This post contains spoilers.
Recently, I've been making my way through the first season of
Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It's the first time I've watched them on DVD, but I saw most of the first two seasons on the Star Wars website shortly after they aired (I don't think I actually saw any on television). In any case, I noticed something interesting in episode fifteen - "Trespass."
The episode begins with a short narration:
Republic outpost overrun! The Jedi have lost all contact with the clone security force stationed on the bleak, snow-covered planet of Orto Plutonia. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, accompanied by dignitaries from the nearby moon of Pantora, are sent to investigate the disappearance of the clone troopers on the desolate and forbidding landscape.
Upon arriving at the outpost, they find clone trooper helmets positioned atop spears:
Shortly afterwards, they investigate a Separatist post and find droid heads similarly displayed:
Skywalker posits, "By the look of things, I'd say whoever attacked our base took out the droids, also." He's proven correct when they discover a band of Talz on the planet, which was previously thought uninhabited. This discovery causes problems with the dignitaries. Chairman Cho repeatedly declares that they are savages and believes that he has control over them. The chief of the Talz, Thi-Sen, wishes for peace but doesn't want Cho to remain on his planet. Despite the protestations of the Jedi and Senator Chuchi, Cho refuses to recognize Thi-Sen's authority or comply with his request, and he declares war:
The Talz ambush the Chairman and the clones tasked with protecting him when they (the Chairman and the clones) are en route - ostensibly - to the Republic outpost (it's not clear exactly where they're going). Meanwhile, Senator Chuchi contacts Pantora's Speaker of the Assembly, and the Assembly decides that Cho is over-stepping his bounds. The Speaker tells Chuchi to negotiate peace between Pantora and the Talz.
By the time the Jedi and the Senator catch up to the Chairman and the clones, they've been pummeled by the Talz. Captain Rex explains that they're "in quite a mess" and that the Chairman is injured. Chuchi tells Cho that she is going to settle the dispute, to which Cho again objects. He dies in the midst of his protesting.
Chuchi takes Cho's hat and one of the Talz's spears and walks up to Thi-Sen. Plunging the spear into the ground, she then places the Chairman's hat upon it. Through C-3PO's interpreting, she tells Thi-Sen that "to die for one's people is a great sacrifice. To live for one's people, an even greater sacrifice. I choose to live for my people. What do you choose?"
Thi-Sen places his own spear in the ground and chooses to live too. Chuchi leaves Orto Plutonia under the Talz's watch and recognizes their authority and rights.
Unlike Cho's accusatory gestures when he declares war, Chuchi's body language itself (holding out her hand to Thi-Sen) is welcoming and peaceful.
More significant, though, is Chuchi's placing the deceased Chairman's hat atop the spear. It illustrates not only that she wants to put the conflict to rest but also - perhaps more importantly - that she understands some of the Talz's culture. It's as if she gives the Talz their victory over Cho. She mirrors that aspect of their culture in order to demonstrate her wish for peaceful relations, to which Thi-Sen positively responds.
