May da Force be wit' you-sa.
—Gruu Funkistann
Gruu Funkistann was a male Gungan Jedi Knight working for the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service MI5.
Biography[]
Before MI5[]
Discovered by chance in 65 BBY, Jedi Master Mathis found Gruu as a youngling while chasing down the murderer named Ard Zil on Naboo. Mathis realized he had incredible intelligence for a Gungan. With permission from the Gungan High Council, Mathis took the young Gruu to Coruscant to be trained in the Jedi arts. Having been taken to Coruscant at an early age, Gruu had very little memory of his childhood on Naboo.
Mathis raised Gruu as if he was his own son, and eventually took Gruu on as his Padawan. Training for many years, Gruu finally reached the rank of Jedi Knight. With the Council's permission, Gruu joined MI5 to help the rest of the people of the galaxy.
Agent of MI5[]
Gruu was one of the agents sent out to Ryloth to hunt down The Baron in 42 BBY. Together with Jaren Ytriiun, Gruu ended up battling The Baron's Sith henchman, Wootsa, who inevitably escaped. Later on in the mission, Gruu takes over the chase to capture The Baron, but is forced to kill the man in order to save his fellow agents from a surprise attack.

Gruu and fellow MI5 agent Hawk during the battle in Theed.
Months later, Gruu was part of the team sent to Theed to protect Queen Teresaa from an assassination attempt. After a battle breaks out in Theed, Gruu heads to the underwater cities looking for help from his fellow Gungans. Being careless, he wound up captured and locked away in a holding cell by the blue-clad army led by Digika and Urma Boont.
After seeing the young Gungan Ruby sneak into the holding area, Gruu sent her up to the surface to find his fellow agents and get help. When help finally arrived, the battle raged in Otoh Gunga, then Gruu and the agents headed back up to the surface. But the former MI5 agent Noir Lumiere, having fallen to the Dark Side of the Force, lured Gruu away so he could destroy the Gungan Jedi. Gruu came away from the battle with some minor injuries but nothing serious. But, as Noir fled the scene, the former MI5 agent stole Gruu's lightsaber.
A month after the Naboo mission, Gruu was placed on the "reserve" roster for the new CarbonEye mission. He was still stationed at MI5 Headquarters on Coruscant when Team Blood Trinity initiated their coordinated attack on the agency, as part of the Coruscant Bombings event. Gruu helped with rescuing people from the devastation as well as the rebuilding process of HQ. While there, he witnessed the attempted assassination of M by the MI5 ally Pam Rocker, who had apparently by brain-washed by CarbonEye's men at some point.
After M had been attacked, Gruu found and captured Xenia, one of CarbonEye's goons. He then became part of the team of agents that were sent out to Manaan to track down CarbonEye. While infiltrating CarbonEye's underwater Octopus fortress, Noir Lumiere had resurfaced and found Gruu and the other agents. Gruu suddenly had feelings of revenge.
Once the CarbonEye mission had ended, Gruu took a brief leave of absence from MI5 to meditate at the Jedi Temple and calm his feelings, fearing the Dark Side of the Force was creeping up on him.

Gruu in 42 BBY
Upon returning to the agency, Gruu was placed on the team headed for Cato Neimoidia during the hunt for Dr. Noah. While there, the team found vornskrs as well as a Sith Lord, Darth Janus. Janus didn't even put up a fight. So the team searched Noah's lab and ended up finding a large room in the sub-basement full of vats and incubators. Apparently Noah was mutating creatures to form his own monstrous army. Taking Janus and one of the creatures back to their ships, he and his team headed back to Coruscant.
In 38 BBY, Gruu was assigned to the mission to investigate Jordo Drax. He and fellow agents Shasta Moonreaper and Pandolfo Taproot headed to Fondor in search of Drax's stash of weapons. He happened to run into Qui-Gon Jinn at the Obsidian City spaceport where they discovered a spaceport official Den Drumb got into a confrontation with Jaws about the shipment of weapons. So the MI5 agents headed across Obsidian City to find Jaws. They did in fact find him, along with the enormous shipment of weapons. Placing mines, they were able to blow up the weapons, as well as the top of a building. But Jaws managed to escape. Soon after, the agents headed for Dantooine to pick up Jace Bont and Europa Kapanen.
They went back to Kalee and infiltrated Jordo Drax's underground compound in search of Drax. From Holly Goodlekku, they found out Drax was heading for his space station, so they commandeered a ship and followed him. While aboard the space station, they learned of Drax's plans to wipe out the InterGalactic Banking Clan, so they turned his own Muunraker ion cannon against him, crippling his station.
While the other agents chased after Drax, Gruu lured Drax's vornskrs away. After killing the beasts, he returned to the docking bay and escaped with the other agents as the space station imploded.
Training a Padawan[]
Having received a message that led Gruu to Nar Shaddaa, he discovered that his former Master Mathis was still alive. Mathis explained that he needed Gruu's help in rescuing his Padawan Acura Krill from the Sisterhood of the Sith, who happened to be brain-washing Acura to become one of their "hive mind" Sith organization.
Together, Gruu and Mathis mounted a rescue attempt. They found that Acura was partially through the brain-washing process. During the battle on Nar Shaddaa, the Sisterhood was killed, as was Mathis. Mathis' dying wish was to have Gruu retrain and take care of Acura. So upon returning to Coruscant, the Jedi Council reluctantly allowed Gruu to take Acura on as his Padawan and bring her back to the Light side of the Force.
Gruu took time away from MI5 to retrain Acura.
Return to MI5[]

Gruu and Acura in the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk
Gruu had been training Acura for three years before he rejoined MI5, taking Acura with him. While Gruu reacquired his title as an MI5 operative, Acura was more of an "honorary" agent, since she was only Gruu's Padawan and hadn't gone through all the necessary MI5 training.
While still under Gruu's training, Acura followed him on the mission to recapture Dr. Noah and his friends after they escaped from the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center on Coruscant in 34 BBY. During their examination of Noah's lab on Kashyyyk, they ran into a terentatek. Gruu, Acura and the droid MI5 agent QUAD fought the creature, inevitably killing it. While they didn't gain any information from the lab, Gruu and Acura helped capture Noah's accomplice Clowe on Khubeaie.
Two years later, in 32 BBY, M sent Gruu, Jace Bont and Pandolfo Taproot to a rejuvenation health spa on Corellia called The Shrublands. While there, they were attacked by SMERSH agents. They managed to escape The Shrublands and get off-world without being detected.
Upon their arrival at MI5 Headquarters on Coruscant, they met up with other MI5 agents outside Headquarters. The building had been completely taken over by SMERSH and everyone inside was held hostage. Acura's clever thinking allowed them to break in to HQ. Regrouping with other agents inside, they were able to rescue the hostages and take back control of MI5 Headquarters.
After the interrogation of Jasper Fondorball, Gruu was part of the team that traveled to the ice planet Rinnk and they all stormed SMERSH's hideout. While Acura stayed behind to hold off the onslaught of SMERSH goons, Gruu and the others chased down Stavro where Gruu witnessed the death of Pandolfo Taproot.
After the mission, Gruu spoke to his friend and fellow Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon mentioned he was sent off to settle the trade dispute on Naboo, which turned out to be the beginning of the Invasion of Naboo.
Behind the Scenes[]
"The Gungan Jedi" was created by the Star Wars... 007 Style series creator Dubya Scott.
Appearances[]
- A Force-Sensitive on Naboo
- From Ryloth With Love (First appearance)
- On Her Majesty's Security Service
- CarbonEye
- Dr. Noah
- Muunraker
- The Limmie Daylights (Mentioned only)
- Oldest Friend
- For Your Photoreceptors Only
- Fondorball