CT If the "Dark Times" never occurred, would Yoda have still died by the time of ROTJ?

Do you think Yoda would have lived past the time of ROTJ if the PT ended with the victory of the Jedi and Republic? Or would he have died anyway.

 

Scientists have identified eight factors they say are key to a long life - and few of them are beyond an individual's control.
They are: drinking moderately, not smoking, having a stable marriage, taking exercise, maintaining the right weight, receiving a good education, having the ability to look on the bright side of life and not suffering depressive illness.

I'd say a few of these factors may have hastened his demise while living on Dagobah. I never saw Yoda as much of a drinker or a smoker and I'm sure he kept himself fit with a bit of Jedi training. Education seemed to be a strong point for him. Looking on the bright side of life and avoiding a depressive illness may have been challenges living as an isolate on a murky swamp planet, having just taken responsibility for the near destruction of galactic democracy. I'd say if the dark times hadn't happened, Yoda could have reached four figures no problem.

 

It's an interesting question, since Yoda's decline does seem to have come on him relatively fast - even at the time of the OT, I'm not sure Lucas thought of him as particularly weakened by age.

 

In a deleted scene Yoda gave birth to children just before dying.

 

I would assume that living alone on Dagobah meant that Master Yoda didn't have all that great medical coverage. So, yes, he probably would have lived longer.

 

Yeah, and they don't seem to know that they're brother and sister, either

 

Yoda was almost 900 years old. As he said, "Old and sick have I become". Ergo, this was inevitable.

 

I think it's difficult to answer this question with any certainty.

Did the rise of the dark side somehow hurt Yoda's ability to prolong his life with the Force? Was Yoda ever even capable of doing that, or is 900 years about the most a being of his species can expect? I don't think movies really provide us with an answer.

We know he would have died sooner or later. "Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong".

Would he have lived an extra decade or so if the Sith had been defeated around ROTS? Hard to say, I lean toward no.

 

I don't believe Yoda was using the Force to prolong his life, but that was the way his species was. Yaddle was four hundred years old and Chewbacca, a non Force user, was billed as being over two hundred years old.

 

I think Yoda would have lived longer (Not sure how much longer mind you) But living on Dagobah probably would have shortened it a little bit. Living an isolated life does have an effect, No substantial food or drink source, No health resources, Having to fend for everything day in day out, It's not easy and after a while it would have taken it's toll. Just imagine living on a uninhabited island somewhere doing it for a week or month is bad enough, but for years it's going to have some effect on you and your health.

 

All of the above reasons are good.

But also remember, Yoda's death was a plot device. All of Luke's crutches were being taken away from him so he would have to face Vader and the Emperor alone. Lucas did say this in...I believe it was the "From Star Wars to Jedi" video.

 

"In coming back to see Yoda, we have to figure out Luke’s training and the fact that he never finished his training, and that obviously now he’s got a big question he wants answered. There is a point where the hero has to be left alone on his own two feet without anybody there to help him. And you can sort of have him be in a different place or something, but at some point you have to say well now all the props have been taken away, and he has to face the evil monster alone. In this case, the scene establishes that the evil monster is actually his father, and he’s going to have to do it upon his own, and that he’s really not equipped to do it. That he was too impatient, he didn’t finish his studies, and now he’s going to be half trained to face a difficult physical and emotional challenge."

--George Lucas, DVD Commentary, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, 2004

"Even though at some point Yoda and Ben interfered, I eventually decided that they couldn’t connect physically with what Luke was doing. I felt that one of the major issues in the third film is that Luke is finally on his own and has to fight Vader and the Emperor by himself. If you get a sense that Yoda or Ben is there to help him or to somehow influence him, it diminishes the power of the scene."

--George Lucas, quoted in L. Bouzereau, Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, 1997

 

Interestingly, in the 'Making of Return of the Jedi' book, you can see that at first they played around with the idea of the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda helping Luke during the final battle. I'm really glad they didn't go that route in the end.

 

If the Republic won the war (and Palpatine was stopped) and the Jedi stayed on Coruscant I think that Yoda might have lived for a bit longer. Hard to tell with alternate timelines and that jazz.

 

I don't know.

 

You sir, are a winner.

 

Yes. He only died because he got sick, right?