The Child

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

- Kuiil, to the Mandalorian

"The Child" was a male Force-sensitive being 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 to retrieve him.

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 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.

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.

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." An article from Vanity Fair claimed that fans were desperate for merchandise for "Baby Yoda," although Favreau had wished to hold off on it in case the Child had been leaked before the release of the first episode. In December 2019, the Time magazine named The Child as one of its "people of the year."