'The Mandalorian' Twist Ending Begins to Unravel One of Star Wars's Lasting Mysteries
The first episode of The Mandalorian, Disney+'s gritty space-Western set in the outer reaches of the Star Wars universe, ends with a twist that could unravel one of the biggest mysteries in the famous franchise. When Pedro Pascal's titular character takes a big bounty from the remnants of the Empire after its fall in Return of the Jedi, all he knows about it is that he or she is 50 years old and living in a remote area. After running into IG-11, who is tracking down the same target, they finally find who they're looking for: an adorable baby of Yoda's mysterious species.
Yoda died in Return of the Jedi at the age of 900, so we assume that this species stays in infancy for many years, given their long life. But, the thing is, we don't actually know anything about Yoda's species—not even its name. This alien species is only listed as unknown. As the Star Wars Wikipedia explains:
The species to which the legendary Jedi Master Yoda belonged was ancient and shrouded in mystery. The species had two sexes: male and female. Members of that species were small in size, with green skin and long pointed ears. Their three-fingered hands ended in claws. Their ears were expressive, curling and unfurling in accordance with their emotions. The species' life expectancy spanned several centuries. Members of this species were rarely seen anywhere in the galaxy. Their brains also possessed a sub-brain that activated when having visions.
What we do know is that we've seen at least one other member of Yoda's species in the Star Wars universe. That was Yaddle, a female member of Yoda's species who appeared on the Jedi Council in the prequel trilogy. She didn't play a big role in the series and died before the events of the original trilogy. As far as we know, this child that The Mandalorian found is the last-known member of Yoda's species.
What we do know is that the remnants of the Empire is VERY interested in obtaining this alien baby—dead or alive. When The Mandalorian is given the bounty, some eccentric scientist seems very eager in obtaining the baby alive, quite possibly for an experiment. We also know that the only creatures of this species that we've seen in Star Wars have been powerful Force users. And considering some species are more likely to be Force-sensitive, it's possible that Yoda's species are more often powerful Force users. Is it possible that this baby is Force-sensitive? Is that why the Empire is desperate to get this child, to experiment with how to create a Force user? These questions are likely to be answered going forward.
In a brief flashback in Episode One of The Mandalorian, we learn that our protagonist was also once an orphaned child left to fend for himself. Obviously, considering Pascal's Mandalorian shot IG-11 down when the droid was eager to kill the baby, our protagonist is sympathetic to orphaned children.
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