Star Wars Fan Theory Explains Why Yoda Speaks Differently

There's a good chance that you couldn't quote your high school English teacher to save your life, but there's a Yoda (Frank Oz) quote that lives rent-free in your head. A big reason for this is the whacked-out way in which the diminutive Jedi master delivers his dialogue. Yoda's backward manner of speech remains a distinct characteristic of the beloved "Star Wars" hero that has nevertheless been shrouded in mystery. But some fans believe they've cracked the code as to the origins of Yoda's unique speech pattern. 

On Reddit, one user shared their theory, saying, "Yoda speaks the way he does because he so old that the rules of grammar are different from when he was younger. Correct way to speak in his day, this was." Some argued against it, such as u/PocketBuckle, who believed that Yoda only spoke this way to Luke in "The Empire Strikes Back" to fool the young Jedi into believing he wasn't as powerful as he actually was, but it ended up sticking to future depictions of the character. "I honestly think [George] Lucas forgot how he originally intended the character, so he wrote each later iteration as a more and more Flanderized version of itself," they commented. 

Some may also argue that Yaddle, a female of Yoda's species introduced in "The Phantom Menace," doesn't talk like him, as can be seen in "Tales of the Jedi," where she speaks with a normal speech pattern. However, given that Yaddle is much younger than Yoda, it makes sense that her style of speaking has evolved from Yoda's time, much in the same way that the English language itself has taken shape over the years. 

Abundant theories exist regarding Yoda's mysterious manner of speaking. Given the character's iconography, the creators of the small but mighty Jedi master are no strangers to getting asked this question and have their own reasons for the unique creative decision.

According to an interview with George Lucas in the Paul Duncan book "Star Wars Archives. 1977-1983," the filmmaker created the quirky speech pattern as a way of keeping Yoda's bizarre alien origins intact while having the audience in mind. "I didn't want to go through a whole movie where everybody's reading subtitles, he had a lot of dialogue," Lucas explained. "So I had to come up with a language that was alien but still understandable, so I reversed everything around. The language was designed to make you focus on the boring philosophical lessons." It's safe to say that this tactic worked, as Yoda's many moments of enlightenment remain ingrained into the minds of viewers who grew up watching the original "Star Wars" trilogy. 

This key characteristic was brought into discussion when Dave Filoni and company were preparing to give Yaddle her speaking debut in "Tales of the Jedi," where she is voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard. However, in an interview with Nerdist, Filoni recalled a conversation he had with Yoda's original voice actor and puppeteer, Frank Oz, whose reasoning behind Yoda's speech isn't far off from the aforementioned fan theory. "Frank Oz told me once that Yoda speaks that way specifically in honor of his own master," Filoni shared. "That was what he had thought about it. I try to keep moving forward [with] these thoughts." Yoda may be a Jedi, but few can argue that Oz is the master when it comes to official word on the character's backstory.