I’ve seen quite a few edits of the prequel trilogy that completely remove Yoda having a lightsaber, and people generally criticize that they gave him a lightsaber as they feel it’s inconsistent his character in the original trilogy. This is true, but I think people who do this miss that him not being the same as he was in the original trilogy was the point. I think it represents character growth for him between the prequels and the originals.
Remember when Yoda said “Wars not make one great” in Empire Strikes Back? He learned that from the Clone Wars. I mean, how else would he learn it, there was no other wars in his lifetime (the Sith had been extinct for a millennia by The Phantom Menace, and he was less then 900 years old in that movie), and things are learned best from experience. He learned from the Clone Wars that war, violence, and swinging around with a lightsaber wasn’t the solution to anything. It actually allowed the Sith to rise to power.
When he says “Failed I have” in Revenge of the Sith, he isn’t just talking about losing to Sidious in a duel, he’s talking about how he failed the galaxy because the Jedi Order lost its way. Did the Clone Wars make him great? No. The Clone Wars destroyed the Jedi Order and forced him to live a life of solitude on Dagobah while the two Sith Lords ruled the galaxy, one of them who was supposedly the Chosen One meant to destroy the Sith. That’s what he meant.
It’s only through the teachings of Qui-Gon, who became his master after Revenge of the Sith and was basically the perfect Jedi, even if nobody could see it, was Yoda able to grow into the character he is in Empire Strikes Back.
Besides, he also does tell Luke that he needs to kill Vader in Return of the Jedi. Not exactly the most pacifist thing to do. He also says, “Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor”, which obviously means he faced him before.
I think it all makes Yoda a much more compelling character. There’s things to learn even for the oldest and the wisest. He was even wrong to a degree in the original trilogy: as mentioned earlier, he and Obi-Wan thought Vader had to be killed. But Luke believed he could be redeemed, and he was right.
EDIT: I retract what I said here in this thread. I’ve realized for awhile now that it wasn’t Lucas’ intent to have a character arc for Yoda in the prequels in which he realizes that war is wrong.
Lucas’ intent was to show that the Jedi participating in the war was hindering their values, even if they had no other choice. Yoda, like every Jedi, was put in a tough spot, in which he was forced to fight. It’s not about Yoda learning to be non-violent (he’s the same in the prequels as he is in the OT), but about the Jedi being put in a no-win situation, as elaborated in this brilliant Quora answer.
https://qr.ae/pvuA2y
As George elaborates (in this quote he’s responding to a question asking if the Jedi are like police officers).
GEORGE LUCAS: No. They’re not like cops who catch murderers. They’re warrior-monks who keep peace in the universe without resorting to violence. The Trade Federation is in dispute with Naboo, so the Jedi are ambassadors who talk both sides and convince them to resolve their differences and not go to war. If they do have to use violence, they will, but they are diplomats at the highest level. They’ve got the power to send the whole force of the Republic, which is 100 000 systems, so if you don’t behave they can bring you up in front of the Senate. They’ll cut you off at the knees, politically.
They’re like police officers. As the situation develops in the Clone Wars they are recruited into the army, and they become generals. They’re not generals. They don’t kill people. They don’t fight. They’re supposed to be ambassadors. There are a lot of Jedi that think that the Jedi sold out, that they should never have been in the military, but…
PAUL DUNCAN: Do you think that?
GEORGE LUCAS: It’s a tough call. It’s one of the conundrums of which there’s a bunch of in my movies. You have to think it through. Are they going to stick with their moral rules and all be killed, which makes it irrelevant, or do they help save the Republic? They have good intentions, but they have been manipulated which was their downfall.