Lor San Tekka

"I have traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

- Lor San Tekka to Commander Poe Dameron

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.

Galactic explorer
"That's&hellip; That's the explorer.''" "You got it. He was here, unless there's another giant egg shrine around somewhere. I just need to talk to him, and then I'm out of your hair, I promise. Where is he?" "''Gone. He left long ago."

- A Crèche elder and Poe Dameron, on the whereabouts of Lor San Tekka

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 Knights 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 bureaucrats 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, Princess 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 Leia 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 Skywalker
"You know what I've come for.''" "''I know where you come from, before you called yourself Kylo Ren."

- Kylo Ren and Lor San Tekka

San Tekka went into retirement on the desert planet of Jakku, settling down in the spiritual colony of Tuanul in the remote Kelvin Ravine. The Resistance, a military force led by now-General Organa, and the First Order, a resurgent Imperial force, both learned that 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 his Black Squadron traveled to Ovanis. There, Poe met with the Crèche, whom the explorer had met a long time ago. Poe 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.

Following an adventure, Poe'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 Kylo 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 General 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
"This will begin to make things right."

- Lor San Tekka, as he handed the map to Luke Skywalker to Poe Dameron

Lor San Tekka was a human male. He stood at 1.85 meters and had white hair, blue eyes, 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 Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, 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 Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, 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 Star Wars live action tv series. It was held behind the scenes before the backstory was added to Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens