Despite not being a titular character, Baby Yoda plays a very significant role in the Din Djarin’s story in The Mandalorian from the beginning. He is introduced in the first episode of the series as simply ‘The Child’ and therefore received the nickname Baby Yoda. It is revealed in season 2 of the show that his actual name is Grogu. Din, being a bounty hunter, is tasked with the capture of Baby Yoda (to him solely known as ‘the asset’) and delivering him to the evil imperial forces. However, upon finding Baby Yoda and realizing he is just a baby, Din undergoes a character change. Bandy and Stoehr (2012) describe this change as “being blinded by the goodness and purity of the heroine” (in this case the heroine is replaced with Baby Yoda). In a Western when this moment occurs, the protagonist sees the error of his ways and questions his own morality (Bandy & Stoehr, 2012). This scenario is extremely typical of a ‘Western hero’ and also takes place in the original Star Wars trilogy to Han Solo. In the case of The Mandalorian, Din takes care of Baby Yoda instead of handing him over and goes on a quest to bring him back to his home world (Freeman & Smith, 2023). Therefore, Baby Yoda not only invokes a dramatic change in the character of the protagonist, but this change also sets out the course of the rest of the show.
Despite Baby Yoda looking, sounding and acting like a toddler, he is in reality 50 years old. The reason for this is because his species ages differently from humans. Since his significant age, he is far more experienced and knowledgeable than a human toddler would be (van Wingerden, 2021). This can be observed in the show where Baby Yoda ends up rescuing Din from a monster resembling a rhinoceros. He does this by using a power known as ‘The Force’. This ability is extremely rare in the Star Wars universe and can do a number of things with the use of the power of the mind in combination with hand gestures. In this particular case, Baby Yoda makes the monster float so that Din can kill it. There is another instance of Baby Yoda using the Force to protect The Mandalorian and even heal wounds of his companions (van Wingerden, 2021).
The Force is a power that cannot be gained by following specific instructions, but ‘force-sensitive’ beings can improve their connection to the Force (and their powers) by training under a master. In the case of Baby Yoda, it was revealed in the final episode of season 2 that he would train under Luke Skywalker, the main star of the original trilogy (Freeman & Smith, 2023). In the third season, after a brief period of training with Luke, Baby Yoda is given a choice if he wants to stay with him or return to Din. Baby Yoda then chooses to return to Din and continue traveling with him for the rest of the season.