Lor San Tekka Lor San Tekka was a human male explorer and member of the Church of the Force who was born in the waning years of the Galactic Republic . He became a believer in the ideals of the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars , despite not being Force - sensitive , and followed the underground faith of his church during the dark times of the Galactic Empire ' s rule over the galaxy . San Tekka found Jedi lore that the Empire attempted to suppress , and his knowledge of the galaxy and its history was useful to the New Republic after it prevailed over the Empire during the Battle of Endor and began a period of galactic reconstruction . Lor San Tekka also helped Luke Skywalker , the last known Jedi Knight at the time , seek out Jedi lore that the Empire had attempted to destroy . At some point , San Tekka lived with the Crèche and learned about their spiritual culture . After Skywalker ' s new generation of Jedi was destroyed by his nephew and apprentice , Kylo Ren , Skywalker went into exile and sought out the first Jedi Temple on Ahch - To . San Tekka , who retired to a spiritual village on the planet Jakku , discovered a fragment of a map that could lead to Ahch - To . He was sought by the Resistance , led by Skywalker ' s sister , General Leia Organa , as well as the resurgent Imperial force known as the First Order . San Tekka gave the map fragment to Resistance Commander Poe Dameron and was soon captured by Kylo Ren , who demanded to know where the map was . When San Tekka refused to comply , Ren killed him . San Tekka ' s sacrifice was not in vain ; the map was given to the Resistance , and a young Force - user named Rey followed it to Ahch - To and found the exiled Jedi Master . Biography . Galactic explorer . Lor San Tekka was born in the waning years of the Galactic Republic . As a young man , he came to have a high regard for the Jedi Order and knew about the actions of the Jedi Knight s during the Clone Wars . After the rise of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the Jedi , San Tekka never believed the Emperor when he branded the Jedi as traitors . San Tekka was a member of the Church of the Force during the dark times of Imperial rule , following the underground faith that believed in the Jedi ideals despite not being Force - sensitive himself . He uncovered much of the history of the Jedi Knights that the Empire attempted to bury , leading many individuals to seek him out for his knowledge of Jedi lore . San Tekka was a seasoned traveler and explorer on the remote fringes of the galaxy . Following the defeat of the Empire at the Battle of Endor , San Tekka aided the fledgling New Republic by providing bureaucrat s with information regarding worlds across the galaxy . This helped the New Republic greatly , as the Empire destroyed many documents that would have been useful for galactic reconstruction . As an ally of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and his sister , Prince ss Leia Organa , San Tekka helped the last Jedi recover secret Jedi lore that the Empire had tried to erase . He also came to know Ben Solo , the son of Organa and the smuggler Han Solo , who San Tekka later found out turned to the dark side of the Force and became Kylo Ren after destroying Skywalker ' s new generation of Jedi . Skywalker vanished into exile after his Jedi were destroyed and went off in search of the first Jedi Temple on the planet Ahch - To . After many years , San Tekka discovered a partial map that revealed the location of the first Jedi temple . At some point , San Tekka lived with the Crèche on Ovanis , where they guarded a sacred egg that they believed would hatch a savior who would bring salvation to the galaxy . San Tekka lived there for two years to learn about the Crèche , who were a very protective people . He gained their trust because of how much time he spent there learning their ways , and they referred to him as " the explorer . " The map to Luke Skywalker . The Resistance , a military force led by now - General Organa , and the First Order , a resurgent Imperial force , both learned that San Tekka had the map to Skywalker in his possession . Hoping that her brother could help defeat the First Order , Organa sent Commander Poe Dameron , a pilot in the Resistance , to search for San Tekka . Following San Tekka ' s trail , Poe and Black Squadron traveled to Ovanis . There , Dameron met with the Crèche , whom the explorer had met a long time ago . Dameron was followed by the First Order Agent Terex , who had learned of his presence through a spy . After the skirmish on Ovanis , Black Squadron traveled to the prison world of Megalox Beta to question Grakkus the Hutt about his encounter with San Tekka . Despite facing opposition from Terex , Black Squadron managed to rescue Grakku , who gave him information on the places that San Tekka had visited . Captured on Cato Neimoidia . Later , San Tekka travelled to Cato Neimoidia where he disguised , went on a guided tour in the Palace of Baron Paw Maccon . He broke off from the group and headed into the vaults . Using a special cloak he managed to walk through laser and get into one of the vaults . Inside was a gold en box . San Tekka opened it and found an ancient object crafted by using both the light side and dark side of the Force . His break - in hadn ' t gone unnoticed , though , and guards appeared , arresting San Tekka . He was then put in golden chains inside a prison cell . San Tekka claimed that they had no right to hold him and that he had only looked at the object , never intending to steal it . His pleads were ignored by Maccon but at the very same time , a significant ship landed at Baron Reya ' s platform . Maccon asked furiously what tricks Reya has used to get such a significant client . When the person took a few steps out of the ship , Maccon didn ' t recognize her but San Tekka informed him that it was Leia Organa . During his trial , San Tekka explained to Maccon why he had acted as he did , but Maccon didn ' t listen and instead stated that San Tekka would be executed . He was shocked but he was taken away . When San Tekka was in his cell , Dameron suddenly broke in . He had hidden in Organa ' s gowns which she wanted to store in Maccon ' s vaults . It was all a big plan to save San Tekka . They then hid inside the same gowns , which was now being taken back to Organa ' s ship due to her not feeling her gowns were safe . Dameron then got out to help Black Squadron in the sky , fighting old Vulture droids . Unknown to them , Commander Malarus and Terex had snuck aboard the ship and now took off with San Tekka on board . Malarus left the ship to engage in the dogfight in the sky while leaving Terex in charge of the ship . Terex left Cato Neimoidia and headed off in to hyperspace with San Tekka on board . Terex then opened the door to Organa ' s gowns and let the old man out . San Tekka not knowing who Terex was , asked if he was in Dameron ' s company . Terex answered that he knew him all too well . When Terex was charging an Z6 riot control baton into his own head , San Tekka suggested that it might be dangerous to the First Order agent . Terex then called Captain Phasma , offering her San Tekka in exchange removing the implants on his head . Terex then got rid of Organa ' s gowns , flushing them out in hyperspace , believing that they might host explosives , poison or trackers . When Terex continued to charge the baton into his head , San Tekka advised him to stop or otherwise he would die . They then shared a friendly conversation and Terex said that he liked San Tekka and that it would almost be a pity to give him to the First Order . When Terex showed up to Phasma he didn ' t have San Tekka with him , saying that he would not give her the old man until the First Order removed his implants . When he had gotten his implants removed he headed off into space , giving the First Order the location of San Tekka . But at the same time , he called the Resistance and gave them the location of San Tekka because he didn ' t care , if the First Order or Resistance got to San Tekka first and that he would be happy either way . He then sent then coordinates revealing that San Tekka was floating around in a spacesuit in the Great Forveen Nebula . He was rescued by Black Squadron , who brought him to their secret base on D ' Qar . San Tekka told Leia that although he didn ' t know where Skywalker was , he had his suspicions , and asked for a starship so he could investigate a bit . Once he had Skywalker ' s location , San Tekka would send word of where they could meet up with him and get the information . Death on Jakku . Following an adventure , Dameron ' s search for Lor San Tekka led him to the planet Jakku . Knowing that the return of the Jedi was essential for the balance of the Force , San Tekka gave the map to Dameron just before the First Order arrived . Dameron fled as Ren arrived with his forces and assaulted the village , during which San Tekka was captured by stormtroopers and brought before Ren . The dark warrior demanded the map to Skywalker while San Tekka lamented what the young man had become . When San Tekka did not comply and alluded to Ren ' s heritage as a Skywalker , Ren , while sarcastically agreeing with Tekka ' s claim that the dark knight can ' t escape the truth regarding his family , killed him with his lightsaber and ordered the destruction of the village . The map that San Tekka gave his life to protect ultimately made its way to the Resistance . Rey , a young Force user who had also hailed from Jakku and helped bring the map to the Resistance , was sent by Organa to Ahch - To . There , she discovered the exiled Jedi Master and offered him the lightsaber that had once belonged to him and his father , a sign of the only hope that the galaxy had left . Personality and traits . Lor San Tekka was a human male . He stood at 1 . 85 meter s and had white hair , blue eye s , and light skin . A seasoned explorer , San Tekka had knowledge and wisdom from across the galaxy , including the hidden lore of the Jedi Order that the Galactic Empire tried to suppress in the wake of the Clone Wars . San Tekka was a member of the Church of the Force and a believer in the ideals of the Jedi Knights . He believed that the Jedi were essential to the balance of the Force and helped the Resistance find the vanished Jedi Master Luke Skywalker , unable to stand idly by as despair and darkness grew in the galaxy . San Tekka traveled lightly in his later years and showed wisdom with the few artifacts he continued to carry from place to place . He often wore a home - spun fantabu - wool coat , along with a tuanulberry - dyed linen tunic and gundark - hide survival belt . Around his neck he wore what was dubbed the Chain of Wisdom , while his most cherished artifact was the antiquated data storage unit in a plain leather sack that held the map to Luke Skywalker . Behind the scenes . Lor San Tekka is a character created for the 2015 film , directed by J . J . Abrams and co - written by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan . The character was portrayed by Max von Sydow . Lucasfilm Ltd . Story Group member and author of the " " , Pablo Hidalgo , revealed in an interview that they were considering making San Tekka a priest in the Church of the Force . He also revealed that the Church was originally conceived by George Lucas for the . It was held behind the scenes before the backstory was added to . Lor San Tekka was also featured in the 2016 video game " " . Although his role in the game is largely the same he has in the film , San Tekka doesn ' t get killed by Ren like his canon counterpart . Instead , as Ren ' s lightsaber malfunctions , San Tekka laughs at him , causing the enraged Ren to launch him into outer space . By the next level , it ' s shown that San Tekka is still floating in space still alive .