Star Wars fans have forgotten one of the most important mysteries of The Mandalorian season 1 — who was protecting Baby Yoda? Called "the Child" by Lucasfilm, Baby Yoda is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Season 1 revealed little about 50-year-old Force-sensitive youngster, and season 2 looks to explore his possible Jedi connections. Will season 2 also reveal who raised the Child for 50 years?
Baby Yoda was introduced in The Mandalorian season 1's premiere, when the titular bounty hunter was hired to acquire a mysterious, 50-year-old asset. The Child had been secreted away for untold decades, probably through the entire rise and fall of the Empire, and was sought by Imperial remnants who may have secretly worked for Palpatine himself.
The Mandalorian was commissioned to go to the planet Arvala-7, which at first glance could be mistaken for Tatooine. This remote Rim-world had become a safehouse for an unknown group of mercenaries, who had presumably been hired to protect Baby Yoda from the likes of Moff Gideon. The mercenaries were both well-armed and brutally efficient, and, according to Kuill, they'd been fighting off a constant stream of bounty hunters for years. It took a team-up between the Mandalorian and IG-11 to defeat them.
But who had been hiding Baby Yoda on Arvala-7? They're clearly both well-connected and well-resourced, given they're wealthy enough to hire so many mercenaries and provide so much equipment. What's more, the very fact they chose Arvala-7 — a little-known Rim-world — suggests they have a good knowledge of galactic politics; they knew no news of events on this planet would ever reach the New Republic.
It's possible Baby Yoda had actually been held by the Empire all these years. The Empire fragmented after the Battle of Jakku, with various Moffs establishing their own miniature empires. No doubt some were working for the resurrected Palpatine all along, but others wouldn't have been quite so loyal. That would explain why Moff Gideon's agents already had bio-recordings from the Child; they could have been acquired before the Empire fell apart, before the Child became inaccessible to Moff Gideon.
Alternatively, Baby Yoda could have been kept safe by Jedi sympathizers. The Child is a powerful Force-sensitive, after all; while the Jedi were rendered almost extinct by the Empire, groups like the Guardians of the Whills and the Church of the Force believed they were destined to return. Some of these cults had pretty deep pockets, so they could well have hidden Baby Yoda away during the entire Age of the Empire. Of course, that naturally raises the question of why they hadn't contacted Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and handed Baby Yoda over to him; the most likely explanation is they knew Baby Yoda was still a vulnerable infant, and they didn't believe a lone Jedi Master was sufficient defense against the forces hunting the Child down. Whatever the truth may be, hopefully The Mandalorian season 2 will provide the necessary answers.