The Mandalorian, Chapter 20: The Foundling
We’ve been waiting a long time for this flashback. Now that it’s here, we finally get to see who rescued Youngling Grogu from the Jedi Temple. And it’s someone absolutely no one was expecting: Jar Jar Binks. I shit you not.
Welcome to the latest episode analysis, where we discuss the best WTF moments and Easter eggs. First off: this discussion of the episode includes spoilers! So watch The Mandalorian – Chapter 20: The Foundling before you read on.
Not everyone liked the previous episode Chapter 19: The Convert. Some said too much time was devoted to the defected Imperial Dr Pershing and conniving ex-communications officer Elia Kane. I’m of a different view. I found the Orwellian-style future – an evil state replaced by what’s simply a milder version of it – exciting. Another thing that excited me was that it finally began closing the gap between the classic trilogy and the sequel trilogy: what happened when the Empire was overthrown? And what became of the Rebel Alliance?
What’s more, the episode might have laid the foundation for much greater things to come. Dr Pershing is a clone scientist. In Chapter 3, he performed experiments on Grogu, the Force-sensitive child. In Chapter 12, we saw some of his failed experiments floating lifelessly in bacta tanks. In Chapter 16, Pershing didn’t just mention cloning. He also talked about taking the best of different donor DNA and using it to create new life. Could this be referring to the creation of Supreme Leader Snoke? Or even of the Emperor himself?
Chapter 20: The Foundling leaves these questions unanswered. Instead, it addresses a question we fans have been pondering for years: who rescued Grogu from the Jedi Temple?
The Mandalorian
According to the Creed of the Children of the Watch, «one does not speak unless one knows». In other words, never underestimate your opponent. This is exactly what the foundling from Chapter 17: The Apostate does when little Grogu is put in front of him as a challenger. Both are part of the tough training regime celebrated by the Mandalorians from childhood. It’s slightly reminiscent of the Spartans or Vikings.
And with good reason, as we find out with a glimpse behind the scenes. The first Mandalorian we ever saw in Star Wars was Boba Fett. We just didn’t know that when he took to the screens for the first time in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. It wasn’t until the release of Attack of the Clones 22 years later that we found out a little more. The film introduced Jango Fett, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy and the genetic template for the clone army. As payment, Jango is said to have asked for one thing in addition to money: a clone who’d age at a normal pace, who he could raise as his son – Boba Fett.
Source: Disney / Lucasfilm
At that point, Jango was already wearing the iconic Mandalorian armour, which passed to Boba after his death. Back then, however, the armour was still considered to be stolen, and Jango wasn’t yet officially thought of as a Mandalorian. It’s a detail that was only added three years ago in Chapter 12: The Tragedy, which revealed Jango to have been a Foundling like Din Djarin. Years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Jango fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, earning the iconic green beskar armour as a gesture of thanks and recognition of his loyalty.
He’s not the only character to have been given a complete backstory between Attack of the Clones and The Tragedy. In 2003, the video game Knights of the Old Republic was the first to render the Mandalorians as one of the most dangerous and warrior-like species in the galaxy, surpassed only by the evil Sith army, wiped out just 1,000 years ago in the Seventh Battle of Ruusan. Ironically, their demise was instigated by one of their own – Darth Bane, who subsequently issued the Rule of Two i.e. a master to embody the Force and an apprentice who craves their power.
Source: Disney / Lucasfilm
In 2010, it was Dave Filoni (who, by the way, is the co-creator of The Mandalorian) who revealed more and more details about the Mandalorians during the Clone Wars series. First, we were introduced to the Death Watch, a group of religious zealots with a desire to continue the old warrior traditions. Opposing them were the New Mandalorians, led by the Ruling House of Kryze. They were also the ones who won the civil war in the end, establishing hierarchical structures and installing a hereditary government.
As this played out, Filoni continually emphasised that in his vision, the ancient Mandalorians were the Vikings of the Star Wars universe. It’s why he gave the Death Watch and its successors, the Children of the Watch, some «Nordic flair» in the form of the traditional V-shaped breastplate – the feature serving as the basis for all Mandalorian armour and helmets. And, just as the ancient Vikings adopted the children of their slaves and trained them to be warriors, the Children of the Watch take foundlings into their tribes. The foundlings then have to swear by the Creed and live as Mandalorians from there on out, regardless of whether they’re ethnically Mandalorian or not. This is exactly how Jango Fett became a Mandalorian. And how Din Djarin followed in his footsteps.
Who knows? Maybe Grogu will do the same.
The abduction
Back to the duel between Grogu and the foundling. Grogu beats the foundling with ease, which is hardly surprising; like Yoda once did in Attack of the Clones, he whirls around wildly and can’t be hit. «I didn’t teach him that,» Din Djarin says proudly. And I grin because I know who he means: Luke Skywalker.
The joy of little Grogu’s victory is short-lived. Suddenly, a jai’galaar (a shriek-hawk) appears. «No sound is more terrifying to the creatures of the Mandalorian night than the piercing cry of the jai’galaar, the shriek-hawk. Shriek-hawks are peerless hunters, but never more dangerous than when defending their nests,» Tor Vizla, leader of the Death Watch during the Mandalorian Civil War, once said of the fearsome winged beasts. And it’s exactly this kind of beast that kidnaps the foundling and brings him to its nest – of all things.
Source: Disney / Lucasfilm
It’s now up to Din Djarin, Paz Vizla (a descendant of Tor Vizla) and Bo-Katan of the House of Kryze to find the foundling and save him from the jai’galaar. Before that happens, however, there’s the big reveal. The reveal we’ve been waiting for since we found out three years ago with Chapter 13: The Jedi that Grogu grew up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The episode begged the question: who saved Grogu from Order 66?
The surprise
The heavy pounding of tough durasteel on unyielding beskar causes sparks to fly in the The Armorer’s forge – and prompts Grogu to remember his rescue. It’s hazy at first, then gets clearer and clearer. Clone troopers relentlessly push their way through the Jedi Temple. Their mission? To kill those who committed treason against the Republic – the Jedi.
It’s the culmination of Chancellor Palpatine’s long-term plan to overthrow the Jedi and build the Galactic Empire on the ashes. The clones aren’t aware that the Jedi never committed treason. An inhibitor chip implanted in their brains before they were born ensures they don’t even question it. The chip forces them to be unwaveringly obedient to the chancellor, who, soon after the destruction of the Jedi, reveals himself to be Darth Sidious. And amidst all of this, there’s Grogu.
Source: Photo: Disney / Lucasfilm
How Grogu escaped from the Jedi Temple remained a mystery for a long time. All we knew was that someone must have rescued him. After all, Grogu was about 22 years old at that point. In his species, which includes Master Yoda, that still counts as infancy. So who could have saved him? Fans spun theory after theory. From the Seventh Sister from Star Wars: Rebels, to Padawan Reva from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, to Master Yaddle from Tales of the Jedi, to Jedi Knight Barriss Offee from The Clone Wars, pretty much every name has been thrown into the mix. Every name. Except one.
Kelleran… who!?
The saviour
Okay. That revelation was a bit of an anticlimax. Kelleran isn’t a big name that’d set fans’ pulses racing. He’s a Jedi Master, dreamed up a few years ago for a children’s game show, Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. The show sees children compete in teams of two to pass all kinds of tests. Now, brace yourself. In the show, Kelleran Beq is played by actor Ahmed Best, who previously played none other than – okay, deep breath – Jar Jar Binks!
Well then. Grogu was rescued by Jar Jar Binks, ahem, Jedi Meister Kelleran Beq. Apart from the somewhat underwhelming name, the attack on the temple and the subsequent chase across Coruscant is once again magnificently staged, especially for a TV series. Kudos. It’s Star Wars action at its finest. And there’s even more to come. Before we get to that, though, what do we know about Kelleran Beq, aside from his game show roots?
Kelleran was a Jedi Master who was extremely skilled with lightsabers. So skilled, in fact, that even in his Padawan days, he was nicknamed «sabered hand». He later became a Jedi instructor himself, supervising Padawans during their Jedi exams. According to Best, the actor who plays Kelleran, the instructor was actually the first Jedi to devote himself exclusively to teaching. Sort of like a «dean» for Jedi students. What’s more, Kelleran drew much of his inspiration from the caring style of mentorship practised by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. The character’s fighting style, on the other hand, was inspired by the Shaolin monks from the Kung-Fu movies Best watched as a child.
We don’t know whether Kelleran Beq is still alive. All we know, thanks to Grogu’s flashback, is that they both escaped from the Temple and fled Coruscant with the help of sympathetic members of the Royal Naboo Security Forces.
The Creed
The episode ends with the foundling’s rescue. Bo-Katan is more deeply inducted into the traditions of the children of the Watch. Ironically, the more time she spends with them, the more she seems drawn to their ancient moral code. After all, she and the Watch were once on opposing sides – first during the Mandalorian Civil War, then during the Siege of Mandalore before the Clone Wars ended.
In the end, the rescue succeeds. And again, we get some great Star Wars action. In the process, we learn that the foundling is the son of Paz Vizla – the very same Paz Vizla who was hopeless during the rescue. We also found out that Bo-Katan’s ship apparently has enough space for a whole squad of Mandalorians, including three now-motherless baby jai’galaar. But what does the Creed say? Rescuing foundlings is the highest honour of all. Even if they’re wild creatures – creatures that could one day be ridden in battle. If we consider how dangerous a full-grown jai’galaar is on its own, I don’t even want to know how dangerous it’d be with a Mandalorian warrior on its back.
And hey, riding dangerous beasts seems to be in the Mandalorians’ blood. Boba Fett rode a fully grown Rancor in The Book of Boba Fett, while Mand’alor the Great even rode a mythosaur thousands of years before the creatures apparently died out.
Back at the hideout, Bo-Katan is asked by the Armorer if she wants the symbol of the Nite Owls on her new beskar armour. This was once the female-dominated elite Mandalorian unit Bo-Katan led long ago. When Bo-Katan joined the Death Watch during the Mandalorian Civil War, the Nite Owls also sided with the extremist group. But after the evil Darth Maul corrupted the Death Watch from within and appointed himself their new leader, most of the Nite Owls split off from the group once again. They then became part of the resistance, fighting Maul and his Shadow Collective until the Siege of Mandalore.
Source: Disney / Lucasfilm
At the end, Bo-Katan, reveals all too. She tells the Armorer about seeing a live mythosaur in the Living Waters below the Mines of Mandalore. The Armorer congratulates her on having the vision. Mythosaurs, she says, are the symbol of all Mandalorians, but their existence has become a myth. Bo-Katan, however, maintains that the mythosaur was real. And the Armorer? She gives nothing away,
simply saying «this is the Way» in true Creed fashion.
*What did you think of this episode? Are there any more Easter eggs I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments! I’ll be back with an episode analysis of Chapter 21 next Wednesday (Thursday at the latest).
Header image: Disney / Lucasfilm
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
