Though the Sith’s swift rise to power is one of the most memorable sequences in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, they weren’t actually the most brutally violent enтιтy – that dark honor goes to the Jedi. Revenge of the Sith includes plenty of shocking scenes, such as Anakin Skywalker choking his wife Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi slicing off Anakin’s extremities after their duel on Mustafar, and more. The Sith’s power grab was undeniably vicious, and no scene highlights this better than Anakin’s storming of the Jedi Temple.
Who can forget the trust in the youngling’s faces when Anakin arrives at the Temple, only for them to swiftly realize Master Skywalker is no longer someone they can count on? Anakin raises his lightsaber against them, and the implication is clear: Anakin is about to slaughter the younglings because the Jedi need to be destroyed. It’s a harrowing scene, but not physically brutal – thankfully, the audience doesn’t witness this atrocious act. No, in truth, it was Master Yoda who turned out to be the most violent on-screen Force-user in Revenge of the Sith.
Yoda Doesn’t Hesitate To Decapitate The Clones On Kashyyyk
For most Jedi, Order 66 came as an unexpected shock. Very few reacted quickly enough to survive the onslaught from the clone troopers, paralyzed by surprise and grief. Yoda, however, didn’t hesitate. The second he sensed something was wrong, he flipped over and decapitated two clone troopers without giving them a second thought. It’s over in a second, but let that sink in. Decapitation might be a swift death, especially when caused by a lightsaber, but it is also an undeniably brutal act of violence.
Of course, later, Yoda expresses remorse and his sadness about the clones’ turn; yet it’s hard to ignore that his initial reaction is cold and calculated, a mᴀssive deviation from how the Jedi and Yoda, as their leader, usually operate. Factor in his disappearance at the end of Revenge of the Sith, when he decides to hide out on Dagobah and Yoda’s act feels even more abhorrently violent, perhaps even somewhat cowardly.
Yoda (& Obi-Wan) Continue Cutting Down Clones At The Jedi Temple
Yoda’s violence against the clones didn’t stop on Kashyyyk, sadly. Once he and Obi-Wan returned to the Jedi Temple, they killed another host of clone troopers, with Yoda’s moves, especially, being portrayed as effortless and even, dare I say it, “cool.” Yes, of course, self-defense is a reasonable argument to make here, and at that point, as far as they knew, they might have been two of the only remaining Jedi to have survived. But still. Is that an excuse for them to forget about their principles entirely? What makes them Jedi if not their capacity for sympathy?
As far as they knew, Yoda and Obi-Wan might have been two of the only remaining Jedi to have survived. But still. Is that an excuse for them to forget about their principles entirely? What makes them Jedi if not their capacity for sympathy?
When you contrast Yoda’s action scenes with Anakin’s, how much of a difference is there, really? As the audience, we’re supposed to side with Yoda because he is the epitome of what the Jedi should be, and Anakin has clearly done wrong by his friends, his lover, and the Jedi Order. But, much like Anakin, Yoda, in the hours after Order 66, is being driven by instinct and self-preservation, not kindness and empathy.
Yoda Acted Without Even Considering What Caused The Clones To Turn
In both scenes, there is zero indication that Yoda considered, even for a moment, what may have made the clones turn against the Jedi so easily. So willingly. The real-world explanation for this is simply that the concept of the inhibitor chips, which were secretly implanted in the clones on Palpatine’s orders and responsible for their sudden change in allegiance, hadn’t been invented yet when Revenge of the Sith was released – they were first properly introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, making Order 66 even more tragic and traumatic.
Even so, neither Yoda nor Obi-Wan seem inclined to discover or even deliberate what may have made the clones turn so swiftly. What could their incentive have possibly been? Why not try to unearth the truth rather than brutally killing every single clone trooper in their path? Obi-Wan and Yoda needed to survive Revenge of the Sith for the Skywalker saga to make sense, but looking back on it now, their survival feels… uncomfortable, somehow. War changes everyone, I guess, even two Jedi as noble and kind as Yoda and Obi-Wan.
Ahsoka’s Order 66 Experience Proves This Wasn’t Necessary
The difficulty of analyzing Star Wars’ storytelling as a whole is accounting for how much time pᴀssed between the releases of certain installments. Certain storylines hadn’t even been thought of yet, let alone put on the screen when Revenge of the Sith was released in cinemas, and this can impact how we view and feel about pivotal moments in the franchise. Yoda’s killing of the clones on Kashyyyk is one of those moments – if you watched it in 2005, you’d have breathed a sigh of relief when Yoda’s reflexes kicked in.
If you watched it in 2020, however, after the release of The Clone Wars’ seventh and final season, you may have viewed Yoda’s actions in an entirely different light. When Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, was confronted by her clone trooper regiment – a regiment that only moments before had honored her service as their commander – she didn’t hesitate, either. The difference is, however, that she also didn’t kill them.
Experience Ahsoka Tano’s Order 66 journey by watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, episodes 9-12.
Despite having sensed the fall of her Master, she didn’t allow grief and shock to overwhelm her. Instead, she helped her friend, Captain Rex, remove his inhibitor chip when she sensed something was wrong with him, and tried with all her might to save his fellow clones rather than just killing them. Of course, Order 66 was always bound to end in tragedy, and many of those same clones still died in the Venator crash caused by Darth Maul, but the point still stands. When a choice needed to be made, Ahsoka set her metaphorical blaster to stun instead of kill.
The difference between Ahsoka’s reaction and Yoda’s reaction is, quite frankly, staggering. Yes, I acknowledge that hindsight is 20/20 and that it was quite literally impossible for Yoda to know what was happening with the clones when he was attacked on Kashyyyk. Still, there is a marked difference in their approach. Despite being unfairly cast out by the Jedi Order two seasons prior, Ahsoka remained a Jedi through and through, even in the face of total despair. On the other hand, Yoda was temporarily blinded by violence in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
