WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian episode, "Chapter 2: The Child," now streaming on Disney+.

One of the Star Wars universe's most beloved, and most annoying, species made an appearance in the second episode of The Mandalorian. After collecting his young alien bounty, the Mandalorian returns to his ship, only to find it being stripped for parts by a crew of Jawas.

The Jawas, the hooded scavengers first seen in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, haven't changed their ways in the five years between this series and the original trilogy. Although, as the titular character learns, this crew of Jawas on the desert planet Arvala-7 is more fierce than those seen on Tatooine.

In this episode, Dyn Jarren fends them off, disintegrating a few in the process, but the rest flee to their massive sandcrawler. As a chase commences, the Mandalorian attempts to climb his way up the side of the moving fortress, only to be beaten back by the angry scavengers.

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Jawas pointing their weapons at Din

While we've seen Jawas incapacitate helpless droids and tear apart unattended vessels, this action scene is new territory for them. As the Mandalorian scales the side of the sandcrawler, the Jawas toss scrap down at him. Cleverly, they also maneuver the ship against a cliff edge to try to shake the Mandalorian loose. While our main character is an experienced warrior, the Jawas outnumber him. They work together to slow him down, jabbing at him from the ship's windows and cutting off what he's holding on to. The Mandalorian pulls a few off the ship, but when he reaches the top deck, he's shot multiple times by stun guns and falls unconscious to the desert floor.

The Mandalorian wakes up some time later and returns to his scrapped ship. With the help of Kuiil, the Ugnaught who guided the Mandalorian to his bounty in the previous episode, they attempt a trade with the Jawas for the ship parts. After refusing to trade his Beskar armor and the "Baby Yoda," the Mandalorian agrees to retrieve an egg that the Jawas are seeking. The egg turns out to be laid by a rhino-like creature that would have killed the Mandalorian, if not for the last-minute intervention of the infant, who is revealed to be highly force-sensitive.

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The Mandalorian Jawas

While the Jawas aren't the most obvious threat in the Star Wars galaxy, they proved to be a formidable one in this episode. Standing only one meter tall and typically wielding nothing more than basic ion blasters, the Jawas are rarely portrayed as warriors. That said, it makes sense that the scavengers would've developed some effective defensive strategies in the deserts of dangerous Outer Rim planets like Tatooine or Arvala-7, t

It's also very fitting that the Jawas would prove to be a surprise threat to someone as well-trained and equipped as the Mandalorian. Star Wars has a long tradition of small, unassuming characters stepping up to those bigger than them: from R2-D2 successfully fighting off two Super Battle Droids in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, to the Ewoks' defeat of the Empire in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. As Yoda always said, "Size matters not."

This may be the last we see of the Jawas in The Mandalorian for now, as the title character was finally able to leave Arvala-7 by the end of the second episode. Still, the young alien under the Manalorian's care hints that there's still a lot more power to come from small characters.

Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte. The first two episodes are streaming now on Disney+.

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