Maz Kanata. She’s run a Mos Eisley cantina-like “watering hole” for a thousand years. She can tell a lot from your eyes. She’s force-sensitive but is not a Jedi or a Sith. She fills the role in The Force Awakens that (younger character?) Yoda did in the original trilogy, that of wisdom and imparting Force knowledge. She has a crush on Chewbacca. And she reminds you of every older woman you’ve ever known who wore thick glasses, be it teacher or grandmother.
Like Yoda, not much is known about her race. Or is there? Look at her face closely again. Is there a race in the Star Wars universe that she might be a member of? Maybe one that was briefly nodded to in an Easter Egg from The Phantom Menace? One that was originally introduced in a 1982 Spielberg movie?
You’re probably thinking about all of the differences between Maz and Elliot’s best buddy E.T. Maz doesn’t have the same body frame. She doesn’t waddle in the same way that E.T. (and all the others on his rescue ship) did. Her neck doesn’t extend. She wouldn’t need the Force if she had a natural ability to heal people with her elongated, glowing finger.
Well, maybe the elongated neck and other features of E.T. are something that only males have (like an Adam’s apple for humans). And, maybe only males are allowed to get involved in politics, which is why there were only waddling E.T.’s in the Galactic Senate Chamber in TPM. Maybe Maz is so much older that she had either evolved to adapt to her environment or maybe all of the aliens that you see in the E.T. movie are kids from that planet. Maybe they become more humanoid like Maz when they get older. And maybe E.T. could heal people because he already had some knowledge of the Force like Maz does. Or maybe Maz is from a sister planet, which is why her face is so similar to everyone’s favorite Reese’s loving/Jesus metaphor alien bike flyer. Not so far-fetched, considering this review from Time magazine, in which Maz Kanata is described as looking like “the love child of E.T. and Lena Horne”.
What do you think? Since we don’t know that much about E.T.’s race except that they are in the Star Wars universe, could Maz Kanata be related to E.T.? Comment below.
