Why Yoda Couldn’t Defeat Darth Sidious in Episode 3! (Legends)

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The Non-Canon Expert looks at why Yoda couldn't defeat Darth Sidious in Episode 3.

This is a Legends story for Yoda and Darth Sidious with information found within the Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith novelization, the Book of Sith reference book, "Star Wars: Darth Plagueis," "Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil," and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Wild Space." I hope that you enjoy it!

[marktesla]

"So I threw the senate at him. The WHOLE Senate!"

[Flight_of_Icarus]

The point here is that even if Yoda killed Sidious, he still would have lost. The galaxy had truly been sold against the Jedi at that point, and even with Sidious gone, they would have hunted him down and eventually killed him. The Sith shaped the entire situation of the galaxy against the Jedi order, and to Yoda, the answer to that was to retreat and bide his time.

By the time the Rebel Alliance came along, and the people cried out for freedom, the situation was shifting, and it was time to prepare Luke.

[phantomsidious]

The Sith had evolved in the thousands years they were hiding in the shadows whereas the Jedi had grown stale, too set in their ways and overconfident in the fact their greatest enemies were defeated. The sith not only used this time to perfect sith power and skills but skills and tactics of the Jedi also ( know thy enemy ) giving the sith a superior advantage when they return. Indeed in that thousand years the sith evolved so much that a apprentice could be more than a match for most Jedi masters and the sith could walk amongst the Jedi without their enemies sensing their presence.

[kamenriderkfp]

Cause if Yoda had won we wouldn't have had an Original Trilogy. Plot demanded it

[scaldon]

Yoda did defeat him in lightsaber part of fight . In novel yoda disarms sidious . Sidious realizing yoda was the better duelist fell back on his force powers to create distance . Yoda fell a far distance and lost his lightsaber in fight . Plus he sensed clonex coming and had to leave.

[FabledHeroes]

To be fair Sidious didn’t beat Yoda either it was a draw and he was clearly afraid of Yoda’s power and clearly underestimated how strong he actually was

[RyanTheDark]

Kick his ass, Yoda would. Lucky, Sidious was.

[stephenanderson]

Dude repeated the same thing over and over again. Just say it straight. No need to say the same thing as filler info.

[Jynx_Splatoon]

Look how much high ground in the senate chamber there was.

Sidious exploited that, Yoda never stood a chance.

[Yabuturtle]

Windu bested Palpatine, mostly because of Vaapad and that makes him extremely overpowered when fighting dark siders. Yoda and Palpatine were roughly equal so it could have gone either way. Sometimes styles and techniques can determine victories rather than just raw power. It's implied that Yoda is more powerful when Obi Wan said "Even Yoda doesn't have a midichlorian count that high.", but Windu is the better duelist against dark side adepts because of his style. Dooku beat Obi Wan and lost to Anakin but Obi Wan beat Anakin. Mostly because he trained him and his soresu form counters Anakin's very well and he had a little luck on his side. Soresu tends to work better against Djem So than Makashi.

[vandergraff]

When they couldn't find Yodas body Sidious told his troopers to "level the building if you have to". That's gangsta

[canalcortes]

Already said that Yoda if turned in the dark side would have been the most powerful being in the galaxy. He in the light side was like a becon in the galaxy. I'm sure that we could be less powerful than sidious in his prime but his knowledge about the force was so deep that even sidiuos start to fear in the revenge of the sith... How you beat a guy that absorves your most powerful skill and is better in the lightsaber than you

[TSPH]

The novelization showed that the Sith adapted since Darth Bane implemented the rule of two and played the long game while the Jedi slacked off. That's what I love about the novelization, because it gives a deeper analysis that couldn't be achieved in the movies

[RicardoMGarcia]

All yoda needed was another lightsaber to reflect the lightning

[geraldburke]

I remember the duel and they seemed evenly matched. At the end both were blown backward by their intense duel. It was Yoda who retreated from battle saying he had failed. But I say he failed because he quit. He didnt finish, Obiwon didnt finish, and 25 years later they left it to Luke to clean up their mess. Training Luke to kill Vader and the Emperor alone.
Given 20 years to learn from their mistakes and Yoda and Kenobi decide to turn Luke into a weapon, hide Vaders identity from Luke, and expect Luke to succeed were they had failed.
Luke chose his own path when he broke from Yoda and Obiwans plan, and facing Vader before he is ready. Luke survived the encounter and grew stronger learning from his failure. Something Obiwan and Yoda had not.
Luke followed his heart, something Qui Gon Jin would have approved of, broke from the Jedi dogma and listen to the will of the Force. I respect the Jedi ideals what the Jedi upheld and what they tried to do but they lost their way.
The Force created the chosen one to bring balance to both sides of the Force.
Anakin destroyed both the Jedi out hatred and the Sith out of love. Anakin leveled the field and fulfilled his destiny.
Yoda could not see, Obi Won could not see, Anakin was not dead, Vader is just another name, and whatever he called himself, Anakin loved his son with all the longing and shame he carried for his dead wife. Love saved Anakin from dying as Darth Vader. Love is always the answer.
Sorry Yoda..

[samlump]

Funny how yoda is around 900 and sidious is around 80 and did all those flips while obi wan was around 65 and Vader around 50 but all they did was a couple taps

[throughdude]

I feel yoda came to realize that he had lost faith in the lightside of the force because he and the other jedi did not really give Anakin a chance. Had they not been blinded by politics they would have trusted the force when it was foreseen that Anakin was the chosen one. So giving up on trust and faith in the force they had lost their true purpose and no longer had the connection with the force they once had.

[ethancha]

It makes perfect sense though. The Sith only changed masters when the apprentice became powerful enough to kill their master. Meaning that each and every new master there was, they were continually getting stronger and stronger. While on the other hand, the Jedi enjoyed a more peaceful life, acting as peacekeepers.

[Alloyd]

The truth is the Jedi found out about a secret army and commandeer it. You don't just commandeer a secret army 😂

[joshlight]

I've always felt Stover's novel overcomplicated the Sidious-Yoda duel into a symbolic almost fatalistic affair like something you might read in Greek mythology, a duel one was doomed to lose no matter what sort of like Achilles-Hector in the Iliad. If that was the case, the movie conveyed it poorly. The movie suggested to me it was a duel between two fairly evenly matched combatants either one who could have prevailed if one of them was a split second to slow with their blade. I would have guessed the duel could have gone either way from watching it. Just my humble opinion.