Yoda

Yoda, a Force-sensitive male being belonging to a mysterious species, was a legendary Jedi Master who lived through the rise of the Galactic Empire. His diminutive stature belying his wisdom and power, Yoda trained generations of Jedi for much of the Great Peace of the Galactic Republic, ultimately serving as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Having lived through nine centuries of galactic history, he played integral roles in the Clone Wars, the rebirth of the Jedi through Luke Skywalker, and unlocking the path to immortality.
==History==
===Jedi Master===
Born in 896 BBY, Yoda was almost nine hundred years old in the latter days of the Galactic Republic. A leading member of the Jedi High Council, his contemporaries included other legendary Masters such as Mace Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi. It was estimated that over his lifetime, he trained around 20,000 Jedi. The human known as Dooku became Yoda's last known Padawan in the Age of the Republic. While Dooku initially wanted to become the Padawan of Lene Kostana, his upset subsided when he learned he would be Yoda's apprentice. Yoda also taught outside the Master/Padawan relationship, and trained all the Jedi younglings prior to their teaming up with Jedi Masters, including Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kanan Jarrus, as Caleb Dume, often heard Yoda counsel "Do, or do not. There is no try." He also taught groups of younglings in the basics of Jedi training, including lightsaber instruction.
====Pre-Invasion of Naboo====
As Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Yoda was aware of the closely-kept secret that was Reylea, a planet in the galaxy's Deep Core that was infinitely powerful in the Force. He communed with Jedi Masters Xanye and the maverick Qui-Gon Jinn — who was Dooku's own apprentice — about Reylea, who were also aware of and were responsible for safeguarding the planet from outside forces as part of a long line of guardians known as "the Watcher."
In the year 33 BBY, Jinn was prompted by the Force to go to the planet Chandrila, where he found a young Force-sensitive boy named Jarik Shan. Yoda was among the other members of the Jedi Council present when Shan was brought before them to be tested, and subsequently accepted into the Jedi Order. Privately, Jinn spoke to Yoda about his concerns regarding the boy's past and his suspicions about a Sith warrior being involved, but Yoda urged him to not be so certain as Jinn had already dealt with another enemy who was not a Sith.
===Invasion of Naboo===
During the invasion of the planet Naboo by the Trade Federation, Jinn presented Anakin Skywalker, a young slave boy from the planet Tatooine, to Yoda and the rest of the Council in the hopes of training him. Although Jinn believed Skywalker to be the Chosen One prophesized to bring balance to the Force, Yoda and the other Council members did not share his opinion, sensing that the boy was harboring a high amount of fear and that his future was uncertain. They therefore refused to allow his training.
After Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi returned to Naboo, they forged an alliance between the human inhabitants and the native Gungan species in order to combat the Federation occupation forces. The Federation's droid army was eventually deactivated after Skywalker accidentally destroyed its command ship. During the battle, however, Jinn and Kenobi dueled Darth Maul, the Dathomirian Zabrak apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, which cost Jinn his life before Kenobi bisected the apprentice.
Yoda, along with other members of the Council, was present at the Naboo victory parade and Jinn's earlier funeral, where he shared his thoughts on the apparent reemergence of the Sith after a thousand years with fellow Master of the Order Mace Windu, pointing out that the Rule of Two, the Sith succession system in effect at the time, meant that another Sith was still present. Unbeknownst to the two Jedi, the remaining Sith was Sheev Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, who had been sworn in after a Vote of No Confidence forced his predecessor Valorum to resign. With Jinn dead, the Council named Kenobi a Jedi Knight, who informed Yoda of his master's final will—that Skywalker be trained. Reluctantly, Yoda permitted him to take the boy as his Padawan.
===The Clone Wars===
Over the next decade, the galaxy was on the verge of civil war, with thousands of star systems under Count Dooku's leadership threatening to secede from the Republic by 22 BBY. Unable to defend the entire Republic on their own, the Jedi took command of the newly-formed Grand Army of the Republic, with Yoda himself leading an army of clone troopers against the Separatist Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the first battle of the Clone Wars. For three years Yoda led the Republic military's war effort as a Jedi General, determined to bring a swift and decisive end to the conflict.
====Bombing of the Jedi Temple====
Towards the end of the war, Yoda's views of the Jedi Code would be challenged when Skywalker's young Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, was expelled for bombing the Jedi Temple. Although she was later invited to return after the true culprit was discovered, Tano refused as she had lost faith in the Order.
Because of this incident, along with Padawan Jarik Shan's frustrations with the Council regarding their continual request to remove his Force bond with her, doubt began to manifest in Yoda's mind about the contemporary state of the Jedi.
====Discovering Immortality====
A few months following Tano's departure from the Order, Yoda would conspire with Shan to travel on their own secret journey's, having both received promptings from the Force. On his journey, Yoda spoke with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, who directed him to the Force Priestesses in order to learn the secret of immortality. During his trials from the Force Priestesses, Yoda learned about the history of Jarik Shan's lineage from an illusion of the Sith Lord Darth Bane, as well as the event that saw Shan's ancestors forgotten from history.
After his return to Coruscant, Yoda and Shan began meeting in secret to discuss what they had learned on their respective journeys, keeping the details of their meetings secret from everyone, including the Jedi Council. During these meetings, Yoda would begin instructing Shan on how to manifest his consciousness after death, which is what he himself had learned from the Force Priestesses.
====Order 66====
In 19 BBY, the Clone Wars swiftly came to an end at the behest of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who conspired to destroy the Jedi and restore the Sith to power. The Sith Lord unveiled his disguise as Chancellor Palpatine and turned Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, as well as defeated a group of Jedi Council members who had come to arrest him, including Windu.
Christening his newfound apprentice as Darth Vader, Sidious sent him and and the 501st Legion 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 galaxy-wide, 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.
Yoda then proceeded to escape with the help of the Wookiees Chewbacca and Tarfful, rendezvousing with Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and Kenobi, who had escaped death on Utapau; Shan also rendezvoused with them after escaping from Coruscant, bringing with him the Jedi youngling Katooni and Boil, an ARC trooper who removed his inhibitor chip.
===Age of the Empire===
====Duel in the Senate====
After the commencement of the Great Jedi Purge across the galaxy, killing thousands of Jedi abroad, Yoda sought to put an end to the rule of the self-declared Galactic Emperor. Upon arriving into the Chancellery Secretariat, however, the Emperor surprised the Jedi Master 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.
====Exile on Dagobah====
During his exile on the planet Dagobah, Yoda kept an eye on other Jedi throughout the galaxy, including those who ventured into the various Jedi Temples found amongst the stars. Approximately four years before the Battle of Yavin, Yoda spoke to Kanan Jarrus, who had been the Padawan of JEdi Master Depa Billaba and a survivor of Order 66. Jarrus had traveled to the Jedi Temple on the planet Lothal with his own Padawan, Ezra Bridger, to whom Yoda also spoke. 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 year after, Jarrus and Bridger returned to the Lothal Temple with Shan, Tano, and their adopted daughter Mara Jade, in search of a way to defeat the Inquisitorius. Yoda cast an illusion of the Jedi Temple Guards for Jarrus, including the Grand Inquisitor as he was before the Jedi Purge. The Inquisitor forced Jarrus to recognize his fears and knighted him a true Jedi. Meanwhile, Bridger and Jade pleaded with Yoda for help; despite his pacifism, the Jedi Master ultimately directed them to go to Malachor. When the other Inquisitors arrived, Yoda―with the aid of the Force spirit of Revan―used the Temple Guards to distract them as the Jedi escaped. As they fled, Shan and Tano turned back and saw Yoda, who smiled and waved at them: they smiled back.
====A New Apprentice====
Years later, Yoda was feeling his age and isolation. He also harbored regrets about having not taken Skywalker's daughter as his apprentice. However, he was not confident that he had enough time left to teach another pupil. After 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 discovered 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, sought Yoda in his Dagobah exile to receive Jedi training three years later in the hope of becoming a Jedi Knight. A year later, with his health rapidly declining, Yoda died of old age and became one with the Force in 4 ABY.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
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Category:Characters
Category:Star Wars Characters
Category:Jedi
Category:Jedi High Council Members
Category:Jedi Order
Category:Survivors of the Purge
Category:Light side practitioners
Category:Force spirits
Category:Exiled
Category:Galactic Republic
Category:Yoda's species