Yaddle was established back in Episode I, some 21 years ago, as another Jedi Master of Yoda's species, female and several centuries younger, yet also a Jedi Master sitting on the Jedi Council. Recently, with baby Grogu on the Mandalorian TV show and Ahsoka name-dropping Yoda, people wondered why Yaddle wasn't also mentioned since Ahsoka probably would have known about her too. Filoni mentioned that he definitely knew of Yaddle in an interview after the Ahsoka episode. The High Republic is coming out, we see a younger Yoda (though already a Grand Master of the Jedi), and other unique Jedi Masters on the Council who hadn't gotten much attention before are finally getting more attention too (Oppo Rancisis and Yarael Poof). Yet no mention made yet of Yaddle, who also makes sense to at least be a Jedi Master by this time (in Legends she was known to have trained Master Rancisis as her former padawan, and it was referenced in Disney canon in 2016 too.) She's also mentioned as "legendary" and a possible survivor in recent video game Fallen Order. She is being conspicuously absent, her absence is rather "loud" for those who know a little about Star Wars lore. Canon in general has avoided her, and hasn't revealed her fate. Though there is this curious bit: My gut instinct is she's being excluded intentionally so far, because there are plans to use her in something upcoming, whether in Grogu's story or in the High Republic or something else. As an established character that little is known about, and with the marketing success of Grogu aka "Baby Yoda," anything with Yaddle on the cover would be marketing gold. What are your Yaddle theories? And how would you like her to be used?
Seriously, knowing GL, I wouldn't be surprised if Yaddle wasn't intended as an elaborate joke all along. "Let's put a lady Yoda on the council and see if anyone notices, hahaha".
Well she is going to be in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I've always thought the challenge with Yaddle is presenting her character in such a way that it does not shed too much light on Yoda's background and species. Does she speak in backwards talk too? She did in legends, but then we also had other members of the species like Vandar Tokare speaking perfect English. The fact that Grogu is 50 also makes their aging conventions curious. Yoda says he was training Padawans by the end of his first century, but the High Republic also shows its theoretically possible to be a Knight while still biologically a teenager. My guess as to why Rancisis is on the Council in that era and not Yaddle is that his species matures a lot faster, its possible she trained him but he proved himself able to earn a seat on the Council before her as she was still a bit of a hot headed and reckless youth. I mean, Anakin trained a Padawan and aside from the Chancellors interventions in Episode III he probably wasn't at the top of the list to fill any potential council vacancies. I personally find this a very interesting discussion, and hope we get more information about her sooner rather than later.
I have a feeling that Yaddle is going to be intentionally forgotten by Lucasfilm in order to prop up Grogu as a one of a kind 'rare' species. We've already seen signs of this in the Mandalorian with Ahsoka saying 'I've only ever known one other of his kind.' Sure, Ahsoka never met Yaddle (as far as we know) but it does feel like they're trying to sweep her (small) presence in the Prequels under the carpet.
Going by Legends, Yaddle was still stuck in a pit on Koba at the time of Light of the Jedi, but obviously that backstory doesn't necessarily apply anymore. I kind of feel like the planning team just... forgot about her? It's hard to blame them if that's the case.
The odd part of this is in Yaddles Tale the One Bellow she never really has an opportunity to Train Oppo Rancisis. Thanks to them reusing images from the film he appears on the council before her there anyways, but that was just in the background. For Rancisis to have trained under Yaddle she must have been an active Knight at least a few decades before the High Republic.
Star Wars needs more redheads so even if they are green and pointy eared... go for it! Yaddle is a great character and sadly she is dead, died in Jedi Quest books in an epic sacrifice. Going by One Canon, she is dead and better stays such to not ruin One Canon. That said she can be used pre-TPM and maybe even as teenager in High Republic Era. But not beyond her death. I doubt Fallen Order meant her as a Purge survivor. Rather have that be a memory from before the Clone Wars and have any potential purge survivor be one more chapter in Grogu's life!
Yeah, the overall vibe is, Yaddle isn't gonna be retconned or decanonized or anything, but just won't ever be mentioned again except in really obscure reference sources.
Maybe that’s how it started. But the reference in Fallen Order and what specifically was said, plus getting so close to Yaddle in the High Republic and the Mandalorian, give me another feeling. And she’s be marketing gold due to Grogu. I think she might be Grogu’s mom, to be honest. Great post! It’ll definitely be tricky to handle her, but they’ve shown with Grogu that it doesn’t mean they won’t take that risk. Interesting she’s popping up in another new video game, even if it’s a silly Lego game. Like there aren’t enough problems with the One Canon fan project? If people believe it and make it work with ridiculous retcons already, they can make more Yaddle work too. See, with all I said above, it feels more like foreshadowing her becoming more prominent.
Over all I think Grogu was probably easier to handle than Yaddle will be. Aside from their aging convention (The fact that he is a 50 year old infant), and the fact that they are likely carnivorous (Extrapolated from Yoda eating stew in ESB), we really have learned little to nothing about the species from him . He can't even talk, and the fact that he is 50 means we aren't even sure about things like the time and manner of their reproduction. For all we know he hatched from an egg. Yaddle is basically a member of their species at or near her prime. That could easily end up revealing a lot more than Grogu likely ever will in the Mandalorian, unless we're going to be following him for another few decades.
I think in the High Republic stories that have come out thus far, they've mentioned or shown 11 of the 12 Masters currently on the Jedi Council. Yaddle could be the twelfth, and they just haven't mentioned her yet.
Spoiler I'm going off of Wookieepedia, so apologies if I misinterpreted it, but Light of the Jedi and the comic say Yoda's on sabbatical from the Council while he's training a class of Padawans (i.e. the Adventures comic). Ephru Shinn is holding his seat in the interim, hence I presume why they have the personal relationship connection on the chart.
Spoiler Yes, Yoda's position is rather confusing. I heard he was on sabbatical, and the wook says Shinn was appointed as a temporary replacement. At the same time he is still referred to as Grand Master and the chart says he is one of the twelve. Not sure what to think, hope that is cleared up.
Made by fans with Advanced Reader Copy access that used only source intel and no guesswork? As official as it can get!
Yes, and no. Specifically for the whole Yaddle discussion, while it is true that if there are only 12 seats on the council, we only know 11 of the seat fillers. There are 12 people listed there, but Ephru Shinn is on the council as Yoda's temporary replacement. Whoever is in the 12th seat, which hasn't been named yet, wouldn't be on that fan chart. Therefore, we cannot use the chart as evidence to say any particular person who has not yet been named as the 12th council member is not on the council.
Now that we got Yaddle's very interesting end-story in Dooku's Tales of the Jedi story (despite most here thinking she'd never appear in anything ) - do others want to see more of Yaddle now?
