“Star Wars” is one of the most fleshed-out, realized worlds in all of fiction, one with a vast lore and a tactile sense of tradition and culture. There are hundreds of planets and peoples, each with a huge sense of history that the franchise (for the most part) doesn’t dwell on or feel the need to stop and explain. Why is Coruscant is a single city? Who cares, it looks rad. Why can Master Rwoh use her lightsaber as a whip? Doesn’t matter, shut up. And in terms of larger mysteries, there’s also the mysterious Bendu from “Star Wars Rebels,” as well as the Mortis gods, who are clouded in intrigue and lack any specific details.
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Then there’s Yoda, arguably the single most mercurial, perplexing being in the “Star Wars” galaxy. He’s a fascinating character: one of only three known members of his species, he’s incredibly old, and he speaks backwards for no discernible reason. Though Yoda has been explored through countless books and comics throughout the years, relatively little is known about him, with Lucas himself choosing to keep the character’s background a mystery, and everyone who has followed in his stead doing the same.
But George Lucas has just revealed a big aspect of Yoda’s character. During a 45th anniversary screening of “The Empire Strikes Back” at the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival, the maker talked about his career in filmmaking, his collaboration and friendship with Francis Ford Coppola, and even answered a question about “Star Wars.” Specifically, Lucas revealed why, exactly, Yoda speaks so strangely.
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“Because if you speak regular English, people won’t listen that much,” Lucas said nonchalantly. “But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying.”
“He was basically the philosopher of the movie,” Lucas continued. “I had to figure out a way to get people to actually listen — especially 12-year-olds.”
Yoda’s wise words were packaged purposefully by George Lucas
Lucas made the right decision, because Yoda is the pinnacle of Jedi wisdom in the “Star Wars” movies. He’s not the first Jedi we met; Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn’t exactly the greatest teacher, nor the wisest dude. After all, he lies to Luke about Luke’s father, then loses his one and only fight in the first movie (sure, he wanted to teach Luke a lesson or whatever, but the point stands), and he never once mentions the microscopic, intelligent life forms called midi-chlorians!
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But that’s not Yoda. The moment we meet him, he appears to be more of a chaotic muppet gremlin than a wise Jedi, but he does drop several deep words of wisdom throughout “The Empire Strikes Back.” Obi-Wan didn’t really get to properly teach Luke, just setting him up with a floating metal ball that shot the poor kid in the butt. Yoda, on the other hand, challenges Luke physically as well as spiritually, putting his 800 years of experience as a Jedi to action by condensing decades’ worth of Jedi teaching into an extremely short training period. But it wouldn’t be enough to just sit Luke down and read him the history and philosophy of the Jedi. No, sir. Instead, Yoda pulls a Mr. Miyagi and interjects his teachings into muppet shenanigans, tricking Luke into learning without realizing it. That’s another reason why speaking backwards is so important for the character: It distracts the audience (and Luke) with an oddball quirk while ultimately showing how wise the character is.
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“The Empire Strikes Back” is streaming on Disney+.