CT Why didn't Yoda go with Luke to Bespin?

When Luke headed off to Bespin to face Darth Vader, why didn't Yoda just hop in the X-Wing and go with him. By himself, Luke managed to give Vader a good fight, if Yoda had accompanied him, they would have been able to kill Vader.

With Vader dead, the Rebellion would have scored a major victory and could continue to attack the Empire. Yoda would be able to complete Luke's training, and then they could have gone to Coruscant to face Sidious together.

Yoda had incredible fighting skills in the PT, he should have gone to Bespin with Luke. Had they both faced Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith would have perished for certain. Then the only Sith left would have been Palpatine, whom they could have faced, in time.

 

I guess one could ask why Yoda didn't just go and confront Vader himself at some earlier stage as well. Perhaps it again comes down to the significance of Vader being confronted by his son.

 

Yoda's judgement saw that this wouldn't end well anyways. Besides, I don't see Yoda fitting in the X-wing. Also, in the mere instance that Yoda might not make it back, the "other" hope is as good as done, and Yoda clearly valued this option so much that he was ready to fall back on it after predicting that Luke probably wasn't coming back.

 

yoda was pretty beat up after fighting sidious and is also pretty old. he dies in the next film so i don't think he was up to fighting anyone. also the main point is that luke isn't ready to go and yoda wants him to stay and complete the training.

 

I agree, he was just too old. Furthermore, what Obi Wan says has something to do with it as well. When Obi Wan tells Luke that he can not interfere it's because it's Luke test, and Luke's decision. Part of Luke's fate and destiny will be decided with this confrontation.

Also if you follow the hero's journey, usually at some point the hero is tempted by the bad guys. So Luke needed to be alone and have no help to complete this part of the hero's journey.

 

"Cramped in that ship, it is ..."

 

Yoda learned years earlier that the key to winning the war was not what they were doing, but down another path. Luke was that path and thus he didn't go.

 

I think Yoda works much better as the "wise old dojo living in a hut by himself on top of the mountain" character than a super fighter. He should just be "above" fighting other than the utmost need.

 

he was.

 

Fining out Yoda was alive might drive Palpatine to more extreme forms of destruction just in searching for him and Luke. Yoda might have been getting old, and he could not beat the Emperor the first time around, but Luke and Yoda killing Vader might not have been the best of ideas.

 

That's a good point. If Palpatine found out that Yoda had survived and had teamed up with the Son of Skywalker to kill Darth Vader, his reaction would not have been pleasant. I can picture Sidious hunting Luke and Yoda down, fighting them both in the way he did Maul and Savage and then killing Yoda and forcing Luke to submit. With Vader dead, there would be no one to save Luke from the Emperor's wrath, as Yoda already proved that he wasn't able to defeat Sidious. Yoda may have held back to keep from provoking Sidious.

 

Interestingly, it seems that originally Yoda simply wasn't a fighter. Consider this exchange from 'The Making of Return of the Jedi' book:

 

I've seen this posted elsewhere in the past, what ridiculous nonsense. So glad Lucas saw the light and made Yoda a deadly warrior in AOTC and ROTS. A Jedi Master is not a real Jedi indeed.

 

which is why the prequels sucked.

 

Not only this but something like "Dear Yoda, show yourself or I start decimating worlds util you do." And then he deploys the fleet.

 

Let's leave the quality of the prequels out of this one. It's a pretty decent conversation without getting into that.

 

Considering that Yoda didn't want Luke to go to Bespin in the first place, why would he? And why is it so important for Vader to be killed in TESB, when such an event would have prevented him from doing what happened near the end of ROTJ? And why would you assume that Luke would have been capable of assisting Yoda on Bespin, when his skills with the Force did not show any signs of being fully formed until ROTJ?

 

Considering his limited training, Luke didn't disgrace himself against Vader in TESB. Assuming Yoda's skills hadn't diminished too much since he held his own against Sidious in ROTS, it's at least arguable that the two of them could have taken Vader.

 

Forgive me for going for the obvious, but Yoda is old. He could not fight like he did during the Clone Wars. Secondly, if Luke failed, Yoda needed to be around to train Leia. It was for contingency reasons. Besides, Yoda knew that Luke confronting Vader while still only a Padawan was foolish and that only the bond of blood would save Luke who was likely to fail. If Yoda was there, Vader might have been like "So you have a new master, you brought him here to kill me!" *Force Chokes Luke* Yoda: Let go of him you will.

 

Two or more against one hasn't always been that successful in SW...

 

Indeed. Duel of Fates: Maul vs. Qui-Qon & Obi-Wan. Duel of Destiny: Palpatine vs. Mace Windu & Posse. Duel of Tyranny: Dooku vs. Anakin & Obi-Wan. in all those duels extra Jedi were either maimed or slain.

 

I figure it was to continue forcing the whole boy growing into a man deal.

 

That's because they don't believe in the prophecy anymore and thus Vader has to die. Which he does, but in an unexpected way.

 

Where was Yoda going to get a lightsaber from? he lost his when he dueled with Palpatine 23 years earlier.

 

He could have made one during his exile. Still, he'd have had to obtain the parts before arriving on Dagobah.

In the TESB novel - he has seekers for training Luke with. More powerful than the ANH one.