This article contains spoilers for Star Wars #20.

A new Star Wars comic has finally confirmed Yoda was holding the Jedi Order back. One of the most powerful Force-sensitives of all time, by the prequel era Master Yoda had become a legend. Yoda had been appointed Grand Master, responsible for providing leadership to the Order as a whole and training Younglings. The latter position was actually important because it meant generations of Jedi were taught by Yoda, absorbing his distinctive view on the Force. It's long seemed as though the prequel era Jedi were Yoda's Jedi Order.

The Disney era canon has long seemed to be suggesting the rise of the Sith was Yoda's fault. He believed the Sith extinct, in spite of prophecies that unambiguously foretold their return; "The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps," one recounted in Claudia Gray's Master & Apprentice warned. But Yoda discouraged studying these prophecies, believing it unwise to try to unravel the mysteries of the future, and as such they faded into obscurity - known only to mavericks like Qui-Gon Jinn. Yoda's perspective on attachments - subtly different to the one taken by the Jedi of the High Republic Era - meant he had no words of comfort and guidance for Anakin Skywalker, and couldn't even understand what was happening. It was only after Order 66 and his defeat at the Emperor's hands that Master Yoda had the humility to learn from Qui-Gon Jinn.

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Star Wars #20, by Charles Soule and Marco Castiello, finally confirms Yoda held the Jedi back. It sees Luke Skywalker visit the Living Sea of Gazian, a world rich in the Force where he was able to interact with a mystical echo of a Jedi from the past - from the High Republic Era, some 200 years before Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. He spoke with an echo of Elzar Mann, a philosophical Jedi who recounted the history of the Order. Elzar understood that the Jedi became whatever the Force willed in a given time, and that this malleability was to be embraced and not resisted. "The Order tends to be what it needs to be for any particular time," Elzar explained. "Sometimes, we're warriors, fighting the forces of evil. Sometimes, we are teachers, bringing the light of knowledge to the galaxy. Sometimes, we govern. Sometimes, we do the opposite -- drawing inward, studying the Force and its mysteries. Sometimes, we explore. Sometimes, we do all of those things. And sometimes... we are carved down to almost nothing. Those who are left must bear the responsibility of being one last bit of light in a galaxy filled with endless dark."

Star Wars History of Jedi

Mann's understanding of the Jedi is beautiful, suggesting they should be at one with the will of the Force - becoming its agents no matter what the Force's purpose may be. Curiously, though, it seems at odds with Master Yoda's perspective on the Jedi, because - in spite of his humbling at the Emperor's hands - he still expected Luke to be a Jedi according to his own pattern. What's more, when he commanded Luke to pass on what he had learned, Yoda was attempting to reestablish his own legacy - the Jedi as he understood them to be. Little wonder Luke failed.

This is the problem when one voice becomes dominant in any group; they are bound to their own views and opinions. Worse still, Yoda's age and his love of teaching meant generations of Jedi would grow up never questioning his perspective. Thus the Jedi became fixed, unable to adapt, unable to evolve, flawed on a fundamental level. Its notable that, by the end of the Star Wars saga, events have conspired to remove any trace of Yoda's teaching - for Rey is learning from sacred Jedi texts that predate even him.

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