Why yoda was dead all along

As the battle on Kashyyyk continued, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine revealed his true identity as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, turned Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, and defeated a group of Jedi Council members who had come to arrest him.

Christening his newfound apprentice Darth Vader, Sidious sent him and the st Attack Battalion to attack the Jedi temple and slaughter all who resided there. Meanwhile, Sidious began to broadcast Order 66 to the clone troopers, a contingency order that required them to eliminate their Jedi Generals.

As the clone army turned on their leaders galaxywide, Yoda sensed the deaths of his fellow Jedi and fell to his knees. Commander Gree and another trooper received Order 66 a few moments afterwards and prepared to shoot Yoda. However, Yoda sensed their intentions and decapitated the duo with his lightsaber.

The two Jedi discussed their situation, during which Bail and Yoda informed Kenobi that the Temple was broadcasting a coded retreat message, ordering all surviving Jedi to return to Coruscant.

Yoda and Kenobi decided to return to the Temple and reconfigure the beacon to warn any survivors to go into hiding, and to that end Bail took them to Coruscant. The two Jedi fought their way in and witnessed the effects of the rampage by Vader and his clone unit, including the visible lightsaber cuts on several dead clones.

In the meantime, Sidious, as Palpatine, reforms the Republic into the first Galactic Empire with himself as its Emperor. That was the beginning of the Age of the Empire. Having recalibrated the signal, Kenobi wished to learn the identity of the one responsible for the massacre. Yoda, aware that watching recordings of their fellow Jedi being slaughtered would cause Kenobi pain, cautioned him before the younger Jedi activated the security recordings. Agreeing that the two Sith had to be destroyed, Yoda headed to the Galactic Senate to confront the Emperor, while a deeply reluctant Kenobi departed to the volcanic planet of Mustafar to face his former apprentice.

Upon arriving into the Chancellery Secretariat , Yoda confronted the Emperor, who surprised the Jedi and rendered him unconscious with a burst of Force lightning.

As Sidious boasted how he came to eradicate the Jedi Order, Yoda managed to wake up and slammed his opponent into a wall. The duo then drew their lightsabers and engaged in a fierce duel that soon continued into the central auditorium of the Senate Building. Briefly separated from Yoda, Sidious launched the numerous Senate hoverpods at his opponent, but the Jedi nevertheless managed to catch up with him, engaging him at close quarters again with his lightsaber drawn.

Sidious then blasted Yoda with a burst of Force lightning which tore Yoda's lightsaber from his hand but which the Jedi proceeded to successfully deflect with his bare palms; the buildup of energy subsequently triggered an explosion that blew both combatants apart and caused Yoda to fall to the bottom of the chamber while Sidious was thrown out of the pod but managed to barely hold on to one of its guardrails, gaining the high ground.

Realizing he was defeated, Yoda fled through the maintenance tunnels of the building and contacted Organa to rescue him via his airspeeder, considering the duel his personal failure and voicing his intent to go into self-imposed exile. After being rescued by Organa, the two proceeded to the asteroid Polis Massa , where Yoda conferred with Qui-Gon Jinn's spirit, who offered him to train him in techniques that could help him retain his identity after his death.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, having defeated but not killed Vader on Mustafar, arrived soon thereafter, bringing with him the dying Senator Amidala.

She gave birth to her twins from Anakin Skywalker and named them Luke and Leia before her death. Sensing the children's power in the Force, Yoda, Kenobi and Organa decided to keep them hidden in unsuspecting locations to avoid detection by the Empire; Luke Skywalker was delivered to the Lars family on Tatooine, while Organa personally adopted his sister, Leia. As the trio prepared to go their separate ways, Yoda asked Kenobi for a moment of his time.

He revealed that he had training for him during his solitude on Tatooine, and that Qui-Gon Jinn had reached the path to immortality , having returned from the Netherworld of the Force. Yoda decided he would teach Kenobi to communicate with Jinn. Using an E3-standard starship lifeboat , Yoda returned to Dagobah to begin his own exile. The lifeboat served as Yoda's initial shelter but it started to degrade within a year due to Dagobah's swampy environment.

As the first shelter was slowly consumed by the swamp, Yoda built a new home for himself. He thus settled down to wait for the twins to grow up, and continued his studies of the Force. Around a year after Order 66, Tano was hiding on the world of Thabeska , where she had met a Force-sensitive child named Hedala Fardi. Despite her young age, the child proved to be wise, and Tano was upset that Fardi would likely never be able to prove her wisdom to Yoda.

Later, while sleeping aboard the CR90 corvette Tantive IV after Organa offered her a chance to join his rebellion , Tano remembered Yoda's advice to her when she was getting her first kyber crystal. Awaking and knowing she should make a new set of lightsabers , she thanked Yoda, even though she knew he could not possibly hear or help her.

During his exile on Dagobah, Yoda kept an eye on other Jedi throughout the galaxy, including those who ventured into the various Jedi Temples found amongst the stars. Bridger was in the temple in order to overcome his greatest fears; Yoda acted as an anonymous guide in helping Bridger do so and to understand why he wanted to become a Jedi and how to withdraw from the anger and the wish of revenge within him.

This guidance led Bridger to receive a kyber crystal, which he used to build his own lightsaber. Meanwhile, Yoda counseled Jarrus about Jarrus' insecurities as a teacher. The Inquisitor forced Jarrus to recognize his fears and knighted him a true Jedi.

Meanwhile, Bridger pleaded with Yoda for help: despite his pacifism, the Jedi Master ultimately directed him to go to Malachor.

As she fled, Tano turned back and saw Yoda, who smiled and waved at her: she smiled back being the last time they saw each other. At the time leading up to the Battle of Yavin , Yoda realized he would have to move out of the due to the Dry Season starting on Dagobah. Yoda was not upset about this, because dry was the season he preferred, as the high lands he stayed in during the wet season reminded him of the Jedi Temple and his failings.

The rains had ended and now the lowlands could be arable. Due to his reliance on his cane, He realized how age had affected him. He had originally used his walking stick as a joke on the padawans, but now he realized he truly needed it. He packed what little he owned in his hut and left.

Before he left, he checked for the Imperial probe droids which had once searched for him endlessly. As he descended farther downhill, he felt a certain presence. He then realized that it was neither a probe droid nor one of the Empire's ships. It was Obi-Wan. As Yoda felt vibrations of the force from Kenobi and the last remains of Anakin, a probe droid arrived. Yoda quickly took out a pot given to him by Kenobi, using the force to smash it into the droid. Suddenly, however, he sensed Kenobi's death at the hands of Vader.

With the Jedi distracted, two more droids arrived, but Yoda force crushed both of them. He then carefully sensed the environment around him and confirmed there were no more. Yoda continued down the hill, until he reached his lowland hut. It had survived its hibernation, but, as ever, was dripping and spongy.

Five days later, Yoda had dried and cleaned the house. Every time he saw the shelf he usually put his pot, he felt a bit of loneliness after destroying Obi-Wan's gift to him. Lonely, he reached out to the Netherworld of the force and called Qui-Gon, but Obi-Wan, his spirit having survived death, answered instead. Obi-Wan then began to ask Yoda to take on a final padawan. Yoda did not want to train the young boy as he sensed great recklessness in him and feared he would fall to the Dark Side.

Yoda insisted on training young Leia, but Obi-Wan insisted on Luke. Due to his years alone, Yoda was feeling his age and isolation.

He also harbored regrets about having not taken Anakin Skywalker's daughter as his apprentice. However, he was not confident that he had enough time left to teach another pupil. After Obi-Wan Kenobi was killed, he reached out to Yoda from the netherworld of the Force and requested that Skywalker's child be trained.

The Jedi Master readily agreed until he found out that Kenobi was actually speaking of Anakin's unfocused son instead. Nevertheless, Yoda begrudgingly allowed Kenobi to direct the boy to him. Luke Skywalker, under guidance from the spirit of Kenobi who had served as his mentor, [74] sought Yoda in his Dagobah exile to receive Jedi training [7] three years later.

At the same time, Yoda, stirred awake by the feeling of the Dark Side and the memories of his trauma years ago, went to his storage area to find it empty. In an effort to find food, he made the arduous trek across the wild terrain of Dagobah. Eventually, Yoda made it to a valley, full of colorful creatures, and another species in particular. Herds of these creatures ran through this valley, the best source of meat Yoda had yet been able to find.

Years ago, Yoda had decided to give up his lightsaber, promising to never wield one again, taking a bow instead. To get what he came for, Yoda readied his bow and took aim of one of the creatures, easily killing it with one shot of the bow. On his journey back, Yoda began to feel the ground shift beneath his feet, beginning to crumble as Yoda began to fall. At the last moment, Yoda grabbed onto the side, reflecting on the similarities of this moment to his duel with Darth Sidious many years ago.

Yoda's grip failed and he falls onto the ground below as boulders began to pile on top of him. Yoda fell unconscious. Yoda began to dream, the dream of pain, suffering, anger, hate, and suddenly, he awoke once again.

Realizing the predicament he was in, Yoda began to laugh, laughing at his foolishness for allowing him to get into this situation. He began to doubt himself, thinking of how he was now trapped on Dagobah, but subsiding those feelings, knowing he is one of the last of the Jedi.

He reached out to the Force and, in that moment, he realized why he had failed in the past. His shame, his hubris, his blindness, they had all clouded his vision and realized his failings as a Jedi. However, he knew that failure was the greatest lesson a Jedi could learn, and understanding this brought him peace. With this newfound peace, Yoda was given the power to move the boulders resting on top of him. With a newfound sense of responsibility and understanding, Yoda began his journey home.

Arriving back at his home, Yoda began to cook a stew, when he began to hear a crashing in the trees surrounding his hut. A visitor had arrived. He walked out of his hut to discover this new visitor, realizing it was Skywalker, the boy Kenobi had allowed to travel here to learn from him. As he stares at Skywalker from the trees, he came to the realization that he would not be the last Jedi, but only the instrument as to train the future.

Walking out, he decided to test the boy and did not reveal his true identity, instead promising to lead him to Yoda; Skywalker's subsequent frustration and his age made the Jedi doubtful as to whether it was a good idea to train the boy, but Kenobi's spirit managed to convince him to do so. Yoda proceeded to tutor Skywalker with a variety of exercises, including the telekinetic manipulation of objects in the area.

As part of his training, he also sent Skywalker into a nearby cave, which was powerful with the dark side in order to demonstrate the dangers of falling to the dark side of the Force. During his tenure with Yoda, Skywalker sensed that his friends were in danger in Cloud City on the gas giant Bespin, and headed there to confront Darth Vader in spite of Yoda's and Kenobi's persuasion to the contrary.

Although Kenobi was distraught by Skywalker's rushed departure, Yoda reminded him that there was still another offspring of Anakin Skywalker [7] —Leia Organa. Skywalker, having engaged in a duel with Vader on Cloud City, returned to Dagobah after a year.

Yoda, [76] ill and very close to death, [5] confirmed what Vader had revealed to the young Jedi on Bespin: that the Sith Lord indeed was Anakin Skywalker, his father. He also warned him that with his training fully complete, his final task would be confronting Vader again and defeating him, and cautioned Skywalker not to underestimate the Force powers of Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious. Yoda also said that when he dies, Luke will become the last of the Jedi.

Therefore, he wanted Luke to pass on what he had learned. Finally, he also managed to inform him of the existence of another member of the Skywalker family. Yoda then died, and his body disappeared as he became one with the Force. Thanks to the techniques passed on to him by Qui-Gon Jinn's spirit, [5] Yoda managed to retain his consciousness without a physical presence by becoming a Force spirit.

Somehow, Yoda managed to teach Anakin the ability of retaining his consciousness after death. As the rebels and Luke celebrated on the surface of the moon due to the demolition of Death Star and the deaths of Sidious and Vader, the ghosts of Anakin, Kenobi, and Yoda briefly appeared to Luke. Approximately five years after Yoda's passing, [80] the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin took a member of Yoda's species, Grogu , to train under Ahsoka Tano on the planet of Corvus.

While with Djarin, Tano explained that she had only met one other member of Grogu's species: Master Yoda. Tano refused to train the Child but told Djarin that Grogu could reach out to other Jedi at the seeing stone on the planet of Tython. Sometime later, and after Rey had visited Luke on his hermit-island on Ahch-To , a disillusioned and self-loathing Skywalker tried to burn down what few Jedi artifacts and writings were left in hopes that it would rid the galaxy of the Jedi once and for all, who, through him, had failed.

Luke was surprised by the sudden appearance of Master Yoda as a Force spirit, who not only didn't seem to mind the ancient scripts burning up, but was the one to actually start the fire by causing lightning to strike the tree. In fact, unbeknownst to Luke, Rey had already taken the Sacred Jedi texts when she left.

During their meeting, Yoda pointed out that mistakes and failure were important lessons, if not the most important lesson, for a Jedi Master. Ultimately, Yoda helped Skywalker come to terms with his failed training of Ben Solo , and to realize that despite his fear of failing another student he could still be what Rey needed. Inspiring Luke to face his past and forgive himself. This final, heartfelt meeting between the two friends led Luke to change his mind and help save the Resistance from certain defeat during the Battle of Crait.

Known for his wisdom, Yoda had spent eight centuries training and tutoring generations of Jedi. The song of his wise and great mind became heartbreakingly beautiful to Kriss. Despite his appearance not making it seem like it would be so, his voice appeared to be made up of pure light, so Kriss considered him the epitome that people were not simply the crude matter of their bodies, [22] a lesson that Yoda would later pass on to Luke Skywalker.

In both cases, however, he allowed Obi-Wan Kenobi to persuade him into accepting them as trainees. There was a small garden in the Jedi Temple where Yoda often took to meditating, with the other Jedi usually respecting the privacy of such moments. Indeed, Yoda's favorite place to be was his own thoughts, being able to meditate and feel the calm Living Force flow throughout him. Yoda's favorite method of teaching was to ensure his students could figure things out for themselves.

Even if all Yoda did was wait for the student to catch up to speed, he found that they almost always realized what they needed. When Master Mace Windu questioned whether Yoda had sensed something or not, he waited until the younger Jedi realized he was sensing nothing. Windu remained confused, forcing him to explain that the feeling of nothing needed to be caused by something. He disagreed with Windu's sentiment that "nothing" and "something" were always opposites, and he made sure to never be fully sure of himself, knowing there was more to learn.

Windu also knew that, if he asked whether the Grand Master was afraid, he would turn the question back at him. During the Invasion of Naboo, Yoda believed himself comfortably away from the dark side, unware of the growing power of Darth Sidious, with the exception of what he knew he could not feel.

Wise yet old, Yoda spent his final years on Dagobah, training Luke Skywalker and coming to terms with his own mortality. As he neared his death before the Battle of Endor commenced, Yoda accepted his own mortality and imminent demise and died becoming one with the Force.

Yoda also had a sense of humor and curiosity, despite his age and wisdom. As such, he took teasing his fellow council member, once asking if he had arrived for a private discussion because he had embarrassing questions, which Windu denied instantly.

Afterward, he elected to wait to speak, wanting Windu to begin the discussion and viewing it as him cracking as if he was under pressure. Windu also found Yoda's behaviors distracting, yet he would always trust the older Jedi's judgement. How embarrassing. How embarrassing! Despite his intensive Jedi training and high status within the Order, he stated that he secretly had a dislike for ancient Jedi texts. Yoda was highly secretive about his homeworld and never revealed it to anyone.

Despite his small size and old age, Yoda was an extremely accomplished lightsaber duelist, wielding a short green-bladed lightsaber. Yoda was extremely skilled in blast-deflection and proved more than capable of taking on multiple enemies at the same time and winning easily: he was able to single-handedly defeat without getting even a single shot to his person an entire army of droids that Ventress sent as a test for King Katunko whether to accept the Jedi or the Separatists as an ally.

When he fought Dooku, Yoda maintained the upper hand through the duel, forcing Dooku into the defensive, and would have defeated him had he not decided to flee. His duel with Sidious, although initially well-matched, eventually began to turn into Yoda's favor, forcing Sidious to use the Force to confront him. Even despite his small size and old age, Yoda was extremely powerful and accomplished in the Force. Yoda was extremely skilled in telekinesis and all forms of it.

When facing Dooku on the planet Geonosis, Yoda demonstrated his superior telekinetic mastery by effortlessly repelling every metal piece and stone slab thrown by the also very skilled Sith Lord. He was even able to blast Darth Sidious himself through the air with a Force Push and was able to stop and redirect a Senate hoverpod Sidious had thrown at him when they fought in the Senate building.

During a confrontation with Confederate forces on the coral moon of Rugosa, Yoda effortlessly pulled 2 droids to slash them with his lightsaber, flung multiple pieces of the droid controlling one of the infantry high into the air and both opened the upper parts of another infantry tank and send it and the droid controlling it into the air.

After the droids were dealt with, Yoda easily overpowered the powerful Sith Assassin Asajj Ventress with telekinesis, stopping her lightsaber strike mid-way and disarming her with a simple gesture, and repulsed the many stones caused by Ventress activating an explosion.

Jedi Padawan Bell Zettifar pondered whether Yoda—after putting great focus into the effort—could use the Force to stop gravity. His ability to use the combative applications of the Force notwithstanding, Yoda's incredibly strong connection to the Force combined with his years of extensive study also granted him numerous supplementary abilities.

During the trial of Quinlan Vos , Yoda revealed that he could uncover the alignment of a Force-user just by touching them—stating that the Force had permitted him to read the history of a soul, able to easily sense that he had fallen to the Dark Side despite Vos being proficient enough to hide it from many other Jedi.

Additionally, Yoda was able to use Force healing , even to the extent of healing himself and those around him while in battle with just a wave of his hand. Yoda was also shown to be capable of experiencing Force visions. However, he understood that Force prophecy was not absolute and that the future was always in motion. As a Force spirit, Yoda was evidently capable of either manipulating weather to create lightning strikes, or summoning such strikes himself.

He was also shown to be capable of striking Luke Skywalker with his walking stick, demonstrating an ability to interact with the living world in a physical sense despite both Yoda and the stick being ostensibly non-corporeal. Yoda was also shown to have a level of proficiency in piloting despite often leaving it to his soldiers, as when he was forced to travel alone by Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda displayed the ability to pilot Anakin's personal interceptor comfortably and was able to avoid inflicting any damage on it until he returned to the Jedi.

During the Clone Wars, Yoda proved himself to be an exceptional strategist and leader, being a highly effective general. His abilities in those regard were displayed during a confrontation with Confederate forces on the coral moon of Rugosa: Yoda was able to inspire hope into his troopers despite the overwhelming odds and was able to easily tactically defeat the army of droids, exploiting the weak-points of the infantry tanks to systematically destroy them and at one point tricking one of the droids controlling the tanks into destroying the other tank.

Throughout the Republic Era, Yoda wielded his own lightsaber. He is also known for using a cane. It began as a lesson, but really more of a joke, for his Padawans; he would limp into a room with the cane, then he would cast it aside and quickly use his speed in the Force, only to finally grab the cane once more and hobble away.

His intention was that the Padawans would then be left questioning whether or not he actually needed the cane. Nevertheless, as he grew older during his exile on Dagobah, he found he truly had come to need it. Early concept art by Joe Johnston. He was also featured in all three episodes of the prequel trilogy, and multiple episodes of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels animated television series. Yoda also played a role in various Expanded Universe material now under the Star Wars Legends brand and thus non-canonical.

Once Yoda's appearance was finalized, make-up and creatures supervisor Stuart Freeborn created a detailed puppet, brought to life on screen by Frank Oz. A new model, younger in appearance, was built by Nick Dudman 's animatronics crew for the filming of Episode I, in which Yoda also appeared as a CGI model for two shots' duration.

In Episode II, Yoda's character was realized entirely through computer-generated imagery, partly due to the practical necessity imposed by the action scenes of Yoda's duel with Dooku, and partly due to the determination of Animation Director Rob Coleman. Designed specifically to not exceed Oz's puppetwork in realism, the animated version of Yoda was accepted after several shots from Empire Strikes Back were recreated using the new technology as animation tests and evaluated.

During the film's early development, Yoda was originally going to have a bigger role, a decision that went far enough to ask Frank Oz to record some lines as Yoda, although these recordings went unused when the character was cut from the film. It's not only a puppet, it's an exact replica of the Empire puppet.

Registered: May 23, It suddenly occurred to me the other day as I came across a rumor suggesting the same for Luke in the ST. Even if Palpatine is assumed to be so above the fray that he doesn't have time to talk about Yoda, why doesn't Vader mention him or gauge it from Luke's feelings especially if he can so quickly figure out that he has a twin sister? Vader mentioning "Obi-Wan has taught you well" repeatedly, especially both times coming after Luke is fresh off visits to Dagobah, is even weirder.

The theory that Yoda was dead all along, however, resolves this almost perfectly. Perhaps it's some nuance of the Force that one Force user can only detect, via feelings, the "scent" of someone else who has been around another Force user if they are actually living and not if they are dead. It also adds a whole new layer of tragedy to Yoda's story, that Vader or Palpatine, in my version had already hunted him down and killed him on Dagobah and the Whills refused to let Yoda pass onto the netherworld until he made penance for his responsibility in the failure of the Order.

Last edited: Dec 31, JorakUln , Dec 31, Darth Caliban likes this. Registered: May 18, Interesting theory. The prevailing wisdom is Yoda chose that place because it was remote and strong with the dark side, so Vader and the Emperor could not sense him. Registered: Dec 7, Nah, I don't think he's dead. His speech on the 'crude matter' works because he too is part of it.

He also needs to eat, as we see with Luke's rations and his stew. It doesn't fit with how the Force Ghosts are ever presented, lacking the blue glow or intangibility Yoda interacts physically with lots of stuff.

Yoda's just hiding on a remote system with no Imperial or civilian presence, no-one was ever going to stumble onto him.

The reason the Emperor or Vader never mention Yoda is cause they have don't associate Luke with him at all. They just know that Obi-Wan gave him training at some point, not that he's been trained by any other Jedi and Luke himself doesn't correct that assumption. Doompup , Sith Lord , pellaeon01 and 6 others like this.

Registered: Nov 7, We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info. Yes, the ancient Jedi was apparently over years old, but he had been leaping around like a spring chicken, or whatever the Force he is, in the battles shown in the prequel trilogy, which took place just a few decades before.

For a hugely powerful creature who had managed to hold on for so many centuries, why did he allow himsef to die when the galaxy needed him the most? Because the Sith ruled and were in power, the Dark Side was everywhere.

The Light Side also rejuvenates the body, which is one reason he survived as long as he did, so the Dark Side dominance would have been crippling.