Roughly 900 years before the Battle of Yavin, the legendary Jedi Master Yoda was born and
from a young age demonstrated strong Force Sensitivity. As a child he was taken by the
Jedi, and trained as a youngling, receiving his Kyber crystal on the planet of Ilum and
crafting his lightsaber. He would then go on to become a Padawan under
a great Jedi Master, who trained him for many years. On one occasion, his Master told him
the story of Chuang and k’ungfu, two powerful Jedi of the past. Upon the death of Chuang’s
apprentice, K’ungfu sent a messenger with his condolences. But rather than find him
mourning, the Jedi Master was jubilant, dancing and laughing among friends. When questioned
by the shocked messenger, Chuang explained, that death was inevitable, and only meant
taking a new form within the force, and so he chooses to laugh at death, rather than
cry before it. Yoda would serve as a Jedi for nearly a century,
before moving on to become an instructor, taking on Padawans and guiding them to become
Jedi, doing his best to pass on the training, given to him by his own masters.
For 800 years Yoda instructed Padawan and younglings, possibly having participated in
the training of up to 20 000 Jedi. His last apprentice, before the fall of the
Republic and Jedi Order would be the Padawan Dooku, a powerful force sensitive, of strong
will and grand ambition. They grew close as teacher and student, and trained together
for years. Once, while on the planet of Kashyyyk, a young Dooku watch his Master defeat a Great
Terentatek beast. Demonstrating the power once might achieve with the proper training.
After Dooku’s ascension to the rank of Jedi Knight, Yoda began to focus exclusively on
training Jedi Younglings and attending to his duties as Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
During the Naboo crisis, as Darth Sidious began to enact his plans for the revenge of
the Sith. Yoda began to sense the power of the dark side growing, but was unable to identify
its source or understand its true meaning. Little did they know, their abilities were
being clouded by an ancient sith shrine built beneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Though
the ancient Jedi believed that power to be sealed away. It had survived their efforts
and haunted the Temple, able to then be exploited by Sidious, who used it to disguise his actions,
posing as Senator and Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of Naboo.
It was therefore, not until Darth Maul attacked Qui Gon Jinn on Tatooine, that Yoda and the
Council learned of the return of the Sith. Sensing the dangerous times approaching Yoda
and the Council rejected a young Anakin Skywalker, feeling the darkness within the child and
a potential for great destruction. But Master Qui Gon Jinn was convinced the child was the
chosen one of prophecy, and so took the boy on as his apprentice anyway. After the Death
of the Jedi Master in a duel with Darth Maul, Obi Wan Kenobi became the boy’s master,
forcing Yoda and Council to accept the decision. Years later, after the kidnapping of Obi Wan
Kenobi, Padawan Anakin Skywalker and former queen now Senator Amidala of Naboo, Grand
Master Yoda led a clone army to Geonosis, where they engaged the Confederacy Of Independent
systems, led by former Jedi turned Sith Apprentice Count Dooku.
This would be the first battle in what came to be known as the Clone Wars.
In the Battle of Geonosis, Yoda engaged his former Padawan Count Dooku, but was forced
to allow him to flee so he might rescue Anakin and Obi Wan from danger.
As the Clone War began, Yoda continued to sense anger and pain in Jedi Knight Anakin
Skywalker, and so assigned him Padawan Ahsoka Tano, hoping that by instructing an apprentice
in the ways of the Jedi, it would mature him, and aid him in controlling his emotions.
Throughout the Clone Wars, Yoda was an instrumental figure, taking an active role as battlefield
General, Military strategist and Diplomatic Ambassador. He would often seek new allies
for the Republic, once even assigning Anakin Skywalker and his apprentice Ahsoka to rescue
Rotta, the child of Jabba the Hutt, from captivity. In the hopes of securing an alliance with
the crime lord. Yoda would even personally go to the neutral
moon of Rugosa to sway it’s King into becoming an ally. But Asaj Ventress, a Dark Side apprentice
to Count Dooku was also there, representing the Confederacy also attempting to win the
King’s favor. The Confederacy shot down Yoda’s shuttle
before he could arrive stranding him with 3 clone troopers in the wilderness. Ventress
then proposed a challenge, stating that if Yoda survived and arrived at the King’s
Location, Rugosa would go with the Republic, but if the Droids defeated him, he would ally
with the Confederacy. Yoda agreed to the terms, using his masterful force powers to defeat
an army of droids, arriving before the King, winning the contest and ensuring the survival
of all 3 clone troopers.