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Rebel Rouser is staff writer Jules Chin Greene's monthly Star Wars column, where he gets the chance to shout about all the Star Wars lore swimming around his head and his heart. 

Listen, when I started reading the Star Wars High Republic novels, I wasn’t expecting them to turn me into a raging Yaddle fan. When I started reading these books, the extent of my Yaddle knowledge was that she was voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard, she died while battling Count Dooku, and she had brown hair. But, after finishing the Phase II novels from the High Republic publishing initiative, I have emerged as a new man, one who respects the hell out of Yaddle. 

To put things into perspective, I’m from New York City, and I have long felt that there should be at least one character in Star Wars who has a New York accent for absolutely no reason. Ever since I saw Taika Waititi voice Korg in Thor: Ragnarok with a rural New Zealand accent, I realized that there doesn’t need to be a reason for why an alien (or human) in a sci-fi/fantasy shouldn’t have the particularities of a specific culture here on Earth - within reason of course. And while I don’t expect Lucasfilm to debut a character who embodies New York City in spirit any time soon, I have Book Yaddle, High Republic Yaddle, as my champion. 

Yaddle fights like she's Ray Liotta in Goodfellas

So Yaddle, like her same-species counterpart Yoda, is small. She’s green, and she’s great at using the Force. But, unlike Yoda, she’s got the heart of an old-school New Yorker. I have no idea what her backstory is, but she is one of the most rough and tumble characters the Jedi Order had to offer during the High Republic. What I mean by that is, Yaddle does not tolerate bullshit. If you mess with her or any of her Padawans or wards, you will get bodied, with the Force, like she’s Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. 

So while Yaddle isn’t exactly doleing out parking lot beatdowns like Halloween candy because she is a Jedi after all, she does have a distinctive fighting style that relies on brute force. This stands in stark contrast with Yoda's fighting style, which consists largely of acrobatic flips, as we saw in his fight with Palpatine in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Let's consider the following two passages from Lydia Kang's book, Cataclysm: 

"[Yaddle] lifted a hand, and the blasters from both guards were immediately wrenched out of their fists, flying onto the grass at a distance. She lifted a second hand, and both their bodies flew into the air as they began to holler in protest and shock. Master Yaddle flipped them upside down, Cippa-style, and knocked their skulls together so painfully hard, it sounded like an ax hitting wood, enough to render them unconscious. Yaddle dropped her hands, and the two guards fell hard to the boarding ramp, a few meters away from Cippa. 'I choose to fight,' Yaddle said. She gently picked up Cippa with the Force, levitating her into the ship. As she passed the two guards, she said, 'That is what you get for shooting a child.'" 

When given the option to either hide or fight, Yaddle chooses to fight. She even says so. But what's remarkable about her takedown of these guards here is her fine motor skills within the Force, even under pressure. Yaddle's abilities are so strong that she can modulate the amount of force to knock the hell out of these guards without giving them a fatal brain injury. She just leaves them with an injury that they'll regret for months. Writer Lydia Kang also beautifully illustrates here the difference in how Yaddle uses the Force against people who hurt children (the guards), versus her ward, Cippa. Immediately after knocking those two guards' heads in, she's back to her gentle self like nothing happened. 

It's a shame that a Jedi as powerful as Yaddle was killed by Count Dooku

Lydia Kang gifted us with another powerful example of why you should never mess with Yaddle and her ward, Cippa, before Cataclysm wrapped up. "[Cippa] looked up to see Master Yaddle standing over her, arms akimbo. With one gesture, two droids aiming for them were snapped in half. With another gesture, the Path member with the rifle was pushed so far out into the darkness that there was a full three seconds before Cippa could hear him thud hard against something metallic." 

Now, I get that this was the High Republic and all, but it's no small task to snap not only one, but two droids in half. And it's because of these scenes from Cataclysm that I have so much trouble accepting Yaddle's canon death at the hands of Count Dooku. I'm sorry, but Yaddle is a badass. She's an ardent protector of children and other vulnerable people, and her strength within the Force seems nearly limitless when she's fighting for those who can't defend themselves. She was still on the young side for her species when she was killed by Dooku, and I'm left wondering how much more she would have grown within the Force, had she gotten the chance to hide out on some backwater planet like Yoda. Having a firebrand but collected personality like Yaddle would have been a major boon for the Rebels. 

So there you have it, folks. If you don't believe me when I say that Yaddle isn't afraid to get down, I don't know what else to tell you. To me, Yaddle carries the same type of energy as every scrappy New Yorker from the mid-to-late 20th century. In hockey terms, she's an enforcer - someone who steps in to set things straight. Now, I don't love her just because she's got a particular brand of violence when provoked, I love her because she manages to make people regret ever having hurt Cippa while also remaining calm and collected. And that's why she's known as Master Yaddle. 

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