Star Wars: Yoda's 10 Biggest Mistakes, Ranked | ScreenRant
Yoda may have been the most intelligent character in Star Wars, but even he was capable of making some mistakes that have had huge consequences.
Jedi Master Yoda is generally considered one of the wisest and noblest characters in Star Wars history. This only became debatable with his portrayal in the prequel trilogy and later, the Clone Wars animated series. As much as the Jedi Order was flawed, it seems that one of its brightest stars was flawed, too.
Yoda's decisions, arguably, were wise considering the outcomes. However, there were other paths he could have taken that might have resulted in more preferable scenarios. Let's not forget that he had experienced premonitions and didn't always heed these visions. If he had trusted his instincts, then maybe all these mistakes could have been avoided.
10 He Went Into Hiding
Yoda is a quote machine in the Star Wars saga. Not all of them are pearls of wisdom, though. One of his most distressing quotes comes in Revenge of the Sith after he loses to Darth Sidious. "Into exile, I must go," Yoda says. "Failed I have."
Going into hiding makes a certain amount of sense given the circumstances of Order 66, but it's debatable whether or not hiding out for twenty years was wise. Other Jedi were out there in the galaxy and a more public and concentrated effort might have produced different, and perhaps faster, results.
9 He Almost Erased Someone's Mind
One of Yoda's most egregious mistakes isn't canon anymore, thankfully. West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game featured Rebel Alliance historian Arhul Hextrophon, who stumbled upon Dagobah and the reclusive Jedi Master.
To ensure that his secret didn't get out, Yoda contemplated using the Force to erase Arhul's memories of him and Dagobah. Yoda decided against it in the end, realizing it wasn't the Jedi way of doing this.
8 He Doesn't Admit The Jedi Are Blind In The Force
Perhaps the best thing about the Jedi Order is that it lasted as long as it did. The ancient order of Jedi served the Republic for a thousand generations, but in the prequel trilogy, had clearly become as sluggish as the galactic democracy itself. This is clear in Yoda's decision not to reveal that the Jedi are blinded by the dark side of the Force.
In Attack of the Clones, the Jedi Council cannot see what is right in front of them, literally, and their honesty about it might have prompted a more aggressive investigation by the Republic. The decision to keep quiet about it only aided Palpatine.
7 He Has Anakin Spy On Chancellor Palpatine
Yoda alone doesn't make decisions for the Jedi Council, but he is a party to several of their worst choices. One of them is the decision to have Anakin Skywalker exploit his close relationship with Chancellor Palpatine by spying on him for the Jedi Order. Worse still, they have Obi-Wan Kenobi explain it to him.
This act played right into Palpatine's hands. He used Anakin's fears and paranoia against him, ultimately driving the Jedi toward absolute disaster.
6 He Doesn't See Through The Sith Conspiracy
In retrospect, the Sith conspiracy of Darth Sidious is fairly obvious. The plans and machinations of the greatest Sith Lord were too broad and complex to keep entirely secret. But Yoda and the Jedi never put the pieces together.
His instincts told him there were two Sith in The Phantom Menace, but in one of the worst things about Attack of the Clones, he rejects the idea that the Sith could have infiltrated the Senate. Yoda says this after confronting Count Dooku, a former Jedi and Padawan of his now clearly a Sith.
5 He Doesn't Use His Force Lightning To Zap Palpatine
In the original Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi said "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." This was certainly true for Yoda. One of the best things about The Last Jedi was Yoda's spiritual reunion with Luke Skywalker.
During that scene, Yoda called down lightning from the sky to set an ancient tree ablaze. It's a shame he didn't call on this power after his death in Return of the Jedi and zap Emperor Palpatine on Coruscant. That might have ended the entire war.
4 He Challenges The Training Of Anakin Skywalker
The fall of Anakin Skywalker is a series of mistakes. Arguably the first is challenging his training as a Jedi. Yoda holds the line against training Anakin because of his age. Many scenes foreshadowed Anakin's fall, and one was the Jedi Council scene in The Phantom Menace in which Anakin displays anger and fear.
Both were justified given the circumstances. The Jedi's dogged adherence to a doctrine of eliminating all attachments only intensified Anakin's eventual fear of losing his loved ones, which led to tragedy.
3 He Allows The Trial of Ahsoka Tano
Perhaps one of Yoda's wiser decisions - if unorthodox - was to pair Ahsoka Tano with Anakin Skywalker. His instinct that an apprentice would ground the impulsive Jedi might have proved true in the end, if Yoda hadn't made another terrible mistake. He allowed the pointless trial of Ahsoka Tano to proceed during the Clone Wars.
Ahsoka was clearly framed, but the Jedi insisted that she stand trial. Their dogmatic rigidness eventually pushed Ahsoka out of the order and poisoned Anakin's view of them. She went on her own, a journey with many questions that hopefully the Ahsoka series can answer.
2 He Fights Darth Sidious Alone
Yoda's instinct to take the fight directly to Darth Sidious in Revenge of the Sith was right. The epic duel between the Jedi and Sith Masters was one of the greatest duels in Star Wars. But Yoda made a mistake in confronting Emperor Palpatine alone.
Despite Yoda's power and experience, the Sith Lord was far more dangerous than perhaps Yoda realized. Had he confronted Darth Sidious with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and then the two of them faced Darth Vader, things might have played out differently.
1 He Doesn't Train Both Luke And Leia
In retrospect, Yoda's strategy coming out of the Clone Wars seems odd. He doesn't immediately train both Luke and Leia as Jedi but allows enough time to pass that both are arguably too old for his own thinking.
Even when he does train Luke, he doesn't also focus on Leia, preferring to keep her as a backup plan. Had he trained both from the beginning, he might have had two powerful Jedi knights to lead the Rebellion against the Empire.