Star Wars: 10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About The Prequels

Yoda turning into a whirling death Muppet wasn’t the most divisive part of the Prequels, but it was definitely up there. And with it came arguments that Yoda was being mischaracterised. But was it a mistake, or a character arc?

The Rebels animated series recently canonised the latter. With Yoda admitting to young Jedi Ezra Bridger that the Jedi joined the Clone Wars out of arrogance, and that he was consumed by fear. You could argue that this was the TV series papering over the cracks of the Prequels (which they do quite a bit), but it actually goes back a bit further. Specifically to April 2005, when Matthew Stover’s now non-canon novelisation of Revenge Of The Sith was released.

One of the book's many internal monologues comes from Yoda during his duel with Palpatine where he realises that the Sith have evolved over the last thousand years while the Jedi have stagnated under his leadership. Making the destruction of the Jedi partly his fault. Which actually syncs things up pretty well. He’s a withdrawn hermit in The Empire Strikes Back who believes that “Wars not make one great” because he’s seen it first-hand.

Whether or not this was Stover’s idea, or if it’s what George Lucas had planned is up for debate. But it’s entirely possible that the reason for Yoda’s different personality in the Prequels is a well-conceived but poorly executed character arc.