Maarla Jinara was a Chadra-Fan female who owned a junkyard on the planet Tenoo. In 232 BBY, she enlisted the help of three Jedi younglings, as well as the pilot Nash Durango, to assist in catching thieves who had been stealing her junk. They successfully recovered the stolen junk, though the thieves had used it to assemble a large droid. Jinara welcomed the droid to her junkyard, and used it to move heavy pieces of junk.
Marlaa picks up her fallen fruit.
Marlaa Jinara was a junk dealer who lived on the planet Tenoo during the High Republic Era. She ran a junkyard in the town of Kublop Springs on Tenoo that Nash Durango frequented with her moms. In 232 BBY, the pirates Taborr Val Dorn, Pord, and EB-3 began stealing junk from the junkyard. During that time, while Jinara was procuring a bowl of fruit from the eatery Hap's Sap Tap for her lunch, she dropped a piece and tripped on it. As she hurried to pick it up and get back, the Jedi youngling Kai Brightstar picked up one of the fruits and handed it to the Chadra-Fan. Durango, who was with the Jedi, introduced Jinara to Brightstar and two other younglings, Lys Solay and Nubs. Jinara thanked them for their help but told them she had to be off in order to avoid losing more to the thief, so the Jedi offered to assist her in catching the criminal.
Jinara led them into the junkyard, admiring all of her junk and explaining to a confused Brightstar that every piece of junk was special, for it could always be reused. She presented the junk-made statues and chimes decorating her home as an example, by which the Jedi and Durango were impressed. The Chadra-Fan then began fretting over the prospect of having to leave her junkyard because of the thief's actions—Solay asked if she had any information on the thief, so Jinara explained that until that day, only smaller pieces of junk had been stolen, but then the gears of her servo-lifter had disappeared, preventing her from having a way to move large junk. Noticing a trail of oil, Solay beckoned the others to follow her. Brightstar and Durango joined her, though Nubs stayed behind to help Jinara move heavy junk in lieu of a servo-lifter. She began instructing him on in which piles to place each piece of junk.
Marlaa welcomes JG-1 to her junkyard.
After they had successfully found the pirates and recovered the junk, Brightstar, Solay, and Durango returned to the junkyard, though the junk had been reassembled into a giant droid. Jinara walked over to inspect the junk's new form and proclaimed that the droid was "beautiful," offering it a job in her junkyard once she fixed up its broken arm. It accepted, and Jinara decided to name it "JG-1," as it was a junk giant who was one of a kind. She welcomed it to its new home and thanked the kids for their help.
Later, Durango packed up her starship, the Crimson Firehawk, which junk to bring to Jinara. When the younglings and Durango were working with bounty hunter Ansen Strung to find a missing kibbin named Figgles, their hunt led them to Jinara's junkyard. They asked the Chadra-Fan if she had seen the creature, but she had not—though when Brightstar clarified what a kibbin was for her, she pointed out a furry creature among empty cans of channelfish. It was indeed their target, but Strung was not careful and scared it away, prompting the kibbin to scurry out of the junkyard.
Jinara was able to repurpose junk to create impressive artwork.
Marlaa Jinara was created for the animated series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, whose episodes premiered on May 4, 2023. She was voiced by Cree Summer.
Prior to the series' release, she appeared, albeit unnamed, in the accompanying picture book Young Jedi Adventures: Jedi Training, published on May 2 of that year. Her name was provided in the episodes "The Junk Giant" and "The Missing Kibbin," the second parts of the third and seventh episodes, respectively.