Disclaimer: Spoiler Warning! This article holds major spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2, read at your own risk. 

Star Wars fans greatest dreams were realized over the past few weeks. Rumors that had spread about the Mandalorian season 2 were not all just rumors. Since episode 3, The Heiress, fans have been shown several fan favorites that had not yet been shown in the show. Along with the appearance of several characters there were also several things shown or said that surprised fans. 

The Heiress

This episode was the start of the stream of new characters. One of the biggest parts of this episode that it will probably be remembered for was the appearance of Bo-Katan Kryze. Fans were so excited to see this familiar face. It was quite exciting that the person who played Bo-Katan, Katee Sackhoff, was also the same person who voiced her in both The Clone Wars and Rebels. But who is she and why is she so important? Bo-Katan is the Duchess of Mandalore’s sister and since the Duchess was killed Bo-Katan was considered the rightful owner of Mandalore. She later was given the Darksaber and became the rightful owner of it. 

When Bo-Katan first showed up, she and her two companions were rescuing Mando and Baby Yoda, or Grogu, from the Quarren. After the daring rescue Bo-Katan removed her helmet and Mando demanded her armor accusing her of not being a true Mandolorian. Bo-Katan then explained to Mando, and the audience, that he was a Child of the Watch. The Watch was a cult of Mandalorian religious extremists who follow the ancient ways. 

Skipping forward Bo-Katan tried asking one of the imperial officers where she could find Moff Gideon. The reason that this female Mandalorian was asking for the Moff was because, as we all know, he had the darksaber. The darksaber is a lightsaber made by a force sensitive Mandalorian but after he passed the people of Mandalore took the saber back into their possession. Since it was taken back it was always given to the ruler of Mandalore. Since Bo-Katan was now that ruler she wanted the darksaber back. Unfortunately it has not been explained how Moff Gideon got his hands on the darksaber but hopefully that will be revealed soon. 

The Siege

In this episode we were shown some familiar faces and planets. Mando’s adventures brought him back to Nevarro where he reunited with Cara Dune and Greef Karga. We see that Cara and Greef have both cleaned up the town and most of the world however they need help getting rid of an abandoned imperial base. The reasons they wanted to get rid of the base so quickly was so that nobody could go there and collect things to sell on the black market. They go and get Mythrol, the amphibious blue person that Mando captured in season one episode one. 

Not too long into their mission they stumble across a room that had several tanks with something inside. During this scene one can hear Snoke’s theme playing in the background which had fans wondering if one of the beings in the tank was indeed Supreme Leader Snoke from The Force Awakens. They also find a message from Dr. Pershing explaining that it would be dangerous to extract more blood from the client, Grogu, because it could kill him. 

After Mando escapes from the planet it cuts to a scene with an Imperial officer who is viewing a transmission. After the transmission cuts off she goes to inform Moff Gideon to tell him that a tracker has been placed on Mando’s ship, the Razor Crest. Around Moff Gideon we see something that until now wasn’t canon. These things were Dark Troopers. Dark Troopers were first shown in a video game called Star Wars: Dark Forces which was related in 1995. These special troopers were a group of elite stormtroopers empowered with the dark side of the Force. Because these troopers are empowered with the force it might explain why Moff Gideon wants to extract the midichlorians from the Child’s blood. 

The Jedi

This was the episode that everyone was waiting for. After the news was leaked that Ahsoka Tano was going to have an appearance in the Mandalorian, fans were anxious to see her. Once the director of each episode was released and fans saw Dave Filoni, the creator of the Clone Wars and Rebels, directed episode five fans knew Ahsoka Tano would show up. And fans were not disappointed. Who is Ahsoka Tano? Ahsoka Tano was first introduced in 2008 when the Clone Wars movie was released. After clone wars stopped airing the show Rebels was released and Ahsoka also made an appearance in that. 

Another thing that happened in this episode that was exciting was The Child was finally given a name, Grogu. After this name was given it was revealed that the name Grogu had actually been decided on in season 1 but the directors and writers decided to wait for the perfect moment to give it. Dave Filoni decided that it would be best that Ahsoka gave the name. 

Moving forward, when Ahsoka refused to train Grogu because “His [Grogu] attachment to you [Mando] makes him vulnerable to his fears, his anger.” She then says, to give more explanation, “No. I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us. I will not start this child down that path. Better to let his abilities fade.” It’s no secret that Ahsoka is referring to her ex-master, Anakin Skywalker and his change to Darth Vader. 

Ahsoka then strikes a deal with Mando that if he can help her defeat the Magistrate then she might help. The Magistrate actually has a very interesting background. It was revealed that she is a nightsister. Nightsisters were a race from Dathomir and until now we believed that the Nightsisters had all been killed. Apparently we were wrong. Moving on from the Magistrate we will look at one of the assassin droids meant to kill Ahsoka. If you look you can see a symbol on the side of his head, this symbol is the Chimaera’s symbol. The Chimaera was the flagship and prime ship of Thrawn’s personal armada and, indeed, Thrawn’s fleet in general. 

Thrawn, the name that left numerous fans shaking. After Ahsoka beats the Magistrate she says, “Now tell me, where is your master? Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?” For more Casual fans you might be wondering, “Who is this Grand Admiral Thrawn character?” Grand Admiral Thrawn is a male Chiss which was first introduced in the novel Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn which was released in 1991. Unfortunately when Disney bought Star Wars Timothy Zahn’s books were made legends. However Thrawn was put back into Canon when Dave Filoni put him in Rebels. A new trilogy for Thrawn was also released as well. He has been a crowd favorite since 1991 and hopefully more fans will be introduced to this Grand Admiral. The Tragedy

The most recent episodes left fans with mixed emotions. Mando and Grogu travel to the planet Tython to visit a Jedi Temple that is there. In legends Tython was a planet in the Tython system that was incredibly rich in the Force. Ahsoka sent Mando and Grogu there so Grogu could reach out in the force and try to contact any remaining jedi. While they were there Mando was waiting for Grogu to finish using the force a ship arrived. This ship was Slave I, the infamous Boba Fett’s ship.

Boba lands and approaches Mando and seconds later reveals a familiar face, the assassin from the season 1 episode 5, Fennec Shand. Fans were right when they thought it was Boba Fett who approached her “dead” body at the end of the episode. She reveals that Boba saved her life. Boba asks for his armor back and he says that if he returns his armor both him and Fennec would help protect Grogu. Mando agreed and returned the armor. We then learn that Jango fett was a foundling much like Mando and that Boba’s armor once belonged to Jango Fett and before that Jango’s father and so on.

Not too long after a small imperial ship showed up and deployed several stormtroopers. However it didn’t take long before Mando, Boba, and Fennec disposed of them. Another ship landed and deployed more troopers only from them to meet a similar fate. The ones who escaped didn’t make it far before Boba knocked them out of the sky with his rocket launcher. As soon as the characters were relaxing a blaster bolt came out of nowhere and blew up the Razor Crest. Mando then rushes to save the kid but the dark troopers make another appearance and steal the child. Mando can’t do anything but examine his blown up ship. The only thing that survived was the ball that Grogu liked and the beskar spear.

There are so many problems that need to be solved and only two more episodes left in the season. Will Mando save Grogu? Are we going to get to see a fight between Mando and Gideon? The only way to know is by watching the next two episodes on Disney+ when they are released. For Grogu’s sake let’s hope Mando can get him back. This is the way.