You know, I’ve never really saw it before digging deep into some parts of the fandom while making my own Jedi oc character for legends(although this ain’t about him but he’s actually my profile picture)
But where did the whole gremlin Yoda come from? Since you know that whole behavior in Empire strikes back was to fool Luke and was completely an act
Short answer: he’s essentially a 900 year old muppet
Longer answer: he’s essentially a 900 year old muppet who’s been in charge of ~10,000 people for hundreds of years and he spends a non-trivial amount of his day with children.
I really do think he’s a deeply complicated being who must have had to develop multiple caricatures of himself depending on the audience for whom he needs to perform. Meeting with Republic officials or senators? Enigmatic and distinguished. Argumentative high council gathering? Stern but fair. Mighty Bear Clan telekinesis class right before lunch? Perfect balance between entertainer and instructor. He’s lived through centuries of heartbreak, disappointment, regret, doubt, and failure. BUT he still needs to be the gentle, caring, approachable heart of the Order. I think the gremlin is at his core, balancing out several lifetimes of anguish.
I know we can’t stop yapping about Yoda: Dark Rendezvous right now, but Sean Stewart’s characterization is SO good and I can’t recommend it enough if you haven’t read it. Yoda has this profound, lurking sadness, but it’s weirdly not in contention with his hope for Dooku, the Order, and the future of the galaxy. Stewart gives us a few little gremlin moments, like Yoda fighting a cafeteria droid over food, to break up the tragedy. The light playfulness is there to temper the heavy sorrow.
I think he needed to quickly drop the act in Empire, partially because it was indeed a test, but also because he knew there was very little time to waste and Luke had a lot of catching up to do. Luke didn’t get the typical “training with master Yoda” experience that generations of Jedi before him did. If Yoda wasn’t 899 and knocking on death’s door, if there wasn’t an oppressive regime on the verge of completing their annihilation of the Jedi, if Luke didn’t need to run to Bespin, if they had had more time, I think Yoda would have been a lot more gremlin-y when training Luke.
Why do I draw Yoda in maximum gremlin mode? Because I’m usually drawing him training/interacting with Dooku and he’s doing it on purpose to annoy him XD