Star Wars: The Real Reason Yaddle Doesn't Talk Like Yoda

Many mysteries surround the alien race Yoda (Frank Oz) comes from, such as a specific name or homeworld. But one mystery that's been resolved is that not everyone speaks the way Yoda does. 

While Grogu has yet to say complete sentences on "The Mandalorian," audiences got confirmation that backward-talk is exclusive to Yoda on "Tales of the Jedi" Season 1, Episode 4 — "The Sith Lord." The episode fleshes out the character of Yaddle (Bryce Dallas Howard), who was seen in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" but didn't speak. In the Disney+ episode, she talks with standard syntax, which is very much intentional, according to creator Dave Filoni.

Filoni told Nerdist, "Does she speak backwards? I'm like, 'No, I don't think so. I think that's a Yoda thing.'" And that belief came directly from Yoda himself, "Frank Oz told me once that Yoda speaks that way specifically in honor of his own master. That was what he had thought about it." As such, the manner of speaking is not something unique to Yoda's species, like a language. It means something specific to him, and since Yaddle doesn't have his experiences, she would speak more linearly. Undoubtedly, it also made reciting Yaddle's lines easier for Bryce Dallas Howard.

Hearing Yaddle speak in "Tales of the Jedi" may have come as a particular surprise to anyone familiar with her character in Star Wars Legends lore. After acquiring Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney changed the Star Wars universe forever by declaring anything outside the original trilogy, prequel trilogy, and the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" TV series non-canon. These materials were designated Star Wars Legends; one such story within this discarded continuity is the comic book "Yaddle's Tale: The One Below," from writer Dean Motter and penciler Jesús Saiz.

The comic came out in 2000, after "The Phantom Menace," and fills in some gaps of the Jedi Yaddle. Surprisingly, she speaks like Yoda, as one panel features this dialogue from her, "Warned you I did. Told your father, 'Your hold over these people will end by your own hand. Die in fear you will!'" That's Yoda-speak if we've ever seen it, and it implies the intention was for Yoda's species to all talk like that. 

Of course, Disney's Star Wars creatives have pulled from and ignored Legends to whatever's most appropriate to the situation. Grand Admiral Thrawn emerged from the Expanded Universe but was then brought into canon. One thing tossed to the wayside is Yaddle talking like Yoda, and Dave Filoni has solid reasoning. It makes Yoda stand out more and offers hints about who his master might be. Legends establishes Yoda being trained by N'Kata Del Gormo, but who knows who his master might be if it's ever brought up again.