The Ending Of The Mandalorian Chapter 14 Explained

With just two episodes left in its sophomore season, The Mandalorian is heading into the home stretch for 2020, and in Chapter 14, it raised the stakes pretty considerably. Spoilers for chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, "The Tragedy," ahead!

As the episode begins, Mando (Pedro Pascal) and the Child — whose name, we now know, is Grogu — arrive on the planet Tython and pretty much immediately finds the Jedi temple, on the advice of former Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). Soon after he places Grogu on the central Seeing Stone, the tiny would-be Jedi trainee goes into a trance, surrounded by an impenetrable Force field, leaving Mando to defend his ward against a series of threats.

Luckily, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and sharpshooter Fennec Shard (Ming-Na Wen) turn out to be allies rather than enemies, and once Boba gets his armor back from Mando, the two form an alliance, with Boba promising to help protect Grogu. However, after a group of Darktroopers capture Grogu and bring him to Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) Imperial ship, the mission gets much more complicated. From Moff Gideon's endgame to the gang's next steps, here's the ending of The Mandalorian chapter 14, explained.

Back in Chapter 12, we saw that the Empire had a tracking device placed on Mando's ship, the Razor Crest. And in "The Tragedy," that plan pays off, as Moff Gideon's Imperial forces find Mando on Tython and subsequently blow his ship to smithereens during the battle. After the Darktroopers bring Grogu back up to the Imperial ship, Moff Gideon is certainly happy to see him aboard his ship, even as Grogu Force-chokes two Stormtroopers. Though Moff Gideon adopts a disturbingly sweet act to speak to Grogu, he has Grogu stunned and handcuffed, telling a subordinate to send a message to Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi) that the "donor" has been procured.

Exactly what Moff Gideon means by "donor" remains to be seen, but the revelations from the gang's raid on the Imperial base in Chapter 12 are going to come back to the forefront. Gideon and Dr. Pershing were doing some kind of experimentation with genetic material that had something to do with the ability to use the Force — though the exact endgame of those experiments was left a mystery. Could this explain how the Emperor made his return in The Rise of Skywalker, which is set several years after the events of The Mandalorian?

One thing that does seem certain: After his time on the Seeing Stone, Grogu seems to be much more in control of his Force powers, though using them still exhausts his diminutive frame. After Ahsoka's suggestion that the darkness in Grogu's soul could send him down an unsavory path, Grogu's treatment of the Stormtroopers definitely offers some frightening undertones. But it will certainly be interesting to see how strong his hold on the Force is as the season comes to a close.

Now that Grogu is a prisoner on Moff Gideon's massive ship, you might think that it would be impossible for Mando to rescue him... and when asked, Mando all but admits defeat. However, Boba and Fennec assure him that they're by his side, and to uphold their side of the partnership, they have to make sure that Grogu is safely returned to Mando as soon as possible.

Three bounty hunters against a ship full of Stormtroopers and Imperial soldiers may seem like a long shot. But now that he's back in his old armor, Boba is more powerful than ever, taking down Stormtroopers like a champ, to say nothing of Fennec's excellent sharpshooting. As for Mando, we've seen how effective he is in battle clad in his Beskar armor — and in losing Grogu, Mando is more emotionally charged than we've ever seen him. Beyond that, Mando heads to Navarro to see Cara Dune (Gina Carano), who's now serving as the Marshall of the New Republic on the planet, and asks her to jailbreak another sharpshooter we've met before: Bill Burr's Migs Mayfield, who can help find Moff Gideon's ship.

Everything in this episode indicated a pretty wild ride for the final two episodes of The Mandalorian, so audiences can expect to buckle up for the last stretch of the season. The Mandalorian premieres every Friday at midnight PST, and the second season thus far is available to stream on Disney+.