The Book Of Boba Fett Revealed The Origins Of A Key The Last Jedi Location
Warning: this article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "The Book of Boba Fett."
Well, that escalated quickly. What once resembled a low-stakes story about one of the most popular minor characters in all of "Star Wars" attempting to gain a foothold among the criminal underbelly of Tatooine has now turned into something altogether different. With the last two episodes of "The Book of Boba Fett," particularly today's "From The Desert Comes A Stranger," the series has fully embraced the larger universe of the franchise, corralling familiar faces — both expected and otherwise — into an ongoing storyline that is now anyone's guess as to how it will conclude with the (season? series?) finale next week.
The reappearance of a de-aged Luke Skywalker (voiced by Mark Hamill, but physically represented by "Jedi performance artist" Graham Hamilton and some impressive visual effects), the live-action debut of a villainous animated character, and a deeper looker into the backstory of Grogu himself were only a few of the most talked-about aspects of the sixth episode, but one particular moment early on established just how interconnected these Disney+ shows intend to remain with the recent movies. The Mandalorian himself, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), kicks off the action this week by landing on the planet where Luke is currently hard at work training Grogu in the Jedi ways. But before ever crossing paths with the two powerful Force-users again, none other than R2-D2 brings Mando to a building currently in the process of construction. Mando can't make heads or tails of what it's meant to be, but the eventual appearance of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) promptly clears things up.
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"There's nothing now, but will someday be a great school." Ahsoka admits that she and Luke intend for Grogu to be its first student in a generation of new Jedi knights, but we're already aware of at least one future member of this institution. Yes, we've seen this location once before — during a traumatic flashback recounted by an older, more jaded Luke Skywalker himself in "The Last Jedi." Given the timeline of events and Luke's indirect connection with Mando through Grogu, we probably should've expected one of these Disney+ shows to explore the creation of this school. That opportunity finally arrived and has given us lots to talk about. Let's dig into it!
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The yawning gap between the events of "Return of the Jedi" and "The Force Awakens" decades later occurred as both a logistical inevitability — people grow old (spoiler alert!) and bringing back the original cast at their current ages brought a sense of weight to the new movies — and a calculated choice to leave open tons of potential for future storytelling possibilities. Well, that gap is finally being filled in even more with the arrival of "The Mandalorian" and now "The Book of Boba Fett." Expanded tie-in material in the form of novels and comics have shaded in some of the lesser-known and more confusing details left hanging by the sequel trilogy (you may recall the novelization for "The Rise of Skywalker" explaining quite a bit of information that the movie never got around to), but these new streaming shows have taken a giant step further.
Until Disney took over the franchise and promptly removed all sense of mystery, fans spent decades dreaming about what may have taken place after the fall of the Empire and the (supposed) defeat of the Emperor — specifically regarding what Luke was up to during such a prolonged period of (relative) peace and quiet. Well, both "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" go a long way towards explaining how Luke's dream of training a whole new group of Jedi to follow in his footsteps crashed and burned before his very eyes; literally, as shown in "The Last Jedi."
Despite his best intentions, Luke's misplaced arrogance and false sense of security in raising his nephew Ben Solo (Adam Driver) in the ways of the Force backfired tragically. The very site of this school, depicted with such optimism and hope for the future as hardworking droids lay its foundations in "The Book of Boba Fett," will eventually transform into a hellish landscape and a flaming pile of rubble as Ben Solo rebels against his uncle and gives in utterly to the Dark Side. (A comic series titled "The Rise of Kylo Ren" appears to cast some element of doubt over whether Ben himself razed the school and killed his former classmates or if darker forces were responsible, but this retcon only came around after the fact). Grogu may end up becoming the first student of the school ... but Ben Solo proved to be its last.
"Size Matters Not"
After establishing Luke and Ahsoka's dream of this new school for the next generation of Jedi, last night's episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" quickly moves on to a training montage that goes out of its way to flip the dynamic between Luke — who once trained under Yoda's masterful and long-suffering eye in "The Empire Strikes Back" — and Grogu, who now takes the place of the young, brash, and utterly inexperienced Luke. The parallels between these training scenes ring out even to the most casual "Star Wars" fans among us, with Luke now attempting to teach Grogu in the arts of controlling the Force. Agility, defense, and recognizing the balance that the Force affords its most ardent users top the list of qualities Luke attempts to pass on to the infant, which again reflects back on the punishing regimen that Yoda forces Luke to undergo in the swamps of Dagobah.
Luke goes out of his way to bring up Yoda's influence on his path to becoming a Jedi and the fact that Grogu reminds him of his old friend, who also shares a connection with "The Last Jedi" when he appears to Luke once more to set him straight during a time of personal crisis. Years may pass and circumstances may take the most unexpected routes, but some things never change, as Yoda sums up with one rueful delivery of the line, "Oh, Skywalker. Missed you, I have." His cameo in "The Last Jedi," easily one of the best moments in the film, revolves around the idea of masters passing on everything they know to those who come after them — including the mistakes they make, so that figures like Rey (Daisy Ridley) may learn from them. Unfortunately, this crucial epiphany remains decades away for this portrayal of Luke in his prime, but the aspirational essence of Yoda's original training thankfully still remains.
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This school may ultimately end in ashes and ruin, but the future isn't yet written for Grogu himself. The episode ends with the inexperienced Padawan faced with his toughest choice yet — accept Mando's gift of Foundling chainmail and thus return to him, rejecting the Jedi ... or accept Luke's offer of Yoda's lightsaber and remain with him in training, even if that means he never sees Mando again. The conflicting push and pull between emotional attachments versus the clarity needed for his training is represented by that unfinished school and, given what we know about its later fate, everything it stands for. I'm as curious as the rest of you to find out which path Grogu chooses to pursue.