The Mandalorian's big premiere had a bigger secret than many Star Wars fans may have been expecting. Who would've thought when the bounty hunters approached their target at the episode's end, they would see their 50-year-old target was still but a small child. Fans, of course, noticed something else that was pretty crazy, it looks a lot like Yoda. The latter reveal somewhat overpowered the first bit of information, but now that the dust has settled on the initial shock we really need to talk about the age of "baby Yoda."
As previously mentioned, Baby Yoda (who will be referred to as such from here on out, even though we have no idea if he's actually the Jedi master or connected to him at all) is 50 years old in The Mandalorian. The series takes place sometime around 9 ABY in the Star Wars timeline, which means nine years after the Battle of Yavin. Roll black the clock 50 years on this baby's birth year, and this child's birth date could come very close to the birth of another prominent Star Wars character.
That character is Anakin Skywalker, aka the boy from the prophecy who was supposed to destroy the Sith and not join them. Dedicated Star Wars fans know there's some weird circumstances behind Anakin's birth, with some characters in the lore suggesting his birth was a virgin-like conception using Midi-Chlorians and the Dark Side of the Force. If something like that is possible, could Baby Yoda have been created by something on the Light Side as well?
It's quite possible, especially given that one of the major themes of Star Wars hinges on balance of the Force. If something incredibly evil was created in that year, then it's completely normal to assume something equally as good would be created to help bring balance. Unfortunately, the Light Side chose a species that ages very slowly, so The Mandalorian's little green rugrat couldn't have been that big of a help during the Galactic Civil War if that was the intention.
Anakin theories aside, it's also important to note that Baby Yoda could be alive during the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He can certainly live that long naturally, though we have to prepare for the possibility The Mandalorian may rip our hearts out by killing this little baby Force user. Given his slow-aging, though, we can't imagine he'd be all that much older during Episode 9, so we don't know what role he'd have, if any.
For now, the only thing we can do as fans is continue to wait for more episodes of The Mandalorian, which will play into the origins of the First Order. There has also been news it will travel back into the past, which could give us the story we're all waiting to hear on where this baby came from, and why The Client wants it so badly. Ugh, why can't Disney+ (which readers can now check out with a free 7-day trial) just let fans binge Season 1 all at once now?
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