So many people joined the Separatists, thinking Darth Sidious would lead the way. But they didn’t realize the evil Sith lord had selfish plans in the Star Wars prequels.
In the Star Wars Prequels, Nute Gunray was always connected to Darth Sidious and could never find a way out of the collaboration. The end came for Gunray after 13 years of service with the Sith Lord.
Nute Gunray and the trade federation had been cursed with this Dark Lord for 13 years by the time they meet their end on Mustafar.
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“Now there are two of them,” put it perfectly as the neimoidians reacted to Darth Maul during the events of The Phantom Menace. This was getting out of hand.
Then Maul was slain and it was Dooku now leading the Confederation. Three years of war brought a clone army of the Republic squaring off against battle droids. After the disaster that wrought the Invisible Hand, Nute Gunray and other separatists fled to Utapau where they were joined by the cyborg general.
General Grievous, by way of Sidious, orders Gunray and the other Separatists to Mustafar where they will be safe.
General Grievous begins, “It won’t be long before the armies of the Republic track us here. I am sending you to the Mustafar system in the outer rim. It is a volcanic planet. You will be safe there”.
Nute Gunray cannot believe his ears, “Safe!? Chancellor Palpatine managed to escape your grip, General! Without Count Dooku, I have doubts about your ability to keep us safe!”
General Grievous does not relent, “Be thankful, Viceroy, you have not found yourself in my grip. Your ship is waiting”.
The separatists board the ship and take off for Mustafar. Upon arrival they uneasily await Darth Sidious. Months pass.
Contact is made one day, Gunray speaks, “The plan has gone as you had promised, my Lord”.
Darth Sidious replies, “ You have done well, Viceroy. When my new apprentice, Darth Vader, arrives, he will take care of you”.
Darth Vader indeed arrives and takes care of not only Gunray but also the rest of the Separatists stationed there — very reminiscent of the slaughter of the sandpeople and most recently the slaughter of the Jedi at the temple.
Gunray meets his end with the same dark hand that promised him so much all those years ago. Nute was in far too deep to ever get out of his situation alive. He couldn’t go to the republic, and this dark Lord was ruthless and would have found him eventually had he tried to hide away anywhere anyway. The walls had closed in on anyone no longer needed in the Dark Lord of the Sith’s master plan.
Thirteen years after first joining up with this Darth Sidious, the end came for Nute Gunray and the other Separatists on Mustafar.
Could they have gotten out alive? Probably not. When someone is gunning for you and you become backed into a corner, if you are not careful the inevitable happens.
It’s over.