Here’s why Baby Yoda could actually be Darth Plagueis

Feature photo credit/vinyl designed by Shaun Hadley.

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What’s in a name? Would a Baby Yoda by any other name smell as sweet? Taika Waititi revealed to New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan that The Child does indeed have a name. Jon Favreau has chosen to hold back on The Child’s name to be revealed in season two of The Mandalorian. There’s not much to go on, but it’s a fair bet that a name has already been written out somewhere. Maybe it’s just in a notebook. Maybe it’s scrawled on a napkin that Jon Favreau slid across the table to Bob Iger. He’s got to be in on the secret. What are the chances fewer people know the name than know the secret formula to Frosted Flakes or Coca-Cola?

As a relative toddler, the little green bugger is fifty years old. That’s old enough to be housebroken. I’d like to throw something new out there that, for some reason, hasn’t even been considered. I checked under rocks all over the internet. There’s pretty close to universal love for Baby Yoda. Favreau found a unicorn in the Star Wars universe, but how long can that last? Are there plans for this golden goose? Of course there are! And what better way to avoid an overexposure to cuteness hangover than to make the kid a bad guy? We all saw his enthusiastically wicked expression when the Mandalorian was picking off Jawas from a hilltop.

According to the Star Wars timeline provided by GamesRadar.com (the most detailed and accurate I’ve found), “a young Yoda-like creature is born to mystery parents” around the same time as Anakin Skywalker’s conception and birth. There’s about a year margin or error here, but it’s not likely this coincidence is an accident. Every nerd on Earth did the calculations after seeing the first episode of The Mandalorian, yet few people have speculated on the reason. Favreau didn’t come up with the fifty year age just to throw us off the scent for the reveal of The Child. Rumors had been circulating for months before its release that The Mandalorian’s title character would change his mind about delivering an asset, and that the asset would be a child. In the design of Baby Yoda, Favreau would have surely imagined a vague arc for the character. There’s a lot of story to tell in fifty years, as he existed well off the sidelines of the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy. “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?” Yes? Well, according to Disney’s new canon, we can throw away any hints from the now Legends novel Plagueis. So forget everything you know. The galaxy is being rewritten, and for some reason that plot thread was left dangling when that history was abandoned through the rest of the saga.

“The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural… He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.”

In this statement from then Chancellor Palpatine, we make a lot of assumptions— assumptions that were confirmed in the Expanded Universe, but were disintegrated once the EU became Legends. We assume that Palpatine was the apprentice. “Did you ever hear the tragedy…” implies it’s history Anakin (or any Jedi) may have heard of in his teachings. Sith history can’t all be secret. Maybe Sheev is being disingenuous here for the sake of drama. Of course, he hasn’t heard of this tragedy. If that’s the case, the future emperor is tipping his hand to Anakin that he’s privy to Sith knowledge. Maybe he’s just a psychopathic manipulator planting seeds in Anakin’s moral compass. Whatever his motive, we assume Palpatine was the apprentice in this scenario. Let’s go with that, and ask when this event took place. Was it last week? was it nine years and nine months before The Phantom Menace took place?

I once considered the idea that Anakin was the “miracle birth” of a reincarnated Plagueis. We assume through Palpatine’s own assumption that Plagueis “taught his apprentice everything he knew.” What if Palpatine was played to test his apprentice? The Rule of Two is canon. The master always knows his apprentice will challenge him one day. I wondered if there was something he didn’t teach Palpatine. The “unnatural” birth of a boy “conceived by the Force” could have very well been Plagueis returning to reclaim mastership. It would have been genius. For Plagueis and Lucas. Alas, I was wrong. But then a new hope came along. The Baby Yoda.

We’ve generally agreed that Anakin was “the Chosen One” meant to bring balance to the Force. But balance against what? Two Sith vs hundreds of Jedi? No, he’s the child of the Force meant to bring balance against the threat of a child conceived nearly the same time. Plagueis was a Sith Master. He’d have known that Yoda’s species was basically infested with… *shiver* midichlorians. Perhaps one of the secrets he withheld from his apprentice was the ability to cast his ethereal essence into a living embryo. He may have been cunning enough to time his own assassination to the conception of Baby Yoda. Yes, I’m saying Baby Yoda is Darth Plagueis.

I felt a great disturbance in the inter webs… as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in laughter, and were suddenly silenced by the possibility. Let’s unpack this bomb. We’ve seen villains we love turn into sniveling, whiny brats with the relatively recent decades long trend of unnecessary origin stories. After forty years of mystery, Thanos was made into a bully survivor in the comic miniseries Thanos Rising. This was supposed to explain the evil chip on his shoulder. Hannibal Lecter was made into a war orphan in the film Hannibal Rising. This was devised to effectuate his penchant for evil. Darth Vader is made into a former slave and denied a place on the Jedi Council in Darth Vader Rising… just kidding. My point is made. We crave back stories. And even if we don’t crave it, if a character is successful we’re going to get one. There’s going to be a ton of white space to fill in The Child’s future. How much fun can it be if the kid is just always good? How many of you wanted Dark Empire Luke Skywalker? You’re about to get one better.

Baby Yoda can’t be cute forever. There’s a good eight-hundred years of story to tell. If he can levitate a mudhorn and hold back fire at fifty, what’s he going to be doing after some actual training? Where are all the Rey haters during The Mandalorian, by the way? Why isn’t Baby Yoda a Mary Sue? Because Baby Yoda has had training! Baby Yoda is a master in the body of something that can eventually handle the physical toll that kind of Force wielding takes on a body.

The Child was only protecting it’s protector, but he freaking Force choked Cara Dune because she was armwrestling Din Djarin. What else is he capable of? He helped Mando kill a mother for protecting her egg. Yet, for some reason The Child didn’t wreak havoc on the former Imperials who paid good Beskar to have the Asset in their possession. Dr. Pershing presumably pokes and prods the “helpless” little green being with needles, but he doesn’t get Force choked. Are we to believe Baby Yoda was incapable of defending himself? The Client doesn’t seem to care if The Child lives or dies according to his words, but he seems awfully concerned about it when Mando comes back to make a deal. For some reason, Moff Gideon, the one who wields the Dark Saber is willing to “burn them out,” but if he’s aware of the little goblin’s abilities he already knows the kid can hold back a fireball. Gideon was probably expecting The Child to be the sole survivor in that situation.

Establishing that a former Imperial wants the Child at any cost, we can speculate until the banthas come home about why. Cloning is at the top of that list. The Force is somehow a forgotten element. This toddler wields it with natural talent, and we saw it grow more powerful as the season progressed. The question is: how does The Child know what to try when it tries? What could possibly make a being try to levitate an animal or asphyxiate a perceived enemy? Experience. He has done it before.

Going back to the birth period, there’s a misconception (pardon the pun) that Palpatine manipulated midichlorians to conceive Anakin, but the out of context comic panel that circulated on the internet is actually part of Vader’s imagination. He fears the idea that Palpatine created him. It would have been a welcome retcon, but we’re back to square one. The Force created Anakin to balance out the rebirth of the Master of Palpatine. The Force didn’t take a class on galactic biology. Plagueis was genius enough to know that his comeback would outlive not only his Force-made opposition, but his children too. Now that they are out of the way we already know who Rey and Finn will face next. It’s poetry. It’s rhyme. Plagueis is back, baby!

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