The upcoming Star Wars anthology series Tales of the Jedi tells two interconnected stories about the history of the Jedi Order. One segment is focused on a young Dooku (Corey Burton) during a mission with his apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and the other shows stories from Ahsoka Tano’s (Ashley Eckstein) life both before and after she joined the Jedi Order. Additionally, the series will feature both the return of Yoda (Tom Kane) and the animated debut of Yaddle (Bryce Dallas Howard), a female member of “Yoda’s species.”
“Where does Yoda come from?” is one of the biggest mysteries in the Star Wars saga. While virtually every species, planet, and language from the saga has been cataloged in official reference materials, Lucasfilm has purposefully kept both Yoda’s homeworld and species a secret. George Lucas has claimed that “he’s a mystery character” with “no background.” Despite the introduction of Yaddle in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Grogu in The Mandalorian, nothing about this enigmatic culture has been revealed.
Yoda's Hidden History
Lucasfilm has purposefully never listed any specific details, and even the official Star Wars website lists the species name as “unknown.” Although Yoda is referred to as an elf in the original novelization of The Empire Strikes Back and the 1995 Essential Guide to Characters stated that he is originally from the swampy world of Dagobah, these have both been subsequently denied. We learn in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith that Yoda traveled to Dagobah in order to hide his survival from the Sith. Lucas himself seemed to be amused at the level of interest, and has comically joked that Yoda is the illegitimate child of Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog from The Muppets.
One popular fan theory suggested that Yoda is one of the “Whills,” a term first mentioned in Lucas’ 1973 draft of the original film. The Whills are an Ancient Order of force users that give the Jedi the power to emerge as force ghosts after death. The “Whills” are mentioned in both the novelization and illustrated screenplay for Revenge of the Sith in a cut sequence where Qui-Gon’s Jedi spirit communicates with Yoda. However, Lucas has denied that they are the same; in James Cameron’s documentary series The History of Science Fiction, he stated that the Whills are god-like beings with the “ability to defy oblivion” that rarely interact with the world of the living.
Yaddle’s appearance in The Phantom Menace marked the first appearance of another member of the same species. Yaddle only briefly appears in the film during the scenes with the Jedi Council, but the subsequent novel Cloak of Deception and the Republic comic book series revealed that she speaks with the same “backwards dialect” as Yoda. Yaddle’s role in Tales of the Jedi will be an interesting one. While she was initially killed in the “Legends” young adult book Jedi Quest: The Shadow Trap, her death hasn’t been mentioned in the official canon. Since she doesn’t appear in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it’s possible that she may have had another encounter with Dooku.
Yoda’s species does appear to be strongly linked to the force. Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) even mentions this in The Mandalorian, as she tells Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) that every member of this enigmatic race has been a force user. Older Legends material included other Jedi Masters of the same race; Vandar Tokare appears in the Knights of the Old Republic comic book, Oteg appears in the MMORPG The Old Republic, a Jedi named Minch appears in the Star Wars Tales short story “Heart of Darkness.” These characters are all virtually carbon copies of Yoda; they’re similarly wise, quirky masters of the force who play a leadership role to the younger Jedi.
The Next Generation?
Grogu’s debut in The Mandalorian didn’t just give Lucasfilm unlimited merchandising potential; it confirmed a few details about the abilities inherent to his species. Since Grogu is around 50 years old, it’s likely that he will have a similarly long lifespan. It appears that any members of his species are rare within the galaxy. It’s revealed that he was taken from the Jedi Temple when he was even younger, and “The Client” (Werner Herzog) considers him to be a “rare commodity.”
Grogu’s appearance was surprisingly kept a secret until the debut of The Mandalorian. Cast members had to refer to him as “the being” in order to avoid spoilers from leaking. However, that didn’t mean that the cast and crew weren’t allowed to have fun on set. In a behind-the-scenes documentary on Disney+, Howard reveals that her children had fun on set playing with the life-like puppet. Herzog, a famously stern German director, said that he found “The Child” to be “heartbreakingly beautiful." It takes a lot to get the guy who made Aguirre, The Wrath of God to crack a smile!
One of the biggest lessons learned from the Star Wars prequel trilogy is that knowing the origin of every character isn’t always a good thing. Boba Fett is less cool if he’s just a clone, and C-3PO feels less unique if he was built by a young Anakin Skywalker. Although the Star Wars saga doesn’t look like it will slow down anytime soon, it’s best if this mystery remains an elusive secret.