Grogu's Absence From The Sequel Trilogy Suggests His Story Ended In This Way
When Luke Skywalker arrived on Moff Gideon’s frigate to take Grogu with him at the end of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin was heartbroken, as he had just lost one half of his Mudhorn Clan. But the future for The Child was bright: he was going to train with a true Master, become a great and powerful Jedi himself, and pass on what he had learned to many generations of Jedi in the future.
But wait! Grogu didn’t appear in the movies of the sequel trilogy, nor was he part of any of the books or comics that are taking place in this era. This can only mean one thing: by the time of The Force Awakens little Grogu must surely be dead, right?
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Star Wars fans may recognize this train of thought: when the 2008 movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars introduced Snips, better known as Ahsoka Tano, the audience was surprised that Anakin Skywalker actually had a Padawan and immediately started to speculate about her fate, as there was no sign or mention of Ahsoka Tano in Episode III or any of the Legends books or comics that were published around the release of Revenge of The Sith.
Theories ranged from her being killed in one of the battles, to her being a victim of Oder 66 like most of the Jedi, or that Anakin unintentionally did something that caused her demise, driving him further to the dark side. Others were sure that the Padawan would fall to the dark side herself, becoming something like Asajj Ventress and that either Obi-Wan or Anakin himself would have to strike her down in battle.
The scenario with Grogu is somewhat similar: Luke took the youngling with him so that he could be trained as a Jedi, but something must have happened to the cute little guy between 5 ABY and 24 ABY, when Kylo Ren destroyed his uncle's Jedi Academy.
But before we get into this, I want to quickly talk about two things: I always imagined Yoda to be very old when he became one with the Force on Dagobah, something like 100 years of a human lifespan, maybe even older. When Din Djarin finds Grogu we learn that he is already 50 years old, but still basically a toddler, acting like a 2- or 3-year-old human. If Yoda was 18 times the age of Grogu (900/50), this would have made the Jedi Master only 40-50 years in human age when he died. So either the lifespan of this species is actually relatively short compared to that of a human, or living on Dagobah for two decades didn’t bode well for Yoda’s body, or theses beings mature faster when they get older. Otherwise Grogu would still be a very immature youngling, by the time the sequel trilogy rolls around. The degree to which Grogu will be able live his life without support from others will have an influence on his possible fate. But of course, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni know all this and they surely didn’t set Grogu’s age arbitrarily.
Secondly, I really don’t’ think that Lucasfilm will reveal Grogu’s fate in a novel or a comic. The character has gotten too important to just say “You will have to read our upcoming novel to find out what happens to Baby Yoda”, or “Buy Issue 27 of this new comic if you want to find out what ultimately happens to The Child”. It is possible that Grogu will be mentioned or even make an appearance in the upcoming novel Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher, but my strong belief is that we will learn more about what happened to the little green guy either in a movie or in an animated or live-action series. When Lucasfilm revealed their plans for upcoming Star Wars series at the end of 2020, Kathleen Kennedy hinted at a climactic story, that would bring together all the series of the so-called "Filoni-verse", so maybe this will be it.
But now let’s talk about some of the scenarios that might happen to Grogu in the years after the elevator doors of Moff Gideon’s frigate had closed.
1. One with the Force:
Grogu is not in the sequel trilogy, so he must have died sometime before the beginning of Episode VII. Maybe Kylo Ren killed him when Ren destroyed Luke’s academy, maybe the First Order found and ended him, or maybe he died on a Jedi mission.
While this is the most obvious possibility, it is also not a very likely one, as it would be very uncreative. As Dave Filoni didn't let Ahsoka die at the end of the Clone Wars nor after her battle with Darth Vader in Star Wars Rebels, he and Favreau won’t just say "we never thought about what happened to him afterwards, so we decided he just died, like all of the Jedi."
Additionally, Grogu has become such a beloved character that, from a marketing perspective alone, it would simply be crazy to someday show the little guy with a blaster or lightsaber hole in his chest in a Disney+ series.
2. M-Donor (Again):
When Din Djarin first fetched Grogu, his mission was to bring him to the Imperial Remnant, who wanted him for some experiments, probably to extract his Midi-chlorians for cloning Sidious. This is a fate that Grogu might be facing again, either by the hands of other Imperials or from the Eternal Sith, who could fetch him away from Luke Skywalker. This could possibly lead to his death (not likely, see above), but more probable to a reunion with Djarin, who will have to free Grogu again. Maybe this will be the climactic story, mentioned above.
3. Leaving the Order:
This option very much depends on how well Grogu is able to live on his own and not have to be carried around most of the time. Like Luke, he could sense that something evil is looming that scares him away, or he decides that becoming a Jedi is not what he wants in life and leave. This fate would be somewhat reminiscent to that of Ahsoka, so I personally don’t think this will happen, as Filoni probably doesn’t want to repeat himself and will find a cleverer solution.
4. Turn to the Dark Side:
I put this here just for the sake of completeness. Yes, it might be possible that Grogu is seduced by the dark side, be it by Ren, Snoke, or Sidious and then helps the Sith and/or the First Order terrorize the galaxy and destroy the Resistance.
The reasons why this is not going to happen are basically the same as those of option 1. Most fans surely won’t like a Dark Grogu!
5. Return to sender:
Now we get to something a bit more realistic: when Ben Skywalker destroys the Jedi Academy and kills Luke’s students, it could be that Grogu somehow saves the Jedi Master, by pushing him out of the epicenter of Ben’s rage or by protecting him from the crushing rubble of the building. He and Luke are the only survivors and when Luke decides to go into his self-proclaimed exile he brings Grogu back to an older Din Djarin to take care of him and to protect him again.
This happening in The Mandalorian depends on how far in the timeline the series will go, but wouldn’t it be great if the last scene of the last episode (or even a post-credit scene) was a flash-forward depicting exactly this?
Like with Ahsoka at the end of The Clone Wars or Rebels this would also open up the possibility for further adventures in the future. If Lucasfilm and Disney eventually decide to continue on with the saga beyond Episode IX someday, Rey Skywalker could show up to continue and complete his training, so that Grogu may finally become a great Jedi and pass on what he has learned to many generations to come.
Both Favreau and Filoni knew when they created the character of Grogu that the question of what would ultimately happen to the little green guy would have to addressed sometime and Filoni is known for taking care of his characters. He has done so with Ahsoka and Captain Rex, he is going to do so with Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren and he will find a creative way to continue the story of The Child.