Palleus Chuff Palleus Chuff was a male actor during the reign of the Galactic Republic . Since childhood , his passion was pretending ; specifically , pretending to be a hero . His small height , which was below one meter , forced him to portray dubious characters in his early acting career . However , he eventually made his breakthrough with his portrayal of Jedi Master Yoda in his self - written play " Jedi ! " . Later , in 20 BBY , Chuff impersonated Yoda at the Jedi Master ' s behest on a personal mission to the planet Ithor in the Ottega system . The goal of this mission was to keep Yoda ' s mission to Vjun secret . Arriving in the Ottega system , Chuff was attacked by the " Last Call " , the personal starship of the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress , who erroneously believed him to be Yoda . After a short time , Ventress discovered that Yoda had not flown the starfighter , and she changed her plan to confuse her enemies by faking Yoda ' s death and holding Chuff captive so that he could not tell anyone the truth . A few days later , after a business transaction with the FIII Footman droid Solis , Ventress found out that the real Yoda was going to the Phindar Spaceport . Considering the actor harmless , she left him in the ship when she tried to kill the Jedi Master . However , Chuff engaged her ship ' s hyperdrive for a random hyperspace flight . Outside the ship , the actor was confronted with the real Yoda . As the ship was anchored to the deck with five high - pull magnets , Yoda knew that the firing of the engines would tear the whole spaceport apart . As a Jedi , Yoda ' s main goal was to destroy the magnets holding the ship in place to prevent the spaceport from this catastrophe . As he neared completion , battle droids tried to attack Yoda , forcing him to trust Chuff with the mission while he engaged the droids . At that point , they split up , and Chuff succeeded in destroying the last magnet by himself , saving the spaceport . Biography . Early career . Palleus Chuff spent most of his childhood taking part in role - playing games . In those games he often played starfighter pilots , Jedi Knights , or adventurers . From childhood on , he was afraid of enclosed spaces and of flying . Because he loved role - playing so much , he decided to become an actor . As he was very short — less than one meter — the producers would not risk casting him as a hero . Due to this , he usually found himself playing villainous , scheming dwarfs . Disappointed by this fact , he came up with a play in which he portrayed the diminutive Jedi Master Yoda . Chuff studied Yoda ' s mannerisms for several months to be able to portray him realistically in the play " Jedi ! " After this , he was capable of using Yoda ' s emotions according to the particular situation . The effort paid off , with the play getting rave reviews from the media and earning him much respect with his fellow actors . Impersonating Yoda . In 20 BBY , Jedi Master Yoda was on a mission with Masters Maks Leem and Jai Maruk , and their respective Padawans Whie Malreaux and Tallisibeth Enwandung - Esterhazy , to the planet Vjun . The group was meeting Count Dooku , the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems , for a peace talk . At the same time , Chuff was employed to masquerade as Yoda on a mission to the planet Ithor in the Ottega system at the request of the government of the Galactic Republic . The actor was to travel to Ithor within a " Seltaya " - class fast courier , a type of starfighter manufactured by Hoersch - Kessel Drive . Four pilots escorted him within " Tavya " - class armored pickets to protect him in starfighter combat . The goal of this mission was to fool the galaxy into believing that the real Yoda was on the Ithorian homeworld . Despite his fear of flying , Chuff agreed , because he found it disrespectful to deny a request from the government . However , he wanted a R2 droid to navigate his " Seltaya " - class fast courier so that he would not have to worry about piloting the starfighter . Furthermore , there was an emergency override that would allow the control tower to fly the starfighter . Shortly before the departure , he became nervous and imagined that his R2 droid had been manipulated by the Trade Federation , a member of the Confederacy . In the hangar upon his departure , Chuff did not have the heart to answer the questions posed by the local journalists , instead smiling and waving his walking stick at the reporters . The Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress decided to ambush Chuff and his fellow pilots , because she knew that a dead Yoda — who was a beacon of hope for many citizens in the galaxy — would be a catastrophe for the Jedi Order . Before Chuff arrived in the system , Ventress had already killed three of the four pilots . However , the actor did not care and commanded his astromech droid to fire upon Ventress ' ship , the " Last Call " . Ventress sensed through the Force that it was not Yoda flying the starfighter . Her new plan was to confuse her enemies by capturing Chuff and leaving the wreckage of his craft at the battle site . The Ithorians identified the debris as Yoda ' s and broadcast the message of his death throughout the galaxy . As a captive in Ventress ' ship , the actor was gagged and tied to a seat . At one point , the FIII Footman droid Solis contacted Ventress . The droid had spied on one of Yoda ' s companions and meanwhile found out the Jedi ' s next stopover , which he offered to tell her for the price of 734 , 995 credits . Ventress was very interested in doing business with the droid , since the death of Yoda was still one of her prime concerns . When they arrived at Yoda ' s location , the spaceport on Phindar , Ventress perceived Chuff as harmless and left him in the ship . Seeking revenge , Chuff set a ten - minute countdown to engage the ship ' s hyperdrive for a random hyperspace flight . When he got out of the ship , he was confronted by the real Yoda . Worried about the Jedi Master ' s safety , Chuff immediately informed him of the Dark Jedi ' s plans . He also mentioned the hyperdrive that he had manipulated shortly before . After hearing this , Yoda was slightly displeased with Chuff . As the ship was anchored to the deck with five high - pull magnets on the bottom of the support leg s , an ignition of the hyperdrive engine could tear the spaceport apart . To avoid a devastating blast , Yoda attempted to chop down the supports legs one by one . Then , he intended to push the ship out of the docking bay so that the spaceport would be untroubled by the destruction . However , after Yoda had managed to destroy only four of the five legs , Chuff witnessed battle droids trying to attack the Jedi Master . Yoda decided that it would make more sense if Chuff assumed the responsibility for the last support leg , while he went out to eliminate the attacking droids . Solely responsible for the future of the spaceport , Chuff ' s major goal was to not disappoint Yoda . After he successfully cleaved the last support leg — which was no serious challenge for him — the actor went directly to the turbolifts outside of the spaceport as Yoda had ordered him to . A few minutes later , Yoda came back to join Chuff , when suddenly suction from the ignition of the engines forced everything near the ship into space . Only Yoda and Chuff were able to keep their position , because Yoda used the Force to avoid such a disaster . Personality and traits . Palleus Chuff loved to play the role of the hero . Restricted by his height , he often had to portray scheming characters , which frustrated his ambitions . Therefore , he came up with making his breakthrough by writing his own play , entitled " Jedi ! " . To give an authentic portrayal of Jedi Master Yoda , he studied his mannerisms for several months . After this period of study , he had Yoda ' s emotions fairly mastered and could use them appropriately . The effort paid off , as the play ' s premiere proved to be a big success . In addition , his colleagues recognized his witty qualities . Since childhood , Chuff had a fear of flying as well as claustrophobia . Due to these fears , he prayed before the departure of his courier . However , in his mind , serving the government had a higher priority than avoiding his fears , so he accepted their mission . After the time he spent in Ventress ' ship , the actor was annoyed with the Dark Jedi and decided to gain revenge by making her ship perform a random hyperspace jump . Chuff , who was convinced of his plan , saw — after Yoda ' s explanation — that his plan had some flaws that he had not considered . When Yoda and the actor had to cut the support legs , Chuff initially felt a shaky courage . However , he lost his gallantry just before the ignition of the engines , fearing his own death . Chuff eventually became more confident , when Yoda suddenly arrived to save him . Behind the scenes . Palleus Chuff ' s first and only appearance was in the 2004 novel " " , written by Sean Stewart . Chuff portrays one of the minor characters in the novel . In " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " , Chuff ' s first name is incorrectly spelled as " Pelleus " .