WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #9, on sale now.
From the beginning of the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures series, Qort, a young Padawan, has worn a crab skull mask over his face. Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #9, reveals Qort's connection to Maz Kanata and his childhood on Takodana. Through Maz's flashbacks, the audience learns that Qort believes that his mask helps him control his emotions and provides a connection with his homeworld.
While the mask has been a part of Qort since the first issue of Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, no one really remarked upon the mask until Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #6 by Daniel José Older, Harvey Tolibao, Pow Rodrix, Jake M. Wood, Rebecca Nalty, Elizabeth Brei, Heather Antos and Riley Farmer. As Qort travels with the crew of the Vessel to Nal Hutta, Affie Hollow asks him, "Say, why do you wear that skull all of the time, anyway?" Qort just looks back at her without answering, and he instead bonds with Geode. It is understandable why the mask would not have been questioned until this point; Qort has mainly been with the rest of his fellow Jedi, and most of them have known Qort long enough to know that the mask is not a story he talks about much.
Instead, the audience learns about the importance of Qort's mask from an unlikely source, Maz Kanata, in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #9 by Daniel José Older, Toni Bruno, Rebecca Nalty, Johanna Nattalie, Riley Farmer and Heather Antos. In the issue, Qort, his fellow Padawans and Zeen Mrala travel to Takodana to help the planet prepare for the Nihil's attack. Once they arrive, Maz Kanata and the Jedi Sav Malagán greet Qort warmly. This bond strengthens Qort’s ties to Takodana, but the reunion also shows that Qort has not confided in his friends much about his origins.
Interspersed with the Padawans' preparations for the Nihil are flashbacks to when Maz first met Qort. In the flashbacks, some of Maz’s pirates find Qort in their cargo when he was a toddler. They are frightened of him because Qort uses his superhuman strength to destroy parts of their shipment. The wild toddler of these flashbacks is a far cry from the version of Qort seen in the present timeline.
While this mellowing could simply be a sign of growing up, Maz's flashbacks reveal an alternate possibility for the change in Qort's behavior. After Qort goes on a bit of a rampage in Maz's castle, Maz eventually finds him in her basement and sees that Qort has found and put on a crab skull mask that Maz received from an associate, Farks, years before. Once Qort begins wearing the mask, his behavior shifts and he becomes much calmer and engages in far less property damage.
Later, Maz meets up with Farks again and learns the reason for Qort’s strength and his anxiety. Farks explains that Qort is an Aloxian, and his people use the hunting of a Vonduun crab as a coming of age ritual for very young children. Farks hypothesizes that Qort was kidnapped by raiders and lost his mask. Farks also explains that "Aloxians believe the skull fuses with its wearer, conforms to their head. It helps them to balance out their aggressive nature." Farks also hypothesizes that Qort was kidnapped by raiders to be sold as a warrior, and they stole or destroyed Qort's mask to make him more aggressive. Thus, Qort became very anxious due to the stress of being kidnapped and the stress of losing his mask, and finding a new mask helped allay his fears. After Farks provides his explanation, Qort reveals his telekinetic Force powers, and Maz contacts Sav to send Qort to Takodana's Jedi Temple.
This backstory helps center Qort’s narrative thus far in the series and explains why his skull mask is so important to him. It remains to be seen whether the skull mask is actually necessary for him to control his aggressive tendencies. Cover art for the next issue shows that Qort might have to confront whether he actually needs his mask in the future, providing more tension in the arc as the Nihil continue their assault on Takodana and the galaxy at large.