Skirmish in the Senate

"At an end, your rule is... And not short enough, it was."

- Yoda

Yoda, the Jedi Grand Master, managed to enter the Chancellery Secretariat undetected, determined to kill the new Emperor, Palpatine, who was revealed to be the shadowy Darth Sidious. Inside the Chancellor's holding office of the Senate Building, the Jedi Grand Master came face to face with the Dark Lord of the Sith after making short work of his guards. Realizing that this would not be a political dispute but a battle betweeen two masters of the Force, Mas Amedda left the office. This marked the beginning of the Duel in the Senate.

The Emperor struck down Yoda with Force lightning and Yoda retaliated by throwing the Sith backwards with a very powerful Force push. Palpatine attempted to flee, but Yoda blocked his way and ignited his lightsaber. The Emperor realized he would have to fight the tiny Jedi Master blade-to-blade. He ignited his own lightsaber and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel.



The battle moved on to the Chancellor's podium that rose through the retractable ceiling into the Grand Convocation Chamber. Yoda outsparred the Dark Lord and sent the Sith lightsaber away. When the Grand Master launched a death blow, Palpatine blasted Yoda with his lightning bolts. Yoda deflected part of the bolts back to the Emperor, which further deformed Palpatine. One particular strong wave sent Yoda into the air, who landed on a Senate pod safely. Darth Sidious then leapt into another Senate pod and it was at that part of the battle that the Dark Lord got the upper hand. Using Dun Möch to overpower Yoda with an avalanche of Senate pods while he himself levitated on one, seeming to grow more amused as the battle progressed. Sidious almost defeated the Jedi Grand Master, who seemed to grow tired instead.



It was at this very moment of the ultimate clash between light and darkness that Yoda finally saw the truth: He had lost before he started, he had lost before he was born. In the last millennium, the Sith had changed, grown, adapted, become new; while the Jedi Order, under Yoda's leadership, spent the same millennium merely trained to refight the last war.

Yoda understood that this new Sith could not be destroyed by merely a slash of lightsaber or a shout in the Force. He understood that war was not the way to defeat darkness, because war itself had become the weapon of darkness.

With this new insight, Yoda understood that he could not fall right there, he had to share this discovery. The tiny Jedi held one pod with the Force and sent it back to Sidious, who avoided it and retaliated by hurling Force lightning at him so intense that it knocked Yoda's lightsaber from his hand. Again finding himself attacked with great intensity, Yoda used the same method to overcome the attack: he turned his enemy's weapon's against him. The Jedi Master reflected the Force lightning back to Sidious in a blast so powerful that it pushed the two masters apart. But while this may have saved Yoda's life, it cost him his last chance of obliterating the Sith. He fell down to the holding office while Palpatine held on to the pod they were on. Yoda didn't have any power left to continue and fled, the Emperor cackling behind him. He crawled through the ventalation shafts and dropped into Bail Organa's airspeeder.

"Into exile I must go. Failed, I have."

- Yoda

Shock troopers led by Commander Thire were not able to recover Yoda's body, and Mas Amedda was convinced that the Grand Master escaped. Emperor Palpatine had no choice but to assign Thire for the search, as he had to leave for Mustafar immediately&mdash;he sensed that Lord Vader was in mortal danger.

Behind the scenes

 * During the animatics stage, Steven Spielberg participated in the production of this duel.


 * According to The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Senate holocams were meant to broadcast the duel across the Galaxy on the HoloNet. This idea was later dropped.


 * The movie does not explain the whereabouts of Palpatine's lightsaber when he starts applying Dun Möch. According to Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: The Illustrated Screenplay and the junior novelization, Yoda actually disarmed Darth Sidious on the Chancellor's podium. The Dark Lord immediately unleashed Force lightning, which was deflected by Yoda and further deformed Palpatine. Finally the bolts pushed Yoda into the air, which resulted in Yoda landing on a lower podium as seen in the movie.


 * In the novelization, Yoda entered the office from another direction, so no Royal Guards attempted to stop him. Mas Amedda left the office before any exchange was made. Palpatine's Sith Lightning was deflected by Yoda which blasted the Guards into unconsciousness instead of himself being knocked across the room. Yoda then knocked Palpatine to the floor with his physical body instead of a Force Push. At the end of the battle, the lightning energy ball did not explode. Sidious safely leapt to a nearby podium and Yoda followed. Sidious then turned around and blasted Yoda, who was still in the air, back against another podium who fell down to the bottom. Sidious was not knocked over by any blast, he was described as "a very old, very tired man" after the epic battle.


 * In the novelization, it looks like Yoda did not lose his lightsaber in the battle, and the book described Yoda "sliced" his way across the service accessway.


 * In the comic, the duel ends after Yoda disarms Darth Sidious and gets blasted into the air. The podiums struggle and further engagement is ommitted.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novel)
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (comics)