Yoda
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Along-lived Jedi Master, Yoda was the conduit for the rebirth of the nearly-vanished Jedi Knights. For more than 800 years, the diminutive green being had trained Jedi Knights, such Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the ways of the Force, but rarely had he faced such a challenge as the impetuous young Luke Skywalker. By the time Luke encountered him in the bogs of Dagobah, Yoda was nearly 900 years old and walked stooped over with the help of a gimer stick. He subsisted on things that nature offer him, eating plants and fruits and fungi, and building his home of mud, sticks and stones. Yoda's path to Jedi wisdom seems simple, yet profound. He made his students unlearn what they had been taught, helping them to tune in to the subtle world around them to learn its truths. "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge. Never for attack," he told them. When Emperor Palpatine ordered his purge of the Jedi, Yoda went into hiding on Dagobah. He used the Force and the planet's own natural defenses to discourage visitors. But he had kept watch on Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. After escaping almost certain death from a wampa ice creature on Hoth, Luke saw Ben Kenobi in a vision, telling him to go to the Dagobah system to continue his Jedi training with Yoda. Yoda lectured young Skywalker about the Force while Luke performed rigorous physical and mental exercises. Yoda especially cautioned him against the easy path of anger and the lure of the dark side of the Force. When ordered to undertake a particularly daunting task, Luke says he'll try. "No! Try not," Yoda says. "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Despite Yoda's plea, Luke left before his training was complete when he senses that his friends are in danger. By the time Luke returns, Yoda became one with the Force. . |