Yoda
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. "Yoda" is Sanskrit for "warrior".
Background
Yoda(896 BBY - 4 ABY), standing only 2 foot 1 inch (.66 meter), is arguably the most powerful Jedi Master in Star Wars and one of the senior members of the Jedi Council. In his career as a Jedi Master, Yoda has trained several Jedi worth mentioning, including Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker. At the climax of the Battle of Geonosis, Yoda dueled Count Dooku and saved Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. Though seemingly frail on the outside, Yoda demonstrated the deftness and mastery of the Lightsaber that only a Jedi Master could possess. During the Jedi purge, Yoda escaped to Dagobah where he awaited the arrival of the foretold Jedi savior, Luke Skywalker. When Luke arrived, Yoda agreed to teach him in the ways of The Force. Prior to finishing his instruction, however, Luke chose to leave Dagobah in order to confront Darth Vader and save his friends. Luke promised to return to complete his training, but, upon his arrival, Yoda, greatly weakened by old age, informed Luke that he was a Jedi and his training was complete. Yoda became one with The Force at the age of 900.
Yoda speaks English in a distinctive manner by placing verbs (and more frequently, auxiliary verbs) after the object and subject. In linguistic typology this is the "Object Subject Verb" format. An example of Yoda's speech pattern, from Return of the Jedi: When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. The speech pattern has been the source of much parody humor.
Quotes from Yoda
"Hard to see, the Dark Side is."
"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."
"Always two [Sith] there are. No more no less. A master and an apprentice."
"The Dark Side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is."
"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."
"Victory. Victory you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen, begun the clone war has."
"Great warrior? Wars not make one great."
"A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."
"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?"
"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."
"Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor or suffer your father's fate, you will."
Bringing the character to life
In the original Star Wars trilogy, Yoda was realized as a Muppet and voiced by Frank Oz. Rendered with computer animation in Attack of the Clones, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in an elaborate fight scene.
Related
Yoda's popularity is such that the comedy musician, "Weird Al" Yankovic, parodied the song "Lola" by the Kinks with a version called "Yoda" included on the album Dare to be Stupid (June 1985).