The Mandalorian Chapter 15 reveals Baby Yoda’s name and an old Star Wars foe

There was no time wasted The Mandalorian chapter 13. “The Jedi” goes straight to … the Jedi.

But the reveal of a major Star Wars character wasn’t the only bombshell that awaited Thanksgiving-dinner-comatose fans: Season 2, Episode 5 gave us the clearest look yet at the Origins of Baby Yoda aka The Child aka Actually He Has a real name and if you were one with the strength you would know what it was. And in what could be the most lore-rich episode yet, director-producer Dave Filoni solidifies every part of the Star Wars canon, including its animated series. The clone wars and Rebels, as essential to understanding the mainstream side of the franchise.

[Ed. note: This post contains major spoiler for The Mandalorian episode “The Jedi.”]

Chapter 13 finally takes Din Djarin and The Child to Corvus, where two episodes earlier, Bo-Katan (another Clone wars import) asked the Mandalorian to find Jedi Ahsoka Tano. And he does it pretty immediately! Rumors that Rosario Dawson had been cast as the fan-favorite warrior erupted over the summer, and many wondered how important she would play a role whenever she showed up. A brief cameo? A glimpse of the shadow? Under the watchful eye of Filoni, who had previously hinted that the character needed to be revived in April when concluding The clone wars, there was no holding back: the episode was Ahsoka’s story through and through, as much as a milestone in Din’s journey.

Ahsoka has a lot to share with Mando and the The Mandalorian public – and shares that it does. When the Mandalorian arrives at Corvus, he is hired by the local Lord, a former Empire ruler named Morgan Elsbeth, to hunt down Ahsoka, who terrorizes his troops and pursues coveted knowledge. When Din crosses paths with the Jedi in the woods of the planet, he quickly switches sides. (Morgan hasn’t won any favors by visibly torturing his Corvusians with electric shock pillories, another remnant of the animated cannon.) With Ahsoka out of attack mode, Din introduces the Jedi to his Force-sensitive surrogate child. This is when midi-chlorians really start to erupt.

Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Although the Child cannot speak, Ahsoka communicates with the stinking little one through the invisible channels of the Force, and we get all of his backstory. The name of the Yoda-like being is Grogu, and he’s old enough to have been raised in the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, Ahsoka learns through his telepathic connection. “When the Clone Wars ended, someone took him from the temple. Then his memory grows dark. He seemed lost. Alone.”

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 4 added more fuel to the fire as the Empire hunted “Baby Yoda” for her blood, either as the basis for a new cloning operation – teased by the return of the Kamino uniform from Attack of the clones – or something even more nefarious. We know thanks to Rise of Skywalker that the Empire / Palpatine was behind the creation of the Mighty Snoke, but we’re not quite sure how it all came about. The Mandalorian is able to answer these not-so-pressing questions. The fact that Grogu has ties to the prequel movies and Clone wars shenanigans only make him a target for the ancient practices of the Empire. Is he an actual Yoda clone born from this era? Is this Yoda’s kid (a hint of “Yoda Theme” in the soundtrack turns the gears)? Who made him leave Coruscant? Maybe the next Obi-Wan-centric Disney Plus series will fill a few gaps …

Din hopes Ahsoka will consider training Grogu Force-style. She refuses. For those who aren’t familiar with the character’s deep conflict, the reasons aren’t entirely clear. She simply tells the Mandalorian, “His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears. His anger […] I have seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us. “

Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.

In the early days of The clone wars, Ahsoka was the apprentice of none other than Anakin Skywalker. A loss of faith in the rigid ways of the Jedi caused her to sever her ties with the Order, but wherever life took her she maintained an allegiance to Anakin. Even after Darth Sidious started Order 66 and news of the Jedi eradication reached her, she couldn’t believe her former master was one of the hands working to dismantle the peace in the galaxy. But in the last episodes of The clone wars, the truth became clear and Ahsoka hid. The finale scene from Filoni’s animated series, which aired last May, put all the tragedy to its head and connected emotional dots between Ahsoka’s eventual clash with the one and only Darth Vader. Although The Mandalorian takes place many years after her revelations, and also after she has gone and left the timeline of Star Wars: Rebels, Ahsoka harbors the trauma of Anakin’s fall to the dark side. The scene works whether you know the backstory or not, but for those who have followed Filoni’s Expanded Universe storytelling over the years, it’s a chilling payoff.

After ditching Baby-Yoda’s-Real-Name bombshell, Ahsoka continues to carve out the Star Wars universe when it comes to the Empire bounce back. Morgan Elsbeth, her opponent on Corvus, has information about the Imperial bigwigs she is willing to kill to get. It’s assumed Morgan has some ties to Moff Gideon, who we learned last week has a battalion of super soldiers ready to deploy on the Mandalorian’s ass (not to mention the coveted Darksaber).

But anyone who knows Ahsoka from Star Wars: Rebels includes the one quest she’s truly relentless for: the location of her former Jedi-in-the-making pal Ezra Bridger. At the end of Filoni’s second animated series, Ezra, in a heroic moment, sends an enemy ship plunging deep into the unknown of hyperspace – which also sends him in the unknown of hyperspace. A coda series finds Ahsoka working with Sabrine Wren, a true Mandalorian like Bo-Katan, teaming up to locate their friend.

When we resume with Ahsoka, she is still looking for Ezra. And we know this because, after a vicious two-saber battle against Beskar with Morgan, the Jedi holds his crisp white blade around his opponent’s neck and demands to know his boss’s location. And it’s not Moff Gideon. The name coming out of his mouth sent the jaws of every Star Wars EU fan to the ground: “Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn? “

Thrawn. Thrawn! Created by famous Star Wars novelist Timothy Zahn in the pages of the years 1991 Heir to the Empire, Thrawn is a Blue Chiss war strategist and quite possibly the most beloved villain to ever hit the live action screen. Although decanonized after Disney bought Lucasfilm and removed all pre-Awakening the Force EU, Filoni brought back Thrawn to become the ultimate opponent Star Wars: Rebels. The admiral was aboard the ship Ezra sent to fly and presumed dead. This is clearly not the case, and Ahsoka hopes to find him in order to locate Ezra – and, hopefully, cut off any chance of the Empire being reborn.

True towards The Mandalorian, knowledge catnip does not interfere with action. “The Jedi” successfully conveys Ahsoka’s dynamic fighting style on screen, including a fighting stance reminiscent of his shoto saber style. Dawson plays the part with a meditative fury, which fits perfectly with the Rebels era version of the character. And Din gets his own Western-style moments in a shootout with one of Morgan’s henchmen. It’s a perfect and somewhat surreal mix of all of the modern tones of Star Wars.

Ahsoka’s appearance in The Mandalorian appears to be fleeting, at least in Season 2 (if Thrawn returns, it is assumed the Jedi will too). She will not train Grogu, suggesting that Mando’s bond is stronger and therefore more worthy of leading the young Jedi on his true path. This means that Din has another mission and is heading to Tython. Known as an ancient Jedi safehaven, the planet only appeared in passing The rise of the Skywalker visual dictionary and the pages of Marvel Doctor Aphra comic book (where the main character drove Darth Vader in a lark). But true to Filoni’s recanonization instincts, it’s also a place closely tied to Darth Bane and other Sith stories.

Image: Lucasfilm

What will this mean for the adventures of the Mandalorian? While the series has mostly stayed in the blasters-and-speeders, tech side of Star Wars for the first few seasons and a half, any action on Tython promises to go into the mystical, which Filoni was more than happy to do. . explore in The clone wars and Rebels. Ahsoka tells Din that on Tython he will find a ruined Jedi temple, and on top of a mountain, a stone that sees. By placing Grogu there, “a Jedi can sense his presence and come and get him.”

But which Jedi? There appear to be two suitors: Luke Skywalker, who in the postReturn of the Jedi The timeline looks for newbies using the Force to train (although this plotline would force Mark Hamill to return to the role). Or it could mean rotate The Mandalorian in a real suite of Rebels, featuring Ezra Bridger’s live introduction. If Thrawn is heading towards the series, it is only natural that the Jedi who ruined his plans will show up as well.

With “The Jedi,” creator Jon Favreau and Filoni state that viewers need to do their Star Wars homework to fully follow the high-stakes drama. It’s not just the story of a Mandalorian discovering “the way”; in Din’s hands, and in Grogu’s future, lies the power that will forever shape the universe in what we know the force awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. From now on, there are no more Star Wars “Expanded Universe” and the holy trilogies of the big screen. It’s a saga, it’s a cheesy story, and it all takes place in the biggest show on the planet.