Using what is considered to be “accepted knowledge” about ghosts and haunting, as well as the Star Wars Universe in general, it can be argued, simply by watching the movies (not the expanded universe or novels,) that Yoda was ALREADY DEAD by the time that Luke got to Dagobah. In short, the ghost of Obi Wan referred Luke Skywalker to the ghost of Yoda in order to complete his training. How could this be? Well:
10. Yoda Has “Unfinished Business”
Spirits can have unfinished business, binding them to the temporal world. Yoda did not defeat Emperor Palpatine, and he failed to stop Anakin from turning to the Dark Side. Yoda never detected, or divined, that Palpatine was Darth Sidious. The entire prequel
9. Yoda Is Not Able to Leave Degobah
In tribal societies, the concept of “soul loss” is much more defined that it is in ours. It is a fragmentation of a soul, that is unable to rejoin the rest of it. In Empire Strikes Back, this would mean that part of Yoda’s soul is so traumatized, that it could not yet join the Force. That part of Yoda’s soul was attached to Dagobah, and that was the reason why Luke had to go there. Obi Wan’s soul was already joined with the Force, and could travel to places like Hoth. Once Luke had defeated Vader (or maybe even once Vader had defeated Palpatine,) Yoda’s soul fragment was allowed to rejoin with the rest.
Consider this: even if Yoda did not want to face Vader, his discovery would have been just as important to the Rebellion as it would have been to the Empire. Once found, there is no reason why Yoda could not have rejoined society, especially so close to a final confrontation. But obviously, as a ghost, this could not happen.
8. Yoda No Longer Has A Light Saber
Let’s assume, just for a moment, that Yoda is truly alive in Dagobah. Yoda is a fugitive in constant fear for his life, who can be hunted at any point and time. Any potential visitor (especially a Force-sensitive one) is a threat. Granted, Yoda admits to having followed the son of Skywalker for years, and knows exactly who Luke is. However, you never see a scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Yoda possesses, teaches with, or even holds a light saber. And, thanks to the prequels, we know that Yoda had one at some point, and wielded it better than anyone. So where is it?
Given the Empire’s keen interest in him, Luke’s mere presence on Dagobah should be a threat. Yet, Luke is armed and Yoda is not. That’s because, if found, Luke would be the only one who would have to defend himself.
7. R2-D2 And the X-Wing
R2-D2 has been around Jedi for decades, so he knows how objects can simply float around. Shortly after arrival on Dagobah, R2 attempted to grab a light out of what he thought was the air, only for it to start hitting him, until Luke ordered him to let it go.
This is known as a “force push,” which has been used a few times in the Star Wars universe. A force push would, in theory, create a bubble between two physical objects. As Yoda does not have a corporeal form, there is nothing to “bubble” against. Later on, Yoda moves the X-Wing, but never actually touches it. We don’t even really know that Yoda is the one doing it. It may be Luke channeling through the image of Yoda. Or it could be the ghost of a long-dead Jedi Master, haunting his visitors via moving objects.
6. There Is Already An Intelligent Haunting on Dagobah
Obi Wan is already known as an “intelligent haunting.” This is defined as an activity, taking place around a person or place, that is caused by an intelligent or conscious spirit. An intelligent haunting takes on the personality of someone who has died, and whose spirit has not crossed over to the other side. Obi Wan interacts with Luke, and makes his presence known through sights, sounds, feelings and movements.
Yoda, being a more powerful spirit in the Force, would have been able to transcend Obi-Wan’s simple talk-and-manifestation abilities. He, even as a ghost, would have been able to pick up small objects and be touched by those around him, including Luke.
Which brings us to….
5. The Battle At The Cave
The Cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back brings together many aspects of a residual haunting. As opposed to an intelligent haunting, this is when the ghost cannot interact with the living, and typically manifests itself as a recurring memory. Luke seems to encounter such a haunting. The light saber battle he had with Imaginary Vader actually happened between Vader and Yoda; therefore, the residual haunting of Yoda’s death plays over and over. While Luke “defeated” this apparition, the battle rages on regardless, as it is a memory that cannot fade away.
4. Darth Vader Never Mentions Yoda
We know that Jedi can read minds. When Darth Vader utters his famous quote, “Obi Wan has taught you well,” Luke had just gotten off of Dagobah. The information that Yoda was still alive would have been of great interest to the Empire. Yet, Obi Wan orchestrating a collusion among spirits would be of little interest.
In addition, Darth immediately becomes aware of Luke’s feelings for Leia, showing that his mind-reading abilities are incredibly strong. However, the word “Yoda” never escapes Vader’s mouthpiece, because Yoda was already long dead. Vader had taken care of that years ago, in a battle replayed forevermore in the Caves of Dagobah.
3. Ectoplasmic Mist May Be Everywhere
Degobah is a swamp-like world. It is simply assumed that the ever-present mist is simply part of that world. But it is possible to have a swamp WITHOUT that mist, which brings up the possibility of it actually being ectoplasmic mist.
What is swirling around Dagobah could be luminous ectoplasmic, or paranormal, mists. This would indicate that there is a large amount of paranormal activity going on, such as a Master Jedi having died there. Ectoplasm (like the substance in Ghostbusters) is defined as a swirling energy, that resembles fog illuminated by light. This mist is evidence of spectral activity that can be seen and felt, which described Yoda to a T.
2. Luke Is A Poltergeist Agent
Quick question. Who is the only person in the Original Trilogy who can see and commune with ghosts?
Luke Skywalker.
In the end scene, he is the only one who acknowledges the ghosts of Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-Wan. In paranormal terms, Luke is what is known as a poltergeist agent. He not only interacts with the ghosts, they are capable of enhancing his natural telekinetic abilities. Poltergeist agents are people to whom paranormal phenomena latch onto like a lightning rod. We KNOW that there are ghosts in the Star Wars universe. It is entirely possible, and very probable, that Yoda is one.
1. Luke Witnessed Yoda’s Spirit Rejoining The Force
The obvious counter-argument here is the appearance of Yoda’s death in Return Of The Jedi. However, examine what actually happens in that scene. Yoda gives Luke the information about his family, which is all he has left to give. Yoda (or the residual part of the soul that is left of Yoda) is then finally allowed to join the Force. Yoda’s aforementioned unfinished business is now complete, and it is now up to Luke to fulfill his destiny.
When thought of this way, Luke is actually helping Yoda’s spirit complete a crossover that Yoda’s body already had. This is an essential component to most any story. This sort of coda would also give Star Wars an even heightened level of depth to Luke’s overall destiny.
Poltergeist phenomena are generally associated both spatially and temporarily, with some specific person. That indicates that there would be a reason for that specific association. In Yoda’s case, he has to complete Luke’s training, and ensure that everyone’s destiny is fulfilled. Only once that is done, is his spirit finally allowed to pass on and join Obi-Wan & Anakin, as part of the Force.
155 Comments
thank you!!! i thought the same thing!!! this is the dumpest article i ever read…darth vader didn’t mention yoda because he thought that all the jedi’s were dead….duh.
10- The Dark side was clouding the future, Palpatine was the Ultimate Deceiver
9 – He stayed on Degobah, because of the concentration of dark energy, so he can not be found
8-He looses his saber during the battle on the Senate Chamber, after this event, he had no time to go and pick another crystal and build a new one
7 – Not even worth to discuss
6 – Obi Wan was DEAD!!
5 – Where is the proof of this duel between Yoda and Vader at Degobah…
4 – He saw Obi with Luke, not Yoda, easy to think he was Luke’s Master
3 – Stay away from the acids dude…
2 – Luke was TRAINED in the Force unlike his sister at that time
1 – Did you saw what happened to Obi Wan when he was struck down by Vader….?
So, where can I summit this to the Idiot who wrote the article…?
To gain a better understanding of the relationship of the Living Force to Cosmic Force, it is recommended one watch Season 6 of the Clone Wars on Netflix. It appears to be a sanctioned Lucas Universe story line. There is no ghosts business, but different forms of existence within the Force. Story writers have developed the Force in greater detail in this series. In the Clone Wars, there are many other beings with different relationship to the Force. Degoyan Masters, etc.
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Spoiler Alert
Yoda is contacted by Master Qui-Gon-Gin (Liam Neeson character). He interacts with other Force spirits. Yoda is aware of the future and death of Jedi Order, but he cannot change destiny. Thus he finds a new path to defy the Sith in the after life. Yoda knows that the Sith must remain unaware of this path. That is why he instructs Obi-Wan to continue his training at the end of Episode III.
This helps bridge our understanding of what transpires between Episodes III and IV.
Yoda is still alive till the final disappearances and he transforms into the force …..the hole feeling thang did obi won not tell luke to hide his feelings about his sister yes he was told so you can hide your feeling and keep from ever bing found….why do you thank he lived so long in the first place the failure at the cave was lukes and lukes alone it was a test to control his fear and anger at the same time …..vader would have never killed his only begot in son if that was the case he would have never asked him to stand at his side and together they can rule the galaxy as father and son vader had long wanted to kill the emperor and believe it or not vader had already started loving his son and so did luke start to love his father ……….luke could have killed the emperor but needed to redeem his father to at the same time and showed that his father fulfill his Destin as a jedi master sacrificing him self to save his son…….not as darth vader but as anikin skywalker the jedi master who loves his son and give his life to do so……..the training luke got from yoda did not require a light saber but the knowledge in everything that is the
force ………to thank yoda was killed by vader is stupid to thank so………
I actually thought along this line for some 20 years now. Here are a couple points to consider.
1. EU is exactly that. An expanded “world” to satisfy fans. While Lucas generally let writers do as they wished within a certain set of guidelines. And while he had the rough ideas down for all 9 movies. He never actually expected to make the prequels. He was quite irritated with the fact that Coruscant had become so ingrained in readers of the EU that he felt he had to keep it in reference for the the Imperial(Republic) Capitol.
2. All of the arguments against the writers points using EU or game references are therefore invalid. The only Canon, is what you can take from the 6 movies.
3. While I don’t agree with all of the top ten reasons above, there is one thing that hasn’t been mentioned. When Obi-Wan was killed by Vader, his physical form was destroyed, leaving his robes on the floor. He re-appears as a ghost with clothes. Seems logical to not appear naked. When Yoda “passes” into the force, his clothes go with him. This, in itself, supports that Ghost hypothesis. His clothes where a part of his “ghost” appearance.
Okay, this whole “becoming one with the force” is a problem in itself:
Given enough time and Jedi, the Star Wars universe will lose ALL matter to the Force. Forget heat death, or entrophy. It’s Jedi-induced mass loss.
Yoda lost his lightsaber fighting Sidious and the rest of this is nonsense
I’m pretty sure that’s exactly the point of that shot, to explain why Yoda doesn’t have a lightsaber in ESB.
But then again, I may give Lucas too much credit.
Jedi don’t read minds, they sense emotions. Otherwise Darth would not have had so much trouble finding the rebel base. He could have gotten the info from the guy he choked or from his daughter.
I think Yoda was so ashamed at not seeing the Emperor right there that he hid in the swamp out of shame. I think Obi Wan was desperate and set Luke up as bait back on Tatooine (under his actual name) hoping Darth would come looking for him but Darth never showed up and Obi Wan got old and a little suicidal/martyr-complex over his big failure.
Even if they did, the argument still wouldn’t work since whether Yoda was alive or a ghost would have zero impact Luke’s memories of the events. Whether a ghost or not, IF Darth Vader had been reading Luke’s memory, he would have picked up that Luke perceived that he was trained by a small, green muppet.
Uhhh.. this is STUPID and make NO sense at all.. neither the premise nor any of the dumb “supporting statements”, opinions of hypothesis are even remotely relevant or plausible at all.. WTH.
Way too much time went into this nonsense lol
AGREED!!
R2D2 and C3PO both had their memories wiped so he would not have any memory of the Jedis or the force.
In fact, only 3CPO had his memory wiped. R2D2 is, apparently, fooling us all in the original trilogy.
R2,being an Astromech droid, has a virtually unhackable internal memory core that even the galaxies best slicer Ghent, was only able to partially get past to show Luke some original scenes of Anakin almost killing Padme from decades earlier. Senator Organa knew that which is why he only ordered the protocol doids mind wiped. Also since 3PO was a rather talkative 3PO droid, that made it even more important for his memory to be wiped.
Yoda didn’t fight Vader. He fought Palpatine.
All this talk about Yoda not having his light saber on Degobah …he lost it while fighting Palpaltine. When he escapes that fight he leaves without out his Saber.
Yoda couldn’t leave Dagobah because if he did, Darth Vader and the Emperor would sense his presence. In “Heir to the Empire” it is explained that Yoda is not sensed because the dark side of the cave on Dagobah shielded him.The Dark Side of the cave lived so close to Yoda on Dagobah that they canceled each other out. Yoda once defeated a Dark Jedi in the cave of Dagobah, which left his glooming dark side there to shield Yoda from being noticed.
Jedi sense must have limited range. They didn’t sense Obi-Wan on Tatooine without shielding, not even from orbit. Vader sensed Obi-Wan only when he went to the hangar on the Death Star. So even being on the same small moon is not enough, they have to be real close to sense that disturbance in the Force.
Jedi, and even strong Jedi have trouble sensing at a distance.. but those at the level of powerful Jedi Masters such as Yoda, Jorus Cboath and Palpatine can indeed sense the presence of other Jedi across hundreds or thousands of light years.
This is supported by Yoda not only watching Luke on Tattooine as he’s growing up, but even being able to read his mind and heart from the same distance as mentioned in the novelization of the Return of the Jedi.
Also in Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine was able to sense that Vader was in danger on Mustafar when he was fighting Obi_Wan which was scores of light years away.
So while even strong Jedi can probably only sense someone else on the same planet, forces users on the level of Yoda and Palpatine can sense things from just about anywhere in the galaxy. This is why Yoda knew that he had to hide on Dagobah near the dark side cave, for while he was not that worried about Vader sensing him, he knew that Palpatine could certainly pick him up.
Even though Yoda had a fantastic capability to hide himself in the force as clearly demonstrated in the novel “Yoda: Dark Rendezvous”, he knew that he needed the extra help of the dark side cave to hide from someone on the level of Palpatine.
You obviously don’t know the Jedi code:
… there is no death, there is the Force.
Wow. Some of that hurt. 🙂 The one thing that is not debatable in all of this is that this is easily the most read, commented on, and shared article that I have or has been done on TopTenz.net. In that vein, I absolutely stand by it. To some other points, I have watched the films. I have read the books. I have gone to the conventions. I have had long conversations with noted Star Was authors like Michael Stackpole. Do I stand behind the theory? Absolutely. Lucas always held that until it appears in a movie, then it did not really happen as canon. I remember reading about Palpatine’s training in the expanded universe. I read about Chewbacca’s death and even saw the mental image of the Hutts spa. Yes, I am a fan. I was first taken to the original Star Wars movie in a drive in in Indiana when I was 2. I argued on playgrounds whether Vader was Luke’s father when the matter was in question. I have literally written thousands upon thousands of words about Star Wars online. It drove most of my youth. However, I will still argue that the possibility exists that Yoda was dead. The possibility also exists that I am an idiot. Please continue to discuss the point.
Explain the distinct lack of blue outlines ALL ghosts have in Star Wars!
Yoda already dead? No just clearing hiding in a swamp with no other sentient life so the empire would never find him “I’m picking up massive life form readings but no cities or technology” luke said. The empire wouldn’t have a hope in hell of finding yoda there.
Yoda doesn’t have his lightsaber because he lost it in the fight on Coruscant. Strangely there isn’t any processed metals or rare crystals or any form of electronics on a swamp planet so he can’t make another one.
Also when Obi Wan gets killed in A new Hope he faded away to the force. So was he already dead to you numbty.
i think every one is missing the most telling point in all this…, which is the FACT that george lucas is an idiot and a hack who had no real vision… he freaking winged it… the continuity errors and historical inaccuracies show him for the hack that he is, he simply wanted to keep cashing in on the success of the original film…. so all of theories about the myth and reality of the plot and characters is open to anyone to speculate. but the fact is that lucas is one of the worst writers/ film makers of all time, simply cashing in on middle aged man children who are stoaked with nostalgia, and he uses this to make more money and paint himself as some sort of visionary genius story teller….. which he isnt, and that is obvious to anyone who can see the details…
How old are you? lo The man is a visionary – that’s it. People get way too upset over star wars, The spirit of the originals never die. Even with his prequel hacking. Don’t watch the prequels and the original three are still great. The special editions are better except jedi. I edited the original jabba’s palace scene back in minus that AWFUL dance number and old anakin back at the end and added the lightsaber/cave seen to the beginning and all is well. Calm the hell down and get a life – or do something about like I did and fix things yourself. WOW. lol
hahahhaahahahaahhahah. seriously….?
im a grown up who could care less about star wars, i just have an opinion…..
people get way too upset over star wars…? like say upset enough to re-edit one of the films…on your own, in your own home…… weird…. why of all the comments on this thread would you choose mine to respond to…? weirder….
he isnt a visionary …. face it man child, he made it up as he went along and you just happen to lap it up….
sometimes…. well most of the time, actually, influencing culture relies less on good ideas and has more to do with clever marketing….
You know, writing a story is just making it up as you go along…
Well that was alot of tea brewed on no leaves. Made no since to me sorry
This article does bring up a point that has always bugged the heck out of me… Why does Vader never mention Yoda? He only credits Obi Wan with teaching Luke, even in ESB when he knows for a fact that Kenobi is dead. He can read Luke’s feelings for a sister that he didn’t know about but can’t sense one of the most force(ful) Jedis ever?!? Also, you would think that luke would’ve mentioned Yoda to Leia since the rebellion was trying so hard to contact the only Jedi they knew was alive (Obi Wan) for help, they would’ve loved the thought of having Yoda’s help.
cuz Lucas backtracked over his own writings without paying attention to detail. From the original trilogy’s pov obi-wan trained vader not yoda so why would vader give a damn about yoda.
This was mentioned in the later expanded universe books, where Luke only mentioned Yoda to Leia long after the Emperor was dead out of fear that his memory or existence on Dagobah might somehow be used against them.
Vader, like Palpatine, like thought that Yoda was already dead. In the book of Return of the Jedi, Palpatine DID read Lukes mind and picked out that Yoda was in fact still alive until very recently. Palpatine spoke aloud that it was Yoda that completed Lukes training. Obi-wan is the one that started off Lukes training and the reason why he talked about “Obi-Wan has taught you well” was all part of a psychological tactic to try and throw Luke off balance, knowing that he had deep personal feelings for Obi-Wan.
Luke only found out about Yoda’s existence several years after Obi-Wans “death” on the death star. He knew that it was critical to keep that knowledge to himself, as he did with his “secret training base”, as Leia called it in the later books. Yoda’s best chance to help the rebellion was by doing just what he was doing, in staying hidden and waiting for his “best, last apprentice”, Luke, to appear, which is exactly what he did and why it succeeded.
Some people have WAY too much time on their hands.
Name someone who doesn’t. And thank God for that, or else Toptenz.net wouldn’t exist. 😉
Oh oh oh!!! Or maybe, just maybe he was really dead and used the force to control a f’n puppet to represent himself is physical form! Mystery solved.
This comment section is much more civilised than Youtube Comments 🙂
Great theory Jim Ciscell, really got me thinking. So many counterarguments though that it got a hold of my curiosity and drove me to write this. I personally love both trilogies (original and prequel) and grew up watching them. But i didn’t want to leave the page without my thoughts. If people are getting heated over a simple debate on a theory for an entirely made up story then dang, go outside for a bit. There are no facts to this at all so don’t say, “I’m right and the other person is dumb.” Unless you personally have access to George Lucas’s personal thoughts then there’s no reason to say someone is 100% wrong. Sure, judging by the script and what you can gather through the plot there might be a view which seems like the most acceptable answer as to why things happened. But you must remember, this is one persons outtake on part of a fiction movie made up by another person. Don’t viciously tear up someone’s thoughts just because you think you’re more right than them. It makes you a dick. My opinion on the article? Again, good theory, but Thomas stated on March 5th at 10:23 a list of 10 reasons using commonly known Star Wars details and it threw your approach under the table. Maybe revisit the old movie collection as Thomas suggested.
Thank you for that.
You SHOULD be thinking about why this nonsense got you ‘really thinking” lol. This article was stupid. I can’t believe people actually waste this much brain power on nonsense.
9, 4: Perhaps the Yoda scenes had not been shot, or even written, until after all of the Darth Vader scenes in Empire Strike Back were in the can. Or the Vader scenes were written first and never rewritten.
8, 3: The genius in film can be in what you don’t show. In Empire, Yoda was a Jim Henson Muppet, probably unable to handle a light saber convincingly–so he didn’t try. And all that floor-obscuring mist must have been a big help in making Dagoba look more like Dagoba and less like a sound stage.
Yoda could have built another light saber like Luke did after he lost his at the end of empire. (He had a blue one and then made a green one) The deleted scenes from the blue ray show him finishing it in a cave on tatooine before he goes into jabba’s palace.
I enjoyed reading this theory, however, the logical reason Yoda didn’t have a lightsaber in episode V was because of the battle with Sidious in episode III. Yoda drops his lightsaber when Sidious’ force lightning hits him and it clearly falls away. When Yoda was escaping, he would not have had time to go looking for it. Therefore, Yoda did not have his lightsaber because it was lost during Order 66.
I personally love this theory it is creative and very well thought out. Kudos. Despite how religious some of you seem to be about the movie franchise, it is just a work of fiction and the negativity seems to be primarily based on closed mindedness. My favorite thing about the article is how Ciscell uses other works of fiction about the paranormal universe to evaluate the paranormal aspects of this one. As a huge movie buff who has watched all of the star wars movies, and star trek movies and countless horror movies and other sci-fi movies, they are ALL flawed, usually many times in a variety of ways. And there hasn’t been one comment that disproves Ciscell’s theory only recounts of alternate explanations from the movies. Specifically the entire dagobah series of events could be in luke’s mind as he was possessed by the spirit of Yoda. {not arguing that it was, but it easily could be} Once again Thank you Ciscell good job.
No the negativity is based on this being a stupid, over thought, pointless waste of time.
This is the most ridiculous article I have ever seen. Yet for some reason I am compelled to respond! (Maybe its the dark side of the force or even a “ghost” compelling me to do so). For one, it was explained that Qui Gon had learned how to transcend from the physical world and told today how to do it, so that mystery was already solved. The part about dagobah was also explained in empire when luke was trying to find a place so far out of the galaxy that it was virtually unknown, because yoda had to disappear when the empire was trying to wipe out all jedi. off the grid. In fact, all of the points made were such a stretch of nonsense, it annoyed me that someone that clearly has a decent knowledge of Star Wars could spiral into such dribble. The only point that was interesting that never occurred to me before was today not having a light saber. People here tried to explain why, but lets face it….the real reason he didnt have one in the OT was due to the fact that Yoda WAS A PUPPET!!!! It would have looked ridiculous in film with the effects they had at the time for yoga to be winging around trying to duel with a light saber! Can you imagine the negative backlash that would have occurred after that ridiculous sight? Frank Oz would have quit on the spot and yoda would have been played by a little person. So for all you ghost hunter fans reading this…this haunting was DEBUNKED! Great job…on to the next, TAPS team!
I’m all for Star Wars speculation but let’s at least reference the story that has been written as most of it has been explained, whether you like it or not that’s fine, but then at least propose something that makes any sense.
Yoda eats, Yoda cooks, Yoda reacts with discomfort when luke loses concentration and they tumble to the ground, Yoda admits to advanced age and illness, and, Yoda dies in a manner established in Ep.IV, wherein a Jedi who is at peace with the force will fade away. This is a part of what makes the end scene of Ep. VI so cool. Yoda appears to Luke, newly one with the Force.
Yoda dropped his lightsaber during his fight with Palpatine in Episode III. The process to make a new one is a little bit of an intergalactic quest, if I’m not mistaken, so he was forced to go without for the rest of his life.
I’m sure he could wield that little cane pretty expertly though…
Also, Yoda is MORE than powerful enough in the force and with his martial arts skills to never need a lightsaber anyway. In Revenge of the Sith, it was Palaptine that abandoned the lightsaber duel because Yoda was simply TOO skilled with it and Palpatine had to admit that his defense was flawless and perfect with no holes at all. Someone of Yoda’s vast power could defend himself against almost anything simply with the force itself.
I can’t believe (actually I can) how serious people are about this. The reactions on this site reinforce the idea that nerd-culture lacks imagination and a sense of humour.
I applaud Ciscell’s attempt to think outside the box and to come up with a rather unique take on the situation – whether or not it accounts for every nit-picking detail. There are a lot of instances where fan fiction has provided an interesting twist, and depth, to existing canon. This type of writing and thinking should be encouraged. Most of the negative comments here lack arguments of their own and are really just the vacuous reactions of nerd-dom’s trollish, mouth breathers.
At least the article exhibits thought, a hella lot more thought that what was put into the prequel films.
Why would this be an example (in your opinion) of nerd-culture? As it says in other comments about this article, this has nothing to do with being a nerd or not, it has to do with loving a movie. If you took the time, you would find the same type of passion toward pretty much anything. Calling these fans nerds is the same as calling someone who loves sports a jock.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion and yours is valid, but there is no need to ridicule or call people “mouth-breathers” because they’re passionate about something. I have been a fan of Star Wars since the first one was released in 1977. I’m no mouth-breather. I have an IQ of 152. However, you don’t have to be a genius to love something, or be able to tell when someone has come to the wrong conclusion.
How is this article not an example of nerd-culture? It’s about an alternate perspective on the metaphysical nature of a character in a science-fiction movie.
The point I was trying to make in my post was that you can definitely feel the rage coming back in from the negatively-inclined commenters. Their remarks, in general, come off sounding like people who are obsessed with a movie as though it were holy scripture. But it’s not truth – it’s a work of fiction, which makes it an attempt at art, which in turn opens it up for exploration, by anyone and in anyway.
And calling these fans nerds, shouldn’t really offend anyone. Mouth-breathers? Sure, that was negative but it was aimed at those exhibiting the mindframe of the thought police. Judging from this respone and others that you make, Morley, you sound like you’re afraid of the word ‘nerd’. It’s time for you to come out of the closet with your 152 IQ. No one will hold it against you.
I think what many people are forgetting is that Star Wars is George Lucas’ ‘Art”. It is exactly what HE intended it to be. No more. Lucas already included all the theories and everything else he could come up with at the time. If Yoda was a ghost and Boba Fett killed owen and Beru…It would’ve been included in the painful “special” editions.
…and just to fill you in on an assumed Type: I am not a nerd…nerds are intelligent. I just really liked Star wars…which makes me a geek. A geek that looks like a jock, if it matters.
;P
Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars…?
Oh, thank the Force it’s actually not exactly what he intended it to be!
The prequel trilogy is that, and it shows.
In the original trilogy he thankfully had brilliant film crews who did add their ideas and creativity.
What about how Luke landed on a whole planet and Yoda just happened to be in the very spot where he crashed… Very ghost-like
He was drawn to that spot by the force. Does nobody pay attention to anything in these movies?
That is a planet covered with swamp from pole to pole. It could be covered with Yodas, too. Both are equally silly, so why not?
Nice try but simply this does not hold up. Here are two major points that disprove it.
1) In the ROTJ novel (which came out before the movie) the Emperor does ask about Yoda and searches wtihin Luke’s mind and determines that he is dead.
and the real reason this fails
2) You are basing much of your rationale due to things learned in the Prequel trilogy but I’m sorry to break it to you, when Lucas was writing ESB (and all three original movies) the Prequel trilogy didn’t exist nor did virtually any of the concepts. Lucas would have you believe that all the major concepts were determined at the beginning but this just ins’t the case. All the facts point to Lucas making it all up as he went. Take a look at The Secret History of Star Wars and you will see that there was no grand plan about Yoda’s backstory. In ESB the reason you don’t see him with a lightsaber is b/c he didn’t have one, there was no unfinished business as seen in ROTS and there was no pathway towards becoming a “ghost” or becoming one with the force. These were just ideas to Lucas and he would fill in the backstory later.
Luke was the only one able to see the three “Ghosts” because he was the only one among the Alliance who was familiar and trained with the ways of the Force. Plain and simple.
Luke also saw Obi-wan fade away and join the Force in New Hope, and he wasn’t a spirit when he did.
I didn’t write the thing…lol…that was Jim Ciscell…and he’s still defending his views if you read through the comments. I’m just a fellow nerd who is telling him why it doesn’t hold up.
Thomas is assuming that you were talking to him because your comment appeared right after his. He does not realize that you are not the OP.
Sir, it is OK. You have to expect stuff like that when you write an article of this nature. Myself I have seen all six movies enough that I consider myself an expert in many ways. And when you posted the article. The logic of it didn’t add up. That is all.
Uh…just in case you were talking to me, Thomas…can’t really tell, you were kind of all over the place there…I do not subscribe to the notion that Yoda was dead. I’m on YOUR side. That’s what is going on here. Obi Wan was alive in Star Wars, Yoda was alive in Empire and Jedi…and Yoda died in Jedi.
And Lord of the Rings has absolutely nothing to do with getting a pet fixed – I was being sarcastic about reading too much into something.
It isn’t about reading to much into this. It is about the truth. In fact the answer is in the pictures you added to this article. The only time a character that appeared in the movies as a ghost was in the form of a shimmering figure. Yoda doesn’t appear like that till the end of Jedi when Luke was looking out side the hut where everybody was celebrating. The only way that Yoda had to die in your point of view was during his battle with the emperor. The Emperor never struck Yoda down. Going by what you are saying that Obi Wan was a ghost in A New Hope. When Vader struck him down he disappeared. When Yoda died that was when he disappeared. And there is no need to be a smart ass about this. It is that you are wrong about this. Also what does Lord or the Rings have to do with getting a pet fixed? You don’t have to be a nerd to enjoy a movie. I supposed that you are going to put out an article about Spiderman and the trouble with airline travel.
This really doesn’t strike me as “thinking outside the box”…it strikes me as “what can I read entirely too much into?”…the next article will probably be about how The Lord of the Rings is ACTUALLY about the importance of spaying and neutering your pets.
And did the guy who is rushing off to watch the movies again just call the rest of us “nerds”? Yeah, thought so…just making sure.
First off you have to watch Revenge if the SIth with said trilogy and the truth is that you have it wrong. I need to know when he died from your point of view and you need to prove that is when he died.
OMG, I totally need to go rewatch the trilogy. Tell you what, I’m going to do that and you nerds can sit here and cry that your beliefs have been challenged.
Why are you even on here writing comments if you’re just going to call people nerds? Obviously you’re a “nerd” as well if you have an opinion. It doesn’t take a nerd to enjoy a good movie, however it does take an ignoramus to not be able to understand one.
The Force is not with the writer of this article.
10. First off you don’t have to be dead to have unfinished Business.
9. Yoda was able to leave there if he wanted. He chose not to leave because he was in hiding.
8. He didn’t have a lightsaber because he lost his when he was battling the Emperor during his battle in Revenge of the Sith.
7. You must have forgotten the little tug of war he had with R2 over the light as well as he did eat. Also he was a master of the force. He used the force to lift the x-wing.
6. Obi Wan was a ghost yes but if you remember Yoda taught him how to return from the Force.
5. The cave wasn’t Yoda it was the darkside showing Luke what could be.
4. Far as Vader know Yoda was killed by the Emperor.
3. That is fog. Watch Ghostbuster sometimes to see what ectoplasm is.
2. Luke wasn’t a ghost magnet. Obi Wan would show up to give him guidance.
1. Yoda told Luke that he was dying. That he lived a long life and his time had come.
Next time actually watch the movies and pay attention.
Exactly.
Although Lucas had a vague backstory for the ori. trilogy, the story from the prequels had no bearing on Yoda’s appearance in TESB because it was written and filmed in 1979, neither by Lucas. Maybe, at the time, that was their intention for Yoda. Lucas had full control over the prequels and just retrofitted events into the story. That’s why Vader ended up being C3PO’s father! And Yoda’s BFF is Chewbacca!! And why it took 20 years to build, scratch that- FINISH the 1st Death Star and 4 to build the 2nd!?! I guar-an-tee these things were not intended when they made the originals. In other words, the intent of the originals doesn’t match the intent of the prequels.
Good list, except that qui gonn teaches obi wan to return, not yoda.
i hate to be that guy… even though i absolutely love star wars… with the exception of the 3 new ones…. hayden christianson….please…. anyway… lets all remember whether yoda was dead or alive or the fact that he was a muppet and was neither… its a movie…a great movie… but a movie.. find all the crazy things in it you want… or maybe chock it up to plot holes in the script…. whatever… it was fun to read though.
Hmmm, was this article written by Damon Lindleoft? This is precisely why he should never be allowed near STAR WARS!!
If you are not Damon Lindleoft, please delete this article in case his eyes spy it and gets big ideas. He already butchered Lost and Prometheus with this kind of idea.
This was written as an exercise in fun by Jim Ciscell (good guy), but it seems many Star Wars fans have no use for thinking outside the box.
Yeah, that’s obvious. I love the theory, but nerds cry easy when their feelings get hurt.
This article isn’t a reflection of whether Yoda was dead all along, it’s a reflection of how much time Star Wars geeks have on their hands.
No matter what you’re doing, there’s always that blonde dirtbag from the Karate Kid that just has to come along and mess with you when all you’re trying to do is have fun with some friends.
Nice. Yoda also appears seemingly from out of nowhere, sitting on a stump when Luke first sees him. For a creature who hobbles around with a cane, he has the ability to sneak up, climb a tree stump, and take a seat right in front of a robot with scanners, and directly behind a future jedi?
He’s the Jedi Grand Master….of course he could do those things.
Yoda does not leave Dagobath for the same reason he does not do much for the two first movie he on because they used a puppet. You’re giving too much credit to a more than average story teller Lucas is not that smart as you can see from the Prequel.
-Yoda’s business is to train Luke. Doesn’t mean he is dead.
-Did you see what Yoda left Chewbacca for Dagobah? It was the closest thing to an escape pod I have ever seen. If an X wing has that much trouble in a swamp, I can only imagine how badly that little ship could look. But why would he leave? In Ep III, he said he had to go into hiding. The empire/dark side has control of the galaxy. Yoda staying alive to teach Leia or Luke is the only hope for the galaxy.
-YODA LOST HIS LIGHTSABER AFTER FIGHTING PALPATINE. Did you just expect him to run to the then recently destroyed Jedi temple and pick one up before fleeing for his life?
-Yoda eats a candy bar.
-Yoda fixes Luke food.
-When Luke drops Yoda, Yoda yells as he realizes he is going to fall. Usually, only beings of the physical plane would display such behavior.
Cool idea. Interesting read. I am just a nerd.
So it doesn’t show Yoda eating food…neither does it show him taking a dump. It doesn’t show him scratching his balls. It doesn’t show him cleaning his ears. Yup, Yoda sure enough was a ghost!
This list had me thinking. Now obviously Yoda would be no fan of Death Stars, but would he support Battlestars as suggested at https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-reasons-we-should-consider-building-a-battlestar-and-not-a-death-star.php
By the way, speaking of Yoda, y’all might be interested in the following news: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/60757
You read right. Now that Disney, which had previously merged or whatever with Marvel, has also acquired Lucasarts, well, this super entertainment company is apparently working on a stand alone Yoda film!
Meanwhile, I also see that Zen Pinball 2 on the PlayStation 3 is getting some Star Wars themed pinball tables, possibly this month! Big month for Star Wars news! 🙂
Yoda is green…
Slimer is green…
I don’t need any further proof.
Bravo.
I understand the fun and creativity of pet theories like this, but this is pretty bad. Why make a theory where there is no plot hole? Everything is explained perfectly in the movie. All you have to do to is watch it to see that Yoda was alive at the time. I was hoping to read this and have new thoughts and ideas on star wars; the title of the article leads one to believe that there is room for interpreting Yoda as a ghost within the film and mythos of star wars. Instead this ignores the film and the star wars mythos in order to validate a wild and confounded theory.
it’s clearly that it was yoda who moved the x wing. it wouldn’t make sense for the movie, as he was show a lesson that luke had previously failed. man, if you cannot see that you have to watch the movie again (or at least this scene). other thing that contradicts your point of view is yoda’s hut. it don’t looks like a natural cave, and was there before luke’s arrival, and is filled with small stuff, like the pot yoda uses to cook some food for luke. even if you say that he built the hut and his belongings while he was alive, both things would deteriorate after his death, becoming unusable by the point of luke’s arrival. it’s funny point of view but cannot be taken to seriously
Occam’s razor would dictate that Yoda was among the living when he met Luke.
Save for the scene at the end. You could argue the same point for. Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense
sure why not
How can #5 be a residual haunting of Yoda fighting Darth Vader when the two Jedi never actually fought each other? It was Obi-Wan who was sent to battle Anakin and later fought Vader in the Death Star.
There was a twenty year interim in there as well as an active search and purge by the Empire. It is actually entirely possible that Darth Vader tracked Yoda to Degobah during that period. Reasonably, who else would be trusted to try and apprehend or kill Yoda? Palpatine was not going to bet an entire Empire on one duel and had been known to replace apprentices before. If someone was sent down to Degobah, it would have been Vader.
If the Emperor were really concerned about the Jedi during that 20-year interim, why didn’t Vader go after Obi-Wan? He would have been much, much easier to track, considering he was living down the street from Vader’s brother.
I honestly think one of two things. Either it was too personal for Vader to go back to Tatooine (you never saw him step foot on Tatooine in the second trilogy) or Vader was actually actively protecting Owen and Beru and Obi Wan was just a beneficiary of that. Even when the droids had to be recovered at the beginning of A New Hope, Vader still will not go down to Tatooine and investigate for himself. Obviously, Vader is doing everything possible to not have to go back there. It is a tactical error on Vader’s part. It is also one of the points that I brought up in the Boba Fett killed Owen and Bery post.
Sure the emperor can waste apprentices as he pleases because it’s easy to tempt them. But now, he has the most powerful jedi ever, an opinion which he makes explicitly clear. Also, who can replace Vader if Yoda kills him? Yoda would have hidden too well and it would have taken too many resources to probably still fail at finding him. The emperor wouldn’t have risked his own life to fight Yoda on his own turf. Dear God no, that’s just suicide. and he wouldn’t risk his best ever apprentice who just got a lot more valuable to him when every force-worshiping life form in the universe just died. That manhunt would have never happened, or at least not extensively and not by Vader.
I thought it was a creative list. The idea that yoda was a ghost, is somewhat out there, but interesting nonetheless.
Yes, we could. But what fun would that be? Top 10 Reasons Yoda Wasn’t Dead? Boring. 😉
It would be all be really relative as far as ‘garbage’ would be concerned. After the Star Wars movie (and many people after the second Star Wars movie would never have believed that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. As a matter of fact, we seemed to have a refuting statement to that in the first movie. These issues may well be redressed. Disney and Lucasfilm have stated that they are making ‘one off’ films possibly starring characters like Yoda or like Boba Fett. You can always at least imagine a Yoda movie ending with Yoda’s death and a last scene as him as a ghost waiting for Luke. Lawrence Kasdan wrote Empire and is writing the one off movies. In Alien 3, there is an alien egg on board. You can go back frame by frame and never see one in Aliens. The theory is plausible. You can certainly debate it and that is most of the fun but it plausible.
I respect and maybe even admire your open-mindedness when it comes to storytelling. A spin off following yoda and how he ended up on dagobah would be awesome, and I love that it is possible for people to revisit great stories like Star Wars and explore characters more in depth. Maybe someday the original trilogy will be remade from scratch, with a few twists here and there (for instance Yoda being a ghost the whole time). That would be awesome. But the theory presented in this article is simply not plausible, no matter how you twist it. The films made it far too clear that Yoda was living.
How anyone could come up with this garbage is just insane.
Really enjoyed this list. Puts forth a much better case than the last Star Wars list about why Boba Fett killed Owen and Beru.
I wrote the Owen and Beru one too. You will probably be happy to know that I only have those two pet theories about Star Wars, this being the other one.
I’m all for speculation and fan theories, but that list didn’t really give any reasons why Boba Fett did kill the Lars folks. It gave many reasons he may have wanted to, but none really made sense to me. Apart from that, the simple fact that the plot in Episode IV is quite clear on the fact that the stormtroopers sent to Tatooine killed Owen and Beru. And Fett hadn’t even been introduced… Now maybe you could argue that George had a 6 part saga written and we cannot comment on whether or not he may have intended Fett to be responsible etc – the man made that shit up along as he went along! Luke and Leia being siblings was a very late development. Anyway I’m digressing. It’s fun to speculate about this kind of stuff and I really enjoyed the Yoda list. Really cool and original, I’ll look forward to your next list!
Thanks for the encouragement! My supposition is that Boba Fett’s motivation in killing the Lars was simple. Darth Vader messed up. Vader needed the droids back. However, for personal reasons, Vader was unwilling to step foot on Tatooine (understandable given his sitory there). Fett is esblished as being on Tatooine working with Hutt. This does not mean that he would not take on other jobs. Pulling out all the stops, Vader would send stormtroopers and bounty hunters to get the droids. Fett got on track and did not want other hunters to get the same answers. So, Fett wasted the Jawas getting the answer of the Lars and then wasted the Lars. If the Stormtroopers had killed the Lars, they would not be looking for droids, they would be looking for Luke Skywalker. Why would one band of stormtroopers kill the Lars and another group have a checkpoint looking for droids and not Luke at Mos Eisley. They have established that they can communicate in other shots. In the special edition, it establishes Fett is there and Lucas won’t release another edition stating that he wasn’t. We never see the crime, so yes I still stand behind that theory.
I disagree with your theory bcaause you say “If the Stormtroopers had killed the Lars, they would not be looking for droids, they would be looking for Luke Skywalker.”
There is no reason to believe this. Vader did not know about Luke until after the Death Star was destroyed. They have no reason to believe the Lars family had a son/nephew living with them. They could easily have said “he joined the Academy recently, his room is still full of t-16 models and twi-lek porn. So what? he’s 19!”
Like I said, I love your theories, I love this kind of in-depth speculation. In fact I read this today: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/battle-of-hoth/ really funny.
But yeah, I’m still not sold on your theory. It was the stormtroopers. Fett is a business man. That is what sets him apart from the religious fanatics like Vader and all the others. He kills for money. He wouldn’t bother going out of his way to murder his main employer’s family members to instigate hostility, it’s just not in his nature.
But this is a cool debate, so let’s hear some arguments!
I have a pet explanation on the time difference in The Empire Strikes Back. You know how Luke was able to pack a ton of training into the same amount of time that Han, Leia, Chewie, and C3PO evaded Vader and the star destroyers. There have been a lot of people who pointed out that the chase probably lasted a couple of days at most yet Luke comes away like he has been training for months. I like to think that Yoda used the massive amount of life on Daggobah and used the force from it to slow time at Daggobah. In the process he gave Luke much more time for training but drained the life out of the planet, himself included.
Like I said, pet explanation. Probably loaded with holes that a more series Star Wars fan can point out but I like it.
This is explained in the EU where several other things happen in between the scenes we see in the movies, giving Luke a larger timeframe to train in.
If you recall, after the asteroid field the Falcon’s hyperdrive engine was damaged, so they had to fly to Lando at sub-light speed. And that would take a while. So a few weeks could easily have passed.
This is bunk for so many reasons, let me make a list too.
1.Yes, Yoda does have unfinished business, but that doesnt mean he’s a ghost.
2.Yoda is not able to leave Dagobah because he is simply too old for space travel anymore, and his presence in The Force is masked by the dense life and dark side influence of Dagobah, if he left Dagobah, The Emperor or Darth Vader would immediately notice the presence of a 900 year old Jedi Master suddenly appearing again. The Empire has been hunting down Jedi for 20 years, Yoda and Obi-wan are two of the very few they hadn’t gotten. Going anywhere would give away his location and the Rebel’s location like a beacon.
3 Yoda doesnt have a Lightsaber because he does not need one. One of the first things he says to Luke is “War does not make one great” He repeatedly emphasizes relying purely on The Force to guide you, and clear doesnt hold much regard for Lightsabers. In the context of the prequels, Yoda should never have had one as it undermines one of the core things about his character in the originals, but I wont get into that, needless to say, Yoda proves he doesnt need a weapon, so why would he have one?
4.This is really reaching, like really, really reaching. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that Yoda is a ghost in this scene, R2 tries to grab a light from Yoda, and is irritated when Yoda hits him. Not surprise from seeing “Oooh spooky ghost!” and as for the X-wing, you’d have to be a complete idiot to think that it was some poltergeist haunting thing, It’s Yoda Demonstrating the power of The Force, really showing him. to view it any other way is not only pants on head retarded, but ignoring the entire point of that scene for the sake of a stupid theory
5.Firstly, The reason Obi-wan is present is able to manifest is not because he has “Not crossed over” but because he let go into the Living Force and effectively *did* cross over so to speak, Obi-wan’s ghost presence is clearly distinct from Yoda as a living ,breathing person who eats and cooks food, reacts to the world around him and interacts with it. There is a very clear and obvious difference between the two here.
6. you need to stop watching so much Ghosthunters/Adventures or whatever else show you may watch about ghosts, and remember you’re talking about Star Wars here. The Cave is strong with the Dark side, and generates illusions, it’s what is keeping Yoda’s presence hidden, it’s reaching into Luke, and showing him his fears, and a glimpse of the truth about him he’s unaware of. Yoda isn’t dueling luke as an eight foot tall guy in armor, Why would Yoda appear in that form to Luke? Yoda has never once seen Vader in his armor, he has no idea what he looks like. The cave may be ‘haunted’ in some nebulous sense by the remnants of dark side corruption, but it’s not Yoda’s ghost.
7. Vader doesnt mention Yoda, because Vader has no idea Yoda is still alive or has any idea Luke knows him either. Vader doesnt know anything about what we see on Tatooine in Episode IV, He doesnt know anything about Dagobah. And as far as we know, He may think Yoda is long dead, killed by the clone troopers, or by Palpatine, Vader spent 20 years searching, and hunting for Obi-wan. He believes Obi-wan is the one who trained Luke this entire time, because Vader knows Obi-wan had Luke with him now, looking back, when Obi-wan died, The only conclusion he could come to, is that Obi-wan has been raising him in secret, training him.
8. Have you ever been to a swamp? it’s pretty damned foggy. I live in Louisiana, and almost every morning and night it’s exactly like that, plus dagobah is an alien world, you keep conflating paranormal with alien and space fantasy.
9.. Luke is the only one who communicates to Force Ghosts we see, because He’s the only Jedi we see. It’s made clear in Episode III that Qui-gon has done essentially the same thing with Obi-wan as he did to Luke. Also, Luke does not *HAVE* Natural Telekinetic abilities, he is using The Force. It is made very very clear over and over that the powers of the Jedi and the Sith are not from their own psychic powers, it’s from tapping into The Force. And maybe you’re kind of right, when the Jedi die their force ghosts become one with The Force, so it does in a round a bout way cause them to bolster Luke’s abilities, but it’s not innate or based on some poltergeist nonsense, Luke is a Jedi, he is using The Force. Did you even watch these movies?
10.Luke sees Yoda die, he says it, he says Yoda is dying. Yoda makes it very clear he is becoming one with the Force, he has said he’s lived to be 900 years old. the idea that Yoda is dead before this is hinted no where, and this entire article has been nothing but ridiculous stretching, grasping at straws, and utterly missing the point. poor show indeed.
Actually the point if the article was to have a little fun with the idea that Yoda was a ghost and then get feedback from Star Wars fans. So far I think the author’s point has been received well, even by you. You made a lengthy rebuttal and got engaged. Success! Well, accept for your criticism at the end. Think again, you may be the one who really missed the point. This was simply a fun fantasy piece written be a Star Wars fan for other Star Wars fans. Very creative if nothing else.
If the thoughts could betray Leia who was only mentioned to Luke really in passing, then why would his thoughts not also betray Yoda (whom he actually trained with)? Luke did not want to think about Leia as his sister but obviously did, wouldn’t Yoda be more at the forefront of his mind than her?
Not necessarily. When Luke’s thoughts betray him about Leia, he was going through all sorts of inner turmoil – believing his father was still good on some level, not wanting to fight and/or kill his father, hoping his friends in the fleet and on Endor were safe…in Empire, Luke had no turmoil, only a focus on the mission at hand – defeat Vader. His objective was solely to hand the evil galactic overlord’s butt to him on a plate before he could hurt his friends.
Vader was able to manipulate Luke into giving up his thoughts. Wanna see how it’s done?
Don’t think about zebras. Now don’t think about purple zebras.
“Give yourself to the Dark side. It is the only way you can save your friends. (Now Luke starts thinking about Leia) YES…your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong, especially for…SISTER!”
Of course, it wasn’t only that Luke was so weak that his mind could be probed, but obviously Vader had incredibly strong mind-probing powers to overcome Luke’s resistance.
Plus as you point out, Vader simply outsmarted Luke with word play.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Ciscell’s **hypothesis** here is utterly ridiculous. Totally grasping at straws, like you said. It isn’t even a good hypothesis. The basis of it all being that spirits can have “unfinished business” is huge leap. Indeed, it is simply nonsensical. I talk with friends about their fun little hypotheses in movies and whatnot, but this is just laughable.
I like you points about Yoda’s and Obi Wan’s presence in the Force being a critical point in their limited mobility coupled with the dense life around Yoda and the deep impression the Dark side of the Force has left on Dagobah.
Amen to that with one exception. Yoda didn’t have a lightsaber because he lost his during this battle with the Emperor.
I agree with mostly everything you said, save for two things. One, I’m not sure why you disagree with Yoda wielding a lightsaber in the prequels. He’s a Jedi. That’s their weapon. He needs to defend himself.
Also, who’s to say Luke doesn’t know what Vader looks like? He’s fought many battles for the Rebellion by then. I’m sure he would have seen at least a picture of Vader at some point.
1. Yoda is the most powerful Jedi, he does not need a lightsaber to defend himself. Yoda wants balance in the force and peace. He doesn’t like fighting.
2. Vader needs his helmet, he doesn’t go into battle ever without it unless if you can prove that he does. you don’t ever see him without his helmet EXCEPT for the back of his head in the death star and in the end of star wars 6 in front of Luke. So Luke would never know what he would look like
From http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_crystal#Significance_of_colors
In the novels, there is an explanation – green lightsabers symbolise peace, blue ones are for the Guardians (Jedi warriors), red ones are supposedly made with synthetic crystals.
So it was perfect appropriate for Yoda to have a green lightsaber. I think it’s also telling that Luke changed from Blue to Green – he made his choice, he wanted peace. (Of course, it was *actually* done for special effects reasons because blue didn’t show up as well, and this explanation was developed later – and who knows, perhaps he DID use Yoda’s crystal to make his own.)
he couldn’t have used yoda’s crystal’s cuz yoda didn’t have his lightsaber anymore. plus, luke built his new lightsaber on tatooine before he sent the droids to jabba’s palace when they went to go save han. after they finished that, then he went back to dagobah.
Fair point, unless he actually was in the process of creating his own lightsaber on Dagobah before he ran off to Cloud City. I find it unlikely that Yoda wouldn’t have created another lightsaber.
He probably went back to Ben’s (Obiwan) old place (on Tatooine) and got access to whatever he managed to save over the years.
Seen a picture of him??? yeah.. that’s what Darth does.. send s pics of his vacations to his people so they can share them on StarBook … LMAO!!!
Darth Vader : “Hello all, I’m still on vacation surfing the waves on Alderaan (see attached for the ones who don’t believe me!). I just wanted to say I might force-choke a couple of you if I get back and see that we are not on schedule for our second death star build..
Ps. This time, let’s not forget to put a damn plug into that intake valve so the no little missile can get through ok.. But leave enough space so we can navigate a ship approx 50 meters wide by 30 metters tall straight to the hypermatter core in case we need to fix the damn plumbing on this one ok!!!
Luv ya!
Uncle Darth ‘Anakin’ Vader”
http://api.ning.com/files/aQovnc4OVRpBT1WwgPjQnjoYZ5svPhH8Ek3H7KgAXSasJipTOMXhMuFvuhZkkxPe1bqFtk-WbrAKPUVgsgRExBFOb4odYlvO/14_darkholiday1.jpg
pss
…and the next time we board a ship & an escape pod launches, REGARDLESS if any life forms are present, do me a solid & BLAST the damn thing! Woulda saved us a whole lot of trouble.
thanx,
DV
In Attack of the Clones, Yoda and Duku expend all other options before going to light sabers. This implies that the old way in which Duku and Yoda were trained is that you don’t need a light saber, your strength in the force is what you fight with and your sword fighting ability is sort of a tie breaker. He wouldn’t have valued having one enough to replace it after losing it in the senate building. The whole idea of Yoda’s “unfinished business” makes absolute sense, and that”s why he is still alive: to finish what he started. He can’t allow himself to die knowing what he would be leaving behind, and as Palpatine explained in III, incredible strength in the force can bring life-extending abilities. Once he knows Luke is ready, of course food is of no value to him. His work is done and he is about to finally rejoin with all of his friends that were killed by the clones.
So Yoda STARVED himself to death on purpose to join his friends?
That’s plausible, if a bit absurd, but yeah… I could imagine a better way for a Jedi Grandmaster to go out, but suicide by starvataion works for sure.
He DID look a bit undernourished in RotJ, didn’t he?
Totally agree with you! Also, point no 4 – I guess the biggest point this article misses is the fact that Yoda is teaching Luke how the force is great, when he tries to get the x-wing out, Luke fails then indicates how it’s too big to move by the ways of the force for him.. Yoda shows him that size does not matter, it’s the force within that pushes everything around a Jedi, and only when you believe in yourself can you truly see that… To put the ghost theory in this is missing this point by a billion Parsecs… 😉
Totally agree with you. This article has done nothing but irritate me. If youre gonna have some theories about Star Wars then you better know the movies. I have a theory of my own tho. Sidous told Anakin that Plagueis has the ability to manipulate the midichlorians to create life. Since Anakin wasnt fathered in the normal fashion and it was thought by Qui-Gon that Anakin was born from the Force…could that mean Plagueis had a hand in Anakins creation? Thats something to think about.
That would explain a lot, but I think that was just meant to portray him as a messiah. But how would that work? Did he look at her and say, “I impregnate you!” or did she lie about there being no father. Or did she mean that the father is disinterested/dead/in prison, which is why they are now slaves? I would have to watch the scene again.
Re: point #7 and Vader never mentioning Yoda…and Let me start off saying this kinda has nothing to do with the Ghost POV but moreso about why didn’t Vader mention Yoda? If Vader suspects Obi Wan trained Luke, then wouldn’t the next logical thought process be ‘Is Yoda with him? Is Yoda alive?”
Vader and the emperor can’t feel Yoda’s presence, and they haven’t since his disappearance. It’s entirely possible that the emperor lied to Vader and told him Yoda died, assuming that his body disappeared in a typical fashion. Regardless, it was a safe assumption to them that he was dead, there was no evidence to say otherwise. All Vader knows is that Luke received training from Obi Wan.
On #7, you have to remember that the Jedi can read minds, and has been displayed numerous times in the movies. It’s not what Vader knows, it’s what Luke knows, which, in turn, Vader knows.
Thank you – your anti-list read much like the rebuttals I was forming in my mind upon reading each of the author’s “examples.” This article is simply click bait for Star Wars fans, and we are time-wasting fish with hooks in our mouths.
Some of the author’s “points” are borderline offensive to anyone who holds this story dear. Perhaps most preposterous is #5 about the Dagobah cave. This pivotal scene of the trilogy most clearly displays how the Dark Side uses one’s own fears against him. How acting brashly and recklessly compounds fear and will bring a Jedi to his own demise. A great lesson for Luke and for all mankind. To insinuate that this scene was some sort of twisted memory of an imagined battle between Yoda and Vader is heresy to the lessons of Star Wars.
in regards to #6, the reason y yoda was on dagobah is cuz there was a sith there. yoda actually killed him not long after he arrived. that’s y the presence of the dark side was there, & y vader & the emperor couldn’t feel yoda’s presence anymore. it’s explained in one of the books of the EU.
Can’t you just assume that MAYBE yoda, here’s a thought, wasn’t dead?
so your last reason would mean obi wan was also a ghost the whole time not to mention the cave is suppose to show your fears and if obi wan was never found why would yoda have been found
The only part I see that doesn’t fit is why would a ghost have food for Luke? Unless you also argue that pretty much everything Luke does on Dagobah is all in his mind? Or is it all “Spirit food?”
I was just thinking that
The environment has food. Yoda is not neccessarily storing food. Yoda appears to take a bite or attempt a bite and then throws it away. That could be construed as further proof that food has no value to him.
Then why does Yoda have a reaction of disgust and then say, “How do you get so big eating food of this kind?”.
Slimer in Ghostbusters eats and he is a ghost no one ever asks why he needs to eat.
Now that I think about it, I just had a nasty thought.
What if Yoda was situated on Dagobah already with a house, food, and everything when Vader came by? And what Luke is eating, is actually years-old rotten food left by Yoda’s physical body? To be fair, though, he’d probably be puking his guts up, but it’s still an interesting thought.
Agreed! .. Also.. who the heck lit up the candles.. Luke by ways of the force BEFORE he entered the Yoda Grotto?.. If Yoda’s a ghost, how can R2-D2 see him? He’s a robot, while intelligent ect.. he still just has sensors which by any means will not see physical attributes ect.. This articles proves that anyone can manipulate anything they see in a movie and write an article about it and try to send everyone in a disputing mode.. which I guess worked! LMAO!
I couldn’t agree with you more. however since this is a re-examining of the situation using concepts from other movies you really can’t have many valid arguements against the theory, but we can all postulate our own alternate explanations.
Remember after Yoda’s death in ROJ. Luke looks back to Yoda’s hut, and the lights dim by themselves. Sure the candles and such could have burned out. Or was the WHOLE experience in Luke’s mind. Was it a scene Yoda wanted him to see. Whose to say Luke had any food at all?
Where do you get this garbage, the latest Ghost hunters episode? It is ludicrous to apply ignorant spirituality to science fiction. Any theory concerning “science fiction” should be based on science not the imagination of weak minds!
Speaking of weak minds, it would probably be more accurate to say that science fiction is based on fiction first and foremost, and then possibly, but probably only remotely, on science.
The more I read your post, the more ridiculous it sounds. Your blasting the author for interjecting a theory of ‘spirituality’ into a science fiction movie? A movie whose central theme is based around a bunch of warrior monks who channel a mystical energy?
Gah! Star Wars isn’t pure science fiction… it’s a space opera / space fantasy.
Here is a thought. The reason Yoda does not have a Light Saber anymore is because Luke needed the crystal to form a new one with Yoda’s help, as he lost his (and his hand) on cloud city. And the reason we never saw Yoda use it in Empire is because Luke was not “trained in the ways of the force” we’ll enough to start that training. Remember, Yoda was still starting his training.
He drops his lightsaber onto the senate floor in the duel in RotS, and it’s still there as he leaves. He just didn’t make another one.
Exactly, and he was probably shocked that he was defeated and in danger of death. He knew that he had to get out fast and didn’t have time to stop off at whatever that planet is that has the focus crystals. Though I think he probably could have picked up his saber with the force and kept fighting or brought it with him with. Or used the force not to fall down etc haha. Its just a movie with plot holes.
Because Star Wars is not Science Fiction, it is and always has been Science Fantasy. Star Wars has always been loaded with spirituality, ghosts and magic.
How about it was 1980 when they made the movie and Yoda was a freaking Muppet.
Man… Don’t EVER mess with a nerd’s belief canon! It’s regarding things that don’t exist, but it’s absolutely definitive. Spirituality? HA! This is SCIENCE!