In “The Trial of Dagobah,” Yoda goes on a hunting trip on Dagobah after running low on food in his hovel. Upon his arrival at the valley where he hunts, the narrator mentions that Yoda won’t use his lightsaber for such a simple task and doesn’t even have it on him. “In any case,” we’re then told, “he resolved long ago he would never wield another lightsaber. As part of his penance. For the hubris that led to the fall of his order. For the blindness that led to his exile. For the shame of knowing that the consequences of that failure even now continue to plague the galaxy. No, he will not swing a Jedi’s lambent blade again.”
It’s a pretty brutal moment. Clearly, Yoda is still living with immense guilt, even nearly two decades after the rise of the Empire (the comic takes place on the same day Luke Skywalker lands on Dagobah). On his way home, he falls into a pit and is pinned down by rubble. “Oh, Yoda. Foolish you are,” he thinks to himself. “If had a lightsaber you did, cut yourself out of this predicament you could.” In this moment, though, he doesn’t give into despair, ultimately realizing that his shame and grief have held him back from the Force. “A true Jedi is never in need of a lightsaber,” the narrator says as Yoda calls on the power around him to escape. “Not when the Force is his ally.”
