Mandalorian and Grogu Sneakily Revealed Yoda Species Canon
Never underestimate your instincts.
The Mandalorian and Grogu taught us a lot about its characters. We learned about the industriousness of Anzellans, the state of the universe in the New Republic era, and perhaps most importantly, we learned that Rotta the Hutt isn’t his father. In fact, he’s his own man. But despite all the worldbuilding we saw in the film, one of the biggest mysteries of The Mandalorian still remains unsolved: what species is Grogu?
In the six years since we’ve met him, we’ve learned his name, how he escaped Order 66 unscathed, and his penchant for frogs and cookies, but his species is still unidentified. He’s the same species as Yoda and Yaddle; that’s about all we know.
But in a key scene of The Mandalorian and Grogu, we actually learned a huge aspect of this species without even realizing it.
Grogu’s instinct to protect his clanmate was built into his DNA.
In the third act of The Mandalorian and Grogu, Din Djarin is bitten by a Dragonsnake and falls unconscious due to the venom. Thankfully, Grogu travels to Nal Hutta with the Anzellans and tends to him, slowly and methodically building a mud hut and then using the Force to bring Mando in (after bumping his head a few times). It’s a touching moment that reflects the symbiotic relationship the two have, but it made some fans wonder: how does Grogu know how to do this?
According to visual effects director John Knoll, even Grogu isn’t aware of the reason. “The ability to build those huts is something that’s genetic memory, and it’s his instinct to do that,” Knoll told Polygon. “Part of the message of the story is: The old protect the young, and then the young protect the old. So in the same way that Mando has been protecting and caring for Grogu while he is more defenseless, when Mando succumbed to this poison, and he's disabled and vulnerable, Grogu is doing what he can to protect him from the elements and from predators.”
Knoll also confirmed that this hut was meant to resemble Yoda’s hut on Dagobah, which means this is a strong enough instinct that it isn’t just present in youth, like how hatchlings know how to emerge from their eggs.
Grogu’s makeshift shelter was designed to resemble Yoda’s hut on Dagobah.
So while we may not know the name of Yoda’s species, we at least know that they lived in huts for long enough that it was ingrained in their DNA. Sure, Yoda and Yaddle lived in the big city on Coruscant in the prequel trilogy, but whatever their homeworld is is probably covered in these huts. That means that, like Dagobah or Nal Hutta, it’s probably got lots of mud.
“Has mud” may seem like a small reveal in the grand scheme of Star Wars, but considering we don’t even know the name of this species nor the name of the planet they are from. At the very least, this info eliminates vast swaths of the galaxy.
