George Lucas Saved Yoda From Disney Doing Something Stupid
Fittingly enough, George Lucas is one of the most controversial figures in Star Wars history, with some fans worshiping him for the creation of this galaxy far, far away and other fans claiming he went off the rails after the Original Trilogy ended. Love him or hate him, though, he made one very important story decision that has managed to carry on into the most recent era of this franchise. Namely, George Lucas actively kept other creators from exploring Yoda’s origins, a decision that has carried on to Disney’s various films and shows.
The Origin Of Yoda
Interestingly, George Lucas’ decision to keep Yoda mysterious is one that he made many decades before Disney acquired Star Wars. While the man seemingly planned countless aspects of this franchise long before filming, he made an exception for Luke Skywalker’s second Jedi Master. Dating all the way back to The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas refused to develop any real backstory for Yoda, insisting that it was important that he has “mystery” and serves as the franchise’s resident “magical character.”
When the Prequel Trilogy began production, George Lucas apparently chilled out regarding Yoda, but he still enforced certain restrictions that Disney apparently maintains to this day (more on this soon). For instance, he introduced Yaddle as a fellow Jedi Master of Yoda’s species that he works with on a regular basis, and he allowed other writers to develop their own Yoda-like creatures. However, we still never got any kind of definitive Yoda origin story, and we only recently learned Yaddle’s fate. Namely, that she was killed by Count Dooku as part of his bloody initiation into the Sith.
Obviously, George Lucas was very precious about preserving Yoda’s backstory back when he controlled the franchise, but what is most interesting is how little Disney has done with the character since acquiring the rights to Star Wars. Strictly speaking, the House of Mouse could do anything they want with any of the characters, but there has been no attempt to flesh out Yoda’s backstory or explain his species. The latter part is particularly interesting when you consider that The Mandalorian prominently features Grogu, a member of Yoda’s species that serves as Din Djarin’s adopted child.
George Lucas’s Yoda Law Is Intact
The only real explanation for this is that George Lucas’ old rules regarding Yoda still stand, at least in the eyes of modern Disney creators such as Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. That is most likely why The Mandalorian hasn’t delved into Grogu’s connection to Yoda despite fans asking what that connection might be ever since the first episode. Interestingly, Lucas actually visited the set early on to help Favreau celebrate his birthday, a visitation that caused enduring rumors that the new “Baby Yoda” character had the full blessings of the Star Wars creator.
Long story short, George Lucas is the only reason that we don’t have some awful Yoda origin story series on Disney+. He designed the backward-speaking Jedi Master to be the franchise’s biggest enigma and once went so far as to destroy all copies of a trading card that gave lore to Yoda’s species (it showed Yoda-like creatures worshiping something that looked a lot like Yogurt from Spaceballs). Now, even though Disney has the franchise reins, they’ve continued to honor the Maker’s wishes, and considering how mediocre The Book of Boba Fett ended up being, we’re eternally grateful that Lucas spared us yet another crappy solo series.
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