Yoda

Performed by Frank OzIn-universe informationFull name YodaSpecies Unknown ^[1]Gender MaleOccupationAffiliation Jedi OrderApprentices Count Dooku
 Obi-Wan Kenobi
 Luke Skywalker

Yoda (/ˈjoʊdə/) is a character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with The Force. He is a Jedi Master and a leader in the Jedi Order. Frank Oz voices and puppeteers Yoda in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, which was the character's first appearance. Oz voices Yoda in five additional films, puppeteering him in three of them. Yoda also appears in animated series, comics, novels, video games and commercials.

Creation

The Star Wars franchise was created by George Lucas, who wrote and directed the original Star Wars film (1977).^[a] He created the character Obi-Wan Kenobi as a mentor for Luke, and originally planned for Obi-Wan to continue training Luke in the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. However, Lucas ultimately decided that Obi-Wan would die in the first film. Lucas then introduced a new mentor character, who was originally a diminutive frog-like creature called "Minch Yoda".^[2][3] The name "Yoda" was chosen because Lucas envisioned the character as a "little Dalai Lama", and he wanted him to have an "Eastern-sounding" name.^[4] One of the film's screenwriters, Lawrence Kasdan, said that Yoda was based on Shimada, the lead samurai from the 1954 Akira Kurosawa film Seven Samurai.^[5]

The film's visual effects art director, Joe Johnston, sketched hundreds of different versions of Yoda. The design that Lucas finally settled on was described by Johnston as a combination of a leprechaun, a troll and a gnome.^[6] Lucas gave Yoda a backward speech pattern because he felt the character needed a unique way of speaking that was more dramatic than an accent.^[4] The filmmakers considered several ways of portraying Yoda before they decided on a sophisticated puppet. These potential methods included dressing a monkey, a child or a dwarf in a Yoda costume, or using stop-motion animation.^[b][5]

Portrayals

Yoda was originally portrayed by a puppet created by Stuart Freeborn and Wendy Froud.^[8] Freeborn based Yoda's face on his own facial features and those of Albert Einstein, hoping the latter inspiration would make the character appear intelligent.^[9][10] Lucas asked Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, to perform the puppeteering for Yoda. Henson was busy with another project, however, and recommended Frank Oz for the role.^[11][12] To perform Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, Oz inserted his hand into the puppet's head to manipulate the mouth and brow. Kathryn Mullen, Wendy Froud and David Barclay operated Yoda's eyes, ears and other body parts using cables, strings, hydraulics and electronic mechanisms.^[13] There was also a radio-controlled Yoda puppet that was used when the Jedi Master is riding on Luke's back.^[14]

In the original 1999 release of The Phantom Menace, Yoda was portrayed by a new puppet in all but two shots. In these two wide shots, the character was created using computer-generated imagery (CGI).^[15] The puppet was replaced with a digital Yoda in the 2011 Blu-ray release and the 2012 theatrical 3D release.^[16][17] In Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda is entirely computer-generated. The digital character accomplishes movements not possible with the puppet, such as fighting with a lightsaber.^[18] Oz puppeteers Yoda and provides his voice in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace and The Last Jedi (2017), and voices a digital Yoda in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.^[19][20] He performs vocal cameos as Yoda in The Force Awakens (2015) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).^[21][22] Oz also voices the character in the animated series Star Wars Rebels.^[23]

Yoda is voiced by John Lithgow in the radio dramatizations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi,^[24] by Tom Kane in video games and animated productions, ^[c] and by Piotr Michael in the animated series Young Jedi Adventures.^[26] Tony Pope and Peter McConnell also voice the character in video games.^[27][28] In 2012, Yoda was featured in a series of Vodafone commercials, which were broadcast in the United Kingdom.^[29][30] Yoda also appears in the novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous (2005) and the comic The High Republic Adventures (2021).^[31][32]

Appearances

Original trilogy

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Yoda makes his first film appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) arrives on Dagobah to seek his guidance, having been instructed to do so by the Force spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who describes him as "the Jedi Master who instructed me."

Yoda does not initially identify himself to Luke and instead tests his patience by presenting himself as a comical backwater individual, deliberately provoking both Luke and R2-D2. Luke is shocked when he finally discovers that this small, eccentric creature is the powerful Jedi Master he was seeking. Finding that Luke has the same anger and recklessness which caused his father's downfall, Yoda is reluctant to teach him the ways of the Force and agrees only at Obi-Wan's behest. Before finishing his training, Luke chooses to leave Dagobah in order to confront Darth Vader and save his friends on Bespin. Yoda and Obi-Wan warn him that he is not ready to face Vader and is being lured into a trap but Luke leaves anyway. When Obi-Wan laments that Luke is their "last hope," Yoda reminds him that "there is another."

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Yoda makes a brief appearance in Return of the Jedi, set a year after The Empire Strikes Back. Now sick and frail, Yoda informs Luke that he has completed his training but will not be a Jedi until he confronts Darth Vader; he also confirms that Vader is Luke's father, something Vader had told Luke in the previous film. Yoda then peacefully dies at the age of 900, his body disappearing as he becomes "one with the Force". He leaves Luke with the knowledge that "there is another Skywalker." Moments later, Obi-Wan's spirit helps Luke come to the realization that the "other" of whom Yoda spoke is his twin sister, Princess Leia.

In the film's final scene, after the Empire has been defeated, Luke sees Yoda's spirit looking upon him with pride alongside Obi-Wan and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, Vader's former Jedi self.^[33]

Prequel trilogy

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Yoda returns as a younger version of himself in the prequel trilogy beginning with The Phantom Menace. The film marked the final time Oz would portray the character as a puppet until the release of The Last Jedi (2017).^[34] However, in the 2011 Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace, the Yoda puppet was replaced by a CGI character to match the later depiction of the character. In the film, which is set 35 years before The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn brings the young Anakin Skywalker to the Jedi Council. Qui-Gon is convinced that Anakin is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy who will bring balance to the Force and requests the boy be trained as a Jedi. Yoda senses great fear in Anakin, especially in regards to his attachment to his mother Shmi, and foresees "grave danger" in his training. The council, led at the time by Yoda's former padawan Mace Windu, rejects Qui-Gon's request.

When Qui-Gon is mortally wounded in a duel with Sith Lord Darth Maul, his dying request to his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is that Anakin be trained as a Jedi. Obi-Wan, determined to fulfill his promise to his master, tells Yoda that he will train the boy, even without the council's approval. Yoda makes Obi-Wan a Jedi Knight and reluctantly gives his blessing to Anakin's training.^[35]

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Yoda makes his first CGI appearance in Attack of the Clones, set a decade after The Phantom Menace. Yoda, now in direct control of the Order's policy as Master of the High Council in addition to his traditional position as Grandmaster, is one of the many Jedi who are concerned about the emergence of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a secessionist movement wanting independence from the Galactic Republic. After the first attempted assassination of Senator Padmé Amidala, Chancellor Palpatine suggests that she be put under the protection of Obi-Wan, who is training Anakin. In a deleted scene, a meditating Yoda senses Anakin slaughtering the Tusken Raiders who murdered his mother.

At the climax of the film, Yoda arrives in time to save Obi-Wan and Anakin from the Separatists and defeats his former apprentice, Count Dooku, the Separatists’ leader and a Sith Lord, in a lightsaber duel.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda leads the Jedi Council in pursuing the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Palpatine has by then amassed near-dictatorial emergency powers and begins interfering in Jedi affairs by appointing Anakin as his personal representative on the council. The Council grants Anakin a Council seat but denies him the rank of Master, feeling that doing so would amount to giving Palpatine a vote in the council. Additionally they order him to spy on Palpatine, whom Anakin considers a friend and mentor.

Anakin seeks Yoda's counsel about his prophetic visions that someone close to him will die. Yoda, unaware that the person of whom Anakin speaks is Padmé, or that she is Anakin's wife and pregnant with his child, tells him to "train yourself to let go of everything that you fear to lose." Unsatisfied, Anakin turns to Palpatine, who then reveals himself as Darth Sidious. Sidious manipulates the young Jedi into becoming his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, with the promise that the dark side of the Force holds the power to save Padmé from dying in childbirth.

Sidious later transforms the Republic into the tyrannical Galactic Empire, proclaiming himself emperor for life and ordering the clone troopers to kill their Jedi generals. Yoda is on Kashyyyk, overseeing the battle between the Separatist forces and a combined command of clone troopers and Wookiees. Through the Force, Yoda feels the deaths of each of the Jedi as they are betrayed by their own troops. After swiftly killing the clone troopers instructed to kill him, he escapes with Wookiee leaders Tarfful and Chewbacca to Coruscant, where he and Obi-Wan fight their way into the Jedi Temple to stop a trap for all surviving Jedi. Inside, they discover that all the Jedi inside, younglings included, have been slaughtered. They then discover a holographic recording revealing Vader as the assassin. Yoda decides to face Sidious, sending Obi-Wan to kill Vader. When Obi-Wan protests, Yoda tells him that the Anakin he knew no longer exists, having been "consumed by Darth Vader."

Subsequently, Yoda battles Sidious in a lightsaber duel that damages the Senate Rotunda. In the end, neither is able to overcome the other and Yoda is forced to retreat. He goes into exile on Dagobah so that he may hide from the Empire and wait for another opportunity to destroy the Sith. At the end of the film, it is revealed that Yoda has been in contact with Qui-Gon's spirit, learning the secret of immortality from him and passing it on to Obi-Wan.

Yoda is also instrumental in deciding the fate of the Skywalker children after Padmé dies in childbirth, recommending that Luke and Leia be hidden from Vader and Sidious; he sends Leia to be adopted by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, and Luke to Vader's stepfamily Owen and Beru Lars on Tatooine. Other than the ancient Jedi Master, only the Organas, the Lars family, R2-D2 and Obi-Wan know of their true identities.^[36]

Sequel trilogy

The Force Awakens (2015)

In The Force Awakens, set 30 years after Yoda's death in Return of the Jedi, Yoda's voice is heard by the young scavenger Rey in a Force vision after she discovers Luke Skywalker's lightsaber under a castle owned by Maz Kanata.^[37]

The Last Jedi (2017)

In The Last Jedi, Yoda appears to Luke as a Force spirit as he debates whether to burn down the tree storing the Sacred Texts of the Jedi.^[38] As Luke makes his way to the tree, Yoda appears behind him and reminds him that a Jedi must always be sure of his path. When Luke decides to burn down the tree, Yoda summons a lightning bolt and sets it ablaze. When confronting Yoda as to why he did it, Yoda assures Luke that the books contained no knowledge that Rey didn't already possess. He stressed that true Jedi knowledge was not found in books but within Jedi themselves—and it is their responsibility to pass that knowledge on, reminding him, "The greatest teacher, failure is." As Luke takes in the message, he shares a quiet moment with his former master, who informs him that the burden of all masters is being surpassed by their students.

Unlike in the prequels, where fight scenes necessitated the character be rendered in with computer-generated imagery, Yoda is once more portrayed using puppetry, with Frank Oz once again both puppeteering (with three assistants) and voicing the character.^[39]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Yoda is heard in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as one of the voices of Jedi past who speak to Rey during her battle against the resurrected Darth Sidious.^[40]

Animated series

Clone Wars (2003)

Yoda appears in the 2003 Cartoon Network 2D-animated television series Star Wars: Clone Wars, voiced by Tom Kane. In the show, Yoda is made a general, like many of the Jedi Knights and Masters. Yoda escorts Padmé on their journey to an unspecified planet, but Yoda senses several Jedi in distress on Ilum. Using the Jedi mind trick to convince Captain Typho to take them to Ilum, Yoda saves two Jedi Knights and finds a message from Count Dooku giving orders to destroy the Jedi Temple on Ilum. In the animated series' final episode, Yoda fights side by side with Mace Windu to defend Coruscant, which is under attack from the Separatists. The two Jedi Masters realize too late that the battle is a distraction; Separatist leader General Grievous truly intends to kidnap Palpatine. The Jedi Master's effort to stop Grievous fails, and Palpatine is taken hostage, thus setting the stage for Revenge of the Sith.

In 2014, the series was deprecated from the Disney canon, in favor of the 3D CGI series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.^[41]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Yoda appears in The Clone Wars, again voiced by Tom Kane. In the pilot film, Yoda assigns Anakin Skywalker his own padawan, Ahsoka Tano as he believes that she will help Anakin grow as a Jedi and as a person. Throughout most of the series, Yoda spends his time on Coruscant with the Jedi Council but he occasionally leaves for certain tasks, such as negotiations with King Katuunko on Rugosa and a confrontation with Asajj Ventress's droid army. Yoda also watches over Anakin and Ahsoka throughout the series, pleased that they are both maturing with each other's influence. However, in the final arc of season five, Ahsoka is framed for a crime she didn't commit and Yoda and the Jedi Council turn her over to the Republic military. Along with other members of the council, Yoda observes Ahsoka's trial but Anakin bursts in with the true culprit, fallen Jedi Barriss Offee, before the verdict can be read. Afterwards Yoda, Anakin, and the Council personally invite Ahsoka to rejoin the Order but she refuses and leaves. According to show runner Dave Filoni, Yoda blames himself for Ahsoka's departure as he had made her Anakin's padawan in the first place.

In the final arc of the sixth season, Yoda hears Qui-Gon Jinn speaking to him from beyond the grave. Yoda flees the Jedi Temple with R2-D2 to travel to Dagobah, his future home, to find answers. Shown cryptic visions of the fall of the Jedi, Yoda learns he has been chosen to manifest his consciousness after death as a Force ghost. Yoda is tested by a group of spirit priestesses in order to overcome trials and temptations on his pilgrimage; one of these tests is to face an illusion of ancient Sith lord Darth Bane. Yoda's final test is to resist an attempt by Darth Sidious and Dooku to lure him to the dark side with a false vision of deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. Yoda engages in a metaphysical battle with Sidious and appears to sacrifice his life in order to save Anakin's–only to awaken and discover that the battle was merely a vision and that he has passed the test. The priestesses inform Yoda that his training will resume in time.

Star Wars Rebels (2014)

Yoda was heard in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Path of the Jedi" with Frank Oz reprising the role for the first time since Revenge of the Sith.^[42] He communicates with padawan Ezra Bridger and his master Kanan Jarrus during their experience in an ancient temple on Lothal, helping the pair do some soul-searching to analyze their true motivations. He appears physically for the first time in the season two episode "Shroud of Darkness", in which he appears in a vision of Ezra's and reunites with Ahsoka. His appearance in the series differs from his usual countenance as an homage to an early Ralph McQuarrie design for the character as well as a classic Kenner action figure. This was justified by premise that Ezra is viewing the character through his own imagination,^[43] but the decision was confusing to many viewers.^[44]

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2022)

Yoda is seen in two of the six episodes of Tales of the Jedi, in a non-speaking role. His first appearance can be found in the third episode of the anthology miniseries, titled "Choices", in which he attends the funeral of Jedi Master Katri. The Jedi Grand Master's second appearance in the series can be found within its fifth episode, "Practice Makes Perfect". In this, Yoda is present alongside other Jedi Masters, including Mace Windu, watching Padawan Ahsoka Tano being tested against training remotes designed to simulate battle droids. In his final appearance in the series (within the same episode), Yoda, alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, lays witness to a conversation between Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, in which Skywalker informs Tano that he will formulate a test more challenging than the one she just partook in.

Literature

Yoda appears extensively in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, mostly in works set during or before the prequel trilogy, including Sean Stewart's 2004 novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, in which he sends an impersonator of himself to negotiate a potential treaty with Dooku, suspected his offer to be a feint. He also appears as a supporting character in Dark Horse Comics' Republic, and various other Clone Wars-related titles. In April 2014, following The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm, all of these works were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the rest of the franchise.^[45]

Since 2014, Yoda has also been featured in a number of canon books and other works, including Dooku: Jedi Lost and Master & Apprentice, which take place before The Phantom Menace. He appeared in The High Republic Adventures comic, set 200 years before the prequel trilogy.^[46]

See also

• Yoda – a parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic
• Yoda conditions – a style of writing conditionals in computer programming languages

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

• Rinzler, J.W. (2010). The Making of the Empire Strikes Back (eBook v3.1 ed.). London: Del Rey. ISBN 9780345543363.

Further reading

• Guynes, Sean; Hassler-Forest, Dan, eds. (2018). Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling (PDF). Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789462986213. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
• Hauptfuhrer, Fred; Peterson, Karen (June 9, 1980). "Yoda Mania: America Falls in Love with the 26–Inch, Green, Pointy-Eared Sage and his Master Puppeteer, Frank Oz". People. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
• "Frank Oz: In Confidence (Season 1, Episode 4)". NOW. Retrieved April 19, 2024.