Why Is Everyone Sharing Photos of Baby Yoda? The Viral Meme, Explained

From Oprah Magazine

• The Mandalorian recently premiered on Disney Plus and subsequently, Baby Yoda memes have exploded on the internet, flooding feeds with viral moments from Instagram to Twitter that star the little green critter’s cuteness. While Baby Yoda isn't his real name—he only goes by The Child in current episodes—fans have begun dishing out plenty of conspiracy theories about it.

• The science behind the infectious allure of the Baby Yoda meme is simple: Those eyes, those ears, that pod, and that li’l cup. Oh, and it's become so popular that Disney and Mattel teamed up for a $24.99 plush toy version, now available for pre-order.

The Force is definitely strong on the internet thanks to the latest meme dominating the social media verse. It comes in the form of an irresistible miniature Jedi Master who Star Wars fans have affectionately dubbed Baby Yoda. The little green critter was first introduced at the tail end of the series premiere for Disney+’s The Mandalorian, a live-action franchise spin-off that tracks the adventures of a lone bounty hunter somewhere really far away. Four episodes later and the cutie pie has already launched an assault on our social media feeds, not to mention gotten Mattel to create a plush toy. And we are here for it. But before we launch into meme heaven, a little explanation we must give.

Let’s start with his name. Baby Yoda. Seems like it’s the most apt moniker one could give that adorable being, yeah? Well, when you break it down, you see it’s not entirely correct. First of all, Baby Yoda isn’t a baby at all. He’s 50 years old—although, in the imaginary sphere that is Star Wars, considering some live to be 900 years old, we suppose the infant descriptor is fair.

Further, the series has given no indication that the little guy has anything to do with the franchise legend Yoda. The only link to the wise one is that the two seem to be from the same humanoid alien species. It’s also worth noting that on the show, the tiny alien is known only as The Child. Which, of course, has sent fans spiraling into frenzied conspiracy queries—who are his parents, is he a lovechild, did he hatch from an egg? But we digress.

Now, about those memes. Since his debut, Baby Yoda has quickly become the darling of the internet—even out-performing politics and sending Giphy into a tizzy (don’t worry, the glitch was fixed, as you’ll see below). Here, we outline a few of the themes that have caught fire online. And even though meme fiends have an inordinate amount of ways to outwit, out-caption, and out-trend the next social media user, we can pretty much boil down the allure of Baby Yoda to this: those eyes, those ears, that pod, and that l’il bowl.

1) Those eyes.

The “Me doing X” caption formula is a winning format for delivering solid punchlines—the LOL success rate, of course, hinging on just the right amount of irony. These social media users have the technique down, and make good of those alien doe eyes.

2) Those ears.

Another pro-meme move catching fire is the “So-and-so walked so Baby Yoda could run.” We’ve seen Kermit the Frog, a mini Grinch, and super sweet Gizmo get that treatment, paving the way for the cutest big-eared alien in a galaxy far, far away.

3) That pod.

Why walk when you can fly around in your own tiny egg crate? The Child’s buoyant baby carriage contraption is getting a lot of attention online as well.

4) That li’l cup.

And now for the soupè de résistance. Arguably the greatest memes to come from the Baby Yoda scenes in the series’ first four episodes are those that use the image of Baby Yoda sippin’ some soup from a bowl-cup. They are just the thing to keep you from going to the dark side. See for yourself.

For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter!