Luke Skywalker's Jedi journey began with Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, but it was his time with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back that propelled the farm boy from Tatooine significantly closer to becoming a Jedi Knight. But as Star Wars fans know, Yoda initially believed that Luke wasn't ready to become a Jedi for various reasons. In fact, as a new Star Wars book has revealed, Yoda actually wanted Leia Organa to be the one going through his Jedi boot camp on Dagobah.
As the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars franchise continues, a new collection of short stories has been released called From A Certain Point of View, and one of the tales, titled "There is Another" (via Screen Rant), follows Yoda before the events of The Empire Strikes Back as he migrates to a new spot on Dagobah due to the seasons changing. While traveling to his new home, Yoda converses with Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force Ghost. The deceased Jedi Master asks that his green colleague train the "young Skywalker" in the ways of the Force, and Yoda at first believes that Kenobi is talking about Leia, who we know is a Skywalker by birth. With her in mind, Yoda is all too willing to accept the role of instructor, but when Kenobi clarifies that he's talking about Luke, Yoda is less than pleased with the farm boy from Tatooine being his student, but he nonetheless agrees to Kenobi's request and gives permission to send Luke his way. Kenobi would later order Luke to go to Dagobah while he was near death on Hoth, which we can all agree was poor timing.
Yoda may have agreed to train Luke Skywalker for Obi-Wan Kenobi, but as seen in The Empire Strikes Back, he made no effort to hide his dissatisfaction with Luke. Initially pretending to be deranged to test Luke's patience, Yoda eventually revealed his true identity and proceeded to list off Luke's faults, from his recklessness to the anger brewing inside of him. Looking at where Leia was at this point in the Star Wars saga, it makes since why Yoda would have preferred training Leia. As one of the Rebel Alliance's leaders, she was cool-headed and more focused, making her more disciplined to become a Jedi Knight. Of course, then there's the fact that both Luke and Leia are much older than the Padawans of yesteryear were when beginning their Jedi training, but considering Leia's other accomplishments, Yoda was probably willing to cut her more slack on that front than he did with Luke.
In the end, Yoda training Luke Skywalker proved to be the right course of action, even if Yoda didn't feel that way when last seen in Empire Strikes Back due to Luke running off to rescue his friends on Bespin before completing his training. Luke paid a handful for that mistake, but in Return of the Jedi, he succeeded in defeating Darth Vader (and indirectly, Emperor Palpatine), doing Force Ghost Yoda proud. And even though Leia had the right qualifications to become a Jedi, given her duties in the Rebel Alliance, it's doubtful she would have agreed to drop everything and train with Yoda, especially on a dreary swamp planet.
The Star Wars saga continues on December 15 with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and it's rumored that Yoda may appear in some form or fashion during the movie.
