Yoda (/ˈjoʊdə/ ^ⓘ) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a small, green, elderly humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force and typically speaks in an inverted phrase order. He first appeared in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, in which he is voiced and puppeteered by Frank Oz, who reprised the role in Return of the Jedi (1983), the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, and the animated series Star Wars Rebels. Other actors who voice Yoda are Tom Kane, Piotr Michael, John Lithgow, Tony Pope and Peter McConnell. In addition to films and television series, Yoda appears in comics, novels, video games and commercials.

In the original trilogy, Yoda lives in solitude on the swamp planet Dagobah. He is introduced as a former mentor of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force until his death at the age of 900. In the prequel films, Yoda leads the Jedi High Council and trains young Jedi until they are assigned to a master. When the Clone Wars break out, he becomes a general in the army of the Republic and leads several legions of clone troopers. Yoda is one of the few Jedi to survive the events of Order 66 at the end of the war, when he battles Darth Sidious and is forced to go into hiding. Yoda's Force spirit appears again in the sequel trilogy, advising an older Luke on his training of Rey.

The Star Wars franchise was created by George Lucas, who wrote and directed the original Star Wars film (1977). He created the character Obi-Wan Kenobi as a mentor for Luke Skywalker, and originally planned for Obi-Wan to continue training Luke in the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. However, Lucas ultimately decided that Obi-Wan would die in the first film. Lucas then introduced a new mentor character, who was originally a diminutive frog-like creature called "Minch Yoda". The name "Yoda" was chosen because Lucas envisioned the character as a "little Dalai Lama", and he wanted him to have an "Eastern-sounding" name. One of the film's screenwriters, Lawrence Kasdan, said that Yoda was based on Shimada, the lead samurai from the 1954 Akira Kurosawa film Seven Samurai. According to Lucas, the narrative goal of Yoda's design was to teach Luke "to respect everybody and pay attention to the poorest person". Lucas wanted the Jedi Master to be the "exact opposite" of what audiences would expect.

The film's visual effects art director, Joe Johnston, sketched hundreds of different versions of Yoda. The design that Lucas finally settled on was described by Johnston as a combination of a leprechaun, a troll and a gnome. Lucas gave Yoda a backward speech pattern because he felt the character needed a unique way of speaking that was more dramatic than an accent. The filmmakers considered several ways of portraying Yoda before they decided on a sophisticated puppet. These potential methods included dressing a monkey, a child or a dwarf in a Yoda costume, or using stop-motion animation.

Yoda was originally portrayed by a puppet created by Stuart Freeborn and Wendy Froud. Freeborn based Yoda's face on his own facial features and those of Albert Einstein, hoping the latter inspiration would make the character appear intelligent. Lucas asked Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, to perform the puppeteering for Yoda. Henson was busy with another project, however, and recommended Frank Oz for the role. To perform Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, Oz inserted his hand into the puppet's head to manipulate the mouth and brow. Kathryn Mullen, Wendy Froud and David Barclay operated Yoda's eyes, ears and other body parts using cables, strings, hydraulics and electronic mechanisms. There was also a radio-controlled Yoda puppet that was used when the Jedi Master is riding on Luke's back. Lucas had intended for a different actor to provide Yoda's voice, but ultimately decided that Oz was the best performer for the role.

In the original 1999 release of The Phantom Menace, Yoda was portrayed by a new puppet in all but two shots. In these two wide shots, the character was created using computer-generated imagery (CGI). The puppet was replaced with a digital Yoda in the 2011 Blu-ray release and the 2012 theatrical 3D release. In Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda is entirely computer-generated. The digital character accomplishes movements not possible with the puppet, such as fighting with a lightsaber. In Revenge of the Sith, his face is shown in several close-ups, which required highly detailed CGI work.

Yoda uses the object-subject-verb word order giving him his distinctive speaking style. Lucas later explained why he added this to the character: "Because if you speak regular English, people won't listen that much. But if he had an accent, or it's really hard to understand what he's saying, they focus on what he's saying."

Yoda was well-received by several prominent critics when he debuted in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called him "delightful" and "the hit of the movie", but felt he was only a success when used sparingly. Joy Gould Boyum of The Wall Street Journal praised the "exquisitely constructed" Yoda puppet, and said that Oz "so finely put together [the character] ... as to make us wonder continually if he isn't real." Arthur Knight of The Hollywood Reporter and Gary Arnold of The Washington Post similarly felt that Yoda was incredibly lifelike, with Arnold comparing his face to that of a human actor. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune called Yoda the highlight of the film, while People magazine called him a pivotal character. In his review of the 1997 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, Roger Ebert praised the range of emotions conveyed by Yoda, and said his acting was possibly the best in the film.