Why Grogu’s choice was already made in The Empire Strikes Back

And now, in what you could call the Disney Plus era of Star Wars, it seems like Easter eggs and references – those moments that often ‘rhyme’ with scenes we’ve already seen in other areas of Star Wars lore – are a currency that’s way more valuable than plain old Galactic Credits. (Those won’t get you far on Tatooine, anyway – just ask Watto.)

While The Mandalorian began as a fairly standalone series telling small contained stories, it gradually swelled into a franchise-leading behemoth with an impressive number of spin-offs lined up, helped along the way by fan-pleasing cameos from the likes of Clone Wars hero Ahsoka Tano and film protagonist Luke Skywalker.

And now, The Book of Boba Fett is swelling in a similar way, with its sixth episode featuring those two returning heroes as well as throwing in Tatooine sheriff Cobb Vanth (who originally appeared in the Aftermath trilogy of tie-in books before popping up in The Mandalorian) and Clone Wars bounty hunter Cad Bane. Plus, of course, we got appearances from both Din Djarin and Grogu from The Mandalorian itself.

While the confrontation between Cobb Vanth and Cad Bane resulted in a tense shootout that homaged classic cinema westerns (which had influenced Lucas himself back in the day), the scenes between Grogu (aka Baby Yoda), Din (aka The Mandalorian), Luke and Ahsoka seem to be setting up a direct homage to The Empire Strikes Back. And in that classic film, we could perhaps find the resolution to Grogu’s big decision that provided the episode’s cliffhanger ending.

While Luke trains in the woods with a small, green, big-eared Jedi, even taking a minute to carry his little friend in a backpack while running about doing flips, the less-experienced of the two characters feels the temptation to abandon his training and reunite with his friends. The wiser character would like the less-experienced character to stay and complete his training, but ultimately he leaves the choice up to his mentee.

In 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, it was Luke that wanted to leave – both Yoda and the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi urged Luke to stay on Dagobah and complete his training, but Luke made the headstrong decision to fly away to Cloud City and try to rescue his friends, even though his teachers said he wasn’t ready to face Darth Vader.

In 2022's The Book of Boba Fett, Grogu is given a similar choice that definitely ‘rhymes’ with Luke’s decision back in the day – does he want to stick with the Jedi training, or does his heart really lie with Din Djarin? Does he pick the Mandalorian chainmail, or does he pick the adorable little lightsaber that once belonged to Yoda?

If producers Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Robert Rodriguez are keen to hammer home their homage to The Empire Strikes Back and push this rhyming couplet even further, we could ultimately see Grogu making a similar decision to Luke’s fateful choice in The Empire Strikes Back. That’s the pet theory of this writer, anyway.

Perhaps, Grogu will remain with Luke until he senses that Din is in danger, at which point he will grab the chainmail and fly off into the night to save his friend, just as Luke himself could not resist the urge to save Han, Leia and Chewie when he learned they were in trouble.

Luke, of course, couldn’t complain too much, having made that exact same decision himself – and not that long ago from his perspective, either! We can imagine Luke serving up a wry, knowing smile as he sees Grogu fly off in a borrowed X-Wing. (Could Grogu actually pilot a craft on his own, though? Perhaps he will need to recruit a droid like R2-D2 to help him out on that front. R2’s seen all this before, after all, so would probably be up for it.)

The consequences of this choice could be serious, though. Let’s not forget that Luke’s decision to fly off to Cloud City didn’t exactly end well – Luke ended up getting his hand chopped off, learning that Vader is his father, and sobbing uncontrollably as he hung defeated from the lowest strut of Cloud City, powerless to help as Han-in-carbonite was flown away by Boba Fett (hey, isn’t there meant to be a series about that guy?).

Perhaps Grogu could be setting himself up for his own dark night of the soul if he does follow in Luke’s footsteps by abandoning his training and flying off to save his best bud. We could certainly see something like that unfolding, either in the Book of Boba Fett finale or The Mandalorian season 3. After all, it would be a pretty compelling rhyme.

Read more:

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• The Book of Boba Fett brings Clone Wars fan-favourite to live-action
• Iconic Star Wars characters return in The Book of Boba Fett episode 6
• The Book of Boba Fett's biggest problem is Boba Fett

The Book of Boba Fett releases new episodes on Wednesdays – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.