addle is a clear example of how much love a character can receive no matter the amount of screen time she is given. For almost a quarter of a century, Yaddle had mere minutes of screentime to explain her character to the vast majority of the Star Wars fanbase, and still she has become a beloved character that we know so little about.
The main reason Yaddle has drawn so much interest with so little backstory is because of her species. Yaddle is the same species as Yoda—and Grogu, though his character didn’t make it to the party for two decades after Yaddle’s debut.
But the cool thing is that we still don’t know much of anything about Yoda/Yaddle’s species at all. We don’t know their home planet or why there seem to be so few of them around the galaxy or why the three members that we do know are all highly powerful in the Force. It seems extremely likely that each member of this unknown species holds some ancient and deep connection to the Force unmatched by any other species.
It’s certainly not unlikely that Grogu may sit on the High Council of some future Jedi Order, just as Yoda and Yaddle did before the rise of the Empire. So let’s take a minute to zoom in on Yaddle and her story—what little we know of it so far and what may be yet to come.
Yaddle in Legends
The Phantom Menace
Yaddle’s first appearance in Star Wars was in the 1999 movie The Phantom Menace. Though she spoke no lines throughout the entire film, she made a big splash by being another member of Yoda’s species who sat on the High Council during the time just before the Clone Wars. Her seat on the council stood as proof of her prowess with the Force, and everyone wanted to know more about her.
Bringing even more mystery into her story, Yaddle did not appear on the council in the two remaining Prequel Trilogy movies. For over two decades, it was assumed she either died, stepped down from the Council (and possibly the Order altogether), or was removed. We’ll talk more about how that question got answered below. But for a long time, The Phantom Menace was it for Yaddle’s screen appearances.
Star Wars (1998)
Star Wars (1998), also known as Star Wars: Republic, was a mainline comic series that ran from 1998 to 2006, producing 83 issues. The timeline of the comic essentially followed along with the Prequel Trilogy movies, as it started before The Phantom Menace and ended after Revenge of the Sith.
This comic did provide some of those details that were missing from The Phantom Menace, however most fans of the movie were amiss to this information. Still, it’s worth mentioning here and definitely worth reading if you’re interested in Yaddle’s character. She even goes on an adventure with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker!
And that pretty much makes up most of Yaddle’s story before the new Canon. There wasn’t much there, but we loved what we got from Yaddle.
Yaddle in Canon
The High Republic
The High Republic has given us a glimpse into an entirely new era of the galaxy, but there are two familiar faces throughout the series: Yoda and Yaddle. Much like Yoda, Yaddle wasn’t featured very heavily in Phase 1, only showing up to have a brief conversation with the young Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh.
But in Phase 2, Yaddle played a significant role throughout the overarching story. We watched as she guided her padawan, Cippa, through a highly blurry time in the Force. Fighting against the Path of the Open Hand, Yaddle and Cippa never quite had a grip of the situation—which is a position the Jedi seem to find themselves in often—but both Yaddle’s deep connection to the Force and Cippa’s mysterious abilities brought them through to the other side. If you’re looking for an adventure-packed, intense story to follow Yaddle through, Phase 2 of The High Republic is exactly what you want.
Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi is a collection of animated shorts, each focusing on a specific character. In the show’s first season, episodes 2, 3, and 4 told stories set throughout the life of the infamous Jedi-turned-Sith, Count Dooku. Though these episodes focused on Dooku, they filled in a lot of holes in the timeline of Yaddle’s life and answered the question of her disappearance between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
If you’re looking specifically for Yaddle in these shorts, you’ll want to watch episode 4, “The Sith Lord.” This episode didn’t just fill in some of the glaring gaps that fans have been wondering about for the past couple of decades; it gave us the context of who Yaddle was, both as a Jedi and simply as a person. We saw her values and morals in clear view and it was undeniable how far she was willing to go to protect the Republic and what it stood for.
Conclusion
So that’s what we know about Yaddle so far! While we have a lot more answers now than we did way back in 1999 at the premiere of The Phantom Menace, there are still a lot of questions surrounding Yaddle and her species. Thankfully, we will know Yaddle a little more in John Jackson Miller’s forthcoming book, The Living Force! If the cover is any indication, this book is bound to be packed full of Yaddle content, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store.
