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This Yoda Question Is Still Bugging Star Wars Fans (But There Could Be an Answer)

To Star Wars fans, a mystery Yoda’s speech patterns remain.

Yoda sitting in Jedi Council in Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars fans remain puzzled about a detail concerning Yoda, but there could be a good explanation. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the franchise is aware of Yoda’s famous backwards speech patterns, illustrated by iconic quotes such as “Size matters not” and “Begun, the Clone War has.” For decades, many believed this was how all members of Yoda’s mysterious species talked, but that theory was debunked when Tales of the Jedi, an animated anthology series, premiered in 2022. One episode follows Yaddle as she tails Count Dooku and learns of his connection to the dark side. It marks the first time the character speaks on-screen, and, surprisingly, she talks normally.

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Even years after that Tales of the Jedi episode debuted, viewers are confused about the discrepancy between Yoda and Yaddle’s speech. Over on Reddit, one fan started a thread, posing the question, “Why does Yaddle not speak backwards like Yoda?” Commenters offered various hypotheses; some thought it was a byproduct of Yoda’s age (Yaddle is much younger), with one comparing his dialect to “middle age English.” Others posited that it was something Yoda did to ensure others paid attention to him.

Another popular take was that the backwards talk was meant to be part of Yoda’s ruse when he’s testing Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back. Some commenters remarked how Yoda started speaking normally after Luke figures out the truth, arguing that George Lucas made the backwards speech an integral part of Yoda’s character in the prequels due to how popular it became. Others in the thread relayed the closest fans have gotten to an official canon explanation.

Frank Oz’s Explanation for Yoda’s Speech Pattern

Around the time Tales of the Jedi premiered, Dave Filoni, who is now Lucasfilm’s chief creative officer, sat down with Nerdist to discuss casting Bryce Dallas Howard as Yaddle. He revealed that when Howard asked him if she should mimic Yoda’s dialect when recording her lines, he told her, “‘No, I donโ€™t think so. I think thatโ€™s a Yoda thing.’” None other than Frank Oz had shared with him that Yoda spoke that way to pay tribute to his Jedi Master.

“Frank Oz told me once that Yoda speaks that way specifically in honor of his own master,” Filoni said. “That was what he had thought about it. I try to keep moving forward these thoughts. And Bryce on her own made a great Yaddle.” In canon, the identity of Yoda’s master is unknown. The character has only been mentioned in a few books. Considering how secretive Lucasfilm has been regarding details about Yoda (his species, homeworld, etc.) it remains to be seen if his master will ever have a substantial role in a Star Wars project.

Since Filoni honored Oz’s take when portraying Yaddle on Tales of the Jedi, he’ll probably do the same for other appearances from Yoda’s species. This means if and when fans get to hear Grogu speak in complete sentences, he will likely talk like Yaddle instead of Yoda.