Why is Grogu, the child hunted in the Mandalorian

Abhijeet Pratap
3 min readSep 28, 2022

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Image credit: starwars/Lucasfilm

Grogu’s force sensitivity is the strongest reason that there is a bounty on him. While force sensitivity is the most important trait that he is being hunted down for, the imperial remnant might be seeking him to study the genetic traits, for cloning, or for training him to become one of them. However, when the Mandalorian has handed Grogu over to the imperial client, the talk between Dr Pershing and the client suggests that it is something specific inside the child that they seek. Remember, when the client tells the Mandalorian that he could bring the child in cold, which meant he could kill it, Dr Pershing protested saying it was needed alive.

The IG-11 unit that went to find the child was also instructed to eliminate it and that’s why Mandalorian shot the IG-11 to save the Kid (Grogu). So, Grogu could also be perceived as a danger and that’s why the imperial remnants might have wanted him dead. When the Mandalorian again goes to the imperial safehouse to have the kid back, he overhears a conversation between the client and Dr Pershing, where the client asks Pershing to extract the necessary material from the child and be done with it. It was not clear what was this material that they wanted to extract from the child. It could be something specific to its genes or might be some piece of information stored in its mind.

However, when the Mandalorian enters the room where Dr Pershing was with the child, he sees an IT-O Interrogation unit hanging from the ceiling and Grogu was lying inside a scanner. IT-O was a droid used for mind probe. It suggests that the material might be some information in the child’s mind which could be dangerous for the client and his boss Moff Gideon. Actually, it was Moff Gideon directing the whole operation which became clear in later episodes.

So, it was not just the force sensitivity of the child that it was being hunted but also something else, which could be some piece of information or some highly valuable genetic material. Moff Gideon seeks the child and he is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone for his cause which becomes clear in chapter eight of the Mandalorian. Apart from chapter one and three, you need to check out chapter eight to understand why he might be so valuable or dangerous for the imperial remnant.

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