“Star Wars” fans are, of course, familiar with Jedi Master Yoda’s distinctive sentence structure. But why does Yoda talk like that? “The Mandalorian” creator Dave Filoni now answers that question.
When “Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back” was released in 1980, many fans of the space saga suddenly had a new favorite Jedi. Master Yoda, who teaches Luke Skywalker on Dagobah, may be small and old, but he is also powerful and wise, one of the strongest Jedi of all time.
Of course, the unusual sentence order Yoda uses is striking, making each of his sentences memorable quotes. But why does Yoda talk like that in the first place? Many viewers will never have asked themselves this question, or it was simply agreed that Yoda’s species probably just talks that way, much like Jar Jar Binks and the other Gungans talk in their own unique way.
This theory could never be tested until now, as the only other characters from Yoda’s species we’ve seen so far didn’t speak a word. Yaddle, a Yedi master from “Episode 1: The Dark Menace,” only sat silently in the Jedi Council, Grogu from “The Mandalorian” is still too small to speak at his sweet 50.
But the new series “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” now lets Yaddle have her say and we find out: she talks normally! It should be similar with Grogu, as soon as Din Djarin elicits his first sentences. So why is Yoda the exception? “The Clone Wars” creator Dave Filoni provides the explanation in an interview with Nerdist when it came to Yaddle’s correct sentence structure:
Does [Yaddle] talk backwards? I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ I think it’s a Yoda thing.” Frank Oz once told me that Yoda talks like that to honor his own master. That’s what I had in mind. I’m trying to carry on those thoughts.
So Yoda could also speak correctly, but deliberately chooses not to in order to honor his master, whose sentence order was also messed up. N’Kata Del Gormo, a Hysalrian, was once thought to be Yoda’s master, but this has not yet been confirmed in the current “Star Wars” canon, so we can’t verify which species Yoda’s ductus was inspired by.
At least Yaddle fans can look forward to more information about the Jedi Master through “Tales of the Jedi” and we also currently learn more about Count Dooku and Ahoska Tano on Disney+. With “Star Wars: Andor,” we are also taken back to the beginnings of the rebellion against the Empire every Wednesday.
