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Yoda

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Master Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. "Yoda" is Sanskrit for "warrior."

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Background

Yoda (896 BBY - 4 ABY), standing only 2 foot 1 inch (0.66 metres), is arguably the most powerful Jedi Master in Star Wars and one of the senior members of the Jedi Council. Very little is known of Yoda's life before the events of Episode I. It is known that he was one of the Jedi Masters who ran the mobile academy aboard the starship Chu'un'thor and that he left the ship's data tapes in the care of one of the natives when the ship crashed on Dathomir. In his career as a Jedi Master, Yoda has trained several notable Jedi, including Count Dooku, Mace Windu, 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, Yoda demonstrated a mastery of the lightsaber that only a Jedi Master could possess. Although his race is unknown, several websites cite his race as "Whill".

During the Great Jedi Purge that launched the Galactic Civil War, Yoda escaped to Dagobah where he awaited the arrival of the foretold Jedi savior, Luke Skywalker. When Luke arrived, Yoda — after some reluctance — 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 save his friends. Luke promised to return to complete his training, but, upon his arrival, Yoda, greatly weakened by old age, informed Luke that he was a Jedi and his training was complete, and all that remained was for Luke to face Vader. One of the last things Yoda told Luke was that Vader was the young Skywalker's father. Yoda then died at the age of 900 and became one with the Force.

Yoda speaks English (known as 'Galactic Basic' in Star Wars) 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. The speech pattern has been the source of much parody humor.

Bringing the character to life

Yoda is voiced by Frank Oz. In the original Star Wars trilogy, he was realized as a Muppet (controlled by 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 (1985). More recently, the Great Luke Ski parodied the song "YMCA" by the Village People with a version called "Y.O.D.A." included on the albums Fanboys ‘n Da Hood (1996) and Carpe Dementia (1999).

Wikiquote has quotations related to Yoda.
  • "Star Wars: Databank | Yoda"
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