One Forgotten Yoda Line Is Still The Best Star Wars Quote
Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.
Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.
Over the last 49 years, there have been so many iconic Star Wars quotes. Let's face it, Yoda is the source of many of the best quotes; "Do or do not, there is no try" is the ultimate piece of Jedi guidance. It practically became Luke Skywalker's maxim in the old Star Wars Expanded Universe. The best Yoda lines hint at both his wisdom and his eccentricity; Lucas deliberately created Yoda to be an unlikely teacher, so much so that Luke didn't even realize he was a Jedi at first.
22 years ago, Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous gave readers a rare Yoda-centric story. The book is set during the Clone Wars, and it's a thrilling tale in which the Sith useYoda's connection to Count Dooku against him. The Master-Apprentice bond is a powerful thing, and Dark Rendezvous shows how powerfully it affected even the wise old Jedi Master. This is one of the best Star Wars books of all time, even though it's not considered canon anymore and thus has been largely forgotten by modern audiences. And it contains the ultimate Yoda quote.
One Line From Dark Rendezvous Perfectly Shows Yoda's Character
Dark Rendezvous circles round a single line that Dooku and Yoda both remember from Dooku's training: "When you fall, be there to catch you, I will." For me, it's the ultimate Yoda quote — one the Jedi Master may not have been able to give later on in the Star Wars timeline. For Dooku, the quote is an ominous one; it makes him suspect Yoda always knew he would fall to the dark side. For Yoda, it's a promise of redemption, and a very different philosophy to the one he'd later present to Luke.
The Yoda of The Empire Strikes Back has changed. He'd lived through the Clone Wars, Order 66, and the Dark Times of the Empire's reign. By then, Yoda had lost faith in the possibility of redemption. Watching Darth Vader from a distance, he'd concluded that redemption was impossible; once a person had chosen the dark side, it would dominate their destiny forever. The contrast between Yoda: Dark Rendezvous and The Empire Strikes Back is heartbreaking, showing how much Yoda had lost.
But, of course, the Yoda of the Clone Wars was the one who was right. Luke Skywalker proved that, when he demonstrated that Anakin Skywalker's destiny was not dominated by the dark side at all; he did what Yoda could not, and redeemed a Sith Lord. Even more incredibly, Anakin found peace as a Force Ghost, with the Force serving as a sort of "Voice of God" confirmation he had been saved from the dark side. The hope of Dark Rendezvous shone through in the end, with Darth Vader rather than Dooku.
Yoda's Line Shows the Key to Redemption in Star Wars
Notice, too, the way Yoda believes redemption can happen. In Dark Rendezvous, Yoda doesn't tell Dooku he can always choose the light; rather, he promises that Dooku will be caught if he falls. This single quote moves to the very heart of Star Wars, declaring that redemption comes from connection. Yes, a person has a choice to make, but that choice is in response to the faith of others.
In Star Wars, redemption is always relational. Luke Skywalker's faith in his father turns Darth Vader himself to the light; Leia and Rey believe Ben Solo can still be saved, and so he is. For me, then, this one line will always cut to the heart of Star Wars, not just offering hope to the fallen, but also reassuring audiences they can inspire others to change.
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is available now from retailers like Amazon.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.