Yoda

Table of contents

1 Synopsis
2 Background
3 Bringing the Character to Life
4 Related

Synopsis

Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. The name "Yoda" may come from a corruption of Yoruba, albeit subject to speculation.

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.

Bringing the Character to Life

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Yoda was realized as a Muppet and voiced by Frank Oz. Rendered with computer animation in Attack of the Clones, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in an elaborate fight scene.

Yoda's popularity is such that the comedy musician, "Weird Al" Yankovic, parodied the song "Lola" by the Kinks with a version called "Yoda" included on the album "Dare to be Stupid" (June 1985.)