'The Mandalorian' Fans Noticed an Incredible Star Wars Easter Egg in Season Two's Stunning Final Scene

From Esquire

The Season Two finale of The Mandalorian may be one of the greatest Star Wars moments of all time. When all hope seems lost for our heroes trying to rescue the Child formerly known as Baby Yoda, a lone X-Wing arrives on Moff Gideon's ship. Out steps a hooded figure with a green lightsaber, who slices their way through dozens of elite droid soldiers. The warrior fights to the deck of the ship, and is revealed to be Luke Skywalker, who is there to take young Grogu to train as a Jedi.

Ahead of the finale, there were rumors that Luke Skywalker might make an appearance, but the idea of seeing the central Star Wars hero in a TV series in 2020 seemed pretty far fetched. Yet, creator Jon Favreau pulled off the impossible, with a pretty unanimously satisfying and surprising Star Wars moment. In the weeks since Season Two of The Mandalorian came to an end, fans have been discussing what this means for the show and the Star Wars universe as a whole going forward.

But one fan on Reddit noticed a pretty incredible parallel between Luke Skywalker's appearance and another pivotal scene in the prequel series. Reddit user skywalkinondeezhatrz posted a side-by-side series of photos showing how the finale of The Mandalorian mirrors Anakin Skywalker's massacre of the Jedi Temple in Revenge of the Sith. The visual and emotional beats of the scene offer a powerful contrast between father and son. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin reveals himself to be a Sith lord as he kills the young Jedi children in the Temple, destroying the future of the Jedi Order. In The Mandalorian, Luke reveals himself to be the new leader of the Jedi Order, promising a future for the young Force users like Grogu in the galaxy.

Of course, the father and son aren't entirely different. They both were capable of immense failure, too. Anakin, obviously, failed the Jedi by turning to the dark side. But Luke's own failure—which is yet to come within the Star Wars timeline after the events of The Mandalorian—is more subtle. His failure of Ben Solo leads to the destruction of his new Jedi Temple, and once again throws the galaxy into chaos. It's not so dissimilar to the ending of Episode III.

And, one of the questions remaining after The Mandalorian Season Two finale, is how Mando and Grogu play into the events that we know are yet to come.

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