ME-8D9

Maz Kanata is more than a thousand years old, a diminutive being with vast experience at surviving in the underworld. From her castle on Takodana, Maz has seen galactic powers rise and fall and felt the Force ebb and flow, seeking an elusive balance between darkness and light. She has given many a young smuggler a start by offering credits, equipment or connections, and helped many an old friend rediscover a lost path.

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.

Han Solo rose from an impoverished childhood on the mean streets of Corellia to become one of the heroes of the Rebel Alliance. As captain of the Millennium Falcon, Han and his co-pilot Chewbacca came to believe in the cause of galactic freedom, joining Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa in the fight against the Empire. After the Battle of Endor, Han faced difficult times in a chaotic galaxy, leading to a shattering confrontation with his estranged son Ben.

A legendary Wookiee warrior and Han Solo’s longtime co-pilot, Chewbacca continues to serve as faithful first mate to carry out daring missions against the First Order behind the controls of the Millennium Falcon. Known as Chewie to his closest friends, he was part of a core group of rebels who restored freedom to the galaxy during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Known for his short temper and accuracy with a bowcaster, Chewie also has a big heart and unwavering loyalty to his friends.

Committed to the cause of the Resistance, Finn fights alongside his closest friends in the struggle to defeat the First Order, the evil regime he once served as a stormtrooper. As FN-2187, he was trained from birth to serve the First Order, but a skirmish on Jakku awakened his conscience and drove him down a different path, one that proved both heroic and dangerous.