Maz Kanata

## History

**Maz Kanata** was a Force-sensitive humanoid female who was born over a millennium before the brewing war between the First Order and the Resistance. Living in an ancient castle on the planet Takodana, Kanata gained a reputation as a "pirate queen" by allowing traveling smugglers to reside in her home—as long as they honored her prohibitions against politics and war. Kanata spent centuries traveling the galaxy, collecting antiques and trinkets which she kept inside the storehouses and vaults of her castle. One notable item was the lightsaber crafted by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, and later wielded by Skywalker's son, Luke, who was instrumental in toppling the Galactic Empire.

Thirty years after the Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor, the smuggler Han Solo brought Rey, a scavenger from the desert planet Jakku, to Kanata's castle. Kanata took interest in the girl, and when the Skywalker lightsaber called out to Rey through the Force, the smuggler queen told the scavenger to keep the weapon. However, Rey refused, and shortly before stormtroopers of the First Order arrived looking for her she fled the castle. During the ensuing battle, Kanata's castle was destroyed, and Rey was taken prisoner, so Kanata entrusted the lightsaber to Finn, a former First Order stormtrooper who abandoned his previous occupation, choosing to help the Resistance.

After the destruction of her castle, Kanata resumed her life of adventure whilst the Resistance continued their struggle against the First Order. When the Resistance fleet was tracked through hyperspace and picked off one ship at a time, Finn and technician Rose Tico departed the fleet in order to find someone capable of breaking through the clearance codes for an infiltration of the First Order's flagship, the *Mega*-class Star Dreadnought *Supremacy*. Finn contacted Kanata, who was unable to help them personally as she was involved in what she referred to as a "union dispute," actually a firefight, the details of which were something they did not want to know. By that point, Kanata had already endured sixty-seven injuries, from which twenty-two were considered life-threatening, having gone through a plethora of treatments over a millennium of life, was still remaining on her feet nevertheless. However, she was able to recommend a Master Codebreaker whom she knew was capable of cracking anything. Pointing the two in the direction of Canto Bight, a luxury city resort, Kanata told them that the codebreaker could be identified by a red flower lapel pin before cutting off the transmission.

By 35 ABY, Maz had joined the Resistance at their new base on Ajan Kloss, acting as an advisor to Leia and other Resistance members. After learning that Darth Sidious had returned with the Final Order, a massive fleet of *Xyston*-class Star Destroyers designed by the Sith Eternal, and was planning to attack the free worlds, Maz advised the only way stop him was to find Exegol. When Leia sensed Rey and her son Kylo Ren dueling on Kef Bir, Maz knew that the only way for Leia to save her son would be to use all the strength she had left to reach him. When Leia passed away, Maz and other members of the Resistance gathered around her body to bid her farewell. Maz was also present when Leia's body became one with the Force. When the Resistance returned from victory on Exegol, Maz welcomed Chewie home and presented him the Medal of Bravery.