This elder was a female member of the culture known as the Crèche, where they dwelled on Ovanis and protected an egg that they believed was vital to the fate of the galaxy. At some point, she knew Lor San Tekka, whom the Crèche called "the explorer," when he lived with them for two years. The Resistance Captain Poe Dameron visited the Crèche elder and her fellow cultists during his search for Lor San Tekka. Shortly later, they were caught in a conflict between the Resistance, the First Order, and two large winged creatures. Following the conflict, she and her fellow Crèche members flew away on the back of the large black guardian.
The Crèche elder was a member of the Crèche, a cult that spent many generations protecting a large egg in the Cave of the Crèche known as the Crèche egg. She and her fellow cultists regarded the egg as their charge, their purpose, and their salvation. They based their entire lives around protecting and nurturing the egg. The elder believed that the egg held their unborn savior, who would reward them for protecting it for so many generations. At some unknown time, the Crèche elder encountered the explorer Lor San Tekka, who spent two full seasons with the Crèche learning their ways and communing with the savior unborn. The Crèche elder came to trust him and shared her group's secrets with him.
The Crèche elder and Crèche egg
Following Operation: Sabre Strike, General Leia Organa dispatched the starfighter pilot Commander Poe Dameron on a search for Tekka, believing that he held the key to finding her brother Luke Skywalker. Poe and his droid BB-8 flew their T-70 X-wing starfighter into the Cave of the Crèche during their mission to Ovanis. The elder and her fellow cultists initially believed that Poe was a threat and confronted him with blasters. However, Poe managed to calm them down and told them he was looking for Tekka.
The elder told Poe that the explorer had left a long time ago and that she did not know where he had gone. She then briefed Poe about the Crèche egg and emphasized that she would not let anyone hurt the egg. The elder offered to share her group's secrets if Poe stayed with them and became a brother. Poe replied that he was on a deadline. When BB-8 discovered the presence of a tracker on his starfighter, Poe confronted the cultists and raised the tracker. Mistaking it for a detonator, the elder ordered her fellow cultists to take him down. Following a struggle, Poe managed to convince the Crèche elder and her followers that he did not pose a threat and that the First Order was their true enemy.
The Crèche elder and her fellow cultists hid Poe and BB-8 when a First Order landing platform led by Agent Terex arrived above the cave. After Terex blasted through the door with his First Order speeder bike, she chastised the interloper for polluting the sacred energies of the chamber. As her followers surrounded Terex, she threatened to destroy him. However, Terex had brought reinforcements in the form of several stormtroopers equipped with jetpacks. When the Crèche elder introduced herself and her community and asked why Terex had come, the First Order agent revealed that he was after Poe.
The elder tried to feign ignorance but a stormtrooper picked up the tracker's signal. When Terex threatened to harm the egg, the elder was about to cooperate when Poe surrendered himself. Poe revealed that his fellow Black Squadron pilots were attacking Terex's forces, creating a stalemate. To break the stalemate, Terex ordered his flametroopers to torch the egg. When the Crèche elder protested and called on the worshipers to sing to the savior unborn, Terex taunted Poe for carrying about these "fools" and proposed that they talk.
The Crèche creature, hatched
Ultimately, the heat of the flamethrowers caused the Crèche egg to crack. The elder proclaimed that the savior unborn had come, ending their long vigil and bring redemption. She found herself staring at a tall, blue winged creature. The elder welcomed the "savior" and asked the creature to show us how to save this sinner's world. However, the creature attacked them and Terex's stormtroopers, whose blasters could not penetrate its thick skin. The elder confronted the creature and asked if she had angered them. The winged creature grabbed her and attempted to devour her. However, it was attacked by a large black winged creature.
As the fight escalated, the stormtroopers' blasts made the winged creatures grow larger, causing them to break out of the cave. Eventually, the black winged creature gained the upper hand over the blue creature and killed it by firing a bright beam through its throat. Following the battle, the Crèche elder and her fellow cultists restrained Terex and his surviving troopers with blasters. After Poe and his fellow pilots let Terex and his men go, the elder decided to let him go since he could not hurt them anymore. She and her followers climbed on the back of the black winged creature, which they regarded as their savior. They allowed the creature to ferry them to their new home. Before leaving, she thanked Poe for saving them and admitted that she and her followers had no idea of what actually lay inside the Crèche egg.
The Crèche elder was an elderly woman with long grey hair, black eyes, and pale skin. She wore a beige and blue gown. The elder and her fellow cultists also had blue marks painted on their foreheads. She dedicated her whole life to looking after the Crèche egg which she regarded as hosting her cult's savior. She trusted the explorer Lor San Tekka because he was willing to learn their ways. The elder initially distrusted Poe until he convinced her that the First Order was a greater threat.
Terex was able to exploit the elder's devotion to the Crèche egg by threatening to destroy it. The elder's belief in her savior was tested when the blue winged creature inside the egg tried to devour her. She regarded the black winged creature as the Crèche's true savior after it defeated the black winged creature. She gained a greater respect for Poe fter he displayed his willingness to defend them even though he did not know them. She and her followers then rode on the back of their winged savior.
The Crèche elder first appeared in the 2016 comic Poe Dameron 1, written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Phil Noto.
- Star Wars: Timelines