Is The Mandalorian building toward Din Djarin giving his life to protect Grogu from Kylo Ren's wrathful massacre? As soon as that little green face popped out from under his worn, brown blanket in The Mandalorian's opening episode, it became inevitable that Jon Favreau was going to make us cry. And so it proved in season 2's finale, when Din Djarin and Grogu bid each other a heartfelt farewell. To hone his powers and be among fellow Force-sensitives, Grogu has left behind the mysterious masked man that risked life and limb to protect him since their first encounter on Arvala-7.
Those familiar with the Star Wars sequel trilogy will be painfully aware of the grave predicament Grogu's new journey creates. Now a student at Luke Skywalker's fledgling Jedi academy, Grogu is unfortunate enough to count a certain Ben Solo among his future classmates. As revealed in The Last Jedi, Luke felt a sinister force brewing while training his nephew, and briefly considered executing Ben in cold blood. Though he quickly realized his folly, Ben had seen enough. Han and Leia's son incapacitated his uncle, massacred or recruited the other students, and began his transformation into Kylo Ren, begging one all-important question - was Grogu caught up in the Skywalker family drama?
The Mandalorian has plenty of options in handling the Kylo Ren incident. Grogu could've abandoned his Jedi training long before Ben's tantrum, or quietly slipped out the backdoor like he did during Order 66. Given the unyielding bond between them, however, the true reason for Grogu's survival could be none other than Din Djarin, the Mandalorian himself.
Din Djarin & Grogu Both Have Their Own Stories To Tell In The Mandalorian Season 3
The Mandalorian season 2 takes place in 9ABY, whereas the Ben Solo Jedi massacre occurs some 19 years later, meaning any battle between Din Djarin and Kylo Ren is some way off The Mandalorian's current timeline, and would require a hefty time skip to pull off convincingly. As fortune would have it, that's precisely where The Mandalorian seems to be heading. Having defeated Moff Gideon for official ownership of the Darksaber, Din Djarin has pressing business to attend to. Technically, he's now the rightful ruler of Mandalore, and getting some serious side-eye from Bo-Katan Kryze as a result. The Mandalorian is also yet to explore the ominous "Great Purge," during which Gideon took the Darksaber in the first place, and Din Djarin has a score to settle with his old clan, which he recently learned is an extremist cult who raised him on lies and hardship. That's at least a season's worth of storylines in which young Grogu has no involvement whatsoever.
Under the tutelage of Luke Skywalker, however, Grogu won't be left twiddling his tiny little thumbs. Dave Filoni has teased plenty of Force-based action for The Mandalorian season 3, suggesting fans will see Luke and Grogu training together at the Jedi temple. With Grogu busy developing his Force prowess and Din Djarin reluctantly ruling Mandalore, it's entirely possible that the father and son could remain apart for that 19 year gap, and future seasons of The Mandalorian will span this period in full.
Luke Skywalker Contacts Mando About His Ben Doubts
Explaining Kylo Ren's origin to Rey in The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker reveals that he long sensed a darkness within Kylo Ren, but realized too late that Supreme Leader Snoke was corrupting his young nephew from afar. Luke doesn't reveal whether he took steps to safeguard the other students from this encroaching evil and, for most pupils, doing so wouldn't have been an option anyway. The Jedi code demands that students abandon all attachments, meaning Luke would sooner place his younglings in mortal peril than send them back to their respective families. Luke may, however, make an exception in Grogu's case.
When the cloaked Jedi comes calling in The Mandalorian season 2's finale, he promises Din Djarin that Grogu will be safe. Luke reassures Mando, pledging, "I will give my life to protect the child, but he will not be safe unless he masters his abilities." Sensing something amiss inside Ben Solo, Luke would (and perhaps should) start doubting whether that promise can be kept, compelling him to put those Force projection powers to good use and commune with Din Djarin, warning him of the potential danger coming Grogu's way.
Force-Zooming Din Djarin would add meaning behind Luke and Mando's conversation in The Mandalorian season 2, and provide context as to how Skywalker learned his projection trick ahead of The Last Jedi. Making contact with the bounty hunter would also add a fresh moral twist to Luke's interpretation of Jedi teachings. In the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Luke laments how he made the same draconian mistakes as his Jedi predecessors - banning attachments, encouraging unquestioning obedience, etc. Deviating from the Jedi code to warn Din Djarin of Grogu's plight would prove that Luke didn't just mindlessly continue the Jedi's legacy of failure - he broke the rules, and saved at least one student.
Mando Fights Kylo Ren While Grogu Makes His Escape
Unable to ignore Luke Skywalker's warning, Din Djarin (now an older, grizzled warrior) would, without question, make his way to the Jedi temple, fulfilling his own promise from The Mandalorian's season 2 finale - that he and Grogu would see each other again. Djarin arrives just as Ben Solo's rampage begins, witnessing Luke get crushed by falling rubble courtesy of the newly-transformed Kylo Ren. As a CGI Adam Driver goes to town on his classmates, Mando hurriedly locates his son, and the pair enjoy the briefest of reunions before Djarin packs Grogu in the ship he just arrived in, hits the autopilot, and faces Kylo Ren one-on-one, wielding the beskar spear he received in The Mandalorian season 2.
Up against a formidable, prodigious Force user and his future "Knights of Ren" acolytes, Djarin eventually loses the hard-fought battle in an epic last stand, going down in a blaze of glory but, crucially, giving Grogu enough time to escape the planet and disappear into space, away from the clutches of Kylo Ren. Grogu, meanwhile, forlornly watches his father perish through the window of Mando's moving ship, the burning temple getting smaller and smaller as he flies into the unknown.
Why Din Djarin's Death Is The Mandalorian's Perfect Ending
When The Mandalorian first aired, few expected Star Wars' very first live-action TV series to be an emotive tale of fatherhood (dads don't exactly have the best track record in this franchise), but over the past two seasons, Din Djarin and Grogu's relationship has become the undisputed core of the story. While The Mandalorian season 3 (and possibly even beyond) will take Mando and Baby Yoda on separate paths, it's inevitable that their fates remain intertwined.
No one seriously expects a happily-ever-after in The Mandalorian's world of scum and villainy, and if one of the main duo must perish, it's natural that the father give his life for the son. It'd take a brave Lucasfilm executive to green-light Grogu getting skewered by Kylo Ren (or, indeed, becoming a Knight of Ren), and Din Djarin riding to the last-minute rescue makes the most thematic sense as a conclusion to The Mandalorian, neatly bridging the canon gap between Disney+ and the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Defeating a warrior as renowned as Din Djarin ensures Kylo Ren looks strong as a Star Wars villain, and Grogu being jettisoned into space allows him to return in future stories. And when Luke wakes up to find Din Djarin's lifeless body in the temple rubble, he'd optimistically hope Grogu was able to escape the burden of the Jedi, thereby explaining why the lean, green egg-popping machine isn't mentioned in the Star Wars sequels. A Mandalorian bounty hunter dying in the course of protecting a Jedi is a suitably tragic ending for The Mandalorian, but the survival of Grogu would provide an optimistic note for fans to cling onto as they fight back the tears.