As Boss of the Gungan High Council, Rugor Nass was a male Gungan during the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo. Nass had previously served in the ranks of the Gungan Grand Army. As the Gungan's Boss, Nass's seat of power was in the city of Otoh Gunga, situated within Naboo's oceans, where he oversaw all things Gungan and, for a time, maintained a separation between the Gungans and the human population of Naboo.
Initially, he declined assistance to the Naboo during the invasion, turning down Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi's plea for aid. However, Queen Padmé Amidala's heartfelt plea, delivered on her knees before him on behalf of both the Naboo and the Gungans, led to a change of heart. She pledged a future of shared governance between the two races. Following the Battle of Naboo, which resulted in victory for the Naboo and Gungans over the Trade Federation, Nass and Queen Amidala forged a bond of peace. Before or during the Clone Wars, Nass's time as Boss came to an end. He was present at Amidala's funeral after her death near the war's conclusion.
Rugor Nass's birth occurred on Naboo prior to the Invasion of Naboo. For a time, Nass was a member of the Gungan Grand Army. Tobler Ceel, a gungan renowned for his extensive battlefield experience within the officer corps, was a close friend and fellow soldier of Nass. Later, Nass rose to the position of Boss of the Gungans, ruling his people from the underwater settlement of Otoh Gunga located beneath the planet's Lake Paonga.
He also received the title of governor, and one of his first actions was to order the construction of a new boardroom of distinction and new office suites. Although the boardroom became the meeting chamber of the Gungan High Council, many of the offices had not been assigned a purpose by the time of the Invasion of Naboo. Shortly before the invasion, Boss Nass exiled Jar Jar Binks due to the latter's crash of his heyblibber submarine. Due to the strained relationship between the Gungans and the human Naboo, Boss Nass considered the Naboo to be arrogant and superior towards his people.
In the wake of the Trade Federation invasion, Boss Nass received Jedi ambassadors Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jar Jar Binks. Although Binks had led the Jedi ambassadors to Otoh Gunga, Captain Roos Tarpals arrested him for violating his banishment. Master Jinn came to warn the Gungans of the danger the Trade Federation posed to the entire planet. Nass, viewing this as a matter between the Naboo and the Federation, initially refused to intervene. However, influenced by Jinn's mind trick, he revealed that the quickest route to the Naboo was through the planet's core.
When Master Jinn inquired about Binks' fate, Nass declared he would be punished. Jinn defended Binks, pointing out that he had saved the Gungan's life and therefore was owed a life debt. Persuaded by Master Jinn's words, Boss Nass allowed Binks to leave, tasking him with guiding the two Jedi. Boss Nass then provided Binks and the Jedi with a bongo submarine to reach Theed. Despite the Gungans' initial reluctance to participate in the conflict, the Trade Federation soon shifted its focus to the Gungan cities, prompting an evacuation of Otoh Gunga. The Gungans gathered at the Gungan Sacred Place to strategize their retaliatory actions in the Boss Meetup.
Later, Naboo Queen Padmé Amidala journeyed to the Sacred Place in order to establish an alliance with Boss Nass and the Gungans. After Amidala's decoy Sabé first made contact with Nass, Amidala revealed her true identity to earn his trust. She informed Boss Nass that the Trade Federation was destroying all that the Naboo and Gungans had built and fought for. Without cooperation, the Trade Federation would control the planet. Moved by Amidala's plea, Boss Nass chose to set aside his people's distrust of the Naboo and offered friendship. Consequently, the Gungans agreed to support the Naboo and the Jedi in driving out the Trade Federation. To commend Binks for his role in uniting the two peoples, Nass appointed him Bombad General of the Gungan Grand Army, which diverted the Federation's army away from Theed, and then laughed heartily when Binks fainted before him.
Boss Nass was also present at the joint victory celebrations in Theed. There, Queen Amidala presented him with a symbolic orb and he pledged that the two peoples would coexist peacefully.
Some time after the Battle of Naboo, Boss Nass requested Jar Jar Binks to procure a Gungan delicacy known as a soshinyday blobball for him. He also requested Queen Amidala's involvement, saying that she was in their debt. Because Nass had described the snack as "magic," Binks believed it to be a potent Gungan artifact, and with the Queen's assistance, embarked on a dangerous quest to obtain it. Upon Binks' return with the snack, Nass was pleased with Binks' success, taking a bite of the soshinyday blobball. Nass then explained to Binks what the "relic" truly was, and asked Binks to get him more, causing Binks to scream upon realizing what it was.
At some point following the Naboo crisis, Boss Nass became a proponent of the colonization of Ohma-D'un, a moon orbiting Naboo.
At some point, Lyonie succeeded Nass as the leader of the Gungan High Council. At the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Amidala passed away, and Nass, alongside Jar Jar Binks, attended her funeral with a heavy heart, grieving the loss of both a close friend and the woman who facilitated peace between their peoples.
Rugor Nass was a self-assured and proud leader of the Gungan people. He was a stout and heavily built Gungan who adorned himself in elaborate robes suitable for his position as a ruler. His personality was characterized by its loudness and bombast, although this was somewhat subdued in formal settings. He also possessed a strong sense of humor, laughing loudly when Jar Jar Binks fainted. He viewed the Human Naboo as arrogant and condescending towards his people and was initially hesitant to aid them during the Trade Federation invasion. Nass also initially held a low opinion of Jar Jar Binks after the latter crashed his personal bongo submarine; leading the former to banish Binks into the swamps.
Despite his initial wariness of the Naboo, Nass developed respect for Queen Padmé Amidala after she urged the two peoples to set aside their differences to save their homeworld and civilizations from the Trade Federation. Consequently, Nass reconciled with the Naboo and committed the Gungan Grand Army to expelling the Federation. After the Trade Federation's expulsion, Nass publicly voiced his desire for peaceful coexistence between the Gungans and Naboo.
Rugor Nass's debut occurred in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. He was a CGI character voiced by Brian Blessed, who reprised his role as Nass in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.