The Shocking Things Maz Kanata Did In Her Past
Maz Kanata was one of the most interesting characters that were introduced in the sequel trilogy. From the first minute Han, Rey, and the gang arrived at her castle, it immediately left people in awe and full of intrigue. Also, Maz as a character was full of wisdom and demanded respect. She was almost like the sequel trilogy’s Ben Kenobi and for good reason. She was over a millennium old, so there was a certain amount of implied history about Maz Kanata, but it was never really shown in any of the films. In the expanded lore, however, we got a better look at what Maz did before her introduction in The Force Awakens, and it was not what one might be considered Jedi business.
As I said above, Maz was old. She was born a millennium before the rise of the First Order, which would make her birth date centuries before The Phantom Menace. As a matter of fact, Kanata was rising in power during the early days of the Galactic Republic. Her method of gaining power was piracy, and I am not talking about downloading Back to the Future from the Jedi data banks. In the days of the early Republic, she would scour the galaxy for relics, treasures, and artifacts that she felt were valuable or were related to the Force in some way. She believed that treasures of the past could help to guide the future. Since the items she would come across would often be connected to the Force in some way, she would often sell or trade these objects to the Jedi Order for profit and protection. The Jedi would often use her to obtain rare Force items the Jedi Council deemed necessary. Eventually, she was referred to as the “pirate queen,” and she resided mostly in her castle on her homeworld of Takodana.
RELATED: Top 5 Most Dangerous Bounty Hunters and Assassins of the ‘Star Wars’ Prequels
Her pirating days were long from over, however. She would frequently venture out of her castle and continue her pirate work. At her castle, she would offer refuge and shelter to other pirates, smugglers, and bounty hunters for a price. To some of them, especially smugglers, she would offer credits, equipment, and connections to aid in their jobs. She would also bring in several musicians and chefs, which accounts for the cantina-type area we saw in The Force Awakens. While the Republic was still young, it was said that she held a large sway with over a thousand ports throughout the galaxy.
During the rise of the Empire, they took a special interest in Maz. One of the reasons she was so good at her job and had favor with the Jedi was due to her Force sensitivity. However, when Darth Sidious took over as Emperor, she elected to keep her affinity with the Force a secret. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, the Empire began collecting an unsettling amount of data on her, which did not sit well with Maz. To prevent them from gaining more knowledge, Maz hired a mercenary to strike selected Imperial targets on six worlds. The mercenary was successful, and Maz rewarded him by employing a saboteur to work for them.
Needless to say, Maz Kanata had an interesting past, and she was not to be threatened lightly. Although the movies never went into explicit details, we could glean that she did not earn the title "pirate queen" without ridding herself of a few enemies and criminal overlords. She may have fought for the good side for the most part, or had become more benevolent in her age, but she was not always a wise woman with a castle. At one point, she was one of the most successful pirates in the galaxy. I hope one day we get to see more of the character from her darker days.
READ NEXT: The 10 Best Characters Introduced During the Prequels
Source: Wookieepedia