"Great Warrior... Wars not make one great!"

—Master Yoda(Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)

Here is Part 2 of my Master Yoda Respect Thread! Once again, a very special thank you and happy birthday to @darthant66 without whom this thread would not have even been started! I hope you all enjoy! May the Force be with you! Respect Master Yoda!

Note: This thread is best viewed in blog format. To find the superior version, as well as Part 1 of my Master Yoda Respect Thread, click my username.

Combat Abilities

Master Yoda is a brilliant lightsaber duelist:

Yoda was not that one. Aged, experienced, diplomatic, informative, brilliant with a lightsaber... Yes, all of these things. And not unacquainted with the power of the dark side.

—Labyrinth of Evil

Master Yoda’s unparalleled ability to draw on the Force grants him exceptional speed and agility and made his lightsaber abilities awesomely potent:

Despite his diminutive size and frailty, Yoda’s incomparable ability to summon the power of the Force enabled him to greatly enhance his agility and speed. As a result, his lightsabre skills were awesomely potent. Yoda had mastered the exceptional art of Form IV lightsabre combat, and was widely acknowledged as the greatest lightsaber duellist in the Jedi Order. His lightsabre skills were legendary among the Jedi, not least because, until the Battle of Geonosis, few had ever seen Yoda in combat.

—Star Wars Fact Files

Master Yoda was a master of Form IV Ataru and was regarded as the greatest lightsaber duelist in the Order, possessed of legendary skill with the blade:

Yoda had mastered the exceptional art of Form IV lightsabre combat, and was widely acknowledged as the greatest lightsaber duellist in the Jedi Order. His lightsabre skills were legendary among the Jedi, not least because, until the Battle of Geonosis, few had ever seen Yoda in combat.

—Star Wars Fact Files

Using his lightsabre, Yoda became a master of the immensely powerful and highly acrobatic Form IV lightsabre discipline. To see him in combat was an awesome spectacle, for he became one with his lightsabre in a whirlwind of luminous green energy.

—Star Wars Fact Files

In recognition of Yoda’s mastery of Form IV, the Jedi Archives hold a collection of databooks to showcase his mastery and prowess for Jedi to study:

“Yes, it is true that Yoda is a Form IV master. Although it has been some time since Yoda has graced us with a demonstration, the Jedi Archives holds a collection of databooks that are testament to his mastery and prowess.”

—Cin Drallig (Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force)

Master Yoda is a master of all seven lightsaber styles:

Talents: Force-sensitivity; master of all lightsaber styles; battle meditation; diplomacy; leadership; knowledge of Jedi traditions.

—Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia

Master Yoda’s strength in the Force and fighting tactics allow him to overcome virtually any opponent:

Yoda’s capabilities with the Force give him amazing strength and speed, as well as the ability to levitate. These special powers, combined with his knowledge of fighting tactics, allow him to overcome virtually any opponent, though times are few indeed that Yoda has actually used his lightsaber in combat.

—Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary

Master Yoda is counted among the greatest Jedi Warriors:

Even the greatest warriors of the Jedi - Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, even Yoda - could not defeat the Sith.

—The Last of the Jedi: Underworld

Count Dooku believes the Jedi Killer General Grievous to be inferior to Master Yoda in lightsaber combat:

"Do I need to demonstrate what responses you can expect from Cin Drallig or Obi-Wan Kenobi? From Mace Windu or, stars help you, Yoda?"

—Count Dooku to General Grievous (Labyrinth of Evil)

Master Yoda’s lightsaber skills are second to none on the Jedi Council, surpassing even the Legendary Jedi Master Mace Windu’s skills:

Though it was true that he had slowed slightly in the years that Windu had known him, Yoda's skill with a lightsaber was still second to none on the council.

—Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

Master Yoda's lightsaber skills are considered to be unparalleled:

With a stooped, small appearance, Yoda may not look like a great warrior, but his skills with a lightsaber were unequaled.

—Lightsabers: A Guide to Weapons of the Force

Master Yoda is reputed to be the greatest lightsaber master ever:

She smiled. "Watching you, one would almost think you could give Master Yoda a good contest."

That made him blink. "Master Yoda? You must be joking."

Her smile vanished. "Why would I joke about such a thing?

Master Yoda is reputed to be the greatest lightsaber master ever. Don't tell me you never had a fighting class with him?"

—The Approaching Storm

Darth Sidious believes that Master Yoda would have injured Darth Vader on Mustafar far worse than what Obi-Wan Kenobi had done to him:

"I wasn't strong enough to defeat Obi-Wan," Vader said. Sidious had had enough.

"No, you weren't," he said. "So just imagine what Yoda might have done to you." He flung his words with brutal honesty. "Obi-Wan triumphed because he went to Mustafar with a single intention in mind: to kill Darth Vader. If the jedi order had showed such resolute intention, if it had remained focused on what needed to be done rather than on fears of the dark side, it might have proved more difficult to topple and eradicate. You and I might have lost everything. Do you understand?"

—Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Master Yoda has bested Mace Windu in sparring matches:

Master Windu was also known within the Order for his unusual fighting style, one that he developed after studying the dueling styles of various lightsaber masters. His attacks consisted of relentless, unpredictable blows, like shots from an autoblaster. Master Windu himself remained perfectly balanced and centered. In the history of the Jedi Order, only two opponents ever overcame him in battle. One was Master Yoda, who some said was the Order's true master of lightsaber combat. The other was former Master Dooku, whose own fighting style was archaic, yet stunningly effective.

—Power of the Jedi Sourcebook

Master Yoda’s lightsaber skills made him a match for anyone in combat:

Although it was extremely rare for Yoda to use a lightsabre in combat, when there was no alternative, he was a match for anyone.

—Star Wars Fact Files

Master Yoda cuts down ten battle droids:

Yoda had moved forward with Obi-Wan and Anakin, but his style was less dramatic than Obi-Wan's sweeps and Anakin's whirling lightsaber. His arm barely seemed to move; his attacks seemed more flicks than stabs. Yet ten attack droids were on the floor in a heap of twisted metal.

—Jedi Quest: The Shadow Trap

Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi cut down several Clone Troopers at the Jedi Temple:

A DOZEN CLONE TROOPERS stand guard at the entrance of the Jedi Temple. Suddenly there is a flash of a lightsaber, a flurry of confusion, and all of the Clone Troopers are dead on the floor. YODA and OBI-WAN stand in the middle of the carnage.

—Revenge of the Sith script

Master Yoda kills eight soldiers in six seconds:

A burning blade of green slanted across the sergeants face so close he could smell the ozone, and the hunchback wasn't a hunchback anymore: he now held a lightsaber the color of a summmer sky, and he said in a clipped, educated Coruscanti accent, "Please don't try to resist. No one has to get hurt."

The men of Decoy Squad Five disagreed.

Six seconds later, all eight of them were dead.

—Revenge of the Sith novel

Master Yoda cuts down three Separatist Octuparra Droids:

Master Yoda is believed to have defeated a dreaded Terentatek on Kashyyyk. The Terentatek are vicious, Force-resistant creatures requiring teams of Jedi to defeat:

I was telling them the tale of when you faced the giant terentatek on Kashyyyk.

—Count Dooku (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Master Yoda defeated a Bpfasshi Dark Jedi leader in an epic Force Clash. The Dark Jedi was so powerful that his death created a dark side nexus potent enough to conceal Yoda’s light side presence from the senses of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader:

Another tale of Yoda's past involves stopping a swath of destruction cut by Dark Jedi from Bpfassh. One of these dark siders had gotten as far as Dagobah, were Yoda bested him in direct confrontation. The Bpfasshi Jedi died, his dark Force absorbing into and twisting a nearby tree -- forming a dark side nexus. It is believed that Yoda chose Dagobah as his hiding place due to the dark side energies emanating from the tree. From a distance, Force-users like the Emperor would not detect Yoda since the master's bright light side presence would be canceled by the Bpfasshi dark side presence.

—Star Wars Databank

Years ago, during the Bpfasshi Dark Jedi insurrection, one of the fallen had escaped to Dagobah by commandeering a vessel piloted by smuggler Jorj Car'das. The Jedi Master Yoda tracked down the fugitive Jedi, and the two battled on the swamp planet. Yoda was victorious, and the dead Dark Jedi's hateful energies were absorbed into his surroundings.

A nearby tree which grew over a cave became a nexus, a concentration of the dark side. This domain of evil became a deciding factor in Yoda's choice of Dagobah as his refuge during the Empire's ascent. The dark energy of the tree, when viewed from a distance, cancelled out the light energy of Yoda, thus keeping him hidden for decades.

–Star Wars Databank

Fully in the grip of the Dark Side and quite mad, Bpfasshi Dark Jedi set themselves against Freedom's Sons and slaughtered everyone who get in their way. Soon opposed in battle by loyal Coruscant Jedi. The Bpfasshi fell one by one, until their leader ultimately perished in an epic Force Clash with Master Yoda.

—Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology

Yoda defeats a battalion of Separatist battle droids single-handedly, convincing King Katuunko that a single Jedi is worth a thousand battle droids:

A neutral moon not far from Toydaria, Rugosa was the intended rendezvous point for Jedi Master Yoda and King Katuunko of the Toydarians during the Clone Wars. There, they were to negotiate a treaty that would transform Toydaria into a key Republic outpost in Hutt Space. Unfortunately, Separatist spies intercepted word of the meeting, and Confederacy warships ambushed Yoda's vessel en route to Rugosa. Yoda survived the attack, reaching Rugosa's surface via escape pod along with a trio of clone troopers. There, he had to face an entire battle droid battalion as he cut his way through to King Katuunko to cement the alliance with the Toydarians.

—Star Wars.com Encyclopedia

Yoda goes to Rugosa to negotiate a deal with King Katuunko of Toydaria that will allow the Republic to build a supply base in the system. Count Dooku intervenes with a test for the Jedi: prove the Republic's strength by battling Dooku's droid army. Yoda accepts the challenge, and shows his combat expertise as well as the power of the Force.

—Hasbro Yoda action figure

“One Jedi is not worth a hundred battle droids. More like a thousand.”

—King Katuunko (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

"During the Clone Wars, Yoda's reputation as a great Jedi warrior grows. At the Battle of Rugosa, he defeats a battalion of battle droids with only a few clones to help him!"

—Star Wars: The Legendary Yoda

Yoda engages the former legendary Jedi swordmaster Count Dooku in combat, easily repelling all of his telekinetic and Force Lightning attacks, engaging and defeating him in lightsaber combat, and then forcing him to flee the battle:

"In a climactic battle against Count Dooku, Master Yoda displays amazing speed and agility. He leaps through the air, twirling and battering at Dooku's defenses."

—Star Wars: Force Collection

It is Yoda who brings the newly-created Clone Army to the Battle of Genosis (22 BBY), and it is Yoda who confronts an escaping Count Dooku for a spectacular Lightsaber clash, one super-powerful Force warrior battling another.

—Star Wars Trading Card Game

The count left Obi-Wan beaten and Anakin without his right arm, and may have killed them both if not for Yoda, who arrived and launched a whirlwind attack. Dooku barely escaped with his life.

—Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology

The doors slid open reluctantly, and Yoda walked inside. Yes, needed here, I am, he thought as he saw Count Dooku standing over the fallen figures of Obi-Wan and Anakin. He stopped just inside the hangar, waiting.

Count Dooku saw him and stepped away from Anakin and Obi-Wan. Yoda bent his head in acknowledgment and regret. “Count Dooku.”

“Master Yoda.” The Count’s tone was almost scornful, but Yoda sensed an eagerness in him — eagerness, and something darker. Dooku face hardened as he went on, “You’ve interfered with our plans for the last time.”

Plans of conquest, Yoda thought sadly. But a Jedi seeks not power. Truly, Dooku had left the path of the Jedi Order. He felt Dooku gathering power, and he bowed his head in shock and sorrow as he sensed the true source of the Count’s increased ability. An instant later, Dooku raised his hands and sent a stream of deadly Force lightning toward him.

Yoda blocked the lightning automatically, grieved by this final evidence of Dooku’s change in allegiance. Only those who turned to the dark side of the Force misused their abilities so. This he had feared ever since Count Dooku left the Jedi Order, but only now was he certain. His old student had not just left the path of the Jedi; he had betrayed everything he had once stood for. He had joined the dark side. “Much to learn you still have,” Yoda told him.

A startled expression crossed Dooku’s face at the utter failure of his attack. Then his eyes narrowed. He lowered his hands and replied, “It is obvious that this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with the lightsaber.” As he spoke, he reignited his weapon and whirled it in the formal salute that Yoda remembered teaching him some fifty years before.

Yoda drew his lightsaber and answered the salute. In contests, he had no interest, but in stopping Count Dooku, he had a great deal of interest indeed. And Dooku had left him no other choice.

Count Dooku charged forward. Yoda sighed. Nothing has he learned. Nothing has he remembered. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and felt the Force that bound all things, even himself and the Count. His lightsaber moved effortlessly, flowing with the Force to find the balance point between them and block Dooku’s every stroke. He did not even have to step back.

The Count’s attack grew more desperate, to no avail. Breathing hard, he backed away, but Yoda did not pursue him. To stop Dooku was all that was necessary, and he could not pass Yoda to reach his Solar Sailer.

The Count slowed once more, then stopped, his blade braced against Yoda’s. Yoda could feel him drawing on the dark side in an attempt to press Yoda’s weapon back, but the dark side was only an easier path, not a stronger one. Backed by the full power of the true Force, Yoda’s lightsaber was unmovable.

“Fought well, you have, my old Padawan,” Yoda said gently, giving him the truth, though he knew that the Count would not want to hear it. Count Dooku had never been happy to merely fight well; the best he must be, always. But not this time.

“This is just the beginning,” the Count snarled.

Yoda felt a great surge in the Force as Count Dooku pulled one of the service cranes off balance. The mass of metal and wire plummeted directly toward Obi-Wan and Anakin. Yoda could feel the two exhausted, injured Jedi reaching for the Force to keep the crane from falling, but they did not have enough strength left. The falling crane slowed but did not stop; it would surely crush them when it landed.

No decision was necessary. Too many Jedi have we lost today. Yoda bent his mind toward the crane, concentrating. The crane stopped abruptly in midair as if it had landed on some invisible table. Slowly, Yoda moved the crane away from Obi-Wan and Anakin, to an empty part of the hangar where it could settle safely to the ground.

Behind him, he sensed the engines of the Solar Sailer start, then felt them fade into the distance. The Count had escaped. But Anakin and Obi-Wan were still alive.

For now, that was enough.

—Attack of the Clones junior novel

Even as he spoke, though, the great hangar doors of the tower slid open, smoke from the battle outside pouring in. And through that smoke came a diminutive figure, but one seeming taller than all of them at that moment.

"Master Yoda," Dooku breathed.

"Count Dooku," said Yoda.

Dooku's eyes widened and he stepped back, turning to face Yoda directly. He brought his lightsaber up to his face, shut down the blade, then snapped it to the side in formal salute. "You have interfered with our plans for the last time."

A wave of Dooku's free hand sent a piece of machinery flying at the diminutive Jedi Master, seeming as if it would surely crush him.

But Yoda was ready, waving his own hand, Force-pushing the flying machinery harmlessly aside.

Dooku clutched up at the ceiling, breaking free great blocks that tumbled down at Yoda.

But small hands waved and the boulders dropped to the sides, bouncing across the floor all about the untouched Master Yoda.

Dooku gave a little growl and thrust forth his hand, loosing a line of blue lightning at the diminutive Master.

Yoda caught it in his own hand and turned it aside, but far from easily.

"Powerful you have become, Dooku," Yoda admitted, and the Count grinned-but Yoda promptly took that grin away by adding, "The dark side I sense in you."

"I have become more powerful than any Jedi," Dooku countered. "Even you, my old Master!"

More lightning poured forth from Dooku's hand, but Yoda continued to catch it and turn it, and seemed to become even more settled in his defensive posture.

"Much to learn you still have," Yoda remarked.

Dooku disengaged the futile lightning assault. "It is obvious this contest will not be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsaber."

Yoda reverently drew out his lightsaber, its green blade humming to life.

Dooku gave a crisp salute, igniting his own red blade, but then, formalities over, he leapt at Yoda, a sudden and devastating thrust.

But one that never got close to hitting. With hardly a movement, Yoda turned the blade aside.

Dooku went into a wild flurry then, the likes of which he had not shown against Obi-Wan or Anakin, raining blows at the diminutive Master. But Yoda didn't even seem to move. He didn't step back or to the side, yet his subtle dodges and precision parries kept Dooku's blade slashing and stabbing harmlessly wide.

It went on and on for many moments, but eventually Dooku's flurry began to slow, and the Count, recognizing the Futility of this attempt to overwhelm, stepped back fast.

Not fast enough.

With a sudden burst of sheer power, Master Yoda flew forward, his blade working so mightily that its residual glow outshone even those of both of Anakin's lightsabers when he was at the peak of his dance. Dooku held strong, though, his red blade parrying brilliantly, each block backed by the power of the Force, or else Yoda's strikes would have driven right through.

Just as he was about to launch a counter, though, Yoda was gone, leaping high and turning a somersault to land right behind Dooku, in perfect balance, striking hard.

Dooku reversed his grip and stabbed out behind him, intercepting the blow. He let go of his weapon altogether, tossing it just a bit, and spun about, catching it before it had even disengaged from Yoda's blade.

With a growl of rage, Dooku reached more deeply into the Force, letting it flow through him as if his physical form was a mere conduit for its power. His tempo increased suddenly and dramatically, three steps forward, two back, perfectly balanced all the while. His fighting style was one based on balance, on the back-and-forth charges, thrusts and sudden retreats, and now he came at Yoda with a series of cunning stabs, angled left and right.

Never could he strike low, though, for never did Yoda seem to be on the ground, leaping and spinning, flying all about, parrying each blow and offering cunning counters that had Dooku skipping backward desperately.

Dooku stabbed up high, turning the angle of his lightsaber in anticipation that Yoda would dodge left. But Yoda, as if in complete anticipation of the movement, veered neither left nor right, but rather, dropped to the ground. The Count had already retracted the missed thrust, and began a second stab, this time down low, but Yoda had anticipated that, too, and went right back up behind the stabbing blade.

A sudden stab by Yoda had Dooku quick-stepping back even more off-balance, for the first time, and then Yoda flew away, up and back.

The furious Dooku pursued, thrusting hard for Yoda's head. And in his rage when his stab missed yet again, he reverted to a slashing attack.

Yoda's green blade caught the blow, holding the red lightsaber at bay, locking the two in a contest of strength, physical and of the Force.

"Fought well, you have, my old Padawan," Yoda congratulated, and his lightsaber began to move out, just a bit, forcing Dooku back.

"The battle is far from over!" Dooku stubbornly argued. "This is just the beginning!" Reaching into the Force, he took hold of one of the huge cranes within the hangar and threw it down at Obi-Wan and Anakin.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan cried. He grabbed at the plummeting crane with the Force, and Anakin, startled awake, did so, as well. Even working together, they hadn't the strength left to stop its crushing descent.

But Yoda did.

Yoda grabbed the crane and held it fast, but in doing so, he had to release Dooku. The Count wasted no time, sprinting away, leaping up the ramp to his sail ship. As Yoda began to move the fallen crane harmlessly aside, the sail ship's engine roared to life, and all three Jedi watched helplessly as Count Dooku blasted away.

As Anakin and Obi-Wan walked over to the exhausted Yoda, Padme rushed in, running to Anakin and wrapping the sorely wounded young man in a tight, desperate hug.

"A dark day, it is," Yoda said quietly.

—Attack of the Clones novel

Master Yoda engages and defeats Count Dooku on the dark side nexus of Vjun, forcing him to flee:

With a bound, Yoda was at the casement. Whirry was windmilling down through the black air, screaming and tumbling toward the flagstones. Narrowing his eyes, Yoda reached out through the Force and caught her not three meters from the ground. Instantly he was in the air himself, spinning away from Dooku's vicious attack before he was even consciously aware it was coming. The blinding scarlet blur of Dooku's lightsaber split the air, slashing a burning line along Yoda's side before chopping his desk in half. Yoda whipped out his blade while trying to set Whirry gently down on the cobblestones below.

"Wish to hurt you, I do not!"

"That's odd," Dooku remarked. "I intend to enjoy killing you."

As Yoda released Whirry from his mind's hold, and let her spill gently onto the flagstones far below, the tip of Dooku's lightsaber scored a burning line across his shoulder. The Count's blade was quick as a viper striking. Among the other Jedi, perhaps only Mace Windu would have been his equal on neutral ground: but here on Vjun, steeped in the dark side, his bladework was malice made visible-wickedness cut in red light.

"I've hurt you!" Dooku cried.

"Many times," Yoda said. He considered his pain: let it drop. Now he had nothing but Dooku to focus on, and his lightsaber gleamed with the same fierce green light that flickered from under his heavy-lidded eyes. "But killed me you did not, when you had the chance. A mistake, that was. More than eight hundred years has Yoda survived, through dangers you could not dream."

"I know how to kill," Dooku hissed.

Yoda's eyes opened wide, like balls of green fire.

"Yes-but Yoda knows how to live!"

Then their blades clashed together in a lace of fire, green and red: but the green burned hotter. Slowly, slowly, Dooku gave way: and in the dark, drunken Vjun air, Yoda was terrible to behold.

"Yes," Dooku whispered. "Feel me. Feel the treason. All those years of teaching me, raising me. Trusting me. And here am I, the favored son, butchering your precious Jedi, one by one. Hate me Yoda. You know you want to. "

Count Dooku lashed out with his lightsaber. Yoda took a quick step back and felt the heat of the red blade as it sliced the air centimeters from his tunic. He jumped, spun, and struck at Dooku's back before he landed. Dooku turned aside at the last moment, whipping his blade across the space where Yoda was seconds earlier. Facing each other again, their blades met, clashed, froze.

"Cunning, are you," Yoda said, breathing hard.

"I've had excellent teachers," Dooku said.

Yoda dropped and rolled to the side, his lightsaber blazing, reaching for Dooku's ankles. Dooku leapt up and flipped backwards landing lightly to face Yoda squarely. On his feet again, Yoda whirled and struck at Dooku, his green blade meeting Dooku's and pushing him back. Dooku attacked with reckless abandon fueled with hatred. Their blades hummed together, hissing and sparking. Dooku brought his blade down toward the diminutive Jedi Master and Yoda parried, locking his blade against Dooku's. Yoda breathed, calming himself.

"And yet, even here on Vjun, where the dark side whispers and whispers to me... love you enough to destroy you I do."

Pushing Dooku back yet again, blades flashed and flared stutters of light, blood red and sea green. Sweat ran in streams through Dooku's beard as he countered Yoda's every move, and his lips were white. Holobattles raged around them as the consoles showed Obi-Wan and Anakin clashing with wave after wave of battle droids. Dooku shot a quick glance at the red button on his desk and, with a Force push, he punched it in. Yoda cocked his head.

"A choice made, have you, Count?"

"I notice I am no longer your apprentice," Dooku said between breaths. "There was always a chance you could overpower me, of course."

Yoda attacked: Dooku parried.

"So I put a missile in high orbit, slaved to this location. It's falling now. Gathering speed."

Dooku stepped warily back to the open window casement.

"Can you feel it dropping? A thorn, a needle, an arrow. Faster all the time." He paused to get his breath. "Obi-Wan and your precious Skywalker and your little Padawans will be wiped out when the missile hits. So what you need to decide is, what means more to you, Master Yoda? Saving their lives-or taking mine?"

And with that he leapt backward, out the window. Yoda bounded after him. In the dark Vjun air it was all he could do not to leap after Dooku, to fall on him like a green thunderbolt and annihilate him utterly.... But already he could feel the missile, too, dropping in a red scream through the atmosphere, two hundred armored kilos of explosive aimed for Chateau Malreaux.

—Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

Yoda engages Darth Sidious, the most powerful Sith Lord in history, in single combat. Though the Sith Lord emerges victorious, Yoda proves a difficult opponent, matching him in lightsaber combat and with the Force. Yoda eventually flees the battle, defeated:

"Sidious battles with passion and fury, only to be matched every blow by Yoda's calm, measured skill."

—Star Wars: Beware of the Sith

"The full power of the light side and the dark side are on display during Yoda's clash with Emperor Palpatine."

—Ultimate Star Wars

Inside the spacious interior of the Galactic Senate chamber, Yoda challenged the Emperor. The two engaged in a spectacular duel—a contest between the most powerful practitioners of the Force’s light and dark sides. The Emperor proved too powerful to defeat. Although Yoda held his own for much of the duel, in the end the Sith bested him.

—Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

His true criminal colors revealed after Order 66 wipes out the Jedi Order on a galactic scale, Chancellor Palpatine accepts the title of Darth Sidious and all that goes with it. Reveling in his power, he is challenged by a feisty Yoda in the empty Coruscant Senate chamber. It’s a furious, unprecedented battle royale, with both adversaries hurling and dodging chamber pods. Ultimately, an overmatched Yoda flees to fight another day.

—Star Wars Trading Card Game

A spectacular battle ensues, with Yoda and Sidious laying waste to the deserted Senate, hurling wrenched seats at one another. Ultimately, a pursued Yoda manages to escape from Coruscant, then places himself in exile.

—Star Wars Trading Card Game

Jedi Master Yoda confronts his evil opposite as the now-Emperor Palpatine reaches full power as Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The forces of light and dark clash head-on as both figures battle furiously, first in Palpatine’s quarters, and finally in the deserted Galactic Senate itself. These titans continue clashing until Yoda is downed, but hardly defeated. He escapes his enemy’s clutches with the help of colleague Bail Organa, fleeing to fight another day.

—Star Wars Trading Card Game

As the hologram faded, Yoda stumped into the room. Before the guards could react, he used the Force to fling them against the walls. They collapsed in motionless heaps as Yoda said to the Sith Lord, “A new apprentice, you have, Chancellor. Or should I call you ‘Emperor’?”

“Master Yoda.” The Emperor inclined his head. “You survived.”

“Surprised?”

“Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda,” Darth Sidious hissed. “Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.” He raised his arms, and the Force pulsed as blue lightning blasted Yoda across the room.

Mas Amedda looked from the Chancellor to Yoda, his eyes narrowed maliciously. He turned and left the room. Another wave of dark power lifted Yoda and flung him hard against the wall. Yoda used the Force to cushion the impact, but he pretended to be knocked unconscious. A surprise, I will give him.

“I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend,” Darth Sidious sneered. He stepped forward, and Yoda pushed off, propelling himself straight at the Sith Lord. He knocked Darth Sidious over the desk and stared down at him.

“At an end your rule is,” Yoda told the Emperor. “And not short enough it was, I must say.” He ignited his lightsaber and brought it down, to be met by the Emperor’s blood-red Sith blade.

Strong, this Sith Lord is, Yoda thought as their lightsabers whirled and clashed and whirled again. It should not have been a surprise. With the strength of the dark side growing, the Sith must, logically, have grown stronger, too. But always before, his own years of study and practice and his own strength with the Force had been more than enough to prevail. This time, he wasn’t sure.

But Palpatine didn’t seem entirely sure, either. Suddenly, he launched himself into the air, heading for the door. Yoda did a back flip, bounced off the wall, and reached the entrance before him. “If so powerful you are, why leave?”

“You will not stop me,” the new Emperor croaked. “Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us.”

“Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be,” Yoda replied. As is your faith in the dark side of the Force. Even if Palpatine killed him here, today, the dark side would not truly win. For the dark side was anger, hatred, despair — all the forces of ruin and decay. Powerful, they were, to tear down and destroy, but they could not build anything lasting. Palpatine’s ten-thousand-year Galactic Empire would be lucky to outlast his lifetime.

That thought gave Yoda new energy, and he pressed his attack. He drove Palpatine back across the room, into the Chancellor’s podium. Palpatine hit the controls, and the podium began to rise, carrying him up into the Senate. But the podium moved slowly; Yoda had plenty of time to flip himself into the air and land beside the Emperor, to continue the fight.

As the podium rose into the Senate arena, the fight intensified. Twice, Yoda came near to pushing Palpatine over the edge. They were high enough now that a fall could be fatal, even to a Sith Lord. Or a Jedi Master. The cramped space within the pod left little room for maneuvering.

An end, I must make. Yoda redoubled the speed of his blows. Palpatine parried one, then another — and then the red lightsaber spun out of his hands and over the edge. Yoda raised his weapon for the final blow.

Force lightning spat from the Emperor’s gray fingers, surrounding Yoda in a blue nimbus. But Yoda had faced Force lightning before. To deflect the first bolts, he had to stop his intended strike at the Emperor. Once his initial surprise was over, he reached out to the living Force. The lightning bent, arcing back toward the Emperor.

“Destroy you, I will,” Yoda said grimly. “Just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.”

The Sith Lord only redoubled his attack. Hurling Force lightning, the Emperor backed away, to the very edge of the platform. Following him was like walking against hurricane winds. Never had Yoda faced one so strong in the dark side. Before he came within reach, a particularly strong blast knocked Yoda out of the pod.

As he plunged over the edge, Yoda realized that Palpatine was right about one thing. He, Yoda, had indeed been arrogant. It is a flaw more and more common among Jedi, he had told Obi-Wan once. Too sure of themselves, they are. And he had fallen into the same trap himself.

He landed much sooner than he had expected, in an empty Senate pod floating below the Chancellor’s. As he climbed to his feet, the pod jerked, throwing him sideways and knocking him down once more. Palpatine was using the dark side to rip more pods free, crashing them into Yoda’s pod to keep him off-balance.

This game, two can play. Yoda reached out with the Force and caught one of the hurtling pods. He threw it back at Palpatine, who barely dodged in time. Then Yoda leaped, using the flying pods to get back up to the Chancellor’s level.

As he reached Palpatine’s pod, the Sith Lord hit him with another blast of blue lightning that knocked Yoda’s lightsaber out of his hand. Palpatine’s lips curled in anticipated triumph, and the dark side pulsed as he drew even more Force lightning to his bidding.

Yoda caught it. The blue energy built into a glowing ball in his hand, ready to throw back at the Sith Lord the moment his attack stopped. But Palpatine didn’t stop; the Force lightning came in a steady crackle, building more and more, until neither of them could hold it any longer, and the blast knocked them both out of the pod.

Palpatine was larger and heavier; he managed to catch hold of the edge of the pod as he fell. But Yoda was small and light. The explosion threw him high into the air, with nothing to grab to break his fall. Half-stunned, he began the long fall to the Senate floor.

—Revenge of the Sith junior novel

"So easily slain, Obi-Wan is not."

"Neither are you, apparently; but that is about to change." The shadow took another step, and another.

A lightsaber appeared, green as sunlight in a forest. "The test of that, today will be."

"Even a fraction of the dark side is more power than your Jedi arrogance can conceive; living in the light, you have never seen the depth of the darkness."

The shadow spread arms that made its sleeves into black wings.

"Until now."

Lightning speared from outstretched hands, and the battle was on.

In the Senate Arena, lightning forked from the hands of a Sith, and bent away from the gesture of a Jedi to shock Redrobes into unconsciousness.

Then there were only the two of them.

Their clash transcended the personal; when new lightning blazed, it was not Palpatine burning Yoda with his hate, it was the Lord of all Sith scorching the Master of all Jedi into a smoldering huddle of clothing and green flesh.

A thousand years of hidden Sith exulted in their victory.

"Your time is over! The Sith rule the galaxy! Now and forever!"

And it was the whole of the Jedi Order that rocketed from its huddle, making of its own body a weapon to blast the Sith to the ground.

"At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was, I must say."

There appeared a blade the color of life.

From the shadow of a black wing, a small weapon-a holdout, an easily concealed backup, a tiny bit of treachery expressing the core of Sith mastery-slid into a withered hand and spat a flame-colored blade of its own.

When those blades met, it was more than Yoda against Palpatine, more the millennia of Sith against the legions of Jedi; this was the expression of the fundamental conflict of the universe itself.

Light against dark.

Winner take all.

There came a turning point in the clash of the light against the dark.

It did not come from a flash of lightning or slash of energy blade, though there were these in plenty; it did not come from a flying kick or a surgically precise punch, though these were traded, too.

It came as the battle shifted from the holding office to the great Chancellor's Podium; it came as the hydraulic lift beneath the Podium raised it on its tower of durasteel a hundred meters and more, so that it became a laserpoint of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the Senate Arena; it came as the Force and the podium's controls ripped delegation pods free of the curving walls and made of them hammers, battering rams, catapult stones crashing and crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar that echoed the Senate's cheers for the galaxy's new Emperor.

It came when the avatar of light resolved into the lineage of the Jedi; when the lineage of the Jedi refined into one single Jedi.

It came when Yoda found himself alone against the dark.

In that lightning-speared tornado of feet and fists and blades and bashing machines, his vision finally pierced the darkness that had clouded the Force.

Finally, he saw the truth.

This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known... just-didn't-have it.

He'd never had it. He had lost before he started.

He had lost before he was born.

The Sith had changed. The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day. The Sith had remade themselves.

They had become new.

While the Jedi-The Jedi had spent that same millennium training to refight the last war.

The new Sith could not be destroyed with a lightsaber; they could not be burned away by any torch of the Force. The brighter his light, the darker their shadow. How could one win a war against the dark, when war itself had become the dark's own weapon?

He knew, at that instant, that this insight held the hope of the galaxy. But if he fell here, that hope would die with him. Hmmm, Yoda thought. A problem this is . . .

The end came with astonishing suddenness.

The shadow could feel how much it cost the little green freak to bend back his lightnings into the cage of energy that enclosed them both; the creature had reached the limits of his strength. The shadow released its power for an instant, long enough only to whirl away through the air and alight upon one of the delegation pods as it flew past, and the creature leapt to follow-Half a second too slow.

The shadow unleashed its lightning while the creature was still in the air, and the little green freak took its full power. The shock blasted him backward to crash against the podium, and he fell.

He fell a long way.

—Revenge of the Sith novel

YODA enters, using the Force to throw two RED GUARDS against the wall, knocking them unconscious. DARTH SIDIOUS turns his chair toward YODA. MAS AMEDDA stands behind SIDIOUS's desk.

YODA: I hear a new apprentice, you have. Emperor, or should I call you Darth Sidious.

DARTH SlDIOUS: Master Yoda, you survived.

YODA: Surprised?

DARTH SlDIOUS: Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda. Now you will experience the full power of the dark side.

The Dark Lord raises his arms, and LIGHTNING BOLTS shoot out, surrounding YODA.

YODA is picked up and thrown across the room, hitting the wall and sliding down in a crumpled heap. DARTH SIDIOUS chuckles.

MAS AMEDDA leaves the room. PALPATINE approaches a stunned YODA.

DARTH SlDIOUS: I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. At last, the Jedi are no more.

YODA: Not if anything I have to say about it, Lord Sidious.

YODA uses the Force to throw DARTH SIDIOUS back, knocking him clear over his desk and onto the floor in a heap.

YODA: (continuing) At an end your rule is and not short enough it was, I must say.

DARTH SIDIOUS flies through the air, cape flapping, heading toward the exit. At the last second, YODA flies into the exit and stops the Dark Lord.

YODA: (continuing) If so powerful you are, why leave??

YODA ignites his lightsaber.

DARTH SlDIOUS: You will not stop me. Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us.

DARTH SIDIOUS ignites his lightsaber.

YODA: Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be, as is your faith in the dark side of the Force.

Their swords CLASH. The battle is extremely fast and furious.

PALPATINE seeks refuge in the vast Senate Chamber. He gets into the Chancellor's Podium and it starts to rise up into the Arena. YODA makes a giant leap into the control pod. The sword fighting is intense in the confined space.

YODA unleashes a ferocious assault on PALPATINE, causing him to almost go over the edge. The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA. YODA is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts.

The energy bolts begin to arc back on the Emperor. It looks as if the Dark Lord is doomed.

YODA: Destroy you I will, just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.

YODA jumps to a lower Senate Pod. PALPATINE reaches out with one hand, and a Senate pod is released from its mooring and heads toward the Podium. PALPATINE uses the Force to hurl pod after pod at YODA, who ducks and jumps from one flying pod to another.

YODA leaps away from the pods. He uses the Force to hold one pod suspended in the air. The pod spins and YODA throws it back at PALPATINE, who leaps away at the last moment.

YODA leaps after him, but PALPATINE quickly turns and aims the full force of his energy bolts at the tiny green Jedi, catching him in mid-air and throwing him back hard against the Podium. The force causes YODA to drop his lightsaber. YODA blocks the lightning and throws PALPATINE backwards off the podium. YODA is knocked off the Podium and falls several hundred feet to the base of the Podium. PALPATINE follows in his pod, searching for YODA.

—Revenge of the Sith script

Make sure you check out Part 1 of my Master Yoda thread too!

http://www.comicvine.com/profile/aurbere/blog/master-yoda-respect-thread-part-1/109043/