Yoda was always the wise old Jedi, the guy who kept everyone on the light path. For nearly 900 years, he stood as the ultimate Jedi Master, never swaying.
But what if, just for a moment, he did? What if someone actually saw Yoda using the dark side? Well, that someone was Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the vision he had was nothing short of terrifying.
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Obi-Wan’s Vision That Changed Everything
In Star Wars: Jedi Knights #1, back when Obi-Wan was still a Padawan, training under Qui-Gon Jinn around The Phantom Menace, he did a meditation exercise with Yoda. Standard Jedi training – open your mind to the Force, see possible futures, learn from what you see. No big deal, right?
Except this time, Obi-Wan saw things he never expected. His vision showed Count Dooku threatening Yaddle, himself fighting as old Ben Kenobi, and then… Yoda. But not his Yoda. This version was cloaked in dark robes, eerily similar to Emperor Palpatine, and before Obi-Wan could process what he was seeing, Yoda lifted his hand – and unleashed a blast of Force lightning.
Obi-Wan snapped back to reality, completely shaken. Yoda? Using Force lightning? That was Sith territory. If Yoda, the strongest and most disciplined Jedi, could wield the dark side, then what did that mean for the rest of them?
Could Yoda Have Actually Fallen?
At first, it sounds ridiculous. Yoda spent his entire life resisting the dark side. But let’s be real – no one is 100% immune to temptation. Even Jedi Masters have their struggles. And here’s where things get even more interesting: Obi-Wan wasn’t the only one who thought about the possibility of Yoda turning.
Count Dooku, Yoda’s former apprentice, once considered this too. In Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, he had a moment of realization – if Yoda ever turned, he wouldn’t just join the Sith, he’d completely dominate them. Dooku even thought that if Yoda embraced the dark side, Sidious himself wouldn’t stand a chance. That’s how dangerous a Darth Yoda would be.
Obi-Wan’s vision wasn’t a prophecy – it was a warning. The Force doesn’t show guaranteed futures, just possibilities. The fact that he saw Yoda using Force lightning was about potential. Even the greatest Jedi weren’t invincible to the dark side’s pull.
And that’s what makes Star Wars so compelling. The Jedi aren’t perfect. They could fall, and that’s why they constantly have to stay vigilant. Even Yoda, with all his wisdom and control, had to make a choice every day to stay on the light side.
Why Yoda Never Gave In
So, why didn’t Yoda fall like so many others? Unlike Anakin, who was driven by emotion and loss, Yoda had centuries of experience controlling his impulses. He knew that true strength wasn’t about power – it was about wisdom. He might have thought about using the dark side’s power, but he always had the clarity to walk away.
That doesn’t mean the dark side never haunted him, though. His fight with Sidious in Revenge of the Sith proved that even he could be overwhelmed. He had to retreat. Maybe that moment stuck with him. Maybe it made him question whether the dark side’s power could’ve helped him stop the Sith. But questioning something and falling to it are two very different things.