Yoda
- “The greatest teacher, failure is. [...] Luke... we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”
- ―Yoda to Luke Skywalker[src]
Yoda is a wise and sage-like diminutively-sized green alien Jedi Master and one of the main characters who appeared in the Star Wars universe. He appears as a major character in the second and third films of the original trilogy, as well as one of the major protagonists in the prequel trilogy, and made a cameo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Nobody knows what his species is. Yoda's adopted homeworld is Dagobah.
Yoda's origins are a mystery since his species, as well as his species' home planet, are unknown. At some point, he joined the Jedi Order, eventually obtaining the rank of Jedi Master and becoming a member of the Jedi High Council. Despite his old age, he was still able to keep up and hold his own against opponents, even ones who were far younger than he was, being one of the most powerful Force-users in the history of the galaxy.
Shortly after the Clone Wars had begun, Yoda became the Grand Master and a Jedi General. About 20 years after he went into exile following his failed attempt to kill Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith, he trained Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi and the light side of the Force. Yoda eventually dies peacefully at the age of nine hundred, but not before he reveals to Luke that Leia Organa is his twin sister, and that Darth Vader is in fact, his father, Anakin.
30 years later, Rey found Luke's old lightsaber, which originally belonged to Anakin, in Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana. Upon touching it, she experienced a series of visions, including hearing the voice of Yoda.
Days later, after having briefly teaching Rey during his exile on Ahch-To (and Rey having subsequently left the planet) Luke decided to burn down the tree library housing the ancient Jedi texts. He was visited by the spirit of Yoda, who helped Luke forgive himself for Kylo Ren's rise to power. Luke hesitated to light the library on fire, so Yoda manipulated a bolt of lightning to hit the tree and cause it to burst into flames. Yoda was not upset with the books being burned, joking that "page turners, they were not". What Luke did not realize was that Rey had taken the texts with her before departing the planet. Yoda was aware that Rey had taken the books, but chose not to disclose this to Luke.
Yoda represents a highly mysterious and complex character. His intelligence, wisdom, and skills excel that of most Jedi Masters. His age and wisdom as well as his deep connection to the Force proved to be both enviable and formidable. Yoda is very courageous, often fighting on the front lines against evil of all sorts and saving the lives of many civilians, Clones and Jedi.
Throughout Yoda's long life, he proves himself to be a wise and kind, but somewhat strict teacher. Although quick to comfort and guide, he is equally quick to warn and to express disapproval in the face of wrongdoing. He serves as a grandfatherly figure to younger generations of Jedi, testing their capabilities, both mentally and physically in extreme settings one moment and showing warmth the next.
As a Jedi, Yoda is intelligent and wise. Despite this, he considered emotional attachments to be a flaw and a path to the dark side, and had a tendency to sometimes fixate the bad potential in younger Jedi. As examples, Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, both of whom he was apprehensive about accepting for Jedi training. In both cases, however, he reluctantly allows Obi-Wan Kenobi to talk him into accepting them as trainees. Also, Yoda did not realize that his mistrust towards Anakin was slowly turning his friend against the Jedi Order.
Yoda is known to have a penchant for mischief and practical jokes, bearing a pleasant sense of humor. His humility is admirable and his kindness, exemplary. This selfless sage offered enlightened leadership and epitomized the ideals of the Jedi Order.
Yoda initially bore a deep residing belief that a Jedi seduced by the dark side was not beyond redemption and forgiveness as exhibited in his encounters with two of his former apprentices. After Dooku betrayed the Republic and the Jedi by committing numerous atrocities as the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus, Yoda once tried to persuade his former apprentice to let go of the dark side and return to the ways of the Jedi. He very nearly succeeded in redeeming Dooku. Even as Quinlan Vos slipped further into the dark side's embrace, Yoda had faith that the disturbed young Jedi Master would find his way back to the light side of the Force. In the end, unlike Dooku, Quinlan's redemption proved that Yoda's belief was correct.
However, Yoda's failure to redeem Dooku, as well as his inability to prevent the rise of the Galactic Empire, left the Grand Master more jaded than ever. In addition to the fall of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order was pushed to the brink of extinction by the fallen Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, whose embrace of the dark side turned him into the ruthless Sith Lord Darth Vader. Having failed to protect all that he cared for, Yoda was disillusioned in many ways and sought to kill convince Luke to kill Vader. The chance at redemption for those who embraced the dark side was no longer an option as far as Yoda was concerned, as his experiences had altered his faith in redemption and he was left to feel that a Jedi who was seduced by the dark side would be forever condemned to walk in darkness.
Throughout Yoda's exile on Dagobah, the tyranny of the Empire and the Sith hunt for the Jedi during the Jedi Purge further embittered him. Before his death, he warned Vader's son, Luke, that "When a person falls to the dark side, their destiny would forever be dominated by darkness". This was disproved when Vader's son, Luke, was being tortured by Palpatine and Vader broke away from the dark side, becoming the good person he once was and sacrificed himself to save his son. Thus, Anakin being redeemed by his love for Luke, proves that Yoda was wrong and that anyone has the chance to come back from the dark side.
Yoda's ears are expressive and would sometimes curl when he is expressing strong emotions like surprise. Like most of his kind, Yoda speaks in riddles, an unusual version of English, an example of Yoda's speech pattern: "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not". This way of speech confuses most of his comrades, like his Clone Troopers. He is also secretive as he never revealed his origins or species to anyone.
In Star Wars Rebels, it is revealed that the reason why Yoda did not join the Rebel Alliance wasn't because of his old age, but because he believed getting involved in the Galactic Civil War would create more death, chaos, destruction and more senseless violence--rather believing that he should wait until Luke Skywalker came to him to be trained as the Jedi's new hope. Yoda felt that the Jedi Order was too quick to join the Clone Wars, which led to many of his fellow Jedi being killed or turned to the dark side, he felt that it was their arrogance that eventually led to the Jedi's downfall. Despite his various flaws, especially later on in life, Yoda was still very in tune with the light side, as shown by him becoming a Force spirit.
As Yoda neared his death before the Battle of Endor commenced, he accepted his own mortality and imminent demise. He died peacefully, becoming one with the Force.
Powers
Abilities
Lightsaber
Yoda's valued weapon and possession are his green-bladed lightsaber. Yoda's shoto lightsaber is comprised of Chrome and Black alloy.
Cane
Training Younglings
Yoda on Tenoo.
Centuries before the Clone Wars, Yoda was training Jedi Younglings at the Jedi Temple on Tenoo. He trained closely with younglings, Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay, and Nubs.[2]
Invasion of Naboo/Return of the Sith
Yoda is the Grandmaster of the Jedi Council at the time Qui-Gon Jinn reported that he encountered a Sith on Tatooine, and he also brought Anakin Skywalker to the Council, because he wanted to train him as a Jedi. Yoda tested Anakin and, despite being impressed by his abilities, refused to allow him to be trained, believing he was dangerously full of fear and anger, and his future was clouded and uncertain, warning Anakin of how fear leads to the dark side of the Force through anger and hate.
He later attended the funeral of Qui-Gon, who died at the hands of the Sith Maul at the hanger's refinery complex chamber after Obi-Wan was separated from the duel due to one of the laser gate shields that leads to the chamber. He talked with Mace Windu about the return of the Sith, with Yoda saying that there are always a Sith master and a Sith apprentice. Mace agrees, but wonders which one Maul was and which one remains. Yoda was also present at the Naboo victory celebration.[3]
Ten years after Qui-Gon's death, Yoda is still the Grandmaster of the Jedi Council and he and the Jedi are dealing with a Separatist movement led by Jedi turned Sith Count Dooku. Former Queen of Naboo Padmé Amidala has been the victim of many assassination attempts and the Council sends Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker to guard her. After a failed assassination attempt by Zam Wesell, Yoda and the Council send Obi-Wan to track down the mysterious killer of Wesell and sends Anakin to protect Senator Amidala on Naboo. Later on, he was in a private cell with Mace Windu when Obi-Wan contacted them from the planet Kamino, where he found that a dead Jedi named Sifo-Dyas had a Clone Army made and their genetic template was a man named Jango Fett, who lived there with his son, Boba. They tell him to arrest Jango. When Anakin kills the entire Tusken Raider settlement who killed his mother, he feels it and explains it to Mace Windu. They are later contacted by Obi-Wan, who had landed on Geonosis and found that Jango was associated with Count Dooku and Viceroy Nute Gunray was behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala as part of his deal to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems, but he was captured before he could finish. Anakin got the message and asked if he could go to rescue him, but he was denied by Yoda and Mace Windu. Windu led a strike team of Jedi to rescue Obi-Wan while Yoda went to pick up the Clone Army.
The Battle of Geonosis
Yoda fights Count Dooku.
At Geonosis, all of the Jedi (including Anakin and Padmé, who disobeyed their orders) are surrounded by droids when Yoda and the Clone Army arrive in gunships, saving the Jedi and Senator. Yoda is taken to the forward command center to oversee the Battle of Geonosis, at one point telling the clones to focus the fire of their SPHA-T artillery tanks on the nearest Lucrehulk-class Core Ship that was trying to escape back into space to rejoin the battleship proper, succeeding in bringing it down. He later senses trouble through the Force and requests a ship to go after Obi-Wan and Anakin, who were in pursuit of Count Dooku. Later, after Dooku defeats Obi-Wan and Anakin in a private hangar, Yoda arrives and Dooku telekinetically assaults him; however, Yoda deflects the attack. Dooku then begins to shoot Force lightning at him, but he utilizes tutaminis, allowing him to reflect it back at him. Too evenly matched to win with Force powers, the two turn to their lightsabers and begin to duel. Despite Dooku's Form II mastery, Yoda dodges his attacks and seizes the offensive, doing many flips as he spins and twists around his opponent. Yoda nearly wins, stating that Dooku has fought well, but Dooku causes a huge pillar to fall on Obi-Wan and Anakin, prompting Yoda to hold it up with the Force, which allows Dooku to barely escape with his life on his solar sailor as Yoda looks down solemnly at letting Dooku escape as Padmé arrives with clone reinforcements and discovers Anakin having been severely wounded by Dooku, having had his right arm cut off below the elbow. Back on Coruscant, he later converses with Obi-Wan and Mace, where he reveals the Clone Wars have officially begun. The Clone Army becomes soldiers for the Republic and Yoda becomes a general in the Clone Wars.[4]
Jedi General
Three years after the start of the Clone Wars, Yoda remains the leader of the Jedi Order, and head of the Jedi Council. The Council has become suspicious of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was captive on board General Grievous' ship. Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to rescue him, and return after Anakin kills Dooku at Palpatine's urging. Palpatine then asks Anakin to be his representative on the Council. Anakin asks if he could be a Jedi Master, but they deny it and ask Anakin to spy on Palpatine. They send Obi-Wan to Utapau to apprehend Grievous and Yoda travels to Kashyyyk to assist the Wookiees in the war, joined later by Luminara and Quinlan Vos.
Order 66
Yoda feels the deaths of each Jedi as they are assassinated by their own troops.
After Order 66 is initiated by Darth Sidious, Yoda finds himself clutching at his forehead and chest as he feels a disturbance in the Force as his fellow Jedi fall to their own clone troopers as part of the Great Jedi Purge. As two Clone Troopers sneak up behind him and prepare to shoot him as well, he senses their intent with the Force, causing him to jump up and decapitate them with his lightsaber before they even can fire - he and Chewbacca then travel into the forests, evading clone and droid patrols before Chewbacca and his fellow Wookiee Tarfful provide an escape pod for Yoda to flee Kashyyyk with so he could go meet Senator Bail Organa. They go to rescue Obi-Wan, who killed Grievous, but was also betrayed by his soldiers, including Clone Commander Cody. Yoda and Obi-Wan return to Coruscant and enter the Jedi Temple, where they find out that Anakin has turned to the dark side and become Darth Sidious' apprentice, Darth Vader. Obi-Wan asks if he could face Sidious so he would not have to kill Anakin, but Yoda explains that he would be no match for the Emperor and goes to confront Sidious himself.
Yoda arrives at the Emperor's throne room and knocks his guards out. Sidious zaps him with Force lightning, but Yoda gets up quickly and surprises him with a powerful Force push. With that, the two begin to duel. They battle in the Senate room, wrecking the entire room. During the battle, Yoda loses his lightsaber, and realizes that he is not as skilled as the Emperor is at using the Force alone for combat. The fight ends in a stalemate and Yoda, realizing that he cannot win, flees into the vents and crawls through them. He leaves with Bail and they travel to Mustafar to pick up Obi-Wan, realizing he has to go into exile due to failing to kill the Emperor. They arrive and find Obi-Wan (who had supposedly killed Anakin) and Padmé (who was pregnant with Anakin's children) and take them off the planet. Padmé gives birth to twins who she names Luke and Leia just before dying. Yoda says that they would have to hide the twins from the Empire, so Obi-Wan takes Luke to his uncle and aunt on Tatooine, and would watch over him from afar, while Bail and his wife take Leia to Alderaan. Yoda goes into exile on the swamp planet Dagobah and adopts the planet as his home.[5]
Exile on Dagobah
Yoda in contact with Ezra.
Through the Force, Yoda guides Kanan's Padawan Ezra Bridger through the Jedi Temple on Lothal. He helped guide Ezra through the temple as well help hom realize what wants to achieve in becoming a Jedi: to protect not only his friends, but everyone in the galaxy.[6] Upon their second visit to the temple, along with Ahsoka, Yoda made contact with Ezra once again, and instructed him to find Malachor.[7]
Training Luke
Twenty-two years later, Yoda is the only Jedi Master left alive, as Obi-Wan Kenobi had been bodily killed three years prior by Darth Vader. Obi-Wan was training Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker, but never told him that Vader is his father. Luke travels to Dagobah after the ghost of Obi-Wan visits him on Hoth, telling him to seek out Yoda to finish his training. When Luke arrives, Yoda pretends to be an uncivilized small creature who knows Yoda, and offers to take him to him. Later on, while they are in Yoda's hut, Luke snaps, saying that they were wasting time. Yoda begins to talk to Obi-Wan through the Force, saying that Luke is impatient, causing Luke to deduce him as Yoda. Luke convinces Yoda to train him, but Luke gets frustrated when he asks him to move his sunken ship, and furiously asks him to try. Yoda is able to do it, and says there is no try, you do or you do not, if you don't believe you can do it, that is where Luke failed while Yoda succeeded. Later on, Luke has a vision of his friends in pain and goes to rescue them while abandoning his training, to Yoda and Obi-Wan's disapproval, but promised to return to complete his training. When Luke leaves, Yoda and Obi-Wan talk, with Obi-Wan saying he is their only hope, but Yoda says there is another (referring to Leia).[8]
Death
Yoda dies.
A year later, Yoda has become gravely ill, and Luke returns to Dagobah while in his last moments. On his deathbed, he tells Luke that his Jedi training is nearly complete with only one last thing remaining: to confront Darth Vader, and that will make him a Jedi Knight. However, after learning that Vader is his father, Luke does not have the heart to kill him. As Yoda slowly loses the will to live, he gives him one last warning about the dark side and not to underestimate the powers of the Emperor, otherwise he would suffer the same fate as his father did. Yoda also informs Luke that when he dies, he will be the last Jedi. Therefore, Yoda ensures Luke to heed his words: "pass on what you have learned." In his last words, he tries to tell Luke there is another Skywalker (referring to Leia being his twin sister) before dying peacefully of old age and becoming one with the Force. His death symbolically marks the end of the old Jedi Order that the Emperor had almost completely destroyed at the end of the Clone Wars.
Yoda is last seen in spirit form at the end of the film alongside the spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the reformed Anakin Skywalker, watching the Rebels celebrate their victory over the Empire. He was nine hundred years old when he passed away. As a spirit, he remains immortal and ever-present through the Force.[9]
Yoda' Force spirit encourages Luke to learn from his past mistakes.
Yoda's Force spirit appears to Luke on Ahch-To, offering words of wisdom and encouragement that convince Luke to aid Rey in the fight against the First Order. He burns the tree that had the Jedi library with a lightning. When Luke asks him why he did it, Yoda replies that there was nothing in there that Rey didn't already have. Thus, Yoda was aware that Rey had taken the ancient Jedi texts with her before leaving the island. Yoda then advises Luke to learn with his previous failures to not repeat the same mistakes and become a better master.[10]
Yoda's voice can be heard during the duel between Rey and Emperor Palpatine. When Rey is fallen weakened on the ground, Yoda and other Jedi from the past contact her, encouraging her to rise and confront her grandfather.[11]
