Maz Kanata was first introduced to the Star Wars universe through episode VII, The Force Awakens. She was a cool and interesting character who seemed incredibly wise and well-connected. She did not have much of a role in The Last Jedi and was reduced to a relatively uninteresting member of the Resistance in The Rise Of Skywalker.

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However, there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the background with the strange little character. We have found out a few interesting details about Maz Kanata. Here are 10 of those things.

She Is Force Sensitive

You might not think about it straight away because the idea of being Force sensitive is so strongly linked to being a Jedi, but Maz Kanata is also Force sensitive.

Think back to the first scene we ever see her in. The camera zooms towards her and it is revealed that she knows that Han Solo has just wandered into her presence. She chose not to train as a Jedi, but she could have.

She Is Even Older Than You Think

Maz Kanata hands Rey the Skywalker lightsaber after she finds it in Maz’s castle in The Force Awakens

Considering her skin is orange and wrinkled and her goggles have formed huge craters around her tiny, shrunken eyes, Maz Kanata looks old.

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However, the fact that she can run and jump around with no issues and is a lot more clever than almost everyone else on screen suggests that she cannot be that old. But she has actually born more than a thousand years before the war against the First Order. That makes her even older than Yoda himself.

She Was Called The "Pirate Queen"

Even though we only met her during The Force Awakens, Maz Kanata was busying herself for a number of years beforehand, including all of the time shown in the original and prequel films.

During a long period, she was referred to as "The Pirate Queen," thanks to her role in allowing smugglers to reside temporarily in her home.

She Had An Impressive Collection

The main item in Kanata’s collection is the lightsaber of Luke Skywalker. She shows it to Rey, and its connection to the Force causes a dramatic montage of its history to wander right into Rey's brain.

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However, in her collection, Kanata also has a hyperspace sextant, a fusioncutter head, and a diatium power cell.

She Avoided Detection By The Empire

Why Maz Kanata looks different in Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker

While very small in stature, Kanata became a big name amongst the criminal circles of the Star Wars universe. At one point, after the battle of Yavin, she found out that the Empire was collecting information on her and attempting to track her down to stop her activities.

She managed to hire a hitman to take down six imperial targets. His success meant her survival.

She Knew Chewbacca Before The Battle Of Endor

Han speaks to Maz in her castle in The Force Awakens

Kanata has a long history of teaming up with Han Solo and Chewbacca, which included helping Leia break into Jabba’s palace to rescue Han from his carbonite entrapment.

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However, during this mission, she referred to Chewie as her boyfriend, suggesting some sort of prior connection about which we have not yet learned.

She Took Care Of A Union Dispute

The lack of presence from Maz Kanata in The Last Jedi was explained via a holographic appearance. She briefly mentions her "master code-breaker" friend before jet-packing away and not appearing again until Episode IX.

While we do not get a lot of detail, she explains that she was settling some sort of unnamed and unexplained union dispute full of manic firefighting.

She Presented Chewbacca With His Medal

Star Wars Chewbacca Medal Bravery

Even though Chewbacca finally got his medal in a comic book from many years ago, Maz was the one to finally present her alleged "boyfriend" with a heroic medal after the events of The Rise Of Skywalker.

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It is not really explained where she got the medal (presumably her collection) or what in particular it was for, but it was a nice touch to give the two old friends this moment.

She Was Originally Going To Be Of The Same Species As Yoda

Behind the scenes, it was revealed that the character of Maz Kanata originally had a very different existence in the films. She was conceived as a Yoda-like mentor and was initially sketched as a member of the same species as Yoda.

Since it seemed a little too much like unnecessary fan service, she was redesigned to be of a separate, new species.

She Was Based On J.J. Abrams’ Teacher

J. J. Abrams

During the production of the show, J.J. Abrams and Rick Carter realized that they were both taught by well-known teacher Rose Gilbert, and designed to the character as a tribute to her. They even called the character Rose while on set.

This meant any spoiler regarding the characters would be cleverly disguised.

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