It’s amazing to think that all it takes is a baby anything to get peoples’ attention when it comes to a hit show, but Baby Yoda, yes, people are still calling him that and likely will until another name is picked up, is one of the main reasons why The Mandalorian is getting so much attention as Mike Floorwalker of Looper states. The top theories so far that are set to explain his existence and his purpose though are kind of interesting since they have to be woven in so tightly to the main story so as not to shake the current continuity and thereby force Star Wars fans to cry foul. One can imagine that people are at this time looking into just how this could work and how Baby Yoda could be explained away given that one theory describing how he could be Yoda’s child is easily debunked since there’s no way this could happen since Yoda never mentioned a child and despite being kind of a cranky old Jedi master in The Empire Strikes Back, you’d think that he would still have enough of a heart to tell Luke about a youngling that needed caring for. Of course there are many ways around this situation and explanations that could make it work, but honestly too many people are ready to move on instead of explain how Yoda got his groove on with another member of his species who just suddenly disappeared.
Another theory is that Baby Yoda is a clone, though there hasn’t been a lot of explanation or discovery into just how anyone managed to get Yoda’s DNA, though this doesn’t seem as though it would be too hard if a story was concocted that made at least a little sense. The only real hope here is that whoever did come up with the explanation that would eventually become canon wouldn’t botch it so badly that it would become Force ex machina, basically going so far as to say that Force wills it and thus it will be so. Yeah, the Force is great and all, but using it like a catch-all wouldn’t be a wise idea. The next theory, that Baby Yoda is the last of his species, is a little more believable since Yoda’s species is notably sparse within the galaxy as it is as Kara Hedash of ScreenRant mentions, and of those we’ve seen they’re all Force sensitive and at least moderately to extremely powerful. Remember the episode when the kid held back the Mudhorn? Think about the force of the creature’s charge and the energy required not just to halt it but to levitate the creature, and you’ll get an idea of how powerful this little guy is.
Yoda was admittedly able to lift an X-Wing from the muck and through the water even if it did drain him a bit, and the effort of holding back the Mudhorn was hard on Baby Yoda, but they both recovered. There was another of their species, Yaddle, who is shown briefly in one of the prequels and was supposed to have died in the EU, but apart from these few and one more of their kind shown far back in the annals of Jedi, Yoda’s species is insanely rare. But given that they’re supposedly all Force-sensitive that would make them a prize to the Empire for the possibility that it could bring to resurrect Emperor Palpatine, who either wasn’t dead to begin and was just wounded, or had a means of coming back, staying alive, or whatever the case was, by using the midichlorians (yes we’re still mentioning those) of another powerful Force-user.
So either Baby Yoda is a clone or he’s the last of his species, those are the two main theories that seem to branch off into another main theory that his genetic material is going to be used for a nefarious purpose. This is bound to be the way that things proceed since Baby Yoda’s fate almost has to be grim in the future given that bringing up mention of him would mean remastering the current trilogy much as George Lucas did to the original, and that would likely drive many a fan nuts since despite those that enjoyed the remastered versions, there were plenty that didn’t care for them at all. The truth though that many people don’t want to face is that Baby Yoda’s trail isn’t headed anywhere good unless exile becomes the only other play that will work. Maybe a long absence following the end of The Mandalorian could lead into another trilogy or series down the line, because it does feel as though his death would, at this time, devastate a lot of people. Chris Smith of BGR has more to say on this matter. But as of now, Baby Yoda is and has been marked, and the happy endings for him aren’t numerous.
