Warning - This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2.
The Mandalorian was given the responsibility to fill the narrative gaps of what transpired in the galaxy after the events of The Return of the Jedi, and so far, the hit Star Wars show continues to impress fans.
The self-contained narrative formula was proven effective during the show's debut season, providing fans with the much-needed context of what happened in-between the events of The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens , without the added burden of including the iconic trio of Luke, Han, and Leia. Much of this was due to the introduction of Baby Yoda, as the character's arrival completely changed the narrative trajectory of The Mandalorian in surprising ways.
During Season 1, a considerable portion of the storyline revolved around Baby Yoda's significance to the plans of the Imperial remnants. Season 2 managed to elevate that by placing The Child's relationship with Mando front and center while also fleshing out the Yoda-like toddler's innate tendencies and behavior.
Now, "Chapter 13" provided more answers about Baby Yoda once and for all through Ahsoka Tano, but it appears that a notable detail about The Child was already known months ago.
REPORT
In "Chapter 13," it's been revealed that The Child's actual name is Grogu .
In an interesting twist, this name for Baby Yoda had actually leaked on Reddit two months ago by user Denim_Dan. The user shared the story of how his friend managed to get the name of The Child from a relative who's a Hollywood stuntman who worked on both Season 1 and Season 2 of The Mandalorian .
WHAT THIS MEANS
The online space has played host to a ton of leaks over the years. Some of them turn out to be real, yet of them are completely inaccurate. However, this reveal is a prime example of the former, which is a surprising one given the amount of fan-driven speculations about The Mandalorian in the past months. It's likely that fans will now unearth more leaks from the subreddit to potentially uncover more secrets from the Disney+ series.
In a way, user Denim_Dan should be feeling good right now after watching "Chapter 13," and he should be grateful for his friend after giving him the spoiler-heavy information months ago (a fitting bookend to his Thanksgiving).
When The Child debuted during Season 1, there were many questions about the character's role in the larger Star Wars narrative. Given that, fans went online to share their own theories about the creature, paving the way for the Star Wars community to name him Baby Yoda. Now that the actual name of The Child has been revealed, it's safe to say that it will take a lot of getting used to before everyone uses the name Grogu to address the Force-wielding user.
While one mystery is solved, another one arises. Ahsoka's arrival in The Mandalorian did provide the much-needed answers about Baby Yoda...err...Grogu, but the galaxy-spanning journey of the runaway duo is far from over. It seems that Grogu's destiny will be defined in the next set of episodes, but the threat of Moff Gideon still looms, which doesn't bode well for the Clan of Two.
All in all, the latest episode of The Mandalorian managed to progress the narrative of the series in an exciting way, ultimately raising the stakes for both Mando and Grogu as the duo enters the final stretch of the sophomore season.
