Yoda Star Wars: Jedi Master, Voice Actor and Story Arc

Yoda is the Jedi master Luke Skywalker seeks out on the swamp world Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The part is a voice credit, listed in the cast data as "Yoda (Voice)" or "Yoda (voice)". In The Empire Strikes Back, directed by Irvin Kershner, Luke follows a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi to Dagobah to look for him. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), directed by Dave Filoni, Tom Kane is credited for the Narrator, Yoda and Admiral Yularen.

Who plays Yoda? Frank Oz is credited as Yoda in six films: The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Tom Kane is the seventh credit, for the animated feature. The eighth film is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), where Yoda is credited further down the cast list. That makes eight films in all. For the full list of names behind the characters, see our Star Wars cast page.

Is Yoda real? He is a fictional character. StarWars.com lists a digital Yoda among the effects work on Attack of the Clones, which was captured fully digitally.

What race is Yoda? Yoda's species is not named in the films' credits or official synopses.

What is Yoda's character like? In the films, he is reluctant before he is generous: he hesitates to train Luke, and then teaches him about the Force and the dangers of anger. Why is Yoda so powerful? No film synopsis explains his power, but the films show him fighting Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones and Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith. He belongs with the other figures covered in our guide to Star Wars Jedi and Sith.

In story order, Yoda goes from an unseen presence in The Phantom Menace to a duelist in Attack of the Clones, a survivor of Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith, and Luke Skywalker's teacher in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. That is the order our Star Wars timeline uses, and our guide to Star Wars movies in order explains the release order.

In The Phantom Menace, Frank Oz is credited as Yoda (voice), billed twelfth. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Tom Kane holds the credit, and the plot centers on Anakin Skywalker, the young Padawan Ahsoka Tano and the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt.

Yoda first fights on screen in Attack of the Clones. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are wounded in a chase after Count Dooku, and Yoda arrives and fights Dooku, who escapes with stolen plans for a superweapon. The film ends with the war between the Republic and the Separatists begun and the Jedi leading the clone army as generals.

Revenge of the Sith is the darkest chapter. Palpatine, revealed as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, issues Order 66, and clone troopers turn on and kill most of the Jedi across the galaxy. Yoda fights Palpatine but must retreat, and the surviving Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, go into hiding while the twins Luke and Leia are hidden away.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke flies to Dagobah to find Yoda, who reluctantly agrees to train him, teaching him about the Force and the dangers of anger. Luke then sees a vision of his friends in pain and breaks off his training to rescue them, against the advice of both Yoda and Obi-Wan. In Return of the Jedi, Luke goes back to Dagobah to finish his training, and Yoda confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father.

In Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Frank Oz is credited as Yoda (voice), billed fifteenth. Yoda also has a credit in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), the film that closes the Skywalker saga, where he appears further down the cast list.

Yoda's defining relationships are with Luke Skywalker as his student, Obi-Wan Kenobi as a fellow survivor, and Count Dooku and Palpatine as the enemies he fights. Each one shows up in a different film, and reading them side by side explains how the character changes across the series.

Luke Skywalker is the clearest case. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda reluctantly agrees to train him and teaches him about the Force and the dangers of anger. The training is cut short when Luke sees a vision of his friends in pain and leaves to rescue them, against the advice of both Yoda and Obi-Wan. Return of the Jedi closes that loop: Luke returns to Dagobah to finish his training, and it is Yoda who confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father. Compared with the first return trip, the second film gives Yoda the job of answering a question rather than resisting one. See the Luke Skywalker profile for his side of the story.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the companion who appears in more of Yoda's scenes than anyone else. They are the two surviving Jedi who go into hiding at the end of Revenge of the Sith, and they are the two figures who advise Luke against leaving Dagobah early. Both are among the Force spirits Luke sees at the end of Return of the Jedi. Read the Obi-Wan Kenobi page for his arc.

Count Dooku and Palpatine mark the two prequel duels. In Attack of the Clones, Yoda arrives after Dooku has wounded Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and Dooku escapes with the stolen plans. In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda fights Palpatine and has to retreat. The gap between the two outcomes is the clearest measure of the stakes: the first is a standoff with an enemy who flees, the second a loss to the Sith Lord who has just taken power. See Palpatine for that side.

Darth Vader is a separate case. The plots of the films Yoda appears in describe no duel between the two, so there is no on screen result to quote. The Darth Vader page covers his arc.

Yoda survives Order 66 and appears as a Force spirit beside Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi; the sources do not describe his death. In Revenge of the Sith he fights Palpatine, must retreat, and goes into hiding with Obi-Wan. In Return of the Jedi, the film closes with Luke seeing the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker.

Yoda's later credits, in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, come after that ending.

Did Yoda know about Order 66? The sources do not say whether he knew in advance. Palpatine issues the order and clone troopers turn on most of the Jedi, and Yoda survives, fights Palpatine afterward and retreats.

As an opinion, Yoda's best scene is Luke leaving Dagobah early in The Empire Strikes Back. The choice rests on what the film sets up: Yoda has only just agreed to train Luke, has taught him about the Force and the dangers of anger, and then watches Luke break off the training after a vision of his friends in pain. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan advise against it, and the film lets the warning stand without resolving it until Return of the Jedi.

A second pick, also opinion, is the Attack of the Clones duel with Count Dooku. Yoda arrives when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have both been wounded and Anakin has lost his right arm. The sequence matters for production reasons as well as story ones. StarWars.com notes that the film was captured fully digitally and that its effects work includes a digital Yoda, with more than 2,000 visual effects shots, mostly by ILM. A character who had been a puppet voiced by Frank Oz in the original films is the one who fights.

Third is the retreat in Revenge of the Sith. Yoda fights Palpatine and must withdraw, and that single outcome closes the Jedi's hold on the galaxy. Compared with the Dooku duel two films earlier, where Yoda forces a villain to run, it is the one fight in which he is the one who leaves.

Last is the closing image of Return of the Jedi, where Luke sees the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker. After Dagobah, it gives the teacher a place in the story's final frame. These are opinions; the films themselves show only what happens in each scene.