Maz Kanata

"I am no Jedi, but I know the Force."

- Maz Kanata

Maz Kanata was a Force-sensitive female smuggler who lived for over one thousand years. Although she was Force-sensitive, she was never trained as a Jedi. She wore eye-covering goggles with adaptable lenses with which she would inspect people's eyes to see what they were feeling. Maz Kanata viewed history as a struggle against the dark side, which she believed had many forms, such as the Sith, the Galactic Empire and the First Order. Around thirty years after the Battle of Endor, she owned a castle which played host to travellers, smugglers, and others.

Maz is described as short and old with a hairless pate. Her skin was a yellowish-brown with arms that were almost gold-colored. She had a small nose and a thin and drawn mouth. Her face was dominated by large goggles that folded forward over both eyes. She dressed practically – baggy dark maroon pants, handmade boots, a simple gray cap, and a vest of charcoal gray over a blue-green sweaterlike shirt rolled to the elbows. Around her waist hung a leatherine belt with a silvery buckle from which hung an assortment of tech. In contrast to her simple clothing, Maz also wore an ostentatious collection of rings and bracelets.

It was only after the death of Emperor Palpatine that Kanata felt comfortable openly acknowledging that she was Force-sensitive, and she started using her strong connection to the Force to track down artifacts like Anakin and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.

When Han Solo visited Takodana with Rey and Finn, he stated that Kanata had run her castle for a thousand years. It is unknown where she resided after the destruction of her castle at the hands of the First Order. She was fond of the Wookiee Chewbacca, jokingly describing him as her "boyfriend."

She offered Rey Luke's lightsaber. However, Rey refused after experiencing a terrifying vision when she touched it. Maz gave it to Finn, who used it when her castle was attacked.

Behind the scenes
"I had some specific ideas about how she would work and what she would do. I had this pitch about these goggles that she wore. Her eyes are an important aspect of her character, and you’ll see how it plays out."

- J.J. Abrams

Maz Kanata appears as a fully CGI character in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, in which she is played by the actress Lupita Nyong'o via motion capture. The character's name was first revealed in an exclusive Vanity Fair article in May 2015.

The character was inspired by J.J. Abrams and Rick Carter's English high school teacher Rose Gilbert. "We really wanted the story to feel authentic, despite being a wild fantasy. I mentioned Rose in an early story meeting as a sort of timeless, wise figure that I'd actually known in my life," he explained. Abrams and Carter had hoped to inform her that she was being turned into a Star Wars character, but she died while Episode VII was in pre-production.

A shot of Maz giving Luke's first lightsaber was prominently shown in the second trailer of The Force Awakens, but the scene went unused in the film. Abrams explained, "Maz used to continue along with the characters back to the Resistance base, but we realized that she really had nothing to do there of value, except to be sitting around."

Appearances

 * "The Face of Evil"
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens novelization
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens junior novelization

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens