The Theed Capture, also known as the Theed Fall or the Theed Confrontation, occurred when the Naboo capital of Theed was seized during the initial phase of the Trade Federation's Naboo Invasion in 32 BBY. The Trade Federation Droid Army, commanded by OOM command battle droid OOM-9, deployed its forces into the capital. These forces included Armored Assault Tanks, Multi-Troop Transports, vulture droids, and numerous B1-series battle droids. Furthermore, battle droids riding STAPs and teams of OOM-series security droids were present in Theed. As Queen Padmé Amidala and other prisoners were being moved, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi engaged the droid escort and guided them to the Theed Royal Palace's hangar, where the group made their escape aboard a Naboo Royal Starship.
As a response to the taxation of the Free Trade Zone as decided by the Galactic Republic's Galactic Senate, the Trade Federation, a large interstellar shipping and trade organization, initiated a blockade of the planet Naboo, aiming to pressure Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum to act on the matter. The Federation's actions were secretly orchestrated by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. Valorum dispatched ambassadors from Coruscant aboard the Judicial Department Consular-class space cruiser Radiant VII to the Lucrehulk-class Battleship Saak'ak orbiting Naboo. These ambassadors were, in secret, two Jedi Knights, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, sent to negotiate an end to the blockade with Viceroy Nute Gunray. After Sidious instructed Gunray to commence the Naboo invasion, the viceroy hesitated, concerned about the legality of such an action. Sidious assured the Viceroy that he would "make it legal" and, when asked about the Jedi, ordered Gunray to kill them. Gunray subsequently attempted to eliminate the Jedi using dioxis gas, but his attempt failed.
Gunray then communicated with Queen Amidala of Naboo, where the viceroy assured her that no action would occur without Senate approval and denied that any ambassadors had been sent. Amidala responded that Gunray had gone too far before ending the transmission. He then quickly ordered a shutdown of all communication systems on the planet. Under the instruction of Sidious, the Federation initiated its invasion of Naboo.
Meanwhile, Senator Palpatine, along with the Royal Advisory Council in the Theed Royal Palace, lost communication. The Governor of Naboo, Sio Bibble, was among the first to suspect an invasion was beginning. Quarsh Panaka recognized the significant threat and acknowledged that the Royal Naboo Security Forces would be unable to defend against the Trade Federation Droid Army. However, Queen Amidala refused to authorize any action that might lead to war, believing the Federation would not go to such extremes.
Following instructions from their control ship, the Vuutun Palaa, several C-9979 landing crafts departed from the Lucrehulk-class Battleships to Naboo and landed in a forest on the planet's surface. The two Jedi had secretly boarded these crafts, intending to warn the Naboo of the impending invasion. Upon learning of the Jedi's escape, Gunray contacted the invasion commander, OOM command battle droid OOM-9, and warned him about the Jedi's presence, advising him not to underestimate them. Once on the surface, Jinn met with Kenobi and encountered a Gungan named Jar Jar Binks amidst the chaos of the Federation invasion. After saving Binks from a troop carrier, Binks pledged a life debt to Jinn for saving his life. The group then reunited with Kenobi and planned to find shelter, with Binks offering refuge in the Gungan city beneath the ocean to avoid the approaching Federation forces.
On the surface, Bibble's suspicions were confirmed, and upon realizing an invasion was underway, Amidala quickly switched places with her decoy Handmaiden Sabé. Within minutes, the droid armies, consisting of Armored Assault Tanks, Multi-Troop Transports, and Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, seized Theed, overwhelming Naboo's small security forces and placing the planet under Federation control. The Royal House of Naboo surrendered.
Arriving in the Lapiz Cutter, the viceroy then landed in Theed and took control from Queen Amidala's throne room. After Amidala refused to sign a treaty legalizing the occupation, she and the other prisoners were to be processed into Camp Four. However, the escaped Jedi Knights provided unexpected resistance, freeing the queen and her party after a brief skirmish with the escorting droids. Bibble and several handmaidens chose to stay behind, while the Queen went to Coruscant to request assistance from the Galactic Senate. The party then reclaimed the Theed Hangar from the battle droids stationed there, boarded Amidala's Royal Starship, and escaped from Naboo. However, while attempting to pass through the blockade, the ship's hyperdrive engine sustained heavy damage from fire from the Saak'ak, and the Royal House of Naboo went into exile.
After the Queen and her escorts escaped, Governor Bibble and two of the Queen's handmaidens, Saché and Yané, were captured by battle droids. Bibble was escorted away by the droids, while the handmaidens were given a blood test and imprisoned in the tent for Camp Four alongside Mariek Panaka and Tonra. During their imprisonment, Yané used her skills as a weaver to create strips of cloth mapping out the prison camp and detailing the droids shift changes using the fabric from her and Saché's outfits and utilizing the underside of their cot as a make-shift loom. Over the course of their incarceration, the inhabitants of the tent passed out the pieces of fabric to other prisoners who were instructed to memorize the information contained on them and then destroy them. The information passed along to the prisoners via these cloths helped the prisoners more successfully revolt against their captors when the Naboo reclaimed Theed.
The seizure of Naboo's capital was remembered by two names: "The Theed Capture" and "The Theed Confrontation." Upon Gunray informing Sidious of Amidala's refusal to sign the treaty and her subsequent escape, the enraged Sith Lord introduced them to Darth Maul, whom he ordered to locate and recapture Amidala. Due to the damage sustained by Amidala's ship during the escape, the queen chose to land on the remote desert world of Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories, controlled by the Hutts, to repair the ship. Maul succeeded in determining the queen's location, but he failed to eliminate the Jedi or retrieve Amidala.
The Trade Federation's droid army successfully held Naboo with minimal resistance. The viceroy and his Settlement Officer, Rune Haako, oversaw the occupation of Naboo. On Coruscant, the exiled Queen Amidala requested intervention from the Galactic Senate, but the Federation's Senator Lott Dod managed to obstruct Senator Palpatine's efforts. Meanwhile, the population of Naboo was forced into camps where they faced starvation and hardship. In Amidala's absence, the viceroy attempted to force Governor Sio Bibble to sign the treaty with the Trade Federation, but the governor refused to comply.
The OOM command battle droid Commander OOM-9 had in the meantime sent troops to investigate the various rumored Gungan underwater villages on the planet. The Second Battle of Theed, which was also known under the name of the "Battle of Theed" like the city's capture, would later occur as part of Amidala's effort to liberate her planet.
The capture of Theed was depicted in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.