Boba Fett episodes are turning Grogu into Anakin

This week Books by Boba Fett filled with clear echoes, even to the most casual Star Wars fan. But beneath all the quoted lines and scenes of homage and surprising personality revelations, there is another pattern of fate.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Book of Boba Fett through episode 6.]

Jedi Blues Academy

Image: Lucasfilm

Until the very end of its run “From the Desert Comes a Stranger” might fool you into thinking that stranger was Luke Skywalker, who grew up in the very desert where most Books by Boba Fett is set. Co-writers Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau spend a large portion of the episode retelling Dagobah scenes from The Empire Strikes Back with Luke and Grogu instead of Yoda and Luke – with a bit of Luke, Obi-Wan, and remote thrown in.

Luke demonstrates all that he has been taught about the Force – its power, its claims, and how it binds all existence together – to his first pupil. This was the beginning of Skywalker’s destined Jedi school, which was set to burn to ruins with its students about a decade and a half later. Luke’s CGI Remake – complete with a low hoarse voice – akin to a robot like R2-D2, but if any emotion comes to mind, it’s the gratitude he has for Yoda’s teachings, as gritty as the old puppet might have been. It’s bittersweet.

However, there is only one problem.

This is really how we got Darth Vader

Step One: An inexperienced teacher feels it is his duty to teach this student, partly in honor of his recently deceased mentor.

Step Two: An older than average student with unresolved anger issues stemming from childhood trauma, who has a deep emotional attachment to the parents they had to separate to coach.

And finally: Ask the student to choose forever between emotional attachment and becoming a Jedi.

I mean, part of the appeal of Star Wars is its repetitive motifs, but sheesh. We’re just a cranky old man who is clearly a Devil and a vague allusion to the Shadows’ power to make all students’ dreams come true – and bam! The Milky Way returns after another 20-year war.

Ahsoka is right that Grogu shouldn’t be taught, and is showing a true Jedi zen when she shrugs and says she’s not in charge of Luke. The young master must make his own mistakes – and he will, Ahsoka. Hoo boy, he will.

But for the sake of the galaxy, Grogu, be a good little hobbit and choose the mithril shirt. Hey, Mandalorians have lights too, now! Lights cooler, even! You can have beskar and a lamp sword! Grogu, the tiny green king of the Mandalorian – it certainly defeated another galactic civil war.