I’ve been thinking about this scene today. At first I was mad at Luke. How dare he force a child to make such a choice. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered.
Has Grogu ever been allowed to choose before, to decide his own fate? Did he even realize that going back to dad was an option available to him?
He was raised in a Jedi temple and trained for years, before the next part of his life, the dark part of his memory, before Din found him. And then at the end of season 2 Din says, “You’re a very special kid, we’re going to find that place you belong and they are going to take real good care of you.” He tells Grogu that he’ll have to go with the Jedi if they find one. Of course, we know that at this point Din is talking to himself, reminding himself that he doesn’t get to keep Grogu. But does Grogu know that? Or does Grogu hear just his words and feel like that is where he is supposed to go? That that’s what Dad wants so that’s what he has to do?
But Luke says he feels like Grogu’s heart is not in it, and that Grogu is less learning and more remembering.
Din comes to visit and is convinced to turn away without visiting him. It’s implied that visiting him would be distracting, and that it would be selfish. Din is a good Dad, and he wants what is best for his kid. He leaves, Grogu sees him leave. He reaches out, does he feel him? Does he know that his Dad left without stopping by to say hello?
What Luke does next is not cruel. He knows the choice Grogu is going to make, after all, didn’t he make the same choice when Yoda told Luke to stay? Luke also reminds him that human life is short, if he doesn’t choose his Dad, he’ll be missing out. Luke never got a chance to grow up with his dad, but Grogu will. The important thing is that it’s the first time in his long life that Grogu, still a child, gets to decide his own fate. He knows Din still cares about him, why else would he bring him armor otherwise? And then he finds out he can go back to him. We didn’t hear Grogu laugh the entire time he was with Luke. Grogu may be 50 but I think the only time he was ever happy, and the only time he was ever allowed to just be a mischievous little kid was with Din. And he finally gets to choose. Luke was being kind.
I’ll take this and nail this to the front door, ty. Luke is clumsy with this as a person without a huge experience with children but he’s not some awful dude. I always thought that the only thing Grogu was hearing from Din was how he would have to go with the Jedi and Grogu went to make his favorite person proud- He didn’t want to go with Luke, not without Din telling him to go one last time. And I think when Luke trusted his instincts, he knew what to say to Grogu to let Grogu decide what he wanted most instead of everyone around him deciding for him.
Revisiting a scene from the last episode of The Book of Boba Fett again! Please enjoy Sand/Awestruck for this week’s @dankfarrikdrabbles prompt.
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Get. Up.
His head was spinning and his back was hurting something terrible. But he had to get to Grogu. Maybe if he was fast enough he could activate the jetpack, grab him and fly away. He’d figure out how to deal with the rancor later – the boy was his priority. The roars coming out of the beast were definitely not good and he didn’t have time to figure out why the child had escaped Peli’s arms. Or why he had decided to challenge the enraged animal on his own.
Din pushed against the packed sand with a groan, relegating his throbbing pain to the back of his mind for the time being and tried very hard not to let the vision of the toddler seconds away from being eaten alive overwhelm him and send him into a panic.
And then Grogu raised his ridiculously tiny hand.
And the rancor stopped moving.
And Din stopped breathing.
The kid was… What was he doing? Din could only look on in astonishment as Grogu managed to get the beast to fall asleep, using only the power of his mind. Slowly, oh so slowly. Every second lasting an eternity, as Din wondered worriedly if he should intervene. But there was no need in the end, and he found his breath again when the rancor’s head softly touched the sand with a last, hoarse exhale.
He’d questioned the boy’s return earlier – had he managed to learn anything from Skywalker? Was it safe for him to be at the mercy of the galaxy again? And it seemed that he now had the start of an answer: the child was more powerful than ever before, and he wouldn’t be at the mercy of anything – or anyone. Not as long as he still had breath in him, Din decided, standing up shakily with the help of the Twi’lek majordomo.
Grogu was back to being his number one priority, he acknowledged, observing him succumb to sleep, burrowed against the rancor, utterly spent. And that realization brought a smile to his face – his life had meaning again.
His hands moved involuntarily, discreetly pointing to where the kid was. It was hard to ignore the feelings that ran through his veins, but it was harder to ignore the sadness and disappointment that he felt crossing his face.
Grogu was right there, so close and yet so far.
He could ignore all the words spoken, forget the unanswered questions, listen to his heart and keep his promise, he just had to…
No.
If that would hurt Grogu, if that would make things difficult for the kid… no. He couldn’t do that, he shouldn’t do that. If a heart was to be broken, Din would choose to break his own heart, always his.
He had to protect Grogu, he just wanted to protect him. No matter how hard it was to ignore the pain that welled up in his chest and seemed to throb in his right shoulder, there, just below thatpauldron.
Din missed the kid, he would miss him all his life, there were no excuses that would disguise that, but now, perhaps it would be the last time he could see the child… and it would be from a distance. Maybe Grogu was a padawan now, maybe that was right.
It didn’t matter that in his gift he would leave a part of his heart and a part of his soul. No matter the sadness, no matter the broken heart that hides behind the beskar, no matter the pain.
No matter that the armor that covers him couldn’t protect him from this wound, Din would protect his son.
Definitely TBOBF hasn’t given me ideas for drabbles *wink, wink* It’s been a while since I wrote one of these, but I hope you like it:)Image from cap-that.com
His hands moved involuntarily, discreetly pointing to where the kid was. It was hard to ignore the feelings that ran through his veins, but it was harder to ignore the sadness and disappointment that he felt crossing his face.
Grogu was right there, so close and yet so far.
He could ignore all the words spoken, forget the unanswered questions, listen to his heart and keep his promise, he just had to…
No.
If that would hurt Grogu, if that would make things difficult for the kid… no. He couldn’t do that, he shouldn’t do that. If a heart was to be broken, Din would choose to break his own heart, always his.
He had to protect Grogu, he just wanted to protect him. No matter how hard it was to ignore the pain that welled up in his chest and seemed to throb in his right shoulder, there, just below thatpauldron.
Din missed the kid, he would miss him all his life, there were no excuses that would disguise that, but now, perhaps it would be the last time he could see the child… and it would be from a distance. Maybe Grogu was a padawan now, maybe that was right.
It didn’t matter that in his gift he would leave a part of his heart and a part of his soul. No matter the sadness, no matter the broken heart that hides behind the beskar, no matter the pain.
No matter that the armor that covers him couldn’t protect him from this wound, Din would protect his son.
Definitely TBOBF hasn’t given me ideas for drabbles *wink, wink* It’s been a while since I wrote one of these, but I hope you like it:)Image from cap-that.com
“It didn’t matter if they didn’t share the same blood, species, or even a language, Din and Grogu had become allit… family.
Without planning it… without asking.
But, just a glance was enough for anyone who saw them to see the deep bond they shared, stronger than the beskar and brighter than the power in the child’s hands…
Din lost his parents in the middle of a battle involving droids destroying a city and years later he got his son back in the middle of a battle involving droids destroying a city DON’T TOUCH ME I’M EMOTIONAL RIGHT NOW.
Making some wooden pins this is the Mando design I’m working on
[Image Description: A stylized portrait of the Mandalorian and Grogu from The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is holding Grogu and leaning close to him. The baby his his arm wrapped around the Mandalorian and is wearing a tiny pauldron with a Mudhorn sigil on it.]
The beauty of Din and Grogu’s similar life experiences being paralleled by these shots. <3
Both lost their families, both were taken in by Mandalorians, both found a home and a family in the Mandalorians. And they have these amazing comparative shots to show that.
