Review of the Jedi: Destiny

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Yoda's spiritual journey continues as we enter the second phase. The diminutive Jedi Master has followed Qui-Gon's trail to a mysterious planet in a nebula brimming with Force energy. And deep within the hollow planet he encounters strange Force priestesses who will lead him through his training.  Grave trials await him and it will require facing some long buried feelings.

As I predicted yesterday, this arc is following the traditional path students of the mystic persuasion take. After accepting the path, the student must face trials that are just as much about overcoming the limitations within them as overcoming whatever the physical trial is. You can see this in hundreds of Kung Fu movies or for a more apt comparison Avatar: The Last Airbender. Recall how near the end of that show's second season, Aang had to undergo spiritual training to let go of his material attachments and unlock his full Avatar powers. That's essentially what's happening in this episode but with Yoda learning the Force Ghost ability. And it's the decision to make Yoda the initiate that sets this episode and arc apart from those similar stories. And it all goes back to that Jedi dogmatism I brought up last time.


It's in that dogmatism that the choice of Yoda as protagonist comes into focus. For while he's more open-minded than the other Jedi just by virtue of being super old and seeing a lot of weird shit in his time, Yoda does still tend to think he's got all the answers. Why wouldn't he? He's the oldest living Jedi Master, head of the Council, a General in the Army. Dude's got a lot of experience. So unlike most protagonists in this kind of story who are young, inexperienced and ready to be filled with wisdom, Yoda has prejudices standing in his way. It's like he has more self to overcome than usual. I could get into how he's still holding onto that prejudice in Empire Strikes Back, but let's see how this arc plays out first.

What you are in the dark, indeed.

At any rate, the different trials Yoda overcomes are great lenses for looking into his character. First is the Trial of Rage, where he must confront the darkness within himself. Literally, as Yoda's dark side is manifested as a black, smoky Yoda with red eyes that attacks him. Dark Side Yoda's dialogue is telling as he says "You don't play with me anymore", suggesting that Yoda was not as composed in the past. It was hinted with his being the only Jedi who could block Sith Lightning that Yoda had dabbled with the Dark Side in his past and this just adds fuel to that fire. The whole thing gave me a Persona 4 vibe meaning that Dark Yoda is Yoda's Shadow, a representation of all Yoda hates about himself. And given how Sith-like Dark Yoda is, violent and hotheaded, than perhaps Yoda fears falling to the Dark Side more than anyone. Or maybe whatever Dark Side shenanigans he got into back in the day are still haunting him, the playing line would back that up. But just like Persona, the only way to defeat your Shadow is to accept it as part of yourself which is just what Yoda does. He acknowledges that Dark Yoda comes from within him and therefore has no power over him. True to Jedi dogma though, he characterizes this as rejecting his dark side. A true Jedi must purge his darkness, not merely accept and overcome it. Credit to Tom Kane as he manages to make Yoda & Dark Yoda distinct characters though they have the same voice.

This is the turning point of Yoda's journey. Where before when the Force priestess expounded on the nature of the Force and death and midichlorians, he kind of glibly went, "yeah, I know this stuff already". But after this trial, he realizes that he isn't accomplished as he thought and still has much to learn. And instead of seeing that as his failing, Yoda is old enough to be humble and accept it to continue on the path. This is what allows him to pass the next trial, the Trial of Temptation.

Am I the only one getting a Majora's Mask vibe here?

This trial involves another hallucination, this time of all the Jedi Yoda has trained lying dead on the floor of the temple. The writers really stick the knife in his back too, with a surprise appearance by Ahsoka desperately asking Yoda if she'll become one with the Force when she dies even though she was expelled from the Jedi. And then she dies. Ouch. A phantom padawan then appears to Yoda and offers him his deepest desire. A different world where the war never happened, all the dead Jedi are still alive and Dooku is still a member of the Order. This shows yet another deeper shade to Yoda, that he bears a lot of guilt for what has happened to the Jedi, to his students. Logically he probably knows that there was little he could do to prevent the war or Dooku's fall but yet he still feels some responsibility for it. That guilt probably comes from Yoda's position. Like I said before, Yoda is the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and he understands the responsibility being the most powerful comes with. So because he has all that power he feels like he could have done more, if he had been in the right place all this could have been prevented. It's another thing he's repressed because these feelings could be signs of attachment and attachment leads to the Dark Side. Yet another symptom of Jedi dogmatism.

We've seen this cliche before though and thankfully the writers don't drag it out. Yoda rejects the perfect reality as the illusion it is and passes the second trial. The Force priestesses congratulate him on his achievement but one trial still remains, the Trial of Fear. Yoda must travel to the Sith homeworld of Moraband and confront the power of the Sith head on. Appropriate that our initiate must pull off a Dante-esque trip to Hell to complete his journey to enlightenment.

Overall, Destiny made a great part two to Voices. The atmosphere and music continue to be top notch and the story's use of the traditional spiritual journey just makes it all the stronger. The character work on Yoda is also spectacular. This is a character very hard to get right and while the writers could have taken a more hackneyed route like revealing his backstory or giving him an unnecessary past tragedy, the elements that they've highlighted feel organic to what we know of Yoda. The Force priestesses were a great visual too, very otherworldly to fit the weird spiritual tone of the story. I'm looking forward to our trip to Moraband and the end of Yoda's journey.

See you tomorrow.