Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi Gives Yaddle A Pivotal But Tragic Role In The Prequel Trilogy

There will be spoilers for "Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi"

Jedi Master Yaddle might be one of the most misunderstood and undernourished characters in the "Star Wars" narrative. Our first glimpse of Yaddle came in 1999's "The Phantom Menace." Yaddle served on the Jedi Council and oversaw Anakin's induction into the Jedi Order alongside the other masters there. She represented the only other member of the species Master Yoda belongs to — that is until the introduction of Grogu in "The Mandalorian" — making her doubly mysterious. By the time of "Attack of the Clones," Yaddle had disappeared from the council and had never really been heard from again. We'd seen her in flashbacks or in visions, but never again in physical form. That changes with "Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi."

In the fourth episode of "Tales of the Jedi," entitled "The Sith Lord," Yaddle has quite an impact on "Star Wars" canon. Count Dooku, who has long since left the Jedi Order, laments the loss of his old padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn. He finds himself talking to Master Yaddle (voiced to perfection by Bryce Dallas Howard) in the halls of the Jedi temple on Coruscant. Something about Dooku's manner is suspicious to her, though, and she follows him to the industrial quarter of Coruscant where Dooku holds his clandestine meetings with Darth Sidious, secretly Chancellor Palpatine, in a location we see years later in "Attack of the Clones."

As Dooku struggles with his position in the galaxy and with the choices he's made to be in league with the Sith, he's given a choice to join the Sith, but to do so, he has to confront Yaddle and prevent her from revealing their dark secrets. This is difficult for Dooku and made even more difficult because Yaddle offers him amnesty for his crimes and is willing to bring him back into the fold of the Jedi order.

Ultimately, he rejects her pleas, the two of them have a lightsaber duel, and Dooku is forced to brutally murder the Jedi Master, becoming the apprentice of Darth Sidious once and for all.

Yaddle has been, for many fans, the butt of a joke. The puppet in "The Phantom Menace" wasn't terribly compelling and when the character disappeared, few thought that much of it. With this story, Dave Filoni has given her a vital place in the "Star Wars" canon, helping explain Dooku's terrible choices and his turn into the darkness of the Sith. She offered him a choice and dangled forgiveness in front of him and Dooku ultimately rejected it.

It's a heartbreaking and brutal moment when Dooku crushes Yaddle, only to be forced to and execute her with his blue lightsaber, solidifying his place as a Dark Lord of the Sith. Yaddle fills the same place in Dooku's turn as Mace Windu fills for Anakin Skywalkers, and the symmetry between Dooku's turn and Anakin's through the entire episode is haunting. It offers Yaddle an important fate worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order.

All six episodes of "Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi" are now streaming on Disney+.