How Yoda May Fit Into The Mandalorian
Hopefully, by now, you've finally gotten to watch the first episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+, which has a mindblowing ending. But how does this ending fit into the grand scheme of things when it comes to the Star Wars universe? We have an idea, and it's all connected to Yoda.
Warning: Spoilers for the first episode of The Mandalorian ahead.
As a whole, Star Wars is all about lineage. The people who birthed you and those who raised you shaped who you are now, and that can be said about real life as well. So the revelation that the Mando (whose name is Din Jarron) finds a 50-year-old alien baby--which is the same species as Yoda--raises a lot of questions. We all assumed Yoda was the last of his species, so where did this baby come from and who are its parents?
The most well-known of this alien species is Yoda, who passed on in Return of the Jedi at the ripe young age of 900. However, another one of this unnamed species was introduced in the Star Wars universe years ago, in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
Back in 1999, Star Wars fans were introduced to the Jedi High Council, and one of its members was Yaddle, a female of Yoda's alien species. The two served on the council together during this time. Yaddle only appeared in Phantom Menace, but her story didn't end there.
After the Battle of Naboo, Yaddle left the Jedi High Council, where she was replaced by Shaak Ti. This was revealed in the book Ultimate Star Wars. Years later, approximately a decade before the Battle of Yavin, Yaddle was killed at The Battle of Fortress Vader by Lord Vader himself, in a comic book series from Marvel Comics.
So The Mandalorian takes place 10 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), and 20 years after the death of Yaddle. Considering she's the only female of this species we've seen in current canon, and she worked with Yoda on the Jedi High Council, it's not too out-there to speculate that Yoda and Yaddle are the parents of the baby in The Mandalorian.
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Since this infant is actually 50 years old, that puts its birth around 40 BBY, eight years prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. Yoda and Yaddle were presumably on the Jedi High Council together during this time. So maybe part of Yaddle's decision to leave it was so she could raise their eight-year-old child. And after Anakin killed all the younglings, she could have gone into hiding, before joining other Jedi to try and take down Darth Vader at his battle on Mustafar.
Where the baby went after that is a mystery. Maybe Yoda took it to Degobah with him and had it hidden away while he was training Luke Skywalker. However, this is all conjecture. We don't know the lineage of the Yoda-like baby at this time. All we know is its age and that there were two others of this species in current Star Wars canon, but considering how many of the characters in the Star Wars movies and TV series are connected, this is a good bet. Yoda and Yaddle could very well be the parents to this child.
In his review of The Mandalorian, GameSpot's Chris E. Hayner said, "The Mandalorian has made a statement about what a live-action Star Wars TV show looks like. Now, with the remaining seven episodes in Season 1, it needs to make a statement about how a Star Wars plot should unfold over a longer form of storytelling."
We'll more than likely learn more about the Yoda baby in upcoming episodes of The Mandalorian. New episodes air every Friday, with Episode 2 landing on November 15.