Yoda wasn’t just the Jedi’s most talented member during his time. He was also one of the oldest Force-sensitive beings in Star Wars Canon.
Yoda’s exact age of when he died remains speculative, but given the clues he left in the Original Trilogy, reputable sources like The Dark Side of the Force and Wookieepedia settle on one universally-accepted answer.
Yoda’s species age slowly, and Yoda clues us in that he’s 900 years old in Return of the Jedi. Given the slower aging process of his mysterious species, they age one human year every 10 to 12.5 years for their species. However, they mature between 51 and 100.
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What was Yoda’s Exact Age When He Died?
Known for his great strength within the Jedi Order, fans also knew Yoda for his old age. Resembling something between a traditional green alien and an elf, fans rarely saw Yoda without his trusty walking stick.
Yet when forced to whip out his green-bladed shoto lightsaber to challenge the dark side, Yoda fought like a Force-sensitive hundreds of years his junior.
His acrobatics and ability to wield the Force allowed him to defeat Sith Lords in lightsaber duels and single-handedly take on dangerous battle droids.
So how old was Yoda given his feeble movements when he wasn’t wielding the Force?
Yoda left a few clues.
Yoda Was a Great and Ancient Jedi Master
Obi-Wan Kenobi filled Luke Skywalker and audiences in on Yoda, this almighty Jedi Master thought at the time to be the last of his kind. Like Luke, most believed this Jedi Master would resemble some type of warrior, full of muscle and might.
They got an aging hermit who acted as though he spent too much time in exile on a swamp planet. Soon after entering his hut, Yoda cut the act and confirmed he was the great Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Force ghost informed Luke of.
He also stated during their encounter that he trained Jedi for over 800 years.
Now, let’s hop into the time machine and travel from 1980 when The Empire Strikes Back hit theaters today, when the Star Wars universe expanded so much its history ranges tens of thousands of years.
Dissecting the galaxy’s history is important because it clues us in on Yoda’s mysterious species.
While we know nothing about their homeworld or even the name of the species, as Wookieepedia refers to them as “Yoda’s Species,” we know one thing about them: They have unusually long life spans.
Grogu, better known as Baby Yoda, was born in 41 BBY and he’s still considered a child. Another member of Yoda’s species, Yaddle, also lived for hundreds of years, born in 509 BBY.
Yoda’s Remark in Return of the Jedi
In Return of the Jedi, Yoda was quoted as saying, “When 900 years old you reach, look as good as you will not.”
In The Empire Strikes Back, we knew Yoda was at least 800. Come the film’s sequel, Yoda confirmed he was at least a century older. This made him 100 years old when he started training Jedi, given his remark in Episode V.
While we will never know how old Yoda was when he died since he could have rounded to both 800 and 900, most sources settled at 900 as the exact age of his death. The popular blog Dark Side of the Force used 900, as does Wookieepedia.
Looking at Wookieepedia, the popular database listed Yoda as being born in 906 BBY and dying in 4 ABY. Yoda’s age at his death, plus the ages of Yaddle and Grogu, raises another question: What is the human equivalent of their ages?
How Old is Yoda in Human Years?
The answer to this question depends on the source. One source, the United Nations World Population Prospects, states the average human lifespan worldwide is 72 years in 2022. Taking 72 and dividing it by 900, we get 12.5.
So for every 12.5 years for Yoda’s species, they age one human year.
The Knowledge Burrow has a slightly different answer, stating Yoda’s species ages one human year for every 10 years for his species.
Regardless of the source, it’s safe to say Yoda’s species ages one human year for every 10 to 12.5 years of their species. This would put Yoda, at the time of his death, between 72 and 90 in human years.
The only caveat with both of these formulas pertains to Yoda’s remark that he trained Jedi for 800 years. Dividing Yoda’s supposed age when he became a Jedi Knight at 100 by 12.5, he would have accomplished this feat at the human-equivalent age of eight.
While Yoda was one of the best Force-sensitive Jedi of his time, it’s far-fetched to believe he was that talented, especially with Vernestra Rwoh serving as the youngest known Jedi to achieve the rank of Knight at age 15.
Wookieepedia has a possible answer, stating Yoda’s species ages slowly during their first 50 years before rapidly maturing between age 51 and 100.
This explains why Grogu is still the equivalent to a young child in The Mandalorian at age 50 and it further explains how Yoda became a Jedi Knight at 100. It will be interesting to see if Grogu matures as The Mandalorian continues its production.
Conclusion
Given the clues he left in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the popular answer for Yoda’s exact age at the time of his death is 900.
Things get complicated in measuring Yoda’s age in human years, with one source allowing us to take the age of his death at 900 and dividing it by the current global life expectancy of 72, giving us 12.5 years for the species to match one human year.
Another source uses 10 years for every human year. Given Wookieepedia’s statement of the species reaching maturity at 100, both sources provide a rough, rather than an exact measurement.