The Child

"Thank you for bringing peace to my valley. And good luck with The Child."

- Kuiil, to the Mandalorian

"Baby Yoda" was a male Force-sensitive Mandalorian foundling that belonged to the same species as Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Master Yaddle. The Child was born around 41 BBY, and was held at a compound run by Nikto mercenaries on Arvala-7 during the New Republic Era. While still an infant at the age of fifty years old, he was sought by an Imperial who hired a Mandalorian bounty hunter named Din Djarin to retrieve him.

However, Din chose not to leave him with the Imperials and saved him from the Imperial remnant facility. After attempting to hide with the Child along the fringes of the galaxy, Din returned to Nevarro to deal with the Imperials chasing the Child in the hopes of keeping him safe. In the process, the Child became a Mandalorian foundling and a member of Din's newly-created clan.

Liberation
"The commission was quite specific. The asset was to be terminated."

- IG-11

The bounty hunter known as "the Mandalorian" was dispatched by "the Client" and Imperial Dr. Pershing to capture the Child alive, however the Client would allow the Mandalorian to return the Child dead for a lower price.

The assassin droid IG-11 was also dispatched to terminate him. After working together to storm the compound the infant was being held in, the Mandalorian and IG-11 found the Child. IG-11 then attempted to terminate the Child. The Mandalorian shot the droid before the he was able to assassinate the Child.

Shortly after, the Mandalorian took the Child back to his ship. On the way they were attacked by a trio of Trandoshan bounty hunters, who attempted to kill the Child. After the Mandalorian defeated them, he and the Child camped out in the desert for the night. While the Mandalorian sat by the fire, the Child ate one of the creatures moving around nearby. He then approached the bounty hunter and attempted to use the Force to heal one of the Mandalorian's wounds. The Mandalorian stopped him and placed him back into his pod. The next day, the pair made it to the Razor Crest only to find it being scavenged by Jawas. The Mandalorian attacked their sandcrawler for the scavenged parts and attempted to climb it while the Child followed in his pod. However, the Mandalorian was knocked down to the ground.

Eventually, the Mandalorian got the assistance of Kuiil to try to convince the Jawas to give back the parts peacefully. The Jawas wanted the Child and the Mandalorians armor, but eventually the Mandalorian agreed to retrieve a mudhorn's egg in return for the parts. The Mandalorian fought the mudhorn, but was quickly sprawled across the mud. The Child using the Force to lift the beast into the air long enough for the Mandalorian to get up and kill it. After using the Force, the Child fell asleep. When the Child eventually woke back up, the Razor Crest had been repaired and they had left the planet.

Into hiding
"We want you to stay. The community's grateful. You can pack all this away in case there's ever trouble. You and your boy can have a good life. He could be a child for awhile."

- Omera, to the Mandalorian

Upon returning to Nevarro, the Mandalorian took the Child to the Client's facility. The client and Dr. Pershing were excited at their arrival and immediately began examining the child. Pershing then took him away and the bounty hunter left wondering what the client wanted with him. However, shortly before leaving Nevarro to carry out a new bounty, the Mandalorian, having a change of heart, returned to rescue the Child. Shortly after the Mandalorian stormed the facility, finding the Child sedated with Pershing. After taking the Child back, he was forced to defend him from the Bounty Hunters' Guild, who attempted to take him back. However, the Mandalorian's tribe came to his assistance, resulting in the Mandalorian escaping from the Bounty Hunters' Guild with the Child.

The Mandalorian took the Child to the backwater world of Sorgan, where he intended to lie low for several months and avoid the guild. Upon their arrival, the Mandalorian told the child to stay put and not touch anything. When the Child refused to leave his side, he accepted his company. The pair traveled to a settlement and walk through it. The Child was startled by a Loth-cat which growled at him. The Mandalorian and the Child stopped at a common house and the Child had some soup. One customer, though, caught the Mandalorian's attention, and he exited the common house to find her when she seemingly disappeared. The customer, named Cara Dune, ambushed the Mandalorian and they fought until the Child interrupted them by quietly watching them fight and sipping his soup.

The Mandalorian talked to Dune, who assured him Sorgan was "taken." Thus he took the Child back to the Razor Crest, where two krill farmers awaited. They brokered with the Mandalorian for protection of their village against Klatooinian raiders in exchange for residence at the village. Bringing Dune and the Child with him, the Mandalorian was able to defeat the raiders with the help of Dune and the village. He continued to live there for several weeks and the Child became very popular with the children, although they were not fond of him when he tried to eat a Sorgan frog. The Mandalorian considered leaving the Child behind in the village where he could have a childhood. However, a bounty hunter came searching for the child and attempted to shoot him. After Dune killed the bounty hunter, the Mandalorian changed his mind, and both he and the Child left Sorgan behind.

Tatooine
"You woke it up! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get it to sleep?''" "Give him to me." "''Not so fast! You can't just leave a child all alone like that. You know, you have an awful lot to learn about raisin' a young one."

- Motto scolds the Mandalorian for leaving the Child alone

Sometime after leaving Sorgan, the Mandalorian encountered fellow bounty hunter Riot Mar, who engaged him in a dogfight. The Child, who sat at the cockpit with the Mandalorian, watched him evade his opponent and was thrusted forward as his guardian maneuvered the Razor Crest behind Mar and destroyed his ship. The Mandalorian then took the Child to Mos Eisley on Tatooine. He left the Child to sleep on the Razor Crest as he looked for work as a means to gain credits for repairs. The Child later woke, at the initial alarm of the hangar manager Peli Motto, who then decided to watch the Child as a means to have the Mandalorian pay her more upon his return.

After learning of the Mandalorian's actions on Nevarro, inexperienced hunter Toro Calican kidnapped both Motto and the Child in an attempt to blackmail the Mandalorian. When the Mandalorian arrived, he confronted Calican, who held his captives at gunpoint. Using a flare to blind his foe, the Mandalorian flanked and shot him. The Child hid in fright, but was immediately found again by Motto and the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian then left Tatooine with the Child.

The mercenaries' mission
"What is it? Like a pet or something?''" "''Yeah, something like that."

- Mayfeld and the Mandalorian after he discovered the Child.

In search of credits, the Mandalorian took on another assignment for an old mercenary friend named Ranzar Malk to rescue a Twi'lek prisoner named Qin who had been arrested by the New Republic. Requiring the Razor Crest to complete the mission, Ranzar collected a crew of mercenaries made up of a former Imperial sharpshooter named Mayfeld, a Devaronian named Burg, a skilled pilot droid named "Zero", and Qin's sister Xi'an. While enroute to the New Republic prison ship, the Mandalorian hid the Child within a compartment which was discovered by the mercenaries. Dumbfounded at what it was, Mayfeld picked up the Child jokingly claiming that he could keep it as a pet before pretending to drop it. As this happened, the Razor Crest exited hyperspace and its current pilot, Zero, performed a risky docking maneuver which tossed the crew members around the vessel including the Child who fell face first onto the floor of the Razor Crest before being protected by the Mandalorian and placed back into his compartment before leaving with the other mercenaries to board the prison ship.

As their mission continued, Zero managed to uncover a hologram from Greef Karga regarding the Child's initial capture. Possibly realizing the value of the Child, Zero became intrigued by the Child. Around this time, the mercenaries had managed to rescue Qin, betraying the Mandalorian in the process, although the Mandalorian would retaliate through attacking each of the mercenaries one by one and disabled Zero's ability to contact the crew. While attempting to make sense of the situation, the Child left his compartment and was encountered by Zero who attempted to apprehend the Child. Eventually being chased back into his compartment, the Child attempted to use the Force in self-defense by raising his hand up to Zero who was aiming his blaster at the Child. Before anything could happen, the Mandalorian arrived aboard the Razor Crest and shot Zero in the back, destroying the droid.

With his mission accomplished, the Mandalorian returned to Ranzar's station and delivered Qin, receiving his full payment. As the Mandalorian and Child proceeded to leave the station aboard the Razor Crest, Ranzar prepared to deploy a gunship to destroy the ship, but as it prepared to launch, three X-wing starfighters exited hyperspace following a New Republic tracking beacon that had been activated during the mission, and which the Mandalorian had planted on Qin. As the X-wings assaulted the station, the Razor Crest jumped into hyperspace, and in the midst of travel the Mandalorian comforted the Child by giving him a knob from one of his control sticks.

Return to Nevarro
Following the extensive manhunt for the Mandalorian, Greef Karga contacted the hunter with an offer: Return to Nevarro and help rid it of the Empire, and in return, keep the Child. After brief consideration, the Mandalorian decided to take Karga up on the offer. The Mandalorian returned to Sorgan, where he picked up Cara Dune to help with the assault. While the two were speaking, the Child was left alone in the cockpit, and briefly attempted to play with the Razor Crest's controls, causing the ship to go out of control.

In order to have someone to keep an eye on the Child, the Mandalorian and Dune returned to Arvala-7 to pick up Kuiil, who had also repaired IG-11. The Mandalorian was hesitant regarding IG-11's presence, afraid he would harm the Child in spite of his reprogramming. While the entire crew was on the Razor Crest, the Child attempted to Force choke Dune, believing she was harming the Mandalorian, when she was in fact arm wrestling him.

During the mission, Kuiil helped to care for the Child, even constructing a new mobile pram for him. The Child was to be used as bait to lure the Imperials into the trap, and on the way to the city on Nevarro, the Child healed Greef Karga of a poisonous injury following a run-in with a group of bat-like creatures. Karga, having originally intended to betray the Mandalorian, had a change of heart after witnessing the Child's power, and murdered the bounty hunters who were with him.

When creating a new plan, the Mandalorian decided that he would pose as a prisoner, under the guise of having been captured by Karga and Dune. Under suggestion that the Child still be used as bait, the Mandalorian refused, asking Kuiil to take the Child back to the Razor Crest, to safety. Later, as the plan fell apart, a pair of Imperial scout troopers discovered Kuiil and the Child, killing the Ugnaught and kidnapping the infant just as they reached the Razor Crest.

Rescue
Realizing that the infant has been kidnapped and Kuiil was dead, IG-11 leaves the transport to fulfill his programming “To nurse and protect”. IG-11 succeeds in rescuing the child from the Stormtroopers and brings him back to the Mandalorian and Dune. After a battle between the Imperial remnant and Djarin, Dune, Karga and IG-11, Djarin got badly hurt and so they sheltered in the former cantina. The group had no way out and so they were cornered by an Incinerator Trooper. The child then reached out with his hand to protect the group from the fire, creating a barrier strong enough to even blast the fire back at the Incinerator Trooper and kill him. The Child was given to Dune and they ran in the sewers of the city to seek help from the Mandalorians. There he was reunited with Djarin and IG-11, who they left behind in the cantina. In the sewers the Child encountered the Armorer, with the Mandalorian explaining his experience with the Child. The Child was from then on seen as Djarren's foundling. The group was still hunted by the Imps, so they headed further into the sewer system onto a lava river. At the end of the river IG-11 sacrified himself to safe The Child. Karga asked the Child to use the 'hand thingy' to safe them from Gideon, not knowing what he meant, he just waved his hand. At last the Mando saved them, and the Child and Mando said goodbye to Karga and Dune. After they burried Kuill, they left Nevarro, now in the care of Din Djarren.

Powers and abilities
The Child was able to harness the mystical energies of the Force on account of being Force-sensitive, notably telekinetically lifting a giant mudhorn into the air for a brief time to save the Mandalorian. However, due to his infantile body, the Child was seen greatly mentally straining while performing this feat, eventually falling into an unconscious state for several hours afterward. The Child could also use the Force when he became angry, such as when he choked Cara Dune because he believed she was harming The Mandalorian while they were arm-wrestling. He later revealed the ability to heal serious injuries and even cure poisoning by touching the injured and then using the Force, though the act greatly strained him. The Child was also capable of creating a strong barrier with the Force, notably protecting his companions by creating one to hold back a stream of fire coming from an Incinerator Stormtrooper.

He also was shown to care deeply for those who were close to him as shown when he repeatedly tried to heal the Mandalorian's wound, stopped fire from killing his friends, and when he lifted the mudhorn in the air with the Force.

Behind the scenes
"That was such a powerful thing that was added to the story. That was our precious. Our precious is this being that we all end up taking care of in some way."

- Gina Carano, in an interview with Vanity Fair

This character first appeared in "The Mandalorian Chapter 1". The character was designed by Christian Alzmann, and was referred to as "the Being" by the actors during filming. Executive Producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni intended to film the Child as a puppet and then as a blank to add CGI (in case the puppet was not convincing enough), but Werner Herzog, who played "the Client" in The Mandalorian, told the pair to leave it, calling them cowards.

The Child has been referred to widely and affectionately in news reports and social media as "Baby Yoda." According to an article from Vanity Fair, fans were desperate for "Baby Yoda" merchandise, although Favreau had wished to hold off on it in case the Child had been leaked before the release of the first episode. Despite the nickname, Disney has been careful to refer to the character only as "The Child" in merchandising and Disney CEO Bob Iger was told off by Jon Favreau for using the name "Baby Yoda".