Before becoming Grand Master of the Jedi, Yoda was once a Padawan. While canon keeps his teacher unnamed, Legends introduces N’Kata Del Gormo—a serpentine Jedi who trained Yoda after a crash landing. Though not officially canon, the tale reflects Yoda’s humble beginnings. Insights from Frank Oz hint at an unseen mentor who influenced even Yoda’s speech. The mystery remains by design, preserving the mythic status of Star Wars’ wisest Jedi.
Before Yoda became the galaxy’s most iconic Jedi Master—an embodiment of wisdom, serenity, and command of the Force—he, too, was a student.
While his teachings and lightsaber duels would shape the destiny of legendary figures like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the origins of Yoda’s own training remain one of Star Wars' most enduring enigmas. Both canon and Legends offer glimpses into the early years of this mysterious Jedi, each shedding light on the path that led him from Padawan to Grand Master.
Very little is known about Yoda’s formative years, and that’s no accident. George Lucas deliberately kept details of Yoda’s background vague to preserve his mystique. This choice elevated Yoda from character to myth, leaving fans with more questions than answers—and a galaxy full of speculation.
What canon does reveal is sparse. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda mentions having once been trained by a Jedi Master, but no name is given.
The High Republic era presents him as a powerful and seasoned Jedi already active in the Order, but his earliest steps, including the origins of Yoda's lightsaber training and tremendous force abilities, remain off-screen. That gap in the narrative has led to countless theories and rumors.
Legends attempts to fill in some of those blanks. One popular tale describes how Yoda and a fellow traveler crash-landed on a swamp planet, where they encountered a wise and serpentine Jedi Master named N’Kata Del Gormo. Del Gormo recognized Yoda’s connection to the Force and took him in as a student.
The story continues with Republic Jedi eventually arriving to escort Yoda to Coruscant, where his formal journey began. Though this account isn’t considered canon, it captures the spirit of a humble beginning and the chance meeting that set the stage for a future legend.
Adding to the intrigue is Yoda’s unnamed and little-understood species—only shared on screen by characters like Grogu. Their shared abilities and enigmatic past raise the possibility that the key to Yoda’s training lies as much in his origins as in his instructors.
While Star Wars canon keeps Yoda’s early training intentionally vague, it does acknowledge that he had at least one teacher.
Legends, meanwhile, offers a more imaginative and detailed origin story. Each version contributes to the larger mosaic of how Yoda’s character and wisdom came to be.
In canon, the identity of Yoda’s first teacher remains unknown. His only mention of a mentor comes during a passing line in The Empire Strikes Back.
He offers no elaboration—just a quiet nod to the fact that, like every Jedi, he was once a Padawan. More recently, The High Republic novels depict Yoda as a towering figure in the Jedi Order, still eager to learn even after centuries of service and still training.
In The Clone Wars, he embarks on a metaphysical journey with guidance from the Force itself—hinting that his openness to learning may have been rooted in the values passed down from his earliest teacher.
There’s also an intriguing meta-detail: Frank Oz, the original voice and puppeteer behind Yoda, once shared that Yoda’s unusual speech pattern was his way of honoring his master. While this isn’t a formal part of the lore, it adds a layer of tribute and mystery to Yoda’s character that fans continue to speculate about.
Legends gives us a name: N’Kata Del Gormo. According to this story, Yoda and a companion crash-landed on a remote swamp world in the Outer Rim. There, they encountered N’Kata—a towering, serpentine Jedi of the Hysalrian species.
N’Kata sensed the Force within Yoda and trained him in the basics of the Jedi path. Eventually, a Republic ship arrived, and Yoda continued his training on Coruscant.
While N’Kata’s story was originally created by a fan and later folded into the Expanded Universe, it gained traction for its mythic simplicity. This interpretation suggests that Yoda’s affinity for the swampy solitude of Dagobah might trace back to this origin—a place where his journey truly began.
Though Legends content is no longer considered official canon, its contributions continue to resonate with fans and creators alike. With recent hints in canon materials—like a sculpture of the Hysalrian system appearing in Yoda’s quarters—there’s always the possibility that N’Kata Del Gormo may yet return to the fold in some form.
While official canon avoids naming Yoda’s first teacher, one of the most intriguing insights comes not from a Star Wars film or novel, but from Frank Oz—the actor and puppeteer who gave life to Yoda.
According to Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni, Oz once remarked that Yoda’s peculiar speech pattern was a deliberate homage to his own Jedi Master.
Though the identity of that Master remains unknown, this small detail adds a deeply personal touch to Yoda’s character. It suggests that even Yoda’s syntax—so iconic and instantly recognizable—may have been shaped by the individual who first taught him the ways of the Force.
This human layer to Yoda’s legend reminds us that, beneath the mythology, there was a student shaped by the influence of another.
The lack of definitive information about Yoda’s master isn’t just a narrative gap—it’s an intentional creative decision.
George Lucas always resisted revealing too much about Yoda’s origins, believing that mystery made the character more powerful. Even as the Star Wars universe expanded across novels, animated series, and video games, this veil of secrecy remained.
Writers and filmmakers have occasionally flirted with the idea of revealing more, but as of now, Yoda’s training history lives in a liminal space—somewhere between fact, fiction, and speculation.
That doesn’t stop fans and creators from hinting at possible truths, weaving subtle nods and references into new stories that keep the curiosity alive.
Yoda’s values didn’t emerge in a vacuum. His reverence for balance, restraint, and the living Force can be traced back to the teachings he once received. Whoever guided him did more than explain Jedi doctrine—they instilled a worldview that would govern Yoda’s decisions for centuries, and the way he approached his legendary battles.
At the center of that philosophy is the idea that knowledge is never complete, and that failure itself can be a source of wisdom. Yoda’s approach to leadership, his mentoring style, and even his trust in meditation and intuition reflect a foundation laid long before he joined the Jedi Council.
Whether through fabled figures like N’Kata Del Gormo or unnamed mentors in canon, it’s clear that Yoda absorbed lessons that went far beyond the physical mastery of the Force.
Over the course of his long life, Yoda trained hundreds of Jedi, shaping the future of the galaxy one student at a time. His reputation wasn’t built on combat prowess—though he certainly possessed it—but on his ability to teach.
From Mace Windu to Luke Skywalker, his pupils learned to quiet their minds, master their fears, and walk the path of the Jedi. What set Yoda apart as a mentor was his humility. He didn’t present himself as infallible, but his words resonated.
Even after centuries of wisdom, he remained a learner, ready to adapt, reflect, and grow. This mindset likely originated in his own early experiences, when his master showed him that being strong with the Force also meant being open to change.
Yoda's strength as a teacher came not just from what he knew, but from how deeply he understood the importance of passing it on.
Yoda’s origin remains one of Star Wars’ most enduring mysteries. Whether the truth lies buried in canon hints or the Legends archives, it’s clear that the Jedi Master we came to know was shaped by someone—or perhaps several someones—whose wisdom lives on through him.
From the swampy whispers of N’Kata Del Gormo to the shadowy outlines of a forgotten Jedi in canon, the story of Yoda’s training invites us to appreciate the unseen hands that shape even the greatest among us.
His life reminds us that mastery is not the end of the road but the continuation of learning—a lesson passed from teacher to student, again and again, across generations.
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