The Mandalorian‘s first season was unlike anything we’d seen before from the galaxy far, far away. The first ever live-action Star Wars series was a throwback. It was reminiscent of time when TV gunslingers would go on a new adventure every week. It also gave us Baby Yoda, a character so pure and good it united the fanbase. But a new fan theory says both the show and it’s adorable little character could be far more important to the franchise than we think.
And on today’s Nerdist News we’re looking at how season two of The Mandalorian could connect Baby Yoda, The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano, and the future of Star Wars itself with the prophecy of the Chosen One.
Reddit user AndreLoga has proposed a theory (which we first heard about at Esquire) that could bring creator Jon Favreau’s live-action series into balance with the entire history of the franchise and beyond. It dates back to The Clone Wars, and if right could bring Star Wars 900 years into the future.
The theory is based on “ The Mortis Arc” from season three of The Clone Wars. That strange, surreal story explored the never-ending struggle to bring balance to the Force. Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano followed a distress signal to a strange plane of existence known as the Mortis realm. There they met three Force-wielding, godlike beings—the Father, the Son, and the Daughter. The Father represented balance, which he fought to maintain between his Daughter representing the Light Side of the Force, and his son representing the Dark Side.
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The Father sent the distress signal to lure Anakin there. He was dying and wanted the Chosen One to take his place. It was a disaster. The Son tried to turn Anakin to the Dark Side and then possessed Ahsoka, making her fight her master. The Daughter then sacrificed her life force to save Ahsoka. And in the end the Father killed himself to stop his Son. Anakin left without brining balance to the Force. And we know what happened to him.
But the allegory of the multi-episode story can be read as a prophecy, and that’s where things gets really interesting. This fan theory posits that the Child, the frequent name given to “Baby Yoda,” is a continuation of the Mortis Arc’s prophecy (think “Father/Son/Daughter/Child), one that would parallel Anakin’s own story as the Chosen One and repeat the cyclical nature of the Force finding balance.
The Chosen One prophecy says, “A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.” On Mortis Anakin rejected the Father’s pleas to take his position. But he did fall to the Son’s Dark Side eventually, throwing the Force out of balance. It was only restored when he killed Palpatine years later. In doing so he finally accepted the role of Father. And like the one on Mortis he died to do it.
But death and life are connected. One always brings the other in Star Wars.
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That idea ties into what the theory calls the “The Vitae Arc.” It says, “Every time the cycle restarts, The Child and the Chosen One are born anew. The chosen one grows up, falls to the dark side, but is redeemed and restores balance to the galaxy, becoming the Father; the Child, still just a baby, lives on to centuries later train the one who’ll turn the next chosen one back to the light side.”
Baby Yoda is 50 years old at the start of The Mandalorian. He was born the same year as Anakin Skywalker. Oh yeah. We also know Yoda lived to be 900 years old. Baby Yoda is the perfect candidate to one day serve as mentor to a future Chosen One.
In the meantime, there’s a perfect person to assume the role of the Daughter in this cyclical story—Ahsoka Tano. She’s joining The Mandalorian in season two and was with Anakin on Mortis long ago. Ahsoksa, who has the life essence of the Daughter inside her, could now take the next step and become the Mother to the Child. She could raise Baby Yoda to find balance in the Force. Of course, the last Daughter had to give her life to the cause. The idea Dave Filoni would kill off his greatest character is as hard to imagine as it would be to see.
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There are other issues with the theory too. It depends a lot on assigning roles and titles to characters without hard evidence they apply. And it doesn’t account for Yaddle. Remember Yaddle?
But if this theory proves true it could have major implications, both short term and long term. It could help explain Rey and Kylo Ren’s dyad from The Rise of Skywalker. And it could connect the far off future of Star Wars to its Skywalker Saga era. Baby Yoda could help mentor the new Chosen One hundreds of years from now.
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Ultimately though this theory is already a success, even if it’s completely wrong. The Mandalorian‘s first season was something different. Week to week the stakes felt smaller. That was a big reason it was so much fun. But now we’re already thinking about it in a whole new way. One that is in spirit with the grand nature of the galaxy far, far away.
Baby Yoda isn’t just a cute character. He might be the Child who connects the past, present, and future of the franchise.