Thanks to the latest episode of the Mandalorian titled 'The Jedi', I felt it necessary to rewrite my history for our beloved Baby Yoda. I will continue to adjust this particular chapter as necessary if more information is given that badly contradicts something that I've written.

The Womprat's Prologue (more canon version):

By the time the second Death Star was half completed, subject YC-43 was the last surviving clone of Jedi Grand Master Yoda, much to Darth Sidious' disgust.

Years before, around 41 BBY, Yoda had ordered a clone of himself in a last ditch effort to try and save his nearly extinct species. But Sidious, with his extensive spy network and visions from the Force, caught wind of the experiment and decided that he would turn this into an opportunity for himself as well, so he ordered another hundred clones to be made in secret from the same company (with a very generous bribe, of course).

And then he ordered them to send the least promising looking one to the Jedi Temple, which happened to be YC-43.

Removed from his vat on the 146th day of the year 41 BBY, Fouree, as scientists from Arkanian Microtechnologies called him for short, was the smallest of his brothers. During the five months they kept him after his unvating day, it was determined that his accelerated growth gene was faulty and that there was a high possibility he'd remain a child in both body and mentality for centuries longer than normal for his already very long lived species, thus making Fouree the least helpful towards revitalizing Yoda's species and enforcing the myth that it wasn't wise to try and clone a Force user.

The rest of the Yoda clones were almost all perfect, normal, and strong in the Force. Unfortunately for them, and Sidious' plans, the rigours of the testing and training processes he and the scientists put them through weren't very conducive towards survival.

Fouree, or Grogu, as he was named once he arrived at his new home, had just as many midi-chlorians as his brothers and gene donor, but because of his slow growth and mental state, spent fifteen years all but hidden in the depths of the Jedi Temple before he joined the classes given to the new younglings that came in from all over the galaxy around the age of two to three years.

Those first fifteen years of his life were lonely for Grogu, and he learned quickly that crying didn't make the Jedi healers that cared for his basic needs appear any quicker. Nor did it inspire the small green being who leaned on a stick to visit any more frequently, despite the fact that Grogu felt drawn to him.

When he was transferred up to the younglings' crèche, Grogu was at first scared of the other young beings who surrounded, loomed, and exclaimed over him with curiosity and too many strong Force signatures to process. But he soon learned to rejoice in their company and loving attentions. One girl in particular, one with orange skin and blue and white headtails that fascinated him and was about ten years old, became his favourite person. She was stronger with the Force than the other children and could 'speak' to him with her mind and understand his thoughts the same way the grown up Masters did, since he was still incapable of actual speech.

Ahsoka, or Soki as Grogu thought of her, spent much of her spare time helping him understand his lessons and bolstering his spirits when he grew frustrated because the other children progressed faster than he did. (Not to mention actually grew bigger!) He understood, more or less, that he wasn't supposed to get attached to anyone at the Temple, but if Grogu loved anyone, he loved his Soki.

But four years after meeting her, she was promoted to Padawan and sent off to fight in the new war and he saw her only occasionally when she came home for a break between missions. In the meantime, he worked harder on pleasing the many teachers who spent one-on-one time with him, especially the old one he eventually came to understand looked like himself.

At least he still had other friends in the crèche, like Caleb and Zett, until they too passed their Initiate Trials and were promoted to Padawans. At one point, Grogu was afraid that all of his friends would be sent off to war before he could even walk without falling on his diapered tushy.

One day, a couple years after Soki had first left him behind, there was a massive explosion in the Temple, extinguishing the Force signatures of many and leading to her return. But it wasn't for long, and she only visited him once during that time. After that, she never came back again. He only wished he could understand why. No one would tell him, no matter how many images of her he sent to their minds over the course of the next year. The only response he ever received was a sense of sorrow that made him fear that she too had been erased from this life.

He mourned for his lost friend.

Then the Force around him went wholly Dark one day and everything changed for Grogu again.

A man he recognized as Soki's beloved Master – who he'd met twice and had liked very much - came to get him from the crèche. But Skyguy didn't feel like he normally did in the Force. This version of Skyguy was terrifying and his eyes glowed a foul yellow colour, prompting whimpers of fear from nearly all of the other toddlers and children in the room. Grogu tried to hide from Skyguy out of instinct, but he wasn't fast enough. The man in black caught him and then promptly handed him off to one of the armoured clones Grogu had seen around the Temple many times, saying gruffly, "Take this to the Chancellor."

"Yes, Sir," the clone had said with a brisk nod as he gripped Grogu too tightly.

The last sight Grogu had of Skyguy was of his blue lightsabre lit as he stalked towards where the other younglings were cowering in a corner.

Grogu was delivered to an even more terrifying man that brought back the vaguest of memories, like they'd met before.

It didn't get any better after that.

He was taken to a another planet, and from there his memory became fuzzy. From that time, he only remembered a great deal of pain as he was experimented on and forced to learn new skills with the power of the Dark energy that surrounded him all the time.

At some point, Grogu found out that he wasn't the only youngling or even the only small green being trapped in the facility, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. And with more pain and drugs, even that memory faded in time.

So did the memory of what his name was.

And that's how, by the end of 2 ABY, YC-43 was the last of his brothers at the medical and research facility on Vohai.

At that point, Sidious still had plans to use YC-43 as an assassin or at least a test subject for his further cloning endeavours, but the Sith Lord was more than fed up with how long it was taking for the still infant-like child to grow up and start talking at the very least; for what kind of assassin can you really be if you can't even order food at a restaurant?

The other problem with his plan was that Forty-three really wasn't much of a killer unless he was put in an extreme situation where the tiny green child felt the need to instinctively defend himself in whatever way worked best.

So Sidious had the annoying being transported to his massive mountain vault on Wayland to be just another artifact to gloat over for the next hundred years or so until the child finally grew up enough to be useful.

Except the transport ship was hijacked by pirates and Forty-Three found himself in the hands of one Hondo Ohnaka. Amused by the cute baby-thing that could perform Force tricks, the old Weequay kept the child for a few weeks until he happened upon a notice from the Empire about a massive reward with no questions asked for the return of a 'unique pet with green skin and long pointed ears and was approximately the same size as a small lothcat'.

Hondo gave more than half a thought to giving the child to his good friend, Ezra Bridger, since the boy was a Jedi and surely would be interested in another Force using being, but he was literally unable to resist the siren call of easy credits. So Hondo turned in the 'pet' to the nearest Imperial facility, which happened to be the giant Dome on Lothal.

Forty-Three was kept there for another week, under the tender 'care' of a Human woman called Pryce, who was sworn to secrecy by Sidious over what she had in her possession until he could send another trusted individual to collect it. Disgusted and disconcerted by the small creature who kept looking at her with big, knowing eyes, Arihnda Pryce ordered a floating nursery pram that took discreet care of the bodily needs for the child and locked it within with a supply of protein bars and water to keep it alive.

The pram remained unopened until the legendary bounty hunter, Cad Bane, showed up on Lothal to pick up his new charge. The blue Duros only glanced in to make sure that what he'd been sent for was actually in the pram and then it was closed again.

Pryce was happy to see it go.

If she'd known that only two weeks later, she'd be blown up along with the Imperial Dome, she would have personally delivered that child to the Emperor and saved Bane the trouble of trying to hang on to what soon became the most sought after bounty on the black market in a decade.

Any time Bane stopped for fuel on the long trip to Coruscant, he had to fight to keep the pram from falling into the hands of other bounty hunters who'd been hired to acquire the 'lost pet' that the Emperor was so interested in.

No one even knew what it was they were hunting or wanting so badly, but if the reward had been that great for the return of it, it must be valuable, so the rich and depraved wanted it for their collections.

Bane held onto Fouree for two whole days, and took a roundabout route to try to throw off his pursuers, but on the dusty planet of Vanqor, Bane was ambushed by over fifty of the worst sort of bounty hunters (dishonourable to the extreme) and left for dead with multiple injuries.

Grateful that he'd asked for half his pay up front, as usual, and that it was already in one of his very large and practically overflowing bank accounts, Bane decided that it was time to retire and use the opportunity to fake his death.

No one's seen him since.

And as for Forty-Three, the green child lived in that egg shaped pram for the next five years as he was passed from hand to hand as people stole him and bought him and stole him again.

By the time the nameless-to-nearly-all-but-himself Mandalorian, who, ironically, was making a name for himself as one of the best bounty hunters in the Outer Rim, was hired to find him in 9 ABY, Forty-Three was only a day or two away from giving up all hope of ever seeing something more than the curved top to his cage again, and was seriously contemplating starving himself to death as a final escape.

But then, as he was sleeping (because there was nothing else to do), the child had a dream. A dream about a faceless man in silver armour holding him with strong but careful hands and affection in his heart.

Four days later, Forty-Three saw the man for real. And in what felt like no time at all, he had a new name:

Womprat.

He didn't know what it meant, having never seen or heard of such a thing, but the Mando said it with genuine warmth in his tone, so that was good enough for him.

And with the giving of his new name, Womprat knew he was finally with the person who would love him best in his entire long life and he vowed to himself to do whatever it took to protect the faceless man.