Yoda

Jedi Master Yoda (896 BBY–4 ABY), voiced by Frank Oz, is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He appears in all of the franchise's installments except for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. more...

Like many names in Star Wars, the name "Yoda" is supposed to have been etymologically derived from some ancient language - in this case possibly from the Sanskrit yoddha ("warrior") and/or the Hebrew yodea ("one who knows"). Yoda's character is believed by some to have been inspired by the title character in the 1975 Russian-Japanese film Dersu Uzala directed by Akira Kurosawa.

History

Early years

Yoda, standing only 2' 2" (66cm) tall, is one of the senior members of the Jedi Council and arguably the wisest and most powerful Jedi of his time, even toward his demise, though the toll of his great age is noticeable. Over his lifetime, Yoda trains several notable Jedi, including Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi (partially, before Qui-Gon Jinn took over with Obi-Wan's training), Ki-Adi-Mundi and Luke Skywalker. Before the Great Jedi Purge, he had trained almost every Jedi in the Galaxy since he instructed all younglings in the Jedi Temple before they were assigned to a master (c. 800 BBY to 19 BBY).

George Lucas has intentionally kept the name of Yoda's race a secret. (Yoda, Yaddle, and Vandar Tokare are sometimes erroneously referred to as Whills, despite Lucas' insistence that they are not.) In fact, very little is reported of Yoda's life before the events of The Phantom Menace. It is speculated from the Expanded Universe that he achieved the status of Jedi Knight at the age of 50 and the rank of Jedi Master at 100. Following his training, Yoda is said to have spent 100 years in self-imposed solitude, attempting to attain a higher level of understanding of the Force. He was one of the Jedi Masters who ran the mobile academy aboard the starship Chu'unthor circa 200 BBY, leaving the ship's data tapes in the care of one of the natives when the vessel crashed on Dathomir.

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