The Maw was one of the largest and the worst black holes located in the Maw Cluster inside the Akkadese Maelstrom. Glowing a faint amber, it swirled and sucked debris in the area into its planet-sized gravity well, causing objects to be crushed inside. It was also home to vacuum breathing creatures such as the summa-verminoth.
Shortly after the Raid on Kessel, Han Solo, a member of Beckett's gang, flew the Millennium Falcon near the Maw Cluster in order to escape a squadron of TIE/ln space superiority starfighters that had begun pursuing them after they stole coaxium from a Pyke Syndicate mine on Kessel. While Solo was able to escape the TIE squadron, he unintentionally woke a massive, vacuum-breathing beast called a summa-verminoth. Solo flew extremely close to a gravity well of the Maw. The summa-verminoth followed, but was caught by the gravity well. The massive beast's skin was torn from its skeleton and was devoured by the gravity well, while the Millennium Falcon escaped due to Tobias Beckett putting a microscopic amount of coaxium into the hyperdrive.
Concept art of the Maw, by Chris Voy
The Maw first appeared in the 2018 movie Solo: A Star Wars Story. The name originated in the 1994 Legends book series The Jedi Academy Trilogy as the name of the cluster of black holes.
- Solo: A Star Wars Story The Official Guide
- The Art of Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor
- Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious
- Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition