Yoda Biography
Biography
Yoda is arguably the most powerful Jedi Master in Star Wars and one of the senior members of the Jedi Council. In his career as a Jedi Master, Yoda has trained several Jedi worth mentioning, including Count Dooku, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker. At the climax of the Battle of Geonosis, Yoda dueled Count Dooku and saved Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. Though seemingly frail on the outside, Yoda demonstrated the deftness and mastery of the Lightsaber that only a Jedi Master could possess. During the Jedi purge, Yoda escaped to Dagobah where he awaited the arrival of the foretold Jedi savior, Luke Skywalker. When Luke arrived, Yoda agreed to teach him in the ways of The Force. Prior to finishing his instruction, however, Luke chose to leave Dagobah in order to confront Darth Vader and to save his friends. However, after he had returned to Dagobah, Yoda was already weakened by old age. He became one with The Force at the age of 900.
Yoda speaks English in a distinctive manner by placing verbs (and more frequently, auxiliary verbs) after the object and subject. In linguistic typology this is the "Object Subject Verb" format. An example of Yoda's speech pattern, from Return of the Jedi: When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not.
The Whole Story
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Yoda, the ancient and revered
Jedi Master, lived his final years
hiding on the swamp planet of Dagobah.
Nine hundred years old, Yoda had trained
Jedi for eight centuries, and was very
powerful in the Force. Among his last
pupils were the most important (and
reckless) Jedi in recent history,
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.
In the waning days of the Republic, Yoda
was a respected senior member of the
Jedi Council. Serving alongside such
luminaries as Mace Windu and
Ki-Adi-Mundi, Yoda was present during
the turbulent events that would
eventually unravel the centuries-old
Republic and seal the fate of the Jedi
order.
Yoda served an important role in the
Jedi Council. When young
Padawans began their first foray
into Jedi training, they did so under
Yoda's guidance. Many of the Republic's
greatest Jedi trained under Yoda when
they were children -- schooled in
groupings called clans. Once the Jedi
hopefuls grew older, approaching their
teenage years, they would then be paired
to an elder Jedi Knight or Master to
continue training one-on-one.
The pall of the dark side fell over the
Republic during its twilight years, and
Yoda grew increasingly concerned. The
emergence of the dark side created a
disturbance in the Force strong enough
to cloud the Jedi's insights into
important matters. Sensing the grave
uncertainty of the future, Yoda
recognized the need for answers. The
Jedi Council dispatched Obi-Wan Kenobi
to investigate an assassination attempt
apparently carried out by Separatist
forces. What he found was all the more
troubling.
An entire clone army had been secretly
created for the Republic, by decree of a
late Jedi, Sifo-Dyas. None in the
Council knew of this development, nor
had they foreseen it. Further
investigation revealed that the
Separatists were gearing up for war.
Count Dooku, one of Yoda's former
Padawans, was consolidating a
military force out of the droid armies
of the commerce guilds. Something needed
to be done.
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, newly
granted emergency powers, took
possession of the Clone Army, and
ordered the Jedi into action. Yoda
voyaged to the distant world of Kamino
to gather the newly created Republic
Military, and arrived on Geonosis to
rescue the survivors of an ill-fated
Jedi taskforce.
As Republic clones engaged Separatist
droids, the Clone Wars began. Yoda,
acting as general, oversaw the battle
from the forward command center. The
clones handily defeated the Separatists
on Geonosis, but many escaped. Yoda
followed his instincts to a darkened
hangar where Count Dooku had grievously
wounded Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin
Skywalker.
Yoda and Dooku engaged in battle. First,
their powers in the Force were put to
test, as Dooku attempted to crush the
tiny Jedi Master with hurled debris.
Yoda easily deflected such assaults, and
even repulsed Dooku's Force lightning
attacks. The contest came down to a duel
of lightsabers. In a climactic battle,
the two master combatants displayed
amazing speed and agility. Yoda,
empowered by the Force, leaped through
the air, twirling and battering at
Dooku's defenses. Dooku only managed to
escape by using the Force to once again
jeopardize Anakin and Obi-Wan. Knowing
that Yoda's nobility would buy him time,
Dooku fled as the ancient Jedi Master
saved his younger compatriots.
This first battle of the Clone Wars was
a victory for the Republic, but Yoda was
troubled. Too much had been clouded by
the dark side, and the judgment of the
Jedi order was perhaps sullied by
complacency and arrogance. Not only had
many Jedi died on
Geonosis, but the very nature of
death itself was now unclear to the wise
old master. While meditating, Yoda had
felt a traumatic event befall young
Anakin Skywalker. At that very moment,
he also heard the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn,
a Jedi Master slain a decade previous.
It was impossible for a Jedi to retain
his identity after becoming one with the
Force, yet he had heard it.
It was another dangerous and disturbing
puzzle for Yoda to solve while the
Republic collapsed around him.
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When the Empire arose from the ashes of
the Republic, the Emperor's agents set
out to slaughter the Jedi. Yoda went
into hiding on the distant swamp world
of
Dagobah. There, he waited patiently
for a new hope to arise and end the dark
side threat to the people of the galaxy.
Three years after the Battle of Yavin,
that new hope arrived. Guided to Dagobah
by a vision of his former mentor Obi-Wan
Kenobi, Luke Skywalker discovered Yoda
without even knowing it. Stranded on the
swampy world, Luke met a comical elfin
creature that promised him aid. The
creature's antics wore thin on Luke's
short patience, but it was the first of
many tests -- tests that Luke would
fail.
Revealing himself to be Yoda, the Jedi
Master began Luke's training in earnest.
Telekinetic challenges, challenges of
the will and body, more challenges than
Luke had ever faced before helped mold
the reckless youth into a Jedi. Still,
Luke failed to "unlearn" his
preconceptions. When asked to raise his
sunken starfighter from the Dagobah
swamps with the power of his mind alone,
he responded he would try. "No," scolded
Yoda. "Do, or do not. There is no try."
Luke did not believe the Force could
lift such a massive object. He was
proven wrong when Yoda telekinetically
lifted the X-wing fighter and placed it
on dry land. Again, Luke was incredulous
-- he did not believe; that is why he
failed.
When Yoda taught Luke how to "farsee"
into the future, a chilling vision of
his friends in danger caused the young
Skywalker to abandon his training. Luke
promised he would return, and rocketed
off to rescue his friends. In the end,
Luke failed, having to be rescued
himself. Yoda feared all would be lost
in the effort to stop Vader and the
Emperor.
About a year later, Luke did return to
conclude his training. Having faced the
hardship of confrontation with Vader,
and having learned that Vader was
actually his father, Luke learned from
Yoda that his training was complete. In
Luke's absence, Yoda had become quite
ill. As he lay dying, Yoda shed some
light on Luke's distant past: there was
another Skywalker. Yoda died shortly
thereafter, disappearing as his body
became one with the Force.
Luke would learn that
Leia Organa was
his sister, and he would also reclaim
his father from the dark side. At the
celebration after the Battle of Endor,
Luke saw the specter of Yoda, joined by
ghostly images of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and
Anakin Skywalker, his father, who had
died in the light.
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