Baby Yoda Secretly Appeared In A Star Wars Comic Over Two Decades Ago

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 33 seconds ago

At this point, it’s safe to say that The Mandalorian has really fallen off. The third season was aggressively mid and likely contributed to the disappointing box office for The Mandalorian and Groguthe movie we got instead of Season 4. Once upon a time, though, the show seemed like it just might save Star Wars. The Sequel Trilogy was already leaving a bad taste in our mouths, and The Mandalorian seemed like the kind of hip, space western that could potentially save the franchise. While the show’s titular gunslinger was cool, the series’ real secret weapon was Grogu, everyone’s favorite adorable monster.

Long before he got his (frankly, pretty awful) name, Grogu was more popularly known as “Baby Yoda.” It’s a fitting moniker, as he’s designed to look exactly like a younger, cuter version of the Jedi Master who taught Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force. When The Mandalorian came out, the idea seemed very novel; like, who could imagine the idea of a baby Yoda who lived in the Jedi Temple before the events of Order 66? It wasn’t really an original idea, though. After all, an infant Yoda character was shown in a Star Wars comic that came out 17 years before the premiere of The Mandalorian!

Grogu’s Hidden First Appearance?

The comic is Star Wars Taleswhich is the best comic to ever take place in a galaxy far, far away. The gimmick of these 64-page, oversized comics is that you get a selection of very different tales from various artists and writers. They were all non-canonical, which annoyed lorehounds hoping for more official stories. But the non-canonical nature of these stories allowed their creators to get away with things they otherwise couldn’t. This included the adventures of Tag and Bink (two slackers who Forrest Gump their way through the entire Original Trilogy) and a hilarious trial where Han Solo has to argue he shot Greedo in self-defense and not cold-blooded murder.

In Star Wars Tales #13, there is a story named “Children of the Force.” It’s about a woman hired to bring a young, would-be Padawan back to their parents after the Jedi took the child. It’s a really good story, one which questions the ethics of monastic space police stealing children from their parents in the name of the greater good. Heck, it even has a fun moment where the woman hired to steal someone’s kid back teases Mace Windu about lightsabers being symbolic penises. But what fans of The Mandalorian might find fascinating is a brief glimpse of a Baby Yoda in the Jedi’s nursery.

From Comic Cameo To Cutesy Cannibal

So, was this particular Baby Yoda actually Grogu? Nope. Obviously, it would have been impossible for the creators to know what Jon Favreau would be cooking up 17 years later. In all likelihood, this was just a visual gag, one that might have been explained by the still-confusing appearance of Yaddle, another member of Yoda’s mysterious race. Additionally, this story, like all featured in Star Wars Talesis non-canonical. But we also don’t know exactly when this tale takes place, so it can certainly be part of your own headcanon that this is actually Grogu chilling in the nursery.

In retrospect, it’s lucky that Star Wars Tales could include a baby Yoda, even as a gag. Eight years before this issue came out, George Lucas had all copies of a trading card recalled and destroyed because it portrayed members of Yoda’s race worshiping a weird, Spaceballs-esque idol. Basically, he wanted Yoda’s race to remain as mysterious and unknown as possible. Now, The Mandalorian has ensured that we know a lot more about these guys than we ever thought possible. For instance, thanks to Grogu, we know that Yoda was probably also a freaky little cannibal who ate everything that could fit into his mouth.

Too old to begin the training? Nah, man. Luke Skywalker was just too big to fit into Yoda’s pot of stew!