Today’s episode of The Mandalorian finally answered our burning questions by revealing Baby Yoda’s origins and backstory before finding himself in the care of the bounty hunter Din Djarin.
After Mando found Ahsoka Tano in the forests of Corvus, the former Jedi Knight connected with The Child’s mind through the Force. Not only did this reveal his name (spoilers: it’s Grogu), but it also gave him an opportunity to explain where he’s been all these years and why he can easily tap into the living Force and harness its powers.
This is a game-changing revelation for The Mandalorian. For months, fans have been theorizing about who the Child could be. Some believed that he was a clone of Grand Master Yoda, while others though that he’s merely a creature in the same species as him, but stolen from his home planet. Now, “Chapter 13: The Jedi” has revealed that none of these theories even remotely got it right.
As Snips explained after reading Baby Yoda’s memories, he was a youngling in the Jedi Order on Coruscant and spent many years training under different masters. When The Clone Wars came to an abrupt end and the Empire rose, someone took him from the temple and hid him away. Fearing for his life, he then had to break his connection to the Force to survive the Jedi Purge.
So, there you have it, folks. In an episode of The Mandalorian where the debut of a live-action Ahsoka should’ve been the real focus, Baby Yoda, or Grogu, once again steals the spotlight by revealing that he was once a Jedi Youngling before Order 66.
Ahsoka also says that there’s a part of The Child’s memories that he can’t access for some reason, so there may be more to the story than we currently know, specifically when it comes to the Imperial loyalists and what they want with him.