Nautilus

What Makes Baby Yoda So Lovable?

The ways in which this creature’s creators have successfully modeled him on human attributes can offer insights into how and why people deem certain beings and certain behaviors undeniably lovable.Star Wars Wallpaper / Lucasfilm

The internet doesn’t agree on much these days. But there is one indisputable fact: Baby Yoda is absolutely adorable.

For the uninitiated, Baby Yoda is an infantile alien and the breakout star of , a television series, now in its second season, set in the . The new show’s “mysterious child,” clearly modeled on Yoda from the original film trilogy—a small, green-skinned, big-eared figure who can wield “the force”—has captured the popular imagination with memes of the little tot sipping soup, playing with toys, or just simply sleeping. And Baby Yoda’s appeal goes beyond social media. For instance,  have adopted the child as , the latest example in a long tradition of

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