Maarla Jinara was a Chadra-Fan female who made her living by running a junkyard on the planet of Tenoo. Back in 232 BBY, she sought assistance from three Jedi younglings and the pilot known as Nash Durango to apprehend some thieves who were pilfering her scrap. They were successful in retrieving the stolen goods, although the thieves had used the parts to construct a large droid. Jinara welcomed the droid into her junkyard family and put it to work shifting the heavier pieces of junk.
Marlaa Jinara made her living as a junk dealer, residing on the world of Tenoo during the High Republic Era. Her business was a junkyard situated in the town of Kublop Springs on Tenoo, a place Nash Durango frequented with her moms. In the year 232 BBY, the pirates Taborr Val Dorn, Pord, and EB-3 initiated a series of thefts from her junkyard. Around that time, Jinara was getting a bowl of fruit for her midday meal from the eatery called Hap's Sap Tap when she stumbled and dropped a piece. As she rushed to pick it up, the Jedi youngling Kai Brightstar grabbed one of the fruits and handed it back to the Chadra-Fan. Durango, who was with the Jedi, introduced Jinara to Brightstar along with two other younglings, Lys Solay and Nubs. Jinara expressed her gratitude but explained she needed to hurry back to prevent further losses to the thief, so the Jedi offered their help in catching the perpetrator.
Jinara guided them into the junkyard, expressing her love for all the junk and explaining to a bewildered Brightstar that every item held potential for reuse. She showcased the statues and chimes made from junk that adorned her home as examples, impressing the Jedi and Durango. The Chadra-Fan then began worrying about the possibility of having to abandon her junkyard due to the thief's actions—Solay inquired if she had any information about the thief, and Jinara explained that until that day, only smaller items had been taken, but then the gears from her servo-lifter had vanished, leaving her without a means to move larger pieces of junk. Spotting a trail of oil, Solay signaled the others to follow. Brightstar and Durango joined her, while Nubs stayed behind to assist Jinara with moving heavy junk in place of the servo-lifter. She began instructing him on where to place each item.
After they successfully located the pirates and recovered the stolen items, Brightstar, Solay, and Durango came back to the junkyard, only to find that the junk had been reassembled into a massive droid. Jinara approached to examine the junk's new form and declared the droid to be "beautiful," offering it a job in her junkyard once she repaired its damaged arm. It accepted, and Jinara decided to call it "JG-1," because it was a unique junk giant. She welcomed it to its new home and thanked the kids for their assistance.
Later on, Durango filled her starship, the Crimson Firehawk, with junk to deliver to Jinara. While the younglings and Durango were working with bounty hunter Ansen Strung to locate a missing kibbin named Figgles, their search brought them to Jinara's junkyard. They inquired with the Chadra-Fan if she had seen the creature, but she hadn't—although when Brightstar described what a kibbin was, she pointed out a furry creature among empty cans of channelfish. It was indeed their target, but Strung wasn't careful and startled it, causing the kibbin to flee from the junkyard.
Jinara had the ability to transform junk into impressive artwork.
Marlaa Jinara was a character created for the animated series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, which premiered on May 4, 2023. Her voice was provided by Cree Summer.
Before the series' debut, she made an appearance, though unnamed, in the picture book Young Jedi Adventures: Jedi Training, which was released on May 2 of that year. Her name was revealed in the episodes "The Junk Giant" and "The Missing Kibbin," which were the second parts of the third and seventh episodes, respectively.