Mandalorian Baby Yoda theory reveals Grogu's shocking link to a sequels character

Baby Yoda is a powerhouse. Alongside becoming the adorable centerpiece and McGuffin of The Mandalorian, his wide-eyed face is all over the internet and on loads of adorable merchandise. It's a shame he's limited to just one Star Wars property, as he obviously is one of the franchise's best assets. Luckily, fan theories could prove that not only is he related to a major sequel trilogy character, he could grow up to be one, meaning there's plenty more Baby Yoda scattered throughout the Star Wars universe.

Redditor TheOrdinaryCritic uses new reveals from The Mandalorian and old reveals from the Rise of Skywalker novelization to come to a wild conclusion: Grogu's midichlorians were injected into Palpatine clones being experimented on, resulting in the clone who went on to become Rey's father. The genetics of Star Wars cloning are murky at best, but it does seem feasible that Grogu is, in a way, Rey's grandfather.

The first obstacle to this theory is the timeline. The Mandalorian takes place in the year 9 ABY, and Rey was born a mere 6 years later in 15 ABY. If experimentation on Grogu only started 6 years before Rey's birth, how could it result in her dad?

It's important to remember that in Attack of the Clones, clones on Kamino were said to have age acceleration, meaning they barely spent any time as children. If this was the same with Dr. Pershing's cloning experiments, perhaps Rey's dad was rejected for not being Force-sensitive when he was an adult and therefore able to father Rey only a handful of years later.

It was confirmed in The Mandalorian Chapter 12 that experimentation on Grogu was being used to create what would later become Snoke. However, there's nothing saying that the experiments couldn't be used to simultaneously work on two projects — one to extend Palpatine's life, and one to create a puppet leader for future manipulation.

If you think that theory's a bit of a stretch, another one takes the speculation even further. Redditor pianocian suggest that after many failed experiments to make Snoke using midichlorians extracted from Grogu, Grogu himself will be experimented on and will mutate into Snoke.

Yes, it's a bit of a reach, but the evidence is clear. Snoke says he witnessed the rise and fall of the Empire, an easy feat for someone with Grogu's lifespan. Palpatine using Jedi padawans with attachments forbidden by the Jedi code also has precedent, as he previously took advantage of Anakin's attachment to Padme to turn him to the Dark Side.

It's still unconfirmed if Baby Yoda's midichlorians are still around in the sequels trilogy, but considering how we don't see his tiny self in any of the three movies, it's nice to know his legacy and abilities are still shown throughout.

The Mandalorian Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.