History Characters / StarWarsYoda

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!All spoilers regarding the Skywalker Saga and ''The Clone Wars'' are unmarked. Examples relating to Disney's films and EU can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.
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Tropes specifically applying to Yoda based on his appearances in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' can be found '''[[Characters/StarWarsTheatricalLegends here]]'''.

To return to the Character page for ''Franchise/StarWars'', go '''[[Characters/StarWars here]]'''.

It also seems Yoda has some things to say [[SelfDemonstrating/{{Yoda}} here]]. Now we just need to try to click on it.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[header:Grand Master Yoda]]
!!!'''Species:''' Unnamed species
!!!'''Homeworld:''' Unknown

->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/FrankOz (lead puppeteer), Creator/DeepRoy (''The Empire Strikes Back''; body double), Creator/WarwickDavis (''The Phantom Menace''; body double), several assistant puppeteers
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/FrankOz (films, ''Rebels''), Creator/TomKane (''The Clone Wars'', ''Forces of Destiny''), Creator/MarcThompson (''Dooku: Jedi Lost''), Piotr Michael (''Young Jedi Adventures'') [[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]'''French dub:''' Serge Lhorca (''The Empire Strikes Back'', ''Return of the Jedi''), Jean Lescot (Prequel Trilogy, ''The Clone Wars''), Denis Boileau (second voice in ''The Clone Wars''), '''Brazilian Portuguese dub:''' Creator/MagalhaesGraca (Original Trilogy, first dub), Pietro Mário (Original Trilogy, second dub), Rodney Gomes (Prequel Trilogy, first dub, ''Clone Wars (2003)''), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (Prequel Trilogy, second dub, ''The Clone Wars'', ''The Last Jedi'', ''The Rise of Skywalker''), '''Latin American Spanish dub:''' Creator/ArturoMercado, Raúl Roth (''Return of the Jedi'', original dub only), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (''The Last Jedi'', ''The Rise of Skywalker'')[[/labelnote]]
->'''Appearances:''' ''[[Literature/StarWarsCataclysm Cataclysm]]'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsYoungJediAdventures Young Jedi Adventures]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTheHighRepublicAdventures2021 The High Republic Adventures (2021)]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTheHighRepublic2021 The High Republic (2021)]]'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsMidnightHorizon Midnight Horizon]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsShadowsOfStarlight Shadows of Starlight]]'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsTheEyeOfDarkness The Eye of Darkness]]'' | ''[[AudioPlay/StarWarsDookuJediLost Dooku: Jedi Lost]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsJediFallenOrderDarkTemple Dark Temple]]'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsMasterAndApprentice Master & Apprentice]]'' | ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel2015'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsTheLivingForce The Living Force]]'' | ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' | ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsQueensHope Queen's Hope]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsJediOfTheRepublic Jedi of the Republic]]'' | ''[[Literature/StarWarsBrotherhood Brotherhood]]'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' | ''[[WebAnimation/StarWarsForcesOfDestiny Forces of Destiny]]'' | ''Literature/DarkDisciple'' | ''[[Comicbook/StarWarsKanan Kanan]]'' | ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' | ''Series/ObiWanKenobi''[[note]]flashback[[/note]] | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsYoda Yoda]]'' | ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsCrimsonReign Crimson Reign]]''[[note]]flashback[[/note]] | ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' | ''[[Literature/FromACertainPointOfViewReturnOfTheJedi FACPOV: Return of the Jedi]]'' | ''Film/TheForceAwakens''[[note]]voice only[[/note]] | ''Film/TheLastJedi'' | ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''[[note]]voice only[[/note]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:In General]]
* BadassAdorable: He is the one of the most iconic examples of this trope ever. His short height, adorable green appearance, big cute eyes, voice, and wisdom know no limits. And yet, he is one of the most powerful Force users and lightsaber duelists of the ''Star Wars'' canon.
* BarefootSage: He's never seen wearing shoes and is one of the wisest and most powerful Jedi that ever lived.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He is an eccentric and whimsical little creature who isn't the Grand Master of the Jedi Order without damn good reason.
* CharacterCatchphrase: Several.
** "Hmmmm..."
** "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering."
** "Size matters not."
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Yoda's first appearance in ''Empire Strikes Back'' has him acting as a rather hammy and goofy, but still wise character who is ObfuscatingStupidity about what he knows. Yoda's subsequent appearances give him a much more stoic characterization, though he's not above acting like a DeadpanSnarker TricksterMentor on occasion.
* CoolOldGuy: He has a good sense of humor, which he presents in ''The Clone Wars'', the Original Trilogy, and the Sequel Trilogy. However, he's still very wise and an adept teacher.
* CrossoverRelatives: {{Parodied}}. Whenever Creator/GeorgeLucas gets asked what species Yoda is, his go-to response is to jokingly call Yoda a frog, more specifically the bastard son of [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy]], which is perhaps the only example of WordOfGod that even die-hard fans understand to be a joke.
** Similarly, ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' has the titular alien apparently recognise a trick-or-treater dressed as Yoda, which becomes a BrickJoke when members of E.T.'s species can be seen in the Galactic Senate chamber in ''The Phantom Menace'', hinting that there may be a connection between them after all.
* DespairEventHorizon:
** In ''Revenge of the Sith'', Yoda is nothing short of devastated when he senses all of his Jedi comrades rapidly dying one by one across the galaxy, clutching his chest from the sheer heartbreak. Fortunately, he wasn't so broken that he couldn't defend himself when his own clone commanders made a move to terminate him.
** Later, he has a more subdued one when Luke foolishly rushes to fight Vader without completing his training. He and Obi-Wan both speak like Luke is already a dead man as soon as the X-Wing starts to take off and they begin ruminating on who can replace him as their last hope against the Empire.
* EccentricMentor: He has a funny way of speaking, but is still very capable and wise.
* ElectiveBrokenLanguage: Given the fact that he ''does'' speak in standard English sometimes, his strange speech mannerism is implied to be by choice.
* EmeraldPower: Yoda, [[LittleGreenMan who is green skinned, with a green lightsaber no less]], is one of the strongest Jedi there is.
* EvolutionaryRetCon: An inversion occurred with the Prequel Trilogy. When he first appeared in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Yoda was created with puppets. In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Yoda was created using 100% CGI, and in the GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the puppet was replaced with CGI. In ''The Last Jedi'', he's a puppet again, reflecting his appearance as a Force Ghost near the end of ''Jedi''.
* ExpressiveEars: His mood can be easily read from them.
* TheGadfly: Comes with being a [[TricksterMentor Trickster Mentor]], it might be hard to tell apart the instances of when he's kriffing around with people, trying to teach them something, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs trying to teach them something while kriffing around with them]], although it is usually the last one.
* GeniusBruiser: One of the strongest Jedi around, as well as one of the smartest.
* GoodCounterpart: In Force abilities, Yoda embodies the Light Side of the Force as much as [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] represents the Dark Side.
* GoodIsNotSoft:
** Yoda spares ''no'' clones when it turns out they have turned against the Jedi and slaughtered them en masse, showing that despite having formerly considered them allies, he won't hesitate to do what needs to be done.
** Yoda puts Luke through TrainingFromHell to perform inhuman feats of strength, dexterity and stamina as part of his Jedi training. The implication, however, is that Luke is being forced to rely on the Force; Yoda is making him perform superhuman feats that, as a human, Luke is not capable of performing, but as a Jedi, with the Force flowing through him, he is.
* GuestFighter: Yoda becomes one in [[VideoGame/SoulSeries SoulCalibur IV]] alongside Darth Vader and his non-canon apprentice, Starkiller. Specifically, Yoda was chosen as the VersionExclusiveContent for the Xbox 360 port... Ya know, because he's green like the Xbox logo. As he is less than half the height of most of the playable cast, he is a MechanicallyUnusualFighter in that game.
* HiddenDepths: For all of Yoda's issues, he genuinely does cherish each individual Jedi, even regarding [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Anakin]] as a friend. In fact, his "ideal world" reveals that Yoda's greatest desire is for all Jedi (dead or alive) to be at harmony and peace, being free from agony. This even extends to his former Padawan [[FallenHero Count Dooku]], with Yoda briefly smiling when encountering an uncorrupted version of him.
* InformedAbility: Downplayed. While he's revered for his great wisdom, Yoda can also be pretty damn short-sighted. Not only did he and the Council outright fail to sense Palpatine's true nature, but their enablement of the Republic's corruption, child soldiers, and a clone army basically sealed the Jedi Order's downfall. Likewise, for all of his centuries as a Jedi, Yoda's understanding of the Light Side's fundamental elements (e.g. compassion, redemption, forgiveness, etc...) can be somewhat lacking. One of the biggest examples by far was when he argued the DarkSide's hold on others as "absolute", something younger Jedi have personally disproven.
* InformedKindness: Several external sources note Yoda's compassion as "vast". While definitely more nice than others like Mace and Ki-Adi, Yoda made several mistakes in sensitive matters. Notably, despite personally feeling Anakin's grief in "Attack of the Clones", he didn't do a whole lot to help.
* InexplicablyAwesome: He's just a short, green, centuries-old alien who is quite possibly the most powerful Jedi alive. How he got that way is officially the one NoodleIncident that's enforced and that neither Expanded Universe nor ''Legends'' will ever touch.
* LackOfEmpathy: His dogmatic belief in the Jedi code's forbidding of attachment causes him no small number of issues throughout the last decades of his life.
** Yoda can often be rather unsympathetic when his students struggle to follow the Jedi way. For example, when Anakin states that the life of someone important to him is at risk, he simply responds that he shouldn't mourn or miss them, and should rejoice when the person becomes one with the Force. This comes back ''hard'' on Yoda once Order 66 is executed--he's clearly pained by the deaths of all of his students.
** In ''Legends'', the ''Dark Rendezvous'' novel implies that he's also speaking from personal experience-–he has lived for centuries and if he dwelt on the pain of every loved one he'd ever lost in that time period, he'd be an emotional wreck, pointing out that he has loved and hated more than even an old man like Dooku can imagine. So, he is not uncaring, mostly just out of touch compared to other long-lived individuals like Yaddle, thus struggling to connect with a 22 year old Anakin.
** Yoda also struggles to connect with Luke, which causes friction and leads to Luke willingly walking into the Empire's trap on Bespin when he has visions of his friends being tortured there. When Luke asks if he should let his friends suffer and die, [[BluntYes Yoda bluntly replies that he should]].
* LargeHam: He is this in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during his "crazy local creature" act. He also yells louder than Creator/MelGibson in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' whenever he's engaged in combat.
* LaserBlade: He wields a green-bladed lightsaber, which has a shorter length than a normal lightsaber due to his height.
* LittleGreenMen: His species is green and stands at two feet tall. Darth Sidious even calls him "[[TermsOfEndangerment my little green friend]]".
* MeaningfulName: Yoda means "one who knows" in Hebrew and "warrior" in Sanskrit (though we don't see him live up to the latter until ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'').
* MentorArchetype: He is a mentor to the Jedi Order in the Prequel Trilogy, but more specifically, he was once Dooku's Jedi Master, and trains Luke in ''The Empire Strikes Back''. The High Republic era comics reveal that he also trained Kantam Sy.
* MentorMascot: One of the most recognizable symbols of the franchise, he is, and he's a mentor to boot.
* MindOverMatter: Yoda is incredibly strong with telekinesis, capable of lifting or manipulating things ''much'' bigger than himself, including stopping a massive pillar from crushing Obi-Wan and Anakin and 'catching' a repulsorpod Sidious has flung at him in midair, spinning it and flinging it right back at him. He teaches Luke how to use the Force to move large objects, explaining that when it comes to the Force size is ultimately irrelevant. He also managed to pull an X-wing from a swamp.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizen: He's 900 years old, and barely reaches to knee level of most characters. Justified, since he's an alien.
* MyGreatestFailure:
** His failure to defeat the Emperor in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' is what spurs him to go into exile and reluctantly train Luke to finish the job for him.
** Towards the end of his life, he regrets not allowing Obi-Wan to tell Luke the truth about his father, which had led Luke to confront Vader completely unprepared.
* MysteriousPast: Nothing is revealed about his background, not even the name of his species, only one other member of which is known in the films, and another in [[Series/TheMandalorian a television show]]. Creator/GeorgeLucas actually forbade anyone from exploring the topic of Yoda's species and backstory in the ExpandedUniverse, something Creator/{{Disney}} has continued to enforce even after he sold the franchise to them, save for the Grogu, AKA "Baby Yoda", who even then hasn't had his species named.
* NiceGuy: Yoda is the embodiment of good. He is good-hearted, wise, kind, a caring teacher, and brave warrior determined to save people.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Yoda was the first non-human Jedi we meet in the entire series, proving that even tiny, green, backwards-talking elves could become space wizards, too. The Prequels established that the Order was once made up of many diverse alien species, some far stranger than whatever Yoda is.
* NoNameGiven: Not Yoda, but his species. Their Wookieepedia article even calls them "Yoda's Species".
* NoodleIncident: According to Huyang, how he obtained the Kyber crystal for his lightsaber is a very interesting story.
* ThePaladin: Yoda embodies the strength, wisdom and justice that the Jedi Knights were supposed to inspire across the galaxy.
* TheParagon: As the Grandmaster of the Jedi Council, he embodied all the traits of an ideal Jedi and spent most of his long life spreading his knowledge and inspiring others with legendary feats of heroism.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: He is dwarfed even by most children and barely comes up to the knees of most adult characters. He's also a ridiculously powerful force user who can go toe to toe in a lightsaber battle with experienced Sith lords.
* PointyEars: Befitting his elf-like appearance.
* ProverbialWisdom: Downplayed; he doesn't quote ''actual'' proverbs, but his unusual speech manner makes everything he says sound like one. In reality, Yoda was very direct and practical to the point of bluntness in his sagely advice to Luke.
* PsychicPowers: Even greater than those of other Jedi. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', he senses the deaths of Jedi all over the galaxy, and in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', he easily lifted Luke's X-Wing from the swamp when Luke himself failed.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: He lives to be 900 years old before passing away peacefully from age. This is apparently the regular lifespan of his species, [[Series/TheMandalorian an infant of which]] is still a baby at 50 years old.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's normally very sensible and wise, he tries his best to help his students find the answers they seek, and he admits that he's not infallible or not to be questioned. Unfortunately, he's not always giving advice people would ''want'' to hear, or necessarily very good at giving it in a way they can handle.
* ReluctantWarrior: Yoda follows the Jedi Code to the letter: always use the Force for defence, never attack. This does ''not'', however, mean he doesn't know how to use a lightsaber when he needs to.
** Mingled in his "crazy old hermit" EstablishingCharacterMoment in ''Empire Strikes Back'', he obliquely implies that he dislikes his reputation as a great warrior ("wars not make one great"), which makes sense as his involvement in the Clone Wars was one of his profoundest regrets. After all, there's more to the Jedi Way than fighting.
* RenownedSelectiveMentor: He rarely takes on apprentices in favor of teaching large batches of younglings at the Temple, with his selection of Kantam Sy and Dooku being one of the rare exceptions. By the time of ''Empire Strikes Back'', he can no longer afford to be choosy with his apprentice selections and reluctantly goes along with mentoring Luke after some browbeating from Obi-Wan's ghost. A chapter in ''Literature/FromACertainPointOfView'' reveals that Yoda always wanted to train Leia rather than Luke.
* RetiredBadass: By the time of the Original Trilogy, he has retreated to a lonely planet in self-imposed isolation.
* RetroactiveIdiotBall: Yoda was aware that Force lightning was one of Palpatine's abilities because of their duel in ''Revenge of the Sith'', and that film along with ''Attack of the Clones'' showed that lightsabers can block Force lightning. Luke discards his lightsaber when he confronts Palpatine, implying that Yoda never told Luke about Palpatine's lightning or that his lightsaber could block it. Because of the prequels, Yoda looks dumb for not informing Luke how to deal with Palpatine's lightning.
** Averted in the novelization of "Return of the Jedi" where it's stated that Luke knew about Palpatine's force lightning and tried to block it, but that Palpatine's lightning was just too strong for Luke to block.
* RiddleForTheAges: George Lucas typically didn't involve himself in the EU or Legends very much, but it's known that one of the few things he's explicitly forbade EU authors from doing is revealing the name of Yoda's species, or much of his mysterious past. There are only a few hints about the Jedi that Yoda was before the days of the Prequel Trilogy, and it's not likely that they'll ever fully be explored. Even after the sale of the franchise to Disney, the mandate on Yoda's past remains in effect.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Hmm, yes he is? Agree, you do]]. This speaking style appears to be unique to him rather than a trait of his species, since Yaddle speaks normally. He makes it clear on many occasions that he's perfectly capable of speaking Basic with normal syntax, he simply chooses not to for whatever reason.
* StrongAndSkilled: Not only does he have one of the strongest connections to The Force in canon, but he's also mastered the use of several Force techniques and is '''the''' [[MasterSwordsman master]] of Form IV of lightsaber combat: Ataru. His mastery of the form allowed him to overpower both Count Dooku and Emperor Palpatine (who are [[MasterSwordsman master swordsmen]] themselves) in lightsaber combat.
* TricksterMentor:
** He shows signs of being this in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS5E6TheGathering The Gathering]]". When the younglings are warned that the ice door to the crystal cave will seal behind them at day's end, they all assume it will take another 19 days (how long it takes for the sun to rise on Ilum) to escape. At the end, Petro crashes through the ice to escape. When called on it, Yoda points out that the door is just ice and not that difficult to break if you're determined. [[SecretTestOfCharacter They were only trapped by their own fears]].
** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', as Luke is wallowing in despair and threatened to burn the hollowed-out tree containing original Jedi texts and hesitates, Yoda calls down lightning to strike the tree and set the tree on fire, dismissing the loss of the texts as irrelevant. He makes a reference to Rey [[ExactWords already having all she needs during his speech to Luke]]. The audience sees later that she stole the texts before leaving, so they are perfectly safe and Yoda knew this.
* VerbalTic: Backwards, his grammatical order is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:High Republic Era]]
!!Grand Master Yoda
%%Image selected per Image Pickin thread:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16909826400.02500100
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scan_20220804_43.jpg]]

-->''"To do this, though, to forge our path to the future, guided by the secrets of the past, we will be."''

One of three Jedi Grand Masters sitting upon the Council, Yoda felt a calling to leave Coruscant and wander the galaxy during the High Republic Era. Taking a sabbatical from the Council, Yoda traveled on the ''Star Hopper'' with several other Jedi, including his former apprentice Kantam Sy, to teach the younglings and padawans aboard about the Force while providing aid to planets along the galactic frontier as the Republic and Jedi Order returned to previously isolated regions of the Outer Rim.
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* BigDamnHeroes: After going missing in the first arc of ''The High Republic Adventures'', he makes a grand return during the Jedi's mission to Corellia by taking down a Nihil ship with the Force in ''Midnight Horizon''.
* MyGreatestFailure: Whatever Keeve Tannis's ultimate fate is was highly troubling to Yoda. The first time she was mentioned as part of the Lost Twenty over a century later, Yoda becomes quiet and remarks sadly upon it. During his exile on Dagobah, a vision of her haunts him in the Cave of Evil. He tries to insist that she made her own choices, but is clearly rattled by the accusations of abandoning her.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** He and Creighton Sun's decision to cover up the existence of the Nameless following the Night of Sorrow while they investigate their origins has dire consequences when the Nihil acquire the Nameless 150 years later. With Sun and other Jedi who survived encounters with the Nameless during the battle long dead and Yoda missing during much of the crisis, nobody is around to warn the other Jedi what exactly they are dealing with (while Arkoff also fought in the Battle of Dalna and has been taking TheSlowPath deciphering Azlin Rell's ramblings, he's unaware of the Nameless themselves and doesn't get any results until the damage has already been done).
** ''Shadows of Starlight'' reveals he went missing during most of Phase I because he was seeking out Azlin Rell. He initially believes Azlin genuinely seeks rehabilitation after embracing the Dark Side to fight off his Nameless-afflicted madness, but after enough therapy to uncover any memories about leads on the Nameless, Azlin - who is still very much insane - sabotages a Republic patrol ship and has it crash into a city on Travyx Prime (where the descendants of Dass and Spence Leffbruk - some of the few people who discovered Planet X - settled after the Hyperspace Chase) to keep Yoda from getting to Planet X, an action which kills countless numbers of civilians.
* PutOnABus: In the fifth issue of ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTheHighRepublicAdventures The High Republic Adventures]]'' Yoda disappears on a mission to Vrant Tarnum with Elder Tromak, with the other Jedi unaware of where his mission was taking him.
* WithholdingTheBigGood: Yoda's power and knowledge of the Nameless would solve a lot of the issues the Jedi face in Phase I, so his disappearance near the start of the conflict makes things more difficult for the heroes. His return at the end of Phase I is one of the few bright spots the Jedi have in the face of numerous losses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prequel Trilogy Era]]
!!Grand Master Yoda
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoda_pt_sw.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are."'']]
-->''"The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun, the Clone War has."''

The sole Grand Master of the Jedi Council and undisputed leader of the Order, Yoda presides over a Jedi Order that has become increasingly isolated from the people of the galaxy compared to the past. Troubled by the rising corruption of the Republic and growing turmoil in the galaxy, Yoda reluctantly leads the Jedi into the Clone Wars as generals while seeking to combat the return of the Jedi's ancient foes, the Sith.
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* AceCustom: During the Clone Wars, Yoda pilots a unique-looking Jedi starfighter that is smaller to fit his size and has his personal crest painted on one of the wings.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Believe it or not, Yoda was significantly colder about clones in ''Legends'' than he was in Canon. He discusses them as if they are be held at arm's length, and acknowledges them not as people, but weapons provided by the enemy and is never considered to have a close bond with them. Canon wise, Yoda is actively encouraging the clones to think for themselves and reminds them that they are people, rather than just dispensable soldiers. However, this doesn't stop him from killing them without a moment's hesitation the second Order 66 takes effect.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He more than holds his own against Dooku in a lightsaber duel through sheer speed, and at the end of the war Palpatine likewise finds himself unable to defeat Yoda with a lightsaber, having to fall back on his Force abilities to stalemate him.
* {{Ambadassador}}: He goes on a diplomatic mission in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E1Ambush Ambush]]" to convince King Katuunko of Toydaria to aid the Republic, which leads to him being forced to take on a battalion of Separatist droids with only three clone troopers to help him. He promptly mows his way through the entire battalion, and easily prevents Ventress from killing Katuunko.
* AttackAttackAttack: Given his status as a serene, enlightened OldMaster, his style in combat is surprisingly aggressive. It is also a canonical attribute: his Form IV: Ataru fighting style is dubbed "The Aggression Form" and considered to be one of the two most aggressive lightsaber combat forms ever developed by the Jedi Order.
* AttackReflector: He is able to catch Force lightning with his ''bare hands'' and even throw it right back at his opponent, as demonstrated in his duel against Dooku (less successfully so against Sidious, but Yoda still drove his Force lightning back to him). Also, despite Ataru's weaknesses to blaster fire and multiple opponents, Yoda's mastery of the form was such that he was able to defeat multiple blaster orientated opponents and deflect their bolts as well as any other Jedi.
* BenevolentBoss: Yoda is always friendly and understanding with his charges, although he is initially reluctant to accept Qui-Gon's insistence that Anakin become a Jedi. Despite not being massively close to Anakin and a bit wary of him due to his propensity for recklessness and arrogance (though they get on better towards the end of the ''Clone Wars'', with Yoda performing some of his signature mischievous nose-tweaking), he never berates him the way Mace Windu does and takes the time to listen to his problems and offer him some Jedi advice (even if Anakin ultimately doesn't find it helpful).
* BewareTheNiceOnes: During his duel with Count Dooku in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Yoda proves that behind the demeanor of a grandfatherly Jedi Master is a ridiculously skilled swordsman who is ready and willing to give the Count - otherwise the greatest MasterSwordsman in the entire galaxy - the fight of his life. In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Yoda proves this even further, decapitating two clone troopers with a single blow and later facing down Sidious in a manner which just how seriously pissed off he is.
* BigGood: He serves as this in the Prequel Trilogy along with ''The Clone Wars'', being the leader and wisest of intergalactic peacekeepers.
* CassandraTruth: When he starts hearing the long dead Qui-Gon speaking to him, the rest of the Council figure Yoda's either gone senile or is being manipulated by the Sith.
* CombatParkour:
** ''Oh yes''. Yoda's lightsaber form, Form IV: Ataru, is noted to comprise nothing but acrobatics. It utilizes the Force to enable a ridiculous level of agility, allowing the user to employ somersaults, leaps, cartwheels and spins in every strike. Just ''look'' at his duels with Dooku and Sidious.
** Yoda's use of Ataru is arguably justified, as his small stature relative to most other beings in the galaxy means that he is almost ''always'' at a height disadvantage. Although, this also means that one of the form's primary weaknesses of confined spaces is rarely ever an issue for Yoda.
* CombatPragmatist: Against both Dooku and Sidious.
** Dooku tries to use the Force against Yoda several times, from hurling things at him to Force lightning, but Yoda is able to either counter or block (or absorb) everything Dooku throws at him, forcing Dooku to resort to lightsaber combat, which doesn't really go that well for him either. Given that Dooku effortlessly outclasses everyone else bar Windu, and Obi-Wan and Anakin at the very height of their powers in ''Revenge of the Sith'' (and that after Yoda had noted he'd got rusty).
** Yoda and Sidious start their duel exchanging evenly matched Force attacks, but it's quickly shown that Sidious struggles in bladework against Yoda, so from that point onwards the Jedi tries to close distance with him in order to continue in the field that offers him the best chances, while Sidious tries to retreat beyond Yoda's range.
* ConnectedAllAlong: ''Revenge of the Sith'' reveals that he has met Chewbacca; in fact, they fought together during the Clone Wars and Chewie helped Yoda escape Kashyyyk after the execution of Order 66.
* CurbStompBattle: Unless you're a high-level Jedi or Sith, facing Yoda ends in this.
** In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E1Ambush Ambush]]", Yoda easily blocks a lightsaber swing by Ventress and then takes her weapons from her with a mere gesture.
** In his own self-titled comic, Grievous attempts to defeat him with [[UnderestimatingBadassery only one lightsaber in hand]]. Yoda effortlessly defends against his strikes, lands a devastating blow to his mask that leaves a chunk of his brain exposed, stops his lightsaber with the Force, and ''sends him flying across the room with a Force Push''. To add insult to injury, he casually steals Grievous' lightsaber from his hand using the Force before fleeing from the Battle Droids Grievous sends to kill him.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Yoda is the main character in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E1Ambush Ambush]]" and the [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsYodaArc Yoda arc]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Not even Master Yoda is above a little snark now and then.
-->'''Obi-Wan:''' So, how was my funeral?\\
'''Yoda:''' A better performance than you, your corpse gave.
* DotingParent: To ''every'' warrior in the Jedi Order, younglings in particular... when not giving them TrainingFromHell, that is.
* DramaticDrop: When he senses the deaths of all his fellow Jedi after the execution of Order 66, there's a close-up of him dropping his walking stick in shock and grief.
* TheDreaded: Throughout the entirety of the Skywalker Saga, Palpatine shows arrogance and casual amusement to anyone who tries to stand up to him. Except for Yoda, who manages to repeatedly make Sidious display fear and uncertainty during their duel in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. The latter even tried to flee before the fight itself began.
* DualWielding: After stealing one of Grievous' lightsabers at the end of their duel in his self-titled comic, Yoda employs this in his rescue of Anakin and the clones under his command.
* EnemyWithout: One of his trials in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E12Destiny Destiny]]" involves him facing his own inner darkness, which takes the form of a shadowy, demonic version of himself with GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* EntertaininglyWrong: In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', he voices doubt that Anakin really is the chosen one due to how emotionally unstable and unorthodox he is. Both him and Obi-Wan conclude that they were off in the prophecy and it was actually his son, Luke, who was the Chosen One. As it turns out, they were wrong: Anakin did destroy the Sith exactly as prophesized, but only after becoming one himself.
* FatalFlaw: Like the order as a whole, Arrogance and Complacency, with an extra touch of Dogmatism. Yoda's initial difficulty in acknowledging the possibility of the Sith returning, and insistence on clinging as strongly as possible to the Jedi Order's beliefs, lost the order several of its best members when they were killed by the Sith while alienating others and ultimately driving multiple Jedi to the Dark Side. He recognises this at the end of ''Revenge of the Sith'', and it's heavily implied that this is a large part of why he goes into such an isolated exile.
* AFatherToHisMen: In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E1Ambush Ambush]]", he encourages the clone troopers to develop self-identity.
* FireForgedFriends: Despite initially disapproving of Anakin's training because of his fear of the boy turning to the Dark Side, the two eventually form a bond over the years. Thus, Yoda is quite forgiving of Anakin's CowboyCop tendencies, to the point of hinting that he knows about the younger Jedi's relationship with Padmé. Of course, this only makes it sadder when Yoda's insensitive actions end up contributing Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, which further cement the former's jaded beliefs.
* {{Flanderization}}: The Prequel Trilogy and ''The Clone Wars'' exaggerate how often he uses [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker his iconic syntax]], whereas in the Original Trilogy he would occasionally speak in the typical grammatical order. His appearance in ''The Last Jedi'' features the Flanderization reversed as he's capable of speaking normally again. Of course, it's possible that the speech patterns might have been an intentional affectation that he dispensed with after getting completely serious.
* FriendToAllChildren: He personally trains Jedi younglings who have no masters of their own, and encourages the kind of wisdom only someone as pure as a child can have.
* FrontlineGeneral: He involves himself on many battlefields during the Clone Wars, leading armies of clone troopers against the Confederacy.
* HonorBeforeReason: He allows Anakin to be trained out of respect for Qui-Gon despite his fears of what Anakin could become. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Too bad Yoda never truly let go of said fears, even after a decade had passed.]]
* HandSeals: While meditating in Polis Massa, he can be seen doing the ''mida no join'', a real-life hand gesture from Japanese UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}.
* HeroicBSOD: He has a very brief one in ''Revenge of the Sith'' after the execution of Order 66, dropping his walking stick, clutching his chest, and almost collapsing when he senses the death of most of his fellow Jedi. He quickly snaps out of it, though.
* {{Hypocrite}}: In ''The Phantom Menace'' he gives a big speech, admonishing young Anakin for being afraid to lose his mother, saying that fear leads to the Dark side. Yet, at the end of the same film, he tells Obi-Wan that the reason he disapproves of training Anakin is that he's afraid of doing so.
-->'''Yoda''': Fear is the path to the Dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger lead to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.
-->'''Also Yoda''': TheChosenOne the boy may be. Nevertheless, grave danger I fear in his training.
** Similarly, despite admonishing Anakin's CowBoyCop actions, Yoda clearly isn't above using them for his own means.
* ImmortalitySeeker: After being contacted by Qui-Gon Jinn in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E11Voices Voices]]", Yoda begins a quest to discover how to keep his identity after becoming one with the Force after death, culminating in his trials under the Five Priestesses in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E12Destiny Destiny]]" and his rejection of the Sith Lords in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E13Sacrifice Sacrifice]]".
* IncorruptiblePurePureness:
** While there are several examples of GoodIsNotSoft among Jedi and Yoda himself [[LetsGetDangerous can be a good example]], it's clear that he firmly stays away from the DarkSide. This is also subverted, as "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E12Destiny Destiny]]" shows that he isn't ''entirely'' incorruptible, as the trial of hubris had him confronting his own [[EnemyWithout inner darkness]], born from "spending [his] days in the decadence of war", and then DoubleSubverted in that he overcomes his own hubris by acknowledging that he does have a Dark Side and then rejecting it.
** It's possible in ''Revenge of the Sith'' that Yoda's matching Sidious' power at the end of their battle came from him briefly tapping into the Dark Side, as his facial expression turned ''scary'' while he started deflecting the Force lightning back. His self-imposed exile may have been an attempt to avoid falling into it again by avoiding open conflict with the Sith. Certainly, the ''Legends'' novel ''Dark Rendezvous'' gives us a glimpse of what Dark Yoda would be like, when Yoda deliberately touches the Dark Side for a moment to give Dooku - who has been trying to persuade him to Fall - a look at what he would get. Dooku is utterly horrified and instantly concludes that Dark Yoda wouldn't be as bad as Sidious - he would be ''infinitely'' worse.
* LightningBruiser: Don't let his height and short legs fool you, he's not only very powerful but also extremely ''fast''. Dooku and Palpatine can barely keep up with him in a lightsaber duel before eventually getting overpowered and none of the Clone Troopers programmed to kill him in Order 66 don't even come close to doing so before they get a taste of his lightsaber.
* MasterApprenticeChain: He trained Count Dooku, one of the villains in the Canon, who in turn trained Qui-Gon, who then trained Obi-Wan, who then trained Anakin, who in turn trained Ahsoka, who then trained Sabine. On his deathbed, Yoda entrusts Luke with passing down what he has learned from Obi-Wan and him.
* MasterSwordsman: As shown in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. He managed to gain the upper hand against Count Dooku, destroy a significant amount of a Separatist droids, and actually overpower Darth Sidious with swordplay, only losing the advantage when the Emperor began avoiding close quarters fighting and instead attacking with the Force.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: While he doesn't utter the phrase, his expression just screams that he's blaming himself when Ahsoka refuses to return to the Order, which is revisited in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E12Destiny Destiny]]". In the same scene, he is shown to react this way whenever he feels he's steered the Jedi wrong.
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Yoda is shown on a few occasions to be capable of sensing significant events occurring far away. In ''Attack of the Clones'', he senses Anakin's grief and rage over his mother's death and massacre of the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine while he's on Coruscant; although he doesn't seem to know exactly what happened, he does know Anakin is involved and that he is "in terrible pain". In ''The Clone Wars'', he senses a shift in the Force and determines that thieves will arrive at the Jedi Temple. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', he senses the deaths of hundreds of Jedi across the galaxy following the execution of Order 66.
* NeverMyFault: In ''Dooku: Jedi Lost'', Yoda blames Master Kostana's influence for encouraging Dooku to break the Jedi Code by remaining in contact with his sister, Jenza. He conveniently forgets that 1: Yoda was the one who took Dooku to visit his home planet, Serenno, where he was reunited with his sister, in the first place, and 2: Dooku only started to look up to Kostana ''after'' bonding with his sister. When the Order falls, this opinion shifts dramatically, to ItsAllMyFault.
* NoSell: Count Dooku's Sith lightning does not work against him; even [[BigBad Palpatine's]] fails to kill him with a direct hit.
* OffhandBackhand: When he and Obi-Wan are storming the Jedi Temple after Order 66, his last attack is a no-look redirection of a blaster bolt back into the chest of the clone trooper who fired it.
* OldMaster: Fits the archetype of being deceptively old ''and'' small. Not only is he still among the wisest in his knowledge of the Force, but thanks to ''Attack of the Clones'', ''The Clone Wars'', and ''Revenge of the Sith'', we get to see just how adept he is with a lightsaber.
* OneManArmy: During the Clone Wars, he takes down Ventress' droid army on Rugosa almost singlehandedly. Following the execution of Order 66, he cuts down clone troopers in droves in ''Revenge of the Sith''.
* ThePatientHasLeftTheBuilding: After claiming he's been contacted by the spirit of Qui-Gon, the rest of the Council put Yoda on indefinite medical leave. Knowing he's not crazy, but that the Council won't ever believe him or let him investigate further (what with the guards standing over his bed), he asks Anakin for help getting out of the Temple, since rule-breaking is Anakin's forte.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: This less-than-a-meter-tall alien is said to be a "great warrior" in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', but he doesn't really showcase it... until ''Attack of the Clones'', where he fights Count Dooku with a flurry of flips and slashes.
* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Towards Sidious before their climatic duel in ''Revenge of the Sith'':
-->'''Sidious:''' At last, the Jedi are no more.\\
'''Yoda:''' Not if anything to say about it, I HAVE! ''(flings Sidious across the room with the Force)''
* RankScalesWithAsskicking: He is the de facto leader of the Jedi Order and likely the most powerful Jedi of his time.
* SavedByCanon: Yoda does not die until ''Return of the Jedi'', so he predictably survives the Prequel Trilogy and the Clone Wars.
* ScreamingWarrior: He lets out a {{Kiai}}-like yell while fighting Dooku in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''.
* SecretSecretKeeper: It's implied that he knows about Anakin and Padmé's SecretRelationship. He saw Padmé rushing to hug him after their fight with Count Dooku, tells Anakin that he will find great emotion in having to rescue Padmé in Scipio, and isn't all that surprised when he sees Padmé pregnant with Anakin's children.
* StoryBreakerPower: WordOfGod confirms that this is why Yoda only has two episodes where he takes action in ''The Clone Wars''. Being likely the most skilled Jedi of the time, the only one capable of threatening him would be Sidious, who canon dictates Yoda can never meet, and no one else can really do enough harm for him to have to handle things himself. The one time he is shown fighting, he utterly annihilates an entire troop of droids by himself and completely outmatches Asaji Ventress, who is a threat even to some of the best Jedi who fights her, the victory being a ForegoneConclusion, and the second time he acts, he delves into the mysticism of the Force in order to find a way to contact his friend Qui-Gon Jinn and then discover a way to transcend death and while he does get a fight scene against Sidious, it's more of an illusion conjured by Sidious, though he still ends up triumphing over Sidious at the end of the day.
* SuperSpeed: He's so agile that Palpatine, who himself is so deceptively agile that he can butcher three Jedi Masters in ''seconds'' before two of them can even fight back, can barely keep up with him in a lightsaber duel.
* SupportingLeader: During the Battle of Geonosis in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and the Battle of Kashyyyk in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''.
* ThisCannotBe: Yoda uttered this phrase when Qui-Gon contacted him and proved his existence by telekinetically levitating Yoda and everything moveable in Yoda's quarters.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Since all Jedi are telekinetic thanks to the Force, this lets him ''throw his lightsaber into the chest of a clone trooper'' in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. [[AddingInsultToInjury He then proceeds to leap onto the dying man's shoulders, pull the lightsaber out as he collapses]], and jump toward several other clones to julienne ''them''.
* TotemPoleTrench: In the comic book ''Yoda'' #7, he disguises himself for a covert meeting with a Republic spy by standing on top of his Jedi starfighter's astromech droid and wearing a hooded cloak that covers both of them.
* WeakButSkilled: Not usually, as there's no other Force user in his time that makes him look weak, but especially when compared to Darth Sidious. While the Sith uses a strategy of fending Yoda off by sheer, overpowering Force power, Yoda outmatches him in swordplay and mobility, and tries to engage him in those. Somewhat subverted at the end, as Yoda manages to pull somewhat of a Force stalemate with him in their BeamOWar.
* TheWonka: The clone troopers under his command can't figure out what he says half the time; one of them even admitted that "there's no figuring a Jedi Master", but they follow his lead because they know there's a method to his madness. They're right.
* WorldsBestWarrior: Yoda is easily considered the best Jedi warrior of his time, with even other Jedi who rank among the greatest of the day like Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi admitting Yoda as being better than themselves. He is the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and the leader of the Jedi High Council for a reason, after all. He's trained thousands of Jedi, and more than dozens of them became formidable warriors in part due to him.
* WorldsStrongestMan: Yoda's reputation as the galaxy's strongest Jedi precedes him, making him ShroudedInMyth to anyone who doesn't personally know him. His knowledge and mastery of the Force was supreme, his skills as a lightsaber duellist were practically unrivalled among his peers with a handful coming close, and his extremely long lifespan gave him wisdom and experience beyond anyone else. Only Darth Sidious, Yoda's exact equal and opposite in the Dark Side, could match him blow for blow, and even then he tried to avoid the fight to begin with, retreated from a direct saber-duel to try and exploit his overwhelming power in the Force, and cut and ran when he got an opportunity.
* WorthyOpponent: Despite Dooku's turn to the Dark Side, he still considers his former apprentice as this and Dooku makes it clear that he also considers Yoda this. During their lightsaber duel in ''Attack of the Clones'', he commends Dooku for putting up a great fight despite being outmatched, showing that he also views his former apprentice as this.
* YoungerMentorOlderDisciple:
** One issue of Marvel's ''Star Wars'' comic sees Yoda take tutelage from a young boy in the art of Stonepower, an esoteric Force ability that even Yoda was unaware of. As it turns out, Yoda is as good a student as he is a mentor.
** He learned to become a Force Ghost through Qui-Gon Jinn, who was the old apprentice of his former Padawan Dooku and is 816 years younger than him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Original Trilogy Era]]
!!Master Yoda
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoda_sw.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."'']]
-->''"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship."''

For over 800 years, Yoda mentored others in the ways of the Force and had a hand in the training of many Jedi during their time as younglings. Now he awaits one final student in exile on the planet Dagobah, ruminating on the fall of both the Jedi Order and the Republic which it served, while occasionally guiding other wayward souls put into his path by the Force.
----
* ActuallyIAmHim: When Luke is looking for Yoda in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', he appears to him as a mischievous swamp creature who claims to know Yoda, then proceeds to waste Luke's time in looking for him [[SecretTest in order to test his patience]].
* AdventureRebuff: Yoda initially declines Obi-Wan's insistence that Luke be trained as a Jedi, claiming that Luke was too old to begin Jedi training. His story in ''Literature/FromACertainPointOfView'' reveals that he never wanted to train Luke in the first place, and he wanted to train Leia instead, believing her brother Luke was too much like his fallen father Anakin.
* ArtShiftedSequel: Of many returning characters from ''The Clone Wars'', Yoda looked the most distinctively different in ''Rebels''. And ''not'' in a way that pleased the fans, [[https://imgur.com/a/wh2qV0p as his appearance was so unusually divorced from any depiction]] that many people speculate it is due to ''Rebels''' lack of production financing or the series' animation team being unable to get his standard looks right.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: His body vanishes upon dying, which means that he has become one with the Force.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite his senile behavior in his initial encounter with Luke in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Yoda soon reveals himself as an incredibly wise and powerful Jedi.
* DiedHappilyEverAfter: He spends the last few decades of his life alone on a backwater swamp planet called Dagobah, but is reunited with his friends as a Force spirit after passing away.
* ElderlyImmortal: He's 900, although he does look like it.
-->'''Yoda:''' ''[indignantly]'' When nine hundred years ''you'' reach, look as good ''you'' will not, hmm?
* TheExile: Just like Obi-Wan (who exiled himself to Tatooine), he hides from TheEmpire on the swamp planet of Dagobah.
* ExpositionOfImmortality: More like Exposition of Longevity, as he is not immortal and does finally die of old age. Yoda already looks like he's seen his fair share of years; walking stick, not much hair, crotchety old man. And clearly, he's been around for a while if he was the Jedi Master who trained Obi-Wan Kenobi, himself no spring chicken by ''Film/ANewHope''. Nevertheless, a sense of his true age is held back until he turns around and says:
-->'''Yoda:''' What know you of ready? For ''eight hundred years'' have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!" He makes good on this statement during his final moments, where he cheerfully admits that he's old and his time is up.
* FadingAway: In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', this is how he dies. Having grown increasingly weak in his old age and knowing that he is dying, he calls Luke to his home to impart some dramatic FinalWords, closes his eyes, and vanishes.
* GenocideSurvivor: Following the Jedi purge during the Clone Wars, he becomes a hermit on Dagobah.
* AGoodWayToDie: He dies peacefully in bed, with his final apprentice by his side.
* GreaterScopeParagon: Yoda becomes this during the Original Trilogy, being a very old, very wise, and very powerful Jedi Master, who nevertheless serves only to train Luke to go on to fight Darth Vader and the Emperor. The Prequel Trilogy and ''The Clone Wars'' made attempts to address why this is the case.
* HermitGuru: In the Original Trilogy, he lives in the swamps of the remote planet Dagobah where he trains Luke.
* IconicSequelCharacter: In terms of production, Yoda didn't show up until ''The Empire Strikes Back'', and he is easily one of the most famous and recognizable characters in the franchise and one of the {{Series Mascot}}s.
* LastOfHisKind: He is the last known Jedi before Luke comes to him to complete his training. In a more literal sense, while it is never stated he is the last of his race or anything, there are only two other examples of his species (Yaddle and Grogu) depicted in canonical materials. Grogu, at the very least, is treated by everyone InUniverse as something they've never seen before, so the species is probably rare, hidden from the rest of the galaxy, or possibly near-extinct based on that.
* ALessonInDefeat: Yoda sends Luke into the cave to experience the Dark Side of the Force. When he thinks he kills Vader, the mask explodes and reveals Luke's own face, showing that he could give into the Dark Side himself.
** In ''The Last Jedi'', he reiterates the lesson even more bluntly, telling Luke that failure is life's greatest teacher and that dwelling on it never does any good.
* LifeWillKillYou: He passes away of natural causes at the ripe old age of 900.
* LivingLegend: In the Original Trilogy, everyone refers to Yoda as if he were the one invincible, unmatchable Jedi. However, although he was the most famous Jedi in the galaxy and his death was never confirmed, not twenty years later there's not a single record of what Yoda ''looked'' like for Luke to consult. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], because the Empire has been systematically destroying records about the Jedi.
* ManipulativeBastard: "Bastard" may be a bit harsh, but alongside Obi-Wan, Yoda deliberately concealed Luke's relationship to Vader, knowing that the truth would compromise Luke's mission to destroy the Sith. The bit in his dramatic FinalWords where he said that after his death Luke would be the last Jedi turns out to be complete and utter BS since Ahsoka Tano was still out there (Although we didn’t know it in 1983 since her character hadn’t been written yet, and she may have been assumed dead after confronting Vader on Malachor and ending up in the World Between Worlds for an unspecified length of time) and Quinlan Vos to name another. Luckily for everyone, Yoda misjudged the situation entirely -- Luke's unconditional love for his father is what ultimately saves the day.
* MentorInSourArmor: Sometimes dips into this when he's frustrated with Luke. It can be partly blamed on years of bitter isolation, but also due to Luke's failure to listen to his advice.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: Yoda passes away in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', although it's due to old age rather than being murdered.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: His body disappears when he dies, leaving behind an empty bed.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He pretends to be a wacky old hermit in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' as a test of Luke's patience and tolerance of strangers. Fail miserably, Luke does.
* OlderAndWiser: Yoda has acquired tremendous wisdom through his centuries-old life. It proves useful to shake Luke out of the doubts he had with the Jedi and the Force in ''The Last Jedi''.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Any time he speaks a grammatically correct sentence, presumably for extra clarity.
-->'''Yoda:''' Fear is the path to the Dark Side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to ''suffering''.
* PeacefulInDeath: He dies of old age and becomes one with the Force after completing his life's purpose. How many ''Star Wars'' characters can say that?
* RebuiltPedestal: While he doesn't say anything, it's clear that Yoda no longer sees Anakin as "iredeemable" by the end of "Return of the Jedi", appearing besides him with Obi-Wan to oversee Luke and his friends.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: He corrects Obi-Wan's claim that Luke was their last hope by vaguely affirming that ThereIsAnother. He later clarifies to Luke that he meant there was another Skywalker out there, which turns out to be Leia. However, Yoda probably never anticipated that the last hope of the Skywalker clan was none other than Anakin Skywalker, who conquers the Dark Side in order to protect his son, thus saving the galaxy from Palpatine.
* ShroudedInMyth: Mainly thanks to the Empire suppressing all records of the Jedi's existence, Yoda has become this by the Original Trilogy, with Luke only knowing of him through Obi-Wan as a legendary warrior. Suffice to say, he doesn't expect this legendary warrior to be a short green elf with a speech impediment.
* SoProudOfYou: Just before dying, Yoda proudly acknowledges that Luke is truly worthy of carrying the torch of the Jedi. Considering that Yoda was once Luke's fiercest critic, it shows how far they both came from their prickly first encounter in the swamp.
** Later, as fellow Force Ghosts, he and Obi-Wan smile at Anakin, followed with all three looking at Luke in an approving manner.
* ThereIsAnother: Says the TropeNamer in both of his Original Trilogy appearances, referring to "another Skywalker" that turns out to be Luke's sister, Princess Leia.
* TrainingFromHell: Back when he ran the Jedi Order, he trained his youngling apprentices with cotton wool gloves, a stark contrast to the surprisingly harsh and brutal training regimen he subjects Luke to in ''Empire''. Initially skeptical of Luke's worthiness, Yoda gives him grueling physical challenges to overcome, puts him through a PsychologicalTormentZone to make him face his fears, and regularly scrutinises Luke's flaws and failings. Given how badly he was burnt before, and how dangerous both Vader and the Emperor are, you can see his reasoning.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sequel Trilogy Era]]
!!Yoda
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoda_force_ghost_last_jedijpeg.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Time, it is... for you to look past a pile of old books."'']]
-->''"The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke… we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters."''

After his passing, Yoda visited Luke and Leia a handful of times as a Force ghost to pass along more knowledge to the Skywalker twins. After the collapse of Luke's reborn Jedi Order upon Ben Solo's fall to the dark side, Yoda continued to watch over his final student and helped guide Rey down the Jedi path.
----
* TheCameo: Yoda (as voiced by Creator/FrankOz) is heard in ''The Force Awakens'' during Rey's Force vision and seen on Ahch-to alongside Luke in ''Film/TheLastJedi''.
* ExactWords: After Luke fails to destroy the Jedi texts, Yoda does it himself, deriding them as "Page turners they were not". However, he also says that Rey already has everything she needs... because she already stole all the texts.
* FriendlyGhost: As a Force ghost, he continues offering helpful and wise advice to Luke and later Leia and Rey.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Upon reappearing before an elder Luke Skywalker in ''Last Jedi'', Yoda watches his former student threaten, but ultimately hold back on burning a tree that (supposedly) houses the Sacred Texts within. He then calls upon the power of a lightning bolt to destroy the tree himself, gleefully giggling and noting how much he's missed Luke.
* PosthumousCharacter: He appears as a Force spirit in the last shot of ''Return of the Jedi'' and again in ''The Last Jedi''.
* ShockAndAwe: In ''The Last Jedi'', he strikes a tree with a bolt. Albeit, unlike the Sith force lightning, it was summoned from the sky in a BoltOfDivineRetribution way, though it could be because he was a force spirit at that point.
* SpiritAdvisor: Since he became one with the Force after his death, Yoda can continue to offer guidance and assurance to Luke as a spirit, most notably in ''The Last Jedi''.
-->'''Yoda:''' Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. Never here, now, hmm? The need in front of your nose.\\
'''Luke:''' I was weak. Unwise.\\
'''Yoda:''' Lost [[Characters/StarWarsKyloRen Ben Solo]] you did. Lose Rey we must not.\\
'''Luke:''' I can't be what she needs me to be.\\
'''Yoda:''' Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength. Mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.
* SurpassedTheTeacher: During his conversation with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To during ''The Last Jedi'', he claims that the goal of all mentors should be to cause this trope in their students.
* YouAreNotAlone: In ''The Rise of Skywalker'', Yoda's voice tells Rey that not only is she not alone, but she's '''never''' been alone, as the Jedi are with her.
[[/folder]]

----
-->''"There is another...”''

* BigDamnHeroes: After going missing in the first arc of ''The High Republic Adventures'', [[spoiler:he makes a grand return during the Jedi's mission to Corellia by taking down a Nihil ship with the Force in ''Midnight Horizon''.]]

** ''Shadows of Starlight'' reveals he went missing during most of Phase I because [[spoiler:he was seeking out Azlin Rell. He initially believes Azlin genuinely seeks rehabilitation after embracing the Dark Side to fight off his Nameless-afflicted madness, but after enough therapy to uncover any memories about leads on the Nameless, Azlin - who is still very much insane - sabotages a Republic patrol ship and has it crash into a city on Travyx Prime (where the descendants of Dass and Spence Leffbruk - some of the few people who discovered Planet X - settled after the Hyperspace Chase) to keep Yoda from getting to Planet X, an action which kills countless numbers of civilians]].

* WithholdingTheBigGood: Yoda's power and knowledge of the Nameless would solve a lot of the issues the Jedi face in Phase I, so his disappearance near the start of the conflict makes things more difficult for the heroes. [[spoiler:His return at the end of Phase I is one of the few bright spots the Jedi have in the face of numerous losses.]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/FrankOz (films, ''Rebels''), Creator/TomKane (''The Clone Wars'', ''Forces of Destiny''), Creator/MarcThompson (''Dooku: Jedi Lost''), Piotr Michael (''Young Jedi Adventures'') [[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]]'''French dub:''' Serge Lhorca (''The Empire Strikes Back'', ''Return of the Jedi''), Jean Lescot (Prequel Trilogy, ''The Clone Wars''), Denis Boileau (second voice in ''The Clone Wars''), '''Brazilian Portuguese dub:''' Magalhães Graça (Original Trilogy, first dub), Pietro Mário (Original Trilogy, second dub), Rodney Gomes (Prequel Trilogy, first dub, ''Clone Wars (2003)''), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (Prequel Trilogy, second dub, ''The Clone Wars'', ''The Last Jedi'', ''The Rise of Skywalker''), '''Latin American Spanish dub:''' Creator/ArturoMercado, Raúl Roth (''Return of the Jedi'', original dub only), Creator/GuilhermeBriggs (''The Last Jedi'', ''The Rise of Skywalker'')[[/labelnote]]

* HiddenDepths: For all of Yoda's issues, he genuinely does cherish each individual Jedi, even regarding [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Anakin]] as a friend. In fact, his "ideal world" reveals that Yoda's greatest desire is for all Jedis (dead or alive) to be at harmony and peace, being free from agony. This even extends to his former Padawan [[FallenHero Count Dooku]], with Yoda briefly smiling when encountering an uncorrupted version of him.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Believe it or not, Yoda was significantly colder about clones in ''Legends'' than he was in Canon. He discusses them as if they are be held at arm's length, and acknowledges them not as people, but weapons provided by the enemy and is never considered to have a close bond with them. Canon wise, Yoda is actively encouraging the clones to think for themselves and reminds them that they are people, rather than just dispensable soldiers.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He more than holds his own Dooku in a lightsaber duel through sheer speed, and at the end of the war Palpatine likewise finds himself unable to defeat Yoda with a lightsaber, having to fall back on his Force abilities to stalemate him.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Like almost all other Jedis, Yoda was quite skeptical that Anakin was TheChosenOne, believing his attachments to simply be a liability. Likewise, once Anakin became Darth Vader, Yoda discouraged Obi-Wan and Luke from trying to redeem him. Ultimately, [[LoveRedeems Anakin and Luke proved otherwise.]]

* BadassAdorable: He is the one of the most iconic examples of this trope ever. His short height, adorable green appearance, big cute eyes, voice, and wisdom know no limits. And yet, he is one of the most powerful Force users and sword fighters of the ''Star Wars'' canon.

** In ''Legends'', the ''Dark Rendezvous'' novel implies that he's also speaking from personal experience-–he has lived for centuries and if he dwelt on the pain of every loved one he'd ever lost in that time period, he'd be an emotional wreck, pointing out that he has loved and hated more than even an old man like Dooku can imagine. So, he is not uncaring, just put of touch and in a very particular position that makes it hard to connect with someone who's only 22 years old, like Anakin.
** Yoda also struggles to connect with Luke, which causes friction and leads to Luke willingly walking into the Empire's trap on Bespin when he has visions of his friends being tortured there. When Luke asks if he should let his friends suffer and die, [[BluntYes Yoda bluntly replies that he should]]. Naturally, this doesn't convince Luke to stay.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He overwhelms Dooku in a lightsaber duel through sheer speed, and at the end of the war Palpatine likewise finds himself unable to defeat Yoda with a lightsaber, having to fall back on his Force abilities just to barely stalemate him.

* FireForgedFriends: Despite initially disapproving of Anakin's training because of his fear of the boy turning to the Dark Side, the two eventually form a close bond over the years with the two considering each other friends and Yoda placing a considerable amount of truth and faith in Anakin despite his CowboyCop tendencies and the heavy implication that Yoda knows about his relationship with Padmé. Of course, this only makes it sadder when Anakin does turn to the Dark Side and becomes the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

* HonorBeforeReason: He allows Anakin to be trained out of respect for Qui-Gon despite his fears of what Anakin could become. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished This really bites him in the ass]].

** While there are several examples of GoodIsNotSoft among Jedi and Yoda himself [[LetsGetDangerous can be a good example]], he appears to be the one who most firmly stays away from the DarkSide. This is also subverted, as "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS6E12Destiny Destiny]]" shows that he isn't ''entirely'' incorruptible, as the trial of hubris had him confronting his own [[EnemyWithout inner darkness]], born from "spending [his] days in the decadence of war", and then DoubleSubverted in that he overcomes his own hubris by acknowledging that he does have a Dark Side and then rejecting it.

* RankScalesWithAsskicking: He is the de facto leader of the Jedi Order and the most powerful Jedi of his time.

* StoryBreakerPower: WordOfGod confirms that this is why Yoda only has two episodes where he takes action in ''The Clone Wars''. Being the most powerful and skilled Jedi of the time, the only one capable of threatening him would be Sidious, who canon dictates Yoda can never meet, and no one else can really do enough harm for him to have to handle things himself. The one time he is shown fighting, he utterly annihilates an entire troop of droids by himself and completely outmatches Asaji Ventress, who is a threat even to some of the best Jedi who fights her, the victory being a ForegoneConclusion, and the second time he acts, he delves into the mysticism of the Force in order to find a way to contact his friend Qui-Gon Jinn and then discover a way to transcend death and while he does get a fight scene against Sidious, it's more of an illusion conjured by Sidious, though he still ends up triumphing over Sidious at the end of the day.

* WorldsStrongestMan: Yoda's reputation as the galaxy's strongest Jedi precedes him, making him ShroudedInMyth to anyone who doesn't personally know him. His knowledge and mastery of the Force was supreme, his skills as a lightsaber duellist were practically unrivalled among his peers with only his own former apprentices coming close, and his extremely long lifespan gave him wisdom and experience beyond anyone else. Only Darth Sidious, Yoda's exact equal and opposite in the Dark Side, could match him blow for blow, and even then he tried to avoid the fight to begin with, retreated from a direct saber-duel to try and exploit his overwhelming power in the Force, and cut and ran when he got an opportunity.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: He corrects Obi-Wan's claim that Luke was their last hope by vaguely affirming that ThereIsAnother. He later clarifies to Luke that he meant there was another Skywalker out there, which turns out to be Leia. However, Yoda probably never anticipated that the last hope of the Skywalker clan was none other than Anakin Skywalker, who conquers the Dark Side in order to protect his son and saves the galaxy from Palpatine, redeeming himself through the Force in the process.

* InformedAbility: Jarringly, despite being revered for his wisdom, Yoda could be pretty damn short-sighted. Not only did he and the Council outright fail to sense Palpatine's true nature, but their enablement of the Republic's corruption, child soldiers, and a clone army basically sealed the Jedi Order's downfall.
** Likewise, for all of his centuries as a Jedi, Yoda's understanding of the Light Side's fundamental elements (e.g. compassion, redemption, forgiveness, etc...) was somewhat lacking. One of the biggest examples by far was when he argued the DarkSide's hold on others as "absolute", something younger Jedi have personally disproven.

* GoodCounterpart: Yoda embodies the Light Side of the Force as much as [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] represents the Dark Side.

* MyGreatestFailure: Whatever Keeve Tannis's ultimate fate is was highly troubling to Yoda. The first time she was mentioned as part of the Lost Twenty, Yoda becomes quiet and remarks sadly upon it. During his exile on Dagobah, centuries after the fact, a vision of her haunts him in the Cave of Evil. He tries to insist that she made her own choices, but is clearly rattled by the accusations of abandoning her.