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.
