Do we like Yoda?
A character from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Our score: 8 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He is kind, wise and brave, and his blind spots as a leader make him feel more real. We'd still hand the strategy to someone else.
Yoda is a Jedi Master who stands about 66 cm tall and is around 900 years old. Across the Star Wars saga he is the most respected teacher in the Jedi Order, a Force user of huge power who mixes humour, patience and odd, backwards-sounding wisdom. He leads the Jedi High Council in the prequel films and mentors young Jedi in the original trilogy.
Why 8/10? His heart is always in the right place. He is gentle with children, humble despite his power, and he thinks about the Force more than about winning. He is also a flawed leader. Looper's retelling of his story notes that he led the Jedi Order through its darkest times, and that the rigid thinking of the Order under him left it open to being fooled. He can be a bit too sure of his own wisdom, and he is slow to question what he's been told. That is why he scores an 8 and not a 10.
In The Empire Strikes Back he first appears as a odd swamp-dwelling hermit on the planet Dagobah, where he is living in exile. He tests Luke Skywalker's patience and then reveals who he really is, and he trains Luke as a Jedi. His lessons about fear, anger and trusting the Force are some of the best-loved moments in the saga. He is a mentor we would follow, even if his earlier judgment as Grand Master shows he can be wrong.