This Darth Vader Easter Egg From ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Makes The Finale Even Better
Star Wars is known for sharing parallels with other Star Wars stories. It can rhyme, as George Lucas has said. Some parallels are more overt, and some parallels are more subtle. Some similarities are intentional, and some similarities are unintentional. How well they work will depend on the viewer.
One of the latest parallels in question took place in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. If you have been living under a rock and have not watched the episode, stop reading now. But again, the episode has been around since last year. Well, maybe not that long, but still. It has been long enough, so we need not dance around the spoilers here.
So toward the end of the finale, we saw an appearance from Luke Skywalker that actually echoed Darth Vader in a way. We already know how Luke's hallway scene is like Darth Vader's in Rogue One, but this sequence is also a reminder of something else. Specifically the Darth Vader whom we saw in Revenge of the Sith when he stormed the Jedi Temple during Order 66. Like his father, Luke enters as a hooded figure, and is captured via security recordings that are observed by other prominent characters. In Vader's case, it is Yoda and Obi-Wan. In Luke's case, it is Grogu ("Baby Yoda"), Din Djarin, their allies, and Moff Gideon. Their fighting styles that get captured in the recordings may be comparable, come to think about it. However, in Vader's case, the fighting is horrific as we see him cut down lives. In Luke's case, it comes across feeling victorious. It certainly helps that he is fighting droids (specifically the Dark Troopers) rather than organic beings.
When Vader enters the room, which ends up being the Jedi Council chamber, he does not pull down his hood but is still recognized by the younglings whom he has been sent to kill. When Luke enters the room, he pulls down his hood so that the youngling Grogu can see his face. There is more of an openness to this. It is as if Luke is showing Grogu that he does not need to fear anything at the moment, and that he is safe. We know that Grogu was on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant years earlier, but the details are murky as far as what his side of the story may have been like during Order 66. He obviously makes it out alive, but could he have witnessed Vader's deeds at the temple? And could the sight of Luke have caused dark memories to flood through his mind? In any case, Luke shows that he is not the dark side of his own father. In a way, he is how Anakin Skywalker should have turned out to be.
Whether all of this was intentional or not is kind of fuzzy at the moment. In Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, any talk of Luke Skywalker's cameo was omitted, which is disappointing. Knowing Dave Filoni, however, I would not be surprised if he talked with Jon Favreau and others about how Luke's actions can echo his father's in a way. We are talking about the guy who went out of his way to make sure that Obi-Wan and Maul's duel on Tatooine mirrored things from The Phantom Menace. Then again, viewers can find similarities that were unintentional and still find beauty in those similarities. What I like about this particular similarity is that it does not feel too "in your face," so to speak. You kind of have to take time to think about it and let the sequence sink in. This is how you "rhyme" Star Wars successfully. (Well, apart from the questionable CGI face, but I am sure that you understand what I mean.)
Source(s): Inverse