Why Baby Yoda Force Chokes Stormtroopers (Is He Going To The Dark Side?)

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6, “Chapter 14: The Tragedy.” 

The end of The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6, “Chapter 14: The Tragedy,” finds Baby Yoda, having been captured by Moff Gideon, using Force choke on a coupe of Stormtroopers – does this further hint at Grogu turning to the dark side? Having been tracking the Child for some time, Gideon uses his Dark Troopers to capture Baby Yoda on Tython in “The Tragedy”, and readies Dr. Pershing to collect more blood samples from him so that their apparent Force cloning experiments can continue.

When Gideon enters the holding cell Baby Yoda is being kept in, he finds a rather remarkable sight: Grogu using the Force to push and throw around two Imperial Stormtroopers as though they were nothing, before then Force choking them quite badly. Eventually, Baby Yoda throws the two of them together and knocks them out, before starting to collapse himself from exhaustion after exerting so much energy. Gideon himself encourages Baby Yoda’s dark side behavior, so does this hint at a turn for Grogu?

This isn’t the first time Baby Yoda has used Force choke, as he notably did it on Cara Dune in The Mandalorian season 1. On both occasions, it can arguably be defended by saying the people he uses it on are the “bad guy” in the circumstances: he thought Cara was hurting Din Djarin, and here the Stormtroopers are holding him prisoner, so his actions are somewhat justifiable. At the same time, though, Force choke is very much a power associated with the dark side, since it was made infamous by Darth Vader, and with the Stormtroopers it seems as though Baby Yoda is enjoying himself; he’s toying with them and having fun smashing them into the wall and choking them.

Interestingly, this comes after his time on the Seeing Stone on Tython, where he went into some kind of Force trance. It’s possible that Baby Yoda’s powers were boosted by the Force field, or even just by being on a planet so rich in it to begin with. Because of that, Grogu may just have wanted to use the new power flowing through him, as he begins to become more reconnected to the Force after keeping his abilities hidden for so long. But it’s also plausible that whatever Baby Yoda saw in his Force vision could lead him down a dark path. Much like Vader wanted to tempt Luke, Gideon seems ready to try and bring Grogu over to the dark side, and combined with hints that there is a darkness within him (from Force choking to eating Frog Lady’s eggs) then it isn’t out of the question that’s where Baby Yoda’s story is heading.

At this point, it feels unlikely Baby Yoda would fully go over to the dark side, but there’s definitely fertile narrative ground in exploring the temptation, and Star Wars has done it with many a Jedi in the past. But it’s also worth noting that Grogu is still a child. The book Secrets of the Jedi, written from the in-universe perspective of Luke Skywalker, contains a telling revelation: “Some Force users, particularly Force-sensitive children — known by the Jedi as Younglings — are able to tap into its energy without an obvious alignment to either side. The Force simply flows through them in its purest form.” 

This, then, can be used to explain Baby Yoda’s Force powers. Much like he could use Force heal, which was an inherently light side Force power (although Star Wars has since associated it more with Force dyads), he can also use Force choke, because to him there is no difference between them. One is not light and the other dark, they are both simply ways of letting the Force flow through him. Right now, Baby Yoda is seemingly well balanced, so what matters most is not his Force choking of Stormtroopers, but how he’s raised in the years to come. As he gets older, it’s more likely he will eventually be swayed one way or another. If left to Moff Gideon, that would undoubtedly be the dark, but assuming his journey truly belongs with Din, then Baby Yoda’s future in The Mandalorian should be more to the light side.

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