A hulking Dowutin, Grummgar was at Maz Kanata’s castle when Han Solo, Finn and Rey visited. Sitting beside the bounty hunter and First Order spy Bazine Netal, Grummgar was given a wide berth by the castle’s other guests. He makes his credits as a mercenary and big-game hunter, with his kills including the molsume, a predator native to Ithor.

The ancient edifice known as Maz’s castle sits on the shore of a lake on Takodana, a site rumored to have been a battleground for the Jedi and Sith. The castle is simultaneously aged and state of the art, with sensor grids and advanced communications gear sprouting from worn stone battlements. Inside Maz’s castle, pirates, smugglers, spies and all manner of scoundrels mix and mingle, searching for loans, information, equipment, repairs -- or kicking back to enjoy music, food and drink or games of chance. All must obey their host’s prohibitions against politics or war. The First Order raided Takodana shortly before the Battle of Starkiller Base, leaving the castle in ruins and its proprietress indignant.

A lush green world in the galaxy’s Western Reaches, Takodana has long served as the base of operations for the diminutive pirate queen Maz Kanata, whose ancient castle is a haven for smugglers, brigands, scouts and spies from numerous worlds. Takodana has been largely spared war over the centuries, remaining neutral as galaxy-ruling regimes come and go around it.

The New Republic’s rise reduced the once-mighty Empire to a rump state hemmed in by strict disarmament treaties and punishing reparations. But in the galaxy’s Unknown Regions, former Imperial officers, nobles and technologists plotted a return to power, building fleets and armies in secret. This movement became the First Order, ruled by Supreme Leader Snoke, and is now ready to reclaim the Imperial legacy.

A skittish but loyal astromech, BB-8 accompanied Poe Dameron on many missions for the Resistance, helping keep his X-wing in working order. When Poe’s mission to Jakku ended with his capture by the First Order, BB-8 fled into the desert with a vital clue to the location of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. He rejoined Poe and the service of the Resistance in time for the attack on Starkiller Base, then helped Rey locate Skywalker’s planet of exile.

A scavenger toughened by life in Jakku’s harsh deserts, Rey has been drawn into a galaxy-spanning conflict and learned that her life is being shaped by the mysterious power of the Force. She seeks out Luke Skywalker, the lost Jedi Master, in hopes that he will aid the Resistance against the First Order and help her control her growing powers. But when that quest ends in disappointment, Rey must find a new way forward.