serve as Vice Chair for the duration of Palpatine's term as Chancellor. Amedda's booming voice often called for order when the partisan nature of the Republic's government degenerated into pointless bickering. In an alien gesture of authority, he would often punctuate such calls with a flicker of his long, forked tongue.

The Vice Chancellor was also one of the few individuals who knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, and actively participated in the chancellor's schemes by helping him to gain more wartime powers through their manipulation of the Senate. During the Separatist Crisis, the Military Creation Act was highly debated by the Senate. The discovery of a droid army on Geonosis, a clear threat from the Separatists, meant that action needed to be taken. Amedda was the first to suggest that Palpatine be granted emergency powers suggestion taken into consideration by Representative Jar Jar Binks.

Grand Vizier of the Galactic Empire
Amedda was in the Supreme Chancellor's box at the Galaxies Opera House when Palpatine summoned Anakin Skywalker for a critical meeting. While discussing the location of General Grievous and the remaining Separatist leadership, Palpatine dismissed Amedda and Sly Moore so he could confer privately with the young Jedi Knight.

Mas Amedda was present when Grand Master Yoda encroached into Palpatine's office and the two dueled. He, however, did not witness the duel, having left before the first blow. Following the duel, Amedda from a Senate pod tasked Palpatine's personal clone troopers to scour the Senate for any traces of the fugitive Jedi Master Yoda. He was then told by the Emperor to tell Captain Kagi to prepare his shuttle for departure to Mustafar.

He continued to serve after the formation of the Galactic Empire, but his position was far less important than it had been in earlier years. Palpatine kept both Amedda and the Umbaran Staff Aide Sly Moore at his side, appointing them both to the original Imperial Interim Ruling Council. During the early years of the Empire, Amedda was leading an event where he had the lightsabers of the Jedi slain in the Jedi Temple during Order 66 placed into a machine that destroyed all of them in an attempt to show the end of "Jedi Tyranny" and the "liberation" of the people of the Galactic Empire. Throughout the early rebellions and later the Galactic Civil War, Amedda served as the governing figure of the Empire while Palpatine did his own plans in private away from the Empire's eyes. After Palpatine's death on the Death Star II during the Battle of Endor and the deaths of most of the Imperial High Command, Amedda took over as Interim Leader of the Galactic Empire.

Interim leader of the Empire
After the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Rebel Alliance, the latter of which reformed into the New Republic and launched major offensive operations against the Empire, which began to crumble and fall apart all around it. Mas Amedda was the official interim leader following the Imperial chain of command, but held little power in reality as he was busy dealing with a civil war on the planet and the surviving leaders of the Imperial Military broke away from the chain of command and became warlords, securing control over their own regions, and generally acting on their own accord. Mas Amedda managed to contact the New Republic and said that he had the will to surrender, but admitted that he had now power and was told by Mon Mothma and Princess Leia to return when he regained control over the Imperial government.

Not long afterwards, Amedda was arrested by Rae Sloane and Gallius Rax, the de-facto heads of the Imperial Military and the Imperial Remnants, and was placed under house arrest by the Imperial Security Bureau and was forced into making propaganda videos at gunpoint to raise the moral of the Imperial troops. Amedda had attempted suicide, but was stopped and special measures were made to stop him from doing so. During the final months of the Galactic Civil War, a group fo children were sent in to assassinate him by the New Republic, but they saw how broken he was and agreed to help him escape and aided him in having him leave Coruscant. Following the Battle of Jakku where Gallius Rax was killed along with most of the surviving Imperial Military leaders and the last remaining fleets of the Imperial Navy were destroyed, Mas Amedda finally had the chance to surrender and managed to make it to the singing of the Galactic Concordance where he represented the Galactic Empire.

Wtth the defeat at the hands of the New Republic on Jakku, the Imperial Military was shattered, most of its leaders were killed, and the Empire had no longer possessed the needed resources to continue fighting and the remnants of the Empire officially surrendered following the signing of the Galactic Concordance by Mas Amedda and New Republic Chancellor, Mon Mothma.

Post-Civil War and Legacy
After the signing of the Galactic Concordance, the Galactic Empire had effectively collapsed and dissolved by 5 ABY sometime after the treaty had been signed. In accordance with the treaty, the Empire had abandoned its capital of Coruscant to the New Republic, abandoned its Imperial Military Academies, forbid the mobilization of Stormtroopers, and outlawed the act of torture. Mas Amedda was spared by the New Republic and wasn't put on trial unlike other surviving leaders and officials of the Imperial Military to be tried for war crimes committed during the Empire's reign and during the Galactic Civil War. Amedda stepped down from his position, but wasn't done with politics as he became the Grand Vizier of the Courscant Provisional Government, but his administration was rendered powerless by New Republic oversears and was nothing more but a figurehead in a powerless provisional government.

After the end of the Galactic Civil War, the Cold War had began with the last surviving leaders, admirals, and officials of the shattered and now defunct Galactic Empire escaping from the clutches of the New Republic and gathered what remained from the Imperial Military to escape and flee into the Unknown Regions away from the New Republic. The surviving Imperials would form a new military government called the First Order and they would fight to restore the former Galactic Empire. After the war, Amedda was viewed as a coward and a lackey of Darth Sidious and a weak-willed participant in the Imperial establishment. The media in the New Republic portrayed him as a servant to the Sith Lord and his actions in signing the Galactic Concordance lead to the formation of the First Order and the eventual war between them and the Resistance years later.

Senate Career
In the years prior to the invasion of Naboo, Mas Amedda served as a senator in the Galactic Senate, representing his homeworld of Champala. He considered himself an honest politician and strove to voice the wants and needs of his people in the Senate. Amedda was a member of the Rim faction led by Orn Free Taa, and as such, was successfully nominated by Taa to be elected to the position of Vice Chair in 33 BBY. His main duties were to provide Taa's faction with a means of control over Chancellor Valorum, who had been weakened by a debacle at Eriadu and a scandal involving money laundering. The support of Valorum's policies in the Senate degenerated, which effectively paralyzed the Chancellor's government.

Palpatine, as his alter-ego Darth Sidious, once sent Darth Maul on a mission to eliminate Amedda because he was gaining political power and could potentially stand in the way of Sidious's plan. Palpatine's need for Amedda's death, however, evaporated when Palpatine became Chancellor.

Mas knew he couldn't become Chancellor himself, but he hoped to be able to manipulate the future Chancellor in order to aid the galactic populace. Then-Senator Palpatine claimed to Queen Amidala that Mas Amedda, like other politicians, was under the payroll of the Trade Federation; this remains unconfirmed. Mas Amedda in the Senate Rotunda in 32 BBY. Mas fed his ideas to Palpatine, and they would wind up being used by the Head of State. But Palpatine was truly manipulating the Speaker.

Imperial Rule
Amedda continued to serve during the Clone Wars, remaining in office even after the declaration of the Galactic Empire, acting as Palpatine's representative in the Senate. He was responsible for taking care of Palpatine's collection of Sith statues and decorations, having a fondness for antiques, presumably receiving a staff from the collection. This role included traveling to Yavin 4 to search for Sith relics; Amedda instead returned with some piranha beetles which delighted the Emperor. Following the Empire's formation he became one of the first members of the Inner Circle. Mace Windu suspected he might be Darth Sidious, but discovered his folly when the real Darth Sidious none other than Palpatine himself revealed himself and killed the Jedi Master. Sate Pestage and Mas Amedda, weeks into the Empire's reign.