The Black Mask was a mercenary gang that was active during the Imperial Era consisting of Vect Nokru, Vidara Jurness, and Ayo Bons.[1] The Black Mask was tasked by the Imperial Inquisitor Third Sister to kidnap the Princess of Alderaan, Leia Organa in order to lure the fugitive Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi out of hiding.[2]
After bringing Organa[2] from the Core Worlds planet[3] Alderaan to the planet Daiyu, the Black Mask succeeded in capturing Kenobi, however, the Jedi and Organa managed to escape after distracting the mercenaries with a spice.[4]
Behind the scenes
The Black Mask, albeit unidentified, first appeared in "Part I," the first episode of the Disney+ live-action series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi.[2] The episode premiered on May 26, 2022.[5] The name Black Mask was later given in the 2023 reference book Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide,[1] within a section written by Emily Shkoukani.[6]
During the production of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, any subject related to the Black Mask was given the codename Manitoban.[7] Makeup artist Bart J. Mixon described Ayo Bons—a character played by Aviel Ayoung—using the phrase "Anxious Manitoban."[8] The character Vidara Jurness—played by Amy Sturdivant—was also referred to as "Manitoban" in the "Star Wars™ Obi-Wan Kenobi — Series 1" non-fungible token collection created by VeVe Digital Collectibles in collaboration with The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm to promote the television series.[9]
Appearances
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part I" (First appearance)- Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part II"
Sources
- Part I Episode Guide | Obi-Wan Kenobi on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Part II Episode Guide | Obi-Wan Kenobi on StarWars.com (backup link) (Picture only)
- Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide (First identified as Black Mask)
- Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part I"
- ↑ Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part II"
- ↑ "Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Companion" — Star Wars Insider 214
- ↑ Wookieepedia Interviews - Emily Shkoukani & Jason Fry on the official Wookieepedia YouTube channel (backup link)
- ↑ Leland Chee (@.holocronkeeper) in Wookieepedia's Discord server (December 1, 2025): "MANITOBAN was the production codename for anything related to Black Mask. Vidara Jurness has a species name but I don't know if it was ever published. Ayo Bons does not yet have a species name though I keyword that species as "spike mohawk." There was a similar unnamed character of what I assume is that species in the old Legacy comic series. I have a Holocron entry that tries to track "horn, spike, and plate-headed species" in the hopes that I can avoid naming a species twice." (message link) (screenshot) (In response to: "Hello @HolocronKeeper, back with what feels like my now-monthly species-related question that you may be able to shed some light on. We've seen this mysterious title crop up randomly across various places, in reference specifically to members of the Black Mask. "Manitoban" has been used by Bart Mixon in at least 3 different social media posts to refer to Ayo Bons, and some weird licensed Star Wars NFT someone discovered refers to Vidara Jurness as a Manitoban as well. Is this possibly like a species name for either of them that was accidentally applied to both, or maybe the original name for the Black Mask used in production, or just something totally different? I know Manitoban can also refer to IRL Manitoba in Canada as well, but from what I can tell, neither actor here is associated with that location, so I'm honestly at a loss.")
- ↑ Bart J. Mixon (@bartmixon) on Instagram (post): "The prosthetic character I applied with @groovybruce01 was the Anxious Manitoban played by Aviel Ayoung in a makeup sculpted by @kevinkirkpatrickart for SmithFX. Big thanks to Shaun Smith for having me head up the on set prosthetics department and assigning two cool characters to me to apply." (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars™ Obi-Wan Kenobi — Series 1: The collection kicks off with three digital collectibles on Sat, 26 Nov at 8 AM PT, only on VeVe! on medium.com (backup link archived on November 28, 2022)
