Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a small, green, elderly humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force, and he 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 the sequel film Return of the Jedi (1983), and in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, and the animated series Star Wars Rebels.

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 Yoda to be the "exact opposite" of what audiences would expect.