While the Star Wars franchise has moved on from many of the original characters and storylines that made it famous, to begin with, one completely unforgettable character that has become a pop culture icon is the small in stature but large in legend Jedi Master Yoda.
Since first appearing in The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda has been one of the most memorable and beloved characters anytime he appears in Star Wars media. His fleshed-out role in the prequel films and his more recent animated appearances have always heralded great successes, but there is much about the legendary Jedi that fans still aren’t aware of.
7 His Force Ghost Trick
Yoda is the most commonly appearing force ghost in the series; he has appeared multiple times to Luke Skywalker at critical points to provide guidance since his death in Return of the Jedi. However, this is not actually a common trick available to Jedi, and the ancient art of becoming a force ghost was lost until Qui-Gon Jin rediscovered it after his own demise in The Phantom Menace.
While Qui-Gon was only able to come to people in the form of a disembodied voice usually, he was able to lead Yoda to the force priestesses that taught Yoda to become elevated to even greater levels after his death. Obi-Wan also had contact with Qui-Gon after his death, and Anakin is the third ghost to have commonly been seen in more recent times.
6 His Original Name
Believe it or not, Yoda had multiple other names as early draft options in the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back. The most significant and unusual of them was Buffy, just like the infamous vampire slayer. This name was quickly thrown out, but the simple four-letter Yoda wasn’t thought of immediately after that.
First, a version of the script named the character Minch Yoda, and while in a later version of the script the first name was dropped, another character introduced in expanded universe comics was of the same race as Yoda and was called Minch as a reference to the previous version of the character.
5 Yoda’s History
While Yoda is considered an ancient being who was always around as long as the Star Wars Universe was, he did, in fact, have a beginning as well. Originally, Yoda lived on a remote planet and crashed into a swampy planet with a friend of his, where he found Jedi Master N’Kata Del Gormo.
This Jedi Master told Yoda about his sensitivity to the force and trained him. After this, Yoda was sent to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, where he became first a Jedi Knight and later a Master, all within the first hundred years of his life.
4 A Long Life’s Work
Yoda lived for many centuries (he was around 900 years old when he died), and in that time, he was a major part of the Jedi order. His roles included Master of the Order and Grand Master of the Jedi High Council. Not only this, but Yoda was a mentor to many incredible and not-so-incredible Jedi Knights and Masters in his life.
The likes of Count Dooku came under the tutelage of Yoda and later renounced his membership in the Jedi Order. However, Yoda had more hits than misses, and legend has it that he trained over 20,000 students in the Jedi Order over his time.
3 His Dueling Abilities
Yoda wasn’t shown properly fighting with a lightsaber often in the prequel trilogy and never in the original trilogy. However, he was considered one of, if not the best, duelist with a lightsaber in the history of the Jedi order. His unique style and leaping ability made it incredibly difficult for opponents to ever face him down.
It was easy with this reputation to keep many foes at bay without Yoda even having to fight them. Yoda has faced down some of the greatest enemies of the Jedi, including Darth Tyrannus (Count Dooku), Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine), Darth Bane’s ghost, and even the inner darkness within himself.
2 He Wasn’t Meant To Reappear
George Lucas originally wanted Yoda to appear to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back as a mysterious mentor who would disappear and never reappear in later films or media. However, when prompted to make the reality of Darth Vader being Luke’s father clearer in Return of the Jedi, Lucas decided to bring Yoda back and eventually decided that the diminutive master should appear in the prequel trilogy and later Star Wars media.
It is strange to consider that Yoda was almost a one-off appearance in a franchise so grand and sweeping, but at the time, the franchise was youthful, and there was no telling where the films would lead, and Lucas didn’t think that an explanation of the character would be needed.
1 The Yoda Delay
George Lucas has also spoken previously about the various problems Yoda posed to the making of the original films. The difficulties in making him look believable caused delays in the making of the first Star Wars films. The ways that Yoda almost ended up looking are perhaps even more surprising.
At one point, the design of Yoda was blue-skinned, smiling, and bearded with a pointed hat, which essentially would be a Smurf. Another design for the character featured a monkey carrying a cane playing the role instead of the puppet that came to be in the original films.