Thread by @OutletFangirl, #TheMandalorian SPOILERS for Mandalorian season finaleLiterally throughout the whole thread Im [...]

#TheMandalorian

SPOILERS for Mandalorian season finale

Literally throughout the whole thread Im gonna tag each tweet but like do me a favor and only RT the top one so ppls experience dont get ruined

I actually loved this finale -> and I think in an indirect way its good for ben

Mandalorian spoilers

So disclaimer obviously this finale & Lukes appearance is super controversial i happened to LOVE it if you didnt thats TOTALLY fine but please dont RT/comment on this to shit on luke or the episode just keep scrolling

Ive have no energy to fight w ppl today

Mandalorian spoilers

Ive seen a lot of takes today that basically made it seem like if you liked Luke, you were the equivalent to a neckbeard TLJ hater....which wasnt fun

Totally fine if you didnt like it! But lets just let differing opinions be just that

Okay theory time

Mandalorian spoilers
theres a lot of anger that Luke was so epic bc it feels like SW cant move on from him / that it pandered to the fanboys

But from a storytelling pov Luke *needs* to be bad ass rn at the top of his game
Hes a huge part of the story theyre setting up & this era

Mandalorian spoilers
At this point Luke is basically a superhero. He’s blown up two death stars, is a famous jedi in the republic, took down vader

This is five-ish years after Endor. Of fucking course he is

And we havent actually *seen* Luke at his prime, without looming Vader

Mandalorian spoilers
In order for us to get the Luke that we all loved in TLJ, the flawed Luke, the one who suffered hubris, who failed and lost everything and everyone he loved (including Ben) bc he bought into his own legend...there has to be a legend

He has to fall from high

(Also credit to @sam_ieatboyss for all the Mando screenshots!!!)

Mandalorian spoilers

Honestly seeing this “grand” master jedi Luke makes TLJ Luke all the more poignant

He was the hope of the entire galaxy, to restart the Jedi order, and what lessons did he learn?

Mandalorian spoilers
Also, on a less grand storytelling note, its just cinematic poetry to have Luke teach a baby yoda
Like this just warms my heart and i dont care if its fanservice. Its fanservice with substance - bc it makes sense for his character and poses complex questions

Mandalorian spoilers
But getting to the point: Luke - particularly of this era - is a ley point of setting up the story, the foundational lore, that leads to the wbw

His appearance - & link to Grogu - also make me much more confident in getting young ben backstory for the GA

So at this point in time Luke is living his best young space 20s life - exploring treasure troves with his best droid friend and learning the origins of the jedi
A hobby!
But it keeps him busy, too busy, even to really keep in touch with Leia most of the time (re Aftermath)

Now ive done a whole other thread about Palpatine and Lukes parallel journey into weird ass force shit & its importance

Basically what Luke starts now leads to the ancient texts, leads to Exegol, leads to Rey having the maps to the wbw - a journey she & ben were both linked to https://twitter.com/OutletFangirl/status/1292684481720201222

https://twitter.com/OutletFangirl/status/1292684481720201222

Now its because Luke is living his best nerdy ass life that Palpatine (via Snoke puppet) manipulates him to restarting the Jedi order bc his research “endangered snokes grand design”
The passage directly links this to access to Ben and the fall of the skywalkers

Mandalorian spoilers

Remember in five years from this point Luke takes Ben in bc things have gotten so bad and Leia and Han dont know what else to do. Palps already in his head

So we assumed the whole time that Ben was lukes first student - but then there was Leia, & now Grogu

Mandalorian spoilers
So what if Palpatine began his manipulation with them? First Leia. But that didnt work out bc she was attuned herself to sense something was wrong (on two occasions)

Now: Grogu
After getting the blood he needs from the child (much easier than obtaining a /

sample from Ben bc the Skywalkers are all united right now) for his clones and weird snoke experiments

But a jedi in danger usually draws other jedi out (literally the empires MO) and palpatine knows Luke is the main game in town right now (sorry Ezra and Cal yall missing)

So Luke takes on his first student, taking one more step to restarting the jedi order per palps designs

Fast forward 5 years, Luke now feels hey, i took in one struggling force kid (bc grogu got that dark side) i can do this, i can help my nephew — and so the innocent fall

Mandalorian spoilers

The other big thing that makes me confident is how many similarities they’re drawing between Baby Yoda & Baby Ben - two targets and victims of the rising FO (i think this remnant is supported by Exegol brats. Theyre all *young* officers, theres snoke)

That overlapping similarity (not to mention the sheer timing overlap) has been present since the first season. But they really peppered in a lot of clues this season

The chandrila reference while gorgu is in school, the BUTTERFLIES

Even baby yodas theme has a part that sounds *identical* to Ben’s good boi motif

The most glaring use of which is when the cloner is taking about the Donor for the snoke prototypes

Ben and Grogu both serve as donors in a sense for Snoke/Palpatines rise. They’re linked in that

Mandalorian spoilers
Also I verrrry much doubt this is the last we’ve seen of grogu

I know its confusing with the Boba fett book teaser, but theres so many open threads for Dins story (he has the darksaber!) so i really do think its separate from Mando S3 but they couldn’t tease

Mandalorian spoilers
At investor day because it would spoil the Mando finale

Storywise the separation of Din and Grogu is the good painful - the ESB kind of separation where they both have to go on separate journeys for a while and find their way back together

Mandalorian spoilers

Maybe theres a time skip? Maybe we get to see glimpses of Grogu at the temple w Ben growing up. Maybe Grogu leaves and returns to Din and jn the meantime Bens story happens on the edges

Lots of possibilities

Mandalorian spoilers

But what if they have Grogu die at the temple fire and Ben gets more hate?

My gut says they wont do that. But even if they did thats good for us!

The had the opportunity to make ben a monster and instead they gave us an intentionally vague moment

Like the movies are an unreliable narration bc 1. Han heard the story from Luke. 2. Luke assumed the story when he woke up after it blew up 3. Ben really does blame himself

But even if Ben did it, it was an accident like Rey in tros & she was forgiven when before Chewie was safe

Mandalorian spoilers

So *if* we get Ben and Grogu at the temple, and we loose Grogu its going to finally show the GA that Ben didnt murder anyone. That he tried to run into the flames & save ppl

It would be watching the tragedy in real time unfold. Without any pov to skew it

Mandalorian spoilers
IN SUMMARY

this Luke/Grogu plot made me hopeful for ben bc
* it picks up at a point where Luke is studying the lore that leads to WBW
* could show the GA bens backstory via Grogus journey
*shows lfl isnt actually done w/ the Skywalkers (or the actors