**Disclaimer** Spoilers Ahead

Season 2 of the Mandalorian so far has been very entertaining and has made several connections to Star Wars lore. With notable characters from the Star Wars franchise as well as numerous connections to the books, TV shows, and more, we have a lot to unpack for this season of The Mandalorian. 

Season 2 General Analysis:

Season 2 of the Mandalorian has made several connections to Star Wars The Clone Wars series and the Star Wars Rebels series. There were also allusions to  Star Wars Legends, which featured the Expanded Universe of the Star Wars franchise. With this in mind, we can understand a lot of the information that has been provided to us throughout the series. One main focus of this Season is to explain Baby Yoda’s origins. Today, I’ll be only focusing on the latest episodes of The Mandalorian at the time of writing. 

Episode 12 Analysis:

In Episode 12 of Season 2, the Mandalorian’s ship the Razorcrest is in a critical state. Mando or the Mandalorian, knowing that he cannot reach his destination without repairs, decides to land on Nevarro where we last saw it as a lawless wasteland in Season 1. The planet is now a bustling town with shops, schools, and law. He meets up with old companions Cara Dune and Greef Carga who actually need him to help infiltrate what appears to be an Imperial Military Base. After they rig the base to be destroyed, they make a shocking discovery: the base is really a lab.

The group finds a hologram featuring Doctor Pershing (who we last saw in Season One) that mentions how they need Baby Yoda’s blood for their experiment. As we know from the Prequels to the Star Wars franchise, force-sensitive beings have Mido-Chorians in their blood, which is what gives them their force abilities. 

What This Tells Us:

Snoke, introduced as the Supreme Leader in Disney’s run of Star Wars movies, was revealed to be one of many clones in Episode X: Rise of Skywalker. This explains why Dr. Pershing needed Baby Yoda in the first season; he wanted to give these Snoke clones force capabilities. Supreme Leader Snoke does indeed have these abilities when he battles Rey in Episode IX: The Last Jedi, where he’s then betrayed by Kylo Ren who kills him. This could hint at the fact that the Baby Yoda’s blood is indeed used to bring these Snoke clones to life and the fact that the Mandalorian takes place after 1987’s Return of the Jedi where the Empire is destroyed, hence giving birth to the First Order. The First Order was simply defined as that they rose from the ashes of the Empire but now we are seeing really how they were created. Even though the Empire is destroyed, there are still branches and remnants of the autocracy that are still working as teased at the end of the episode where we saw Moff Gideon looking over his newly built Dark Trooper robots.

Episode 13 Analysis

The Dark Troopers made their official debut in Episode 14: The Tragedy, but let’s look at Episode 13 as it’s packed with a load of information. Episode 13 takes the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda to the city of Caledon where he is supposed to unite the Baby with the legendary Jedi Ahsoka Tano. When the Mandalorian arrives at the city, he is instructed to kill Ahsoka but decides not to as he realizes that she can help him. Ahsoka is the one that made the grand reveal that Baby Yoda’s name is really Grogu. She realizes the Baby is force-sensitive but decides not to train him due to previous memories of her former master, Anakin Skywalker who becomes the infamous Darth Vader. To combat her decision, Mando decides to help her free the city of Caledon from the oppressive government that operates it. During the altercation in the city, Ahsoka encounters the Magistrate, the leader of the city. They have an intense fight until Ahsoka disarms her and holds her lightsaber to the Magistrate’s neck. She asks her, “Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?” This is a direct callback to the Star Wars Rebels animated series. After the liberation of the city, Ahsoka tells the Mandalorian where to travel to take Grogu to the planet of Tython that will allow other Jedis to locate him and train him in the Jedi ways. 

Who is Grand Admiral Thrawn?

Those who aren’t familiarized with Thrawn or the animated spin-offs of Star Wars, he is a Grand Admiral who was a commanding officer in the 7th fleet of the Empire. The fleet worked with Darth Vader and worked in conjunction to defeat the Rebel Alliance. With this background information out of the way, let’s answer the pressing question: Why does Ahsoka want Thrawn in particular? This could be because in the Star Wars Rebels animated series, Ezra Bridger a Jedi Padawan.and the Purrgil who are whale-like beings, who confronted Thrawn. During their battle, Thrawn and Ezra were wrapped in the tentacles of the Purrgil and thrust into hyperspace and not seen since. Ahsoka is obviously searching for Ezra via knowing the location of Thrawn due to the fact that they are together. But why does Ahsoka think that the Magistrate knows of Thrawn’s whereabouts? Is Thrawn alive? This could all be answered in a inevitable continuation of the Rebel’s series, another spinoff series or explained in the next episode of the Mandalorian. 

Episode 14 Analysis:

The most recent episode at the time of writing, Episode 14: The Tragedy, The Mandalorian finds himself taking Grogu to Tython to allow him to be seen by a Jedi via the force. When he arrives on the scene, he takes the Baby to a stone structure in which he is supposed to place him on. He places Grogu on and a shield appears around him and an ancient Sith dialect glows on the stone he’s sitting on.

While this is happening, Slave I, Boba Fett’s famous ship, lands down on the planet. In search of his armor which was stored on the Mandalorian’s ship after taking it off of Cobb Vanth who had scavenged the armor back on Tatooine. Fett was already teased in not only episode 9 of season 2 but even in season 1 where he is seen walking towards a dead Fennec Shand who the Mandalorian was supposed to kill. The Mandalorian tries to remove the Baby from the stone but is met with an invisible force and launched backwards. This forces him to interact with Boba Fett and his new partner Fennec Shand. As the interaction starts, Imperial crafts begin to land down. The trio fight off the stormtroopers until they realize that the Imperials were only there for Grogu. The shield around Grogu fades away making us wonder if a Jedi heard his message and who it would be. Then the Dark Troopers come in who were teased in Episode 12. They take the Baby off into the sky where Moff Gideon’s ship is. The Imperial craft then shoots a beam down to explode the Razorcreast into ashes. The episode ends with Baby Yoda captured and Moff Gideon revealing the darksaber.. Knowing that Baby Yoda was in the Jedi Temple during the Jedi Purge on Coruscant, this allows us to wonder how he escaped the planet and what his potential role was in the Clone Wars. The capture of Grogu also leads us to the birth of the First Order where now Gideon has the necessary asset to his plan. The episode ends here with Boba and Fennec telling Mando that they’ll accompany him on the hunt for the Baby. 

How This Will Lead to the Finale:

From what we’ve learned so far, we can anticipate a rematch between Moff Gideon and the Mandalorian and perhaps even the events of the creation of the First Order. How do people such as General Hux or Kylo Ren come into power in the Order? Through Snoke who was created by Moff Gideon? What happens to Moff Gideon by the age of the First Order? We could also potentially be seeing a live action version of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger seeing how the Star Wars Rebels series is acknowledged in The Mandalorian. Another question to be acknowledged is whether the Empire will remember Boba Fett from when he was hired by Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and how that will play into the story. Even more importantly, what Jedi will find Baby Yoda? Luke Skywalker perhaps? Or maybe even Mace Windu knowing that according to Star Wars Legends he did indeed survive being thrown out the window of Chancellor Palpatine’s office by Anakin Skywalker in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. We know already that The Mandalorian is slated for a third season according to lead director Jon Favreau but how will the creation of Snoke and the first order play into that? With so many questions to answer we can only anticipate what the next few episodes will have in store for the Star Wars Canon and how it will relate to Star Wars Legends.