We spent so much of our time speculating about what was going to happen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that we had no idea what we were going to talk about once the movie actually came out. Luckily for us, the movie raised more questions than it answered, giving us plenty of interesting things to discuss and theorize about. What’s more, just enough new detail is leaking out that it gives us a little more data to work with. Such has been the case regarding one of our favorite new characters, Maz Kanata.
The movie told us that the character was more than 1,000 years old, and that she was sensitive to the Force. So, if she’s roughly 1,000 years old, she would have been alive during the time of the prequel trilogy, right? What’s more, there’s at least a hint in The Phantom Menace that she might have been. In the middle of that movie, when our heroes arrive on Tatooine and meet the young Anakin Skywalker, he brings Padme into his room to show off his droid (which is not a euphemism for anything). On the table in his room is a doll or statue of some kind that looks suspiciously familiar.
So, is that idol on the left a Maz Kanata figure? Well, at 1,000 years old -- when most of the galaxy, as far as we know, has lifespans similar to our own -- Kanata would have been around for hundreds of years prior to this film. What’s more, recent evidence regarding deleted scenes in the movie show us that not only is Maz Kanata Force "sensitive," but she’s actually a full-fledged Force user, bringing a ceiling down on a bunch of Stormtroopers. While Kanata says in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that she’s not a Jedi, she certainly has a strong control of the Force, which may be the reason she’s lived as long as she has. It might also be the reason there’s a doll of her in Anakin’s room. She might be somewhat famous, being as long-lived and powerful as she is.
There are, of course, other possibilities as well. It could be that this is an image of somebody of the same race as Maz Kanata, while not actually being her. It could also be that some creature creator from Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw this while doing research and used it as an inspiration for the character of Maz. Finally, it could also be a complete coincidence that means absolutely nothing whatsoever.
What do you think? Is this a retroactive easter egg, or simply an odd coincidence? Let us know your theories below.
