Baby Yoda’s backstory wasn’t the only thing this episode revealed.
Say what you want about The Mandalorian, but no one can deny that it’s full of fan service. With Season 2, Episode 5, “The Jedi,” that got ramped up several notches: The Mandalorian introduced the first ever live-action incarnation of Ahsoka Tano, explained Baby Yoda’s backstory and revealed his name, and name-dropped several other important things from Star Wars lore, including Grand Admiral Thrawn and the ancient Jedi planet Tython.
And that’s not all–but don’t worry if you can’t keep it all straight. We’re going to do our best to explain everything we caught in this episode, so keep reading if you want to know more.
1. Ahsoka Tano
After being reported for months, we finally got a live action version of Ahsoka Tano, played by Rosario Dawson. Ahsoka was the former Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker who has been featured in The Clone Wars and Rebels. She’s also armed with her trademark pair of white lightsabers–one single-bladed, and one scaled shoto lightsaber.
When Ahsoka first appears to the magistrate, you can hear the Anakin and Ahsoka theme playing in the background.
2. I’ll be back
This character is played by Michael Biehn, who you most likely recognize as Kyle Reese (John Connor’s father) from the original Terminator.
3. Jedi vs. Mandalore
The magistrate mentions to Mando that “The Jedi are the ancient enemy of Mandalore.” This is a reference to the Mandalorian-Jedi war, a series of conflicts between the Jedi and Mandalore. The final war resulted in the devastation of Mandalore.
4. Beskar vs. lightsaber
We don’t know much about the Mandalorian metal beskar, but we learned one thing in this episode: it’s apparently resistant, or possibly outright impervious, to lightsabers. Mando would have probably had a much harder time fighting Ahsoka otherwise.
5. The Owl
While Mando is walking through the forest, you can see Morai, Ahsoka’s companion in the top left. Morai is a female convor that appears in The Clone Wars and Rebels, who accompanied and watched over Ahsoka throughout her life.
6. Baby Yoda’s name
The Mandalorian is often light on story, but this week the show dropped a major revelation: Baby Yoda’s name. Apparently it’s “Grogu” for some reason. Guess we have to call him that now? Ugh.
7. Jedi Temple on Coruscant
While explaining Grogu’s backstory, Ahsoka mentions that the baby was being trained at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, which anyone who’s seen the prequel trilogy is familiar with. Coruscant was the capital of the galactic government.
8. Justice for Yaddle
Ahsoka mentions that she’s known one other creature like Grogu. She was, of course, talking about Yoda, which is probably the closest this show will ever get to calling him Baby Yoda.. There’s one problem, though: Ahsoka definitely would have known of Yaddle, the other Yoda-like creature in Star Wars canon, who was a renowned Jedi Master. Guess we’re just not going to talk about her anymore. Oh well.
9. Remembering Anakin
Ahsoka makes a comment referring to her former master, Anakin Skywalker, telling Mando, “I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi knight,” and that she “will not start this child down that path.” Clearly, she still feels bad about the whole Darth Vader situation.
10. HK-series assassin droids
Mando mentions HK-series assassin droids, which are like deadly versions of C-3PO. They’ve appeared in Star Wars games including KOTOR and The Old Republic.
11. Loth-cat
A wild screeching loth-cat appears! These small, temperamental cats native to planet Lothal first appeared in Star Wars Rebels. This marks the second appearance of a loth-cat on The Mandalorian, after first being seen in Chapter 4: Sanctuary.
12. Thrawn
Ahsoka is looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn, which ties directly to the ending of Rebels. Ahsoka picked up Sabine Wren to go find Ezra Bridger, who Thrawn was last seen with. Thrawn is a major antagonist in the Star Wars franchise who first appeared in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire.
13. The Jedi Planet
Ahsoka sends Mando and Grogu on the path to the planet Tython, which is believed to be the location of the first ever Jedi Temple. This is one of the first times it’s been mentioned in the new Disney canon, after appearing in the 2019 comic book Doctor Aphra 40 (pictured above).
