Which Jedi Master Trained Yoda? Everything We Know From Star Wars Lore

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First introduced in 1980's "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back," Master Yoda was something of a surprise for audiences. In the film, Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force ghost directs Luke Skywalker to seek out the Jedi Master who trained him on the swamp planet of Dagobah. Luke obliges, shirking his responsibilities to the Rebellion and instead of a "great warrior" finds a small, green frog creature who talks in a backward cadence and seems completely helpless. Luke gets angry when this little muppet then tries to steal his dinner and is shocked to learn this diminutive little individual is actually the Jedi Master he was seeking. Looks are deceiving and, as Yoda reminds Luke, "Wars not make one great."

When Luke begs to be trained, Yoda chides him, exclaiming that he's been training Jedi for 800 years and he will keep his own counsel on who is to be trained. But who trained Master Yoda all those centuries ago? Where did he learn to wield the Force?

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Unfortunately, when it comes to cold hard facts about Yoda's past, there are precious few, if any. We know approximately when he was born, and that's about it. What planet is he from? A mystery. What's the name of his species? "Star Wars" creator George Lucas was famously tight-lipped about it. Who was his master? We have hints, but we also know that "the Jedi master who instructed me," as Obi-Wan tells Luke in "The Empire Strikes Back," can mean a lot of things. Until the release of "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" in 1999, many thought that meant Obi-Wan Kenobi was solely instructed by Yoda, so it came as a shock to find that Qui-Gon Jinn was his master. And it wasn't until "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones" that we found out Yoda and other Jedi Masters can be responsible for other parts of a youngling's education, like the children shown receiving lightsaber instruction from Yoda in that movie. The spare bits we've heard about Yoda's master in the lore, like everything else in "Star Wars," might depend greatly on our own point of view.

All of this is to say that what we know for sure is ... almost nothing.

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We've been getting hints about Yoda and his personal history dating all the way back to his first appearance. In a 2022 interview with Nerdist, current Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni explained why Yaddle — another Jedi and a member of the same species as Yoda — doesn't talk the same way as Yoda:

"Does she speak backwards? I'm like, 'No, I don't think so. I think that's a Yoda thing.' [Yoda live-action puppeteer and voice actor] 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. I try to keep moving forward these thoughts. And [Yaddle voice actor] Bryce [Dallas Howard] on her own made a great Yaddle."

That doesn't tell us much about who Yoda's master is, though, other than the man who breathed life into the character originally felt that Yoda patterned his way of speaking after them.

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More recently, Steven Barnes' novel "Star Wars: Mace Windu — The Glass Abyss" has made mention of one of Yoda's "early instructors" and chalked it up to a rumor. This instructor was N'Kata Del Gormo, a Hysalrian who trained as a Jedi well before Yoda would have. 

At one point in the book, Mace Windu arrives at Yoda's quarters and notices a sand sculpture of the Hysalia system, connecting it to the rumors about N'Kata Del Goromo being the Jedi Master who instructed Yoda long ago. The latter, however, dismisses the sculpture as being nothing significant and quickly melts it down, so read as much (or as little) into that as you will.

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N'Kata Del Gormo has been around for a while, a fan-created character that dates back to the mid-1990s. Star Wars Galaxy Magazine once had a "Design an Alien" contest for fans in its third issue, and one of the runner-ups was N'kata, as designed by a guy named Chuck Hamilton. As part of the story for the character, he was living on a swamp world and Yoda and a human companion came across him. He informed them of their Force sensitivity and offered to take them on as his apprentices. They agreed and the rest was history. This was made into an in-universe legend in the Expanded Universe and was never treated as the gospel truth, likely because everyone knew that Lucas could suddenly change Yoda's backstory (or lack thereof) at a moment's notice. Since Lucasfilm elected to make all of the old EU part of the non-canonical Star Wars Legends from April 2014 forward, it makes sense to treat this as an in-universe rumor again. After all, it offers us only hints until the company decides it has an actual story it wants to tell about Yoda's background. Until then, that's really all you need.

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Yoda was always a student of those around him. In "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi," his Force ghost talked about failure being the greatest teacher — and one of Yoda's greatest failures in life was the destruction of the Jedi at the hands of Darth Sidious. During Yoda's exile on Dagobah, Qui-Gon Jinn's own Force ghost became his master and trained Yoda how to walk the path to immortality. Yoda never stopped learning and never stopped trying to learn, always looking for more knowledge where he could. After 800 years of being a teacher, it would be fair to say that every Padawan he trained became a teacher of his at some point (passing a lesson or even a basic idea onto him).

Luke Skywalker, for example, also helped Yoda learn new lessons. Yoda was convinced that Luke would have to murder Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Sidious/Emperor Palpatine, but it was Luke who proved to him that love could bring his father back to the light side. In doing so, Luke showed Yoda another path, even from beyond the grave.

So, who trained Yoda in the ways of the Force? Once again, I suppose that depends on your own point of view.