#sw analysis

He seems to be developmentally around toddler age in Book of Boba Fett/Mando Season 3; he can walk, he can perform complex motor functions like jumping, flipping, and balancing on one leg, and he can effectively communicate with his assistive device. He is able to make noises—you can hear him making cooing sounds in his training montage with Luke—but he doesn’t ever try to speak, or even communicate verbally. We never see/hear him trying to form words, he doesn’t scream or cry, and he never babbles.

Which is fucking weird, for a baby. Babies are literally wired for language comprehension and learning; it’s one of the main things their brains do. Learning to communicate verbally is a vital stage of infancy/early childhood, and it starts only a few months after birth. Babies, infants, and toddlers, unless they have some kind of speech-language disorder or other disability, are constantly talking.

So Grogu should absolutely be talking throughout the Mandalorian, even if he’s just babbling. But Grogu’s not a Human child; while most of the species in Star Wars function more or less like Humans with superficial differences, we famously know nothing about his species, and thus can’t really assume that human standards apply.

And once you think about it, there’s good evidence that human standards around speech don’t apply. One of the only things we know about his species is that they struggle to speak normally. Both Yoda and Yaddle, the two members of his species that we’ve seen in canon, have an extremely distinctive speech disorder, consistently misordering words and phrases.

So, given this common difficulty and Grogu’s unusual lack of speech, it seems entirely plausible that the species as a whole might have language difficulties. Maybe their brains, unlike Human brains, just aren’t wired for verbal communication. They can do it, eventually, but it doesn’t come naturally to them.

However, it does seem like they might be wired for a different kind of communication: telepathy. Immediately upon meeting Luke and Ahsoka, two Jedi who are not telepaths and who don’t communicate using only the Force very often, Grogu is able to have full conversations with them. He’s not just relaying sensations or feelings, like we most commonly see with mind-to-mind communication in Star Wars, but actual words and sounds (see: him telling Ahsoka his name).

That’s not super common in Star Wars. Most Jedi don’t hold full conversations telepathically, yet Grogu’s able to converse like that extremely easily 30 years after the last time he could’ve conceivably talked to anyone in that manner. He seems naturally very good at mental communication, something that we can see from very early on in the series: one of the first things we see him do in Season 1 is use a primitive kind of Beast Control, a form of telepathic communication, to hold the Mudhorn in place (there’s definitely some telekinesis going on too, but he holds up his hand like Jedi do when communicating with animals, so I’m guessing he’s using both to keep it from moving).

Additionally, every single member of Grogu’s species is a Jedi/is Force-sensitive (and I believe this goes for Legends too, where there’s more of them), and extremely Force-sensitive at that. It seems quite likely that they would all be able to communicate through the Force, and given their difficulties with verbal speech, it’s probably their preferred form of communication.

That would also explain why Grogu, who at the time would’ve been developmentally a newborn (aka way younger than the 1-3 year olds the Jedi generally seem to adopt), was in the temple during Order 66. His species doesn’t seem to be very common, and the Jedi are the only other large culture that could communicate with him in his native mental language.

Because kids absolutely need some kind of language in order to develop normally, Grogu’s people might generally give their kids to the Order. This could be another reason Grogu is so slow to develop throughout the Mandalorian, and starts advancing much quicker after he interacts with Ahsoka and Luke: he’s been deprived of his natural language for most of his formative years.

But trying to apply it to Star Wars is especially stupid, fights in SW have never been about power

Revenge of the Sith is the best example of this

Obi-Wan defeats Anakin, therefore Obi-Wan is more powerful than Anakin right?

But Anakin defeated Dooku, who beat Obi-Wan, so how did Obi-Wan defeat Anakin when Obi-Wan couldn't beat someone Anakin could?

Because it's not about power

There has always been more to winning fights in SW than power, factors like experience, wisdom, mental clarity, focus, emotional control, skill, training, physical condition, strategy, cunning, and more all go into why someone wins or loses

There is something I love about the son of the most evil man ever defying his father to start a new ordinary life. A man born and raised in the Dark, blindly choosing to leave and find the Light.

Although Rey's father did not have Force sensitivity, the Force was still with him. It would be an opertunity to talk about the difference between Force sensitivity and the Living Force that resides in and guides all living creatures. (TFA and R1 are already excellent examples of this and now it would be stated more directly).

Imagine his journey to outrun his past, finding good in the galaxy for the first time. Falling in love and building a new life and fighting like hell for his child to escape the horrors he experienced.

This combines the messages that your heritage/past does not define you AND a family is what you choose.

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some speculation about tech’s death and the state of it, so on.

was rewatching this specific scene of plan 99, and i found hemlock’s wording here to be very curious! i’m sure this has been discussed before, but he declares that “[he’s] afraid this was all [he] could salvage” when referring to tech’s glasses, which is quite an odd choice of words.

“salvage” seems to imply that tech’s body is severely mangled and mutilated, if it cannot be even considered “salvageable”. i quite often see interpretations of his death where he died by the sheer height he fell from, but i would argue that this sole line disproves that!

it’s not uncommon for star wars characters to survive large falls, but i do not think it’s possible within this case for tech to live. that being said, this small ramble isn’t meant to disprove any theories of tech living! this is just me supporting my own opinion and why i do not believe it’s possible.

assuming that tech did not a) get a hold of any niches or rocks on the side of the cliff wall with his grappling gun (which seems impossible given that the gun would likely not reach far enough, as he fell straight in the middle of the canyon (?) (valley??)) or b) got free of the falling cablecar’s way / disconnected his grappling gun from the cablecar, etc. (which again, is pretty much impossible as he has nothing to latch onto that would pull him away from the cablecar and remove him from falling directly underneath it) .. it seems that tech actually had a much more painful death than anticipated. how nice.

as said before, the use of “salvage” is very important! if tech had merely hit the canyon (?) floor, it wouldn’t be difficult for his body to be recovered or “salvaged”, as hemlock says. in fact, considering that hemlock was using positive punishment against hunter in this scene, presenting him tech’s body, or at the very least, more than his goggles, would inflict much more damage on hunter’s psyche than the goggles alone, especially when hemlock was subtly attempting to manipulate him with faux, jeering pity.

however, this specific wording and the context supplied to us during tech’s final moments lead me to believe that not only did he (likely) die upon impact, but he also got crushed and disfigured by the cablecar which fell upon him seconds later. yikes. not only does this provide a reason for why his body isn’t able to be recovered (already mangled by the fall, ruined by the force of the cablecar), but it also makes much more sense for his glasses being the only part of him that “survives” the fall. if his glasses slipped off his head, their lack of weight would allow them to swoop farther away from tech and the cablecar, thus avoiding being crushed and only being damaged upon hitting the canyon floor (whereas tech and the cablecar weigh too much to be swept far away from another).

so, where does that leave us? with a cable car that large, gaining velocity while falling, landing on an already disfigured body,,, i’ll leave the graphic body horror up to your imagination (but in short, he’s likely something of a flesh pancake). hemlock certainly couldn’t be bothered to find whatever’s left of him, especially because it would likely be in a less-than-human condition.. but his goggles, only a few feet away, could certainly do.

I think it's very intrinsic to both his and a lot of the Sith's descent that they think they can outsmart Sith ideology. I imagine Dooku thought he could get by learning and not falling into it himself. He was fed up with the Jedi, yes, but that didn't mean he immediately flipped sides. He still respected them and was respected in turn.

But that's not the way the Sith work. It's not possible to just dip a toe in. The Sith know how to get to you, to get into your head, and to draw you in before you even notice it, and by that point you don't even want out.

right off the bat we can tell that paz and din have a Weird Dynamic. they’re already beating the shit out of each other and starting fights. but we can see how disappointed paz is in din over the imperial job, the feeling of betrayal. at one point they must have had some sort of mutually respective relationship, built on the foundation of shows of strength

despite their collisions in s1 paz was still there for din when he needed backup. they supported each other bound by creed up until the feud over the darksaber.

OMEGA MY BABY GIRL MY DAUGHTER OMEGA!!!!!!! she’s been trapped for so long her hair has grown so much i can’t take it. she made her own lula 😭😭😭

i won’t lie when they showed the clones getting blood samples taken i said to my brother “it’s me!” just some phlebotomist humor for ya. though i wish it was actually that easy to draw blood

so the imperial cloning division is trying to raise the M-count of the blood samples they take and nala se doesn’t want to test omega’s blood. maybe because her dna is unaltered from jango fett unlike the other clones it’s more likely to succeed? and nala se doesn’t want that. she has nothing against scientific improvement, so this breakthrough would likely put omega in danger, the only thing she cares about enough to sabotage the experiments

ohhh crosshair my crosshair 😢 he’s just so defeated and he’s convinced he doesn’t deserve to be rescued. and he’s still trying to pretend that he doesn’t care about omega but he so obviously does. he literally tells her not to risk her life to help him. he has a heart under that cold exterior

speaking of the detention level, seeing the clones in so much pain from the experiments broke my heart. i hope that not only omega and crosshair escape, but they’re able to help as many clones get out as possible

omega befriending the lurca hound was so sweet. even in a terrible situation, she expresses kindness to innocents. she definitely has a strong connection with animals (sounds like a certain jedi i know) (i’m not saying omega’s force sensitive but also i am). the way she refused to let batcher be euthanized and chose to heal her and help her escape. she has such a heart of gold that no one else in the facility can understand. crosshair goes as far to say she’s getting distracted from her objective of escape

and then we come to hemlock. what an interesting villain. his opening scene does a good job of establishing just how expendable he views most life forms to be, by letting the stormtroopers die in the jungle without a bit of remorse. the clones aren’t human to him, just a tool used to complete his objective. he has no regard for the pain he puts them through. as soon as a lurca hound is injured or too domesticated, he orders it to be killed. after all, these things can be replaced. what’s fascinating is the way he frames omega’s act of defiance by freeing batcher not as a loss for him, but a mistake for her. he calls omega cruel for subjecting a domesticated creature to a gruesome death in the jungle. according to him, batcher would have died either way. but omega refuses to follow this hopeless mode of thinking. she has faith batcher can survive. she has faith in crosshair. she even has faith in emerie, who so far has aided in holding omega against her will. maybe this faith is futile, but it’s all she has. giving up is not in her nature. for now, batcher is alive and free, and emerie chooses to break the rules by allowing omega to keep her replacement lula doll. crosshair says omega trusts too easily, but she may be right that crosshair doesn’t trust enough. after all, her trust in emerie seems like it could pay off

emerie is intriguing. as the only other female clone we know of, she was transferred off kamino early on for undisclosed reasons and now works for the imperial cloning division. i suspect she may be just as much a prisoner as omega is. after all, hemlock views most clones as expendable, why would emerie be any different? and i think omega’s defiance is starting to inspire her to fight against her shackles. curious to see how this plays out

the best way to discourage omega from her rebellion is to weaponize her kindness against those she loves. hemlock threatening crosshair if omega acts out again is the perfect way to get her to comply. she wants to escape, but i think her love for her brother will outweigh her mission