New comic shows how Yoda stumbled upon a tragic discovery from Tales of the Jedi

Last year, Tales of the Jedi showed us the tragic story of Dooku, once a respected Jedi Master who turned to the dark side after seeing the Republic’s failures and the seduction of Darth Sidious.

The moment that finally cemented Dooku’s darkness came when he confronted Master Yaddle, who tracked him to a meeting with Sidious. Dooku fought Yaddle, and after a lengthy fight he killed her. But the Jedi Order remained in the dark about Dooku’s darkness until a decade later, when he emerged in Attack of the Clones as a Separatist leader and Sith Lord. Similarly, the Jedi Order remained in the dark about what happened to Yaddle.

She had recently chosen to step down from the Jedi High Council in the wake of the Battle of Naboo, but the Jedi never knew what really happened to her – until Yoda learned about it on Dagobah decades later.

In the final issue of the recent Yoda comic mini-series (written by Cavan Scott), Yoda has to enter into the dark side cave on Dagobah to confront his fears, namely how he failed past apprentices. The first one to appear to him is Dooku, who chastises Yoda for not being able to sense Dooku’s turn until it was too late. Yoda then sees a vision of Yaddle’s dead body, and he comes to a horrified conclusion: “It was you?” he asks Dooku. “You killed her?” To this, he simply responds, “the first of many.” When Yoda asks him why, he responds it was because Yoda let him.

This moment, taking place right before The Empire Strikes Back, resolves a key question that had been left lingering, one the Jedi hadn’t gotten any answers to. Yaddle was killed by Dooku, a decade prior to the Battle of Geonosis, and it was only during his time in exile that Yoda finally learned that truth. It’s cool – and haunting – how it connects to Tales of the Jedi in this way.

But this discovery is not the end of the story from Yoda, and despite facing similar accusations from other apprentices he’d ‘failed’, Yoda remembers that “the greatest teacher, failure is” and emerges from the cave stronger than he was before. He tells Ben Kenobi to head to Hoth to help Luke Skywalker, and in doing so direct Luke to him. Yes, Yoda had failed Jedi before, but that wouldn’t keep him from training Luke. “Will you be ready when he comes?” Ben asks Yoda. “Ready to teach?” he responds. “Yes, I will. Ready to teach – and ready to learn.”