We’ve always known that Grand Master Yoda is a force to be reckoned with in the Star Wars world, but a non-canon book reveals him to be much more powerful than we had imagined.
Before Disney acquired the rights to the galaxy far, far away, the Expanded Universe contained a lot of stories set after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Tales that continued the adventures of Luke, Leia and Han in a different manner to what we saw in the Sequel Trilogy. Now, all of those novels and comics are a part of the Legends continuity, considered non-canon by the House of Mouse. But even then, one series of graphic novels was already non-canon, an alternate-timeline story called Star Wars Infinities.
Every installment contained a point of divergence in each of the Original Trilogy movies, something that changed the course of the narrative. In the first one, A New Hope, the Rebels fail to destroy the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin. Luke still manages to use the Force to launch the torpedo, but a malfunction in the missile itself stops it from exploding. The Empire destroys much of the Rebel Alliance and even captures Leia, but Luke and Han escape the scene.
They then travel to Dagobah as per the instructions of Obi-Wan, so that the former can finish his Jedi training under Yoda. Han ventures off into the galaxy for more adventures while Luke stays to prepare himself for the battle to come. The two ultimately decide to go to Coruscant to try and destroy the Empire one last time. Only this time around, Yoda chooses to accompany them.
They make their way to the Death Star and Yoda uses Jedi mind tricks to dissuade the stormtroopers while Luke and Han go to the planet and the Emperor’s headquarters to find and rescue Leia. They fight with the Royal Guards, all equipped with double-bladed lightsabers and in the end, Palpatine uses Force Lightning to attack Luke and Leia, where Vader intervenes and gives the trio a chance to escape. This is when Yoda appears on a screen behind the Emperor. Sidious prods him to come down and fight, to which he replies: “I’m coming down soon.”
The former Grand Master of the Jedi Order then takes control of Grand Moff Tarkin, compelling him to crash the Death Star into the Emperor’s headquarters, sacrificing himself to kill the dark lord of the Sith and destroy the Empire.
So, there you have it. In a sense, and in this particular timeline of Star Wars, albeit a non-canon one, Yoda essentially played the part of the Rebel Alliance and single-handedly accomplished what took an entire armada in the Original Trilogy.
