Clone Wars : Lost Missions – Yoda arc

March 10, 2014 in Guest Blogs, The Clone Wars by GuestBlogs

Today Darth Namialus gives his view of the Yoda arc.


(spoilers after the break)

The Yoda arc, following Yoda as he answers Qui-Gon’s call to Dagobah, has given us many secrets to the Force and about Yoda himself, who’s been pretty mysterious throughout Star Wars. This Yoda arc of Season Six is, to me, one of the greatest arcs of the show and one of my favourites.

In the second episode of the arc, “Voices”, Yoda is called by Qui-Gon to visit Dagobah. Yoda is confused by Qui-Gon’s ability to speak to him. Not only can Qui-Gon merely talk, as other Force ghosts have done, but he can even utilize the Force in a way we have never seen before. He levitates Yoda and many other objects within the meditation chamber, which is probably what Obi-Wan meant when he told Darth Vader that he would ”become more powerful than [Vader] could possibly imagine.” In death, Obi-Wan is able to join with the Force, as Qui-Gon did and Yoda would later on, finally becoming part of it and using it wherever he wants. Yoda visits Dagobah, and revisits the same cave Luke and Starkiller would later visit.


The Cave plays on its visitors darkest fears – with Luke, it was Vader, and him even becoming a Sith like Vader. With Starkiller, it was his fear of being a clone, as Vader told him he was. With Yoda, it was the failure of the Jedi. He sees numerous visions of clone troopers attacking Jedi and a mysterious Sith Lord cutting down Kit Fisto, and more. All this would happen in Revenge of the Sith. Is that why Yoda was so calm in that film, despite all that had happened? Yoda had known it would come to this, but knew he could not stop it. As Fives said, “it’s bigger than any of us.” Sidious had them all beaten, and in Yoda’s vision, Sidious laughs that joining him is truly the only way to win. In life, that does remain true, but living isn’t the only thing there is, as Yoda later finds out….


In the third episode of this arc, “Destiny,” Yoda visits an ancient world of the Force, the source of midi-chlorians. This “Force planet,” being much like Mortis, is home to the Priestesses, five Force-wielders who hold the secret to immortality. Speaking of Force planets like Mortis and the one we see in this episode, could Dagobah also be a part of the group? And Moraband, as well. The Priestesses, notably Serenity, send Yoda to trials that will prove he is ready to find out what it means to be immortal. Yoda enters another cave, and there he meets his darker self. So beautifully animated, Yoda’s darker self taunts Yoda and tells him that Yoda ignores his existence. Yoda’s ignorance represents his arrogance – Yoda previously believes that his darker self did not exist, which only made the Dark Yoda stronger. However, once Yoda accepts the fact that he, too, has the Dark Side within him, he is able to control and defeat Dark Yoda.


Yoda walks in further, and he sees a heartbreaking sight. The Jedi Temple is burning – another fear of Yoda. Another failure. Yoda sees Mace Windu dead, and then sees a coughing Ahsoka. Slowly dying (this part totally broke me) Ahsoka asks Yoda if she will become one with the Force, despite being expelled by the Order. She angrily asks Yoda why they expelled her – another failure of Yoda. The Priestesses (I call them the Whills) had created these visions to test Yoda and see how he would deal with each of his failures – Dark Yoda and Ahsoka’s expulsion being a few of them. Then, unexpectedly, Katooni appears, and in her normal child-like voice kindly asks Yoda if he would like to come with her to a happier place. Yoda follows, and sees the Temple courtyard, where numerous Jedi are happily conversing with one another.


This is Yoda’s dream – what could have been without the evil of the Sith. Yoda even sees Dooku (who looked stunning) as his apprentice. Yoda, for a second, contemplates staying in this happy place. I believe this is an allusion of Yoda earlier accepting that they must play “the Sith’s game” without fighting back. Would Yoda just leave behind the darkness just because it would be more convenient to do so? Another test of the Whills. But Yoda knows the vision is wrong, that it isn’t real, and that he cannot accept it when war still rages on in his galaxy. Yoda is told to go to Moraband, where he will face true darkness…


The fourth and last episode of this arc, “Sacrifice” follows Yoda as he finally faces the Sith. He leaves the Priestesses to visit Moraband. There, Sith spirits tell him that “there is no life after death”, reflecting how the Sith cannot become immortal (no matter what the EU tells you) and that death is inevitable for them. Unlike the Jedi, the Sith lack compassion, and cannot become part of the Force. Yoda later sees Darth Bane, who taunts Yoda and states that he is immortal, but Yoda knows that Sith cannot become immortal, defeating the vision. Meanwhile, Sidious and Dooku plan a ritual to “break” Yoda’s mind. Yoda sees a vision of Sifo-Dyas, and then Sidious, and then Yoda is suddenly taken to a gunship with Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex. They are in the Works, and are hunting the Sith down. Yoda confusedly follows, and they see the two Sith Lords participating in the ritual.


Anakin duels Dooku, and decapitates him as he would in Revenge of the Sith, while Yoda proceeds to fight Sidious. Eventually, Sidious escapes from Yoda, and Yoda fails to find out who Sidious truly is. When Yoda awakens, the Serenity Priestess is floating above him. Yoda asks if he is dead, and the Priestess replies with “In a way.” This shows how, in the prequels, Yoda is more of a fighter, participating with the troopers on Geonosis and such. However, later on, such as in the original trilogy, Yoda is a calm master who constantly meditates. This “death” of Yoda is the death of the battlefield general, and is the birth of the true Jedi Master, who had accepted and controlled all his previous dark failures.


Back in the Temple Courtyard, Mace Windu asks Yoda if, in his travels, he had found out how to win the war. Mace, throughout his appearances, reflects the failure of the Jedi. He is arrogant, expelled Ahsoka, and is one of the first to fall in Order 66. Yoda informs them that he no longer believes anyone wins a war, for in battle, the bloodshed is a loss. This foreshadows how the Jedi Order will not win the war, and Order 66 will cause their loss. However, Yoda states that he has found out a way to defeat the Sith for “all time.” The Sith cannot become immortal after death, they cannot join the Force, but the Jedi, happily can. That is the ultimate victory – becoming one with the Force.