Whether or not you’ve caught Disney+’s new Star Wars series The Mandalorian yet, you’ve probably caught a glimpse of Baby Yoda.
The character is central to the new series, but more importantly, he is extremely cute, with doe eyes and big ears.
He’s so adorable that he drove Werner Herzog, who co-stars in the series, to tears — a true feat. Herzog told GQ that “it’s heartbreakingly beautiful” just to look at him.
The internet has quickly fallen in love with and memed the character relentlessly, but there has also been much confusion over what exactly Baby Yoda is. Is he actually a baby or even a younger version of Yoda as we’ve always known him. Some have floated the idea that he might actually be as old as 50, or even Yoda’s child, or his clone.
Let’s take a look at the facts: The new series is set five years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and follows The Mandalorian/bounty hunter’s mission. Which, it turns out, is to find the asset: Baby Yoda. Baby Yoda is very clearly a member of Yoda’s species, of which not much is known. Aside from Yoda, the only other member of the species we’ve seen is Yaddle, who sat on the Jedi Council and first appeared in The Phantom Menace.
And while Baby Yoda may be 50, Yoda died when he was 900 according to Star Wars canon, meaning this is a species that ages slowly.
Whatever the case, it’s clear series creator Jon Favreau has some more twists in mind. He also did the internet the great pleasure of tweeting concept art of Baby Yoda, and yes, it’s somehow even cuter.
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