Star Wars has finally revealed how Master Yoda would have reacted to Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala’s romantic relationship, and it isn’t at all what I thought it would be. There were many defining moments in Anakin’s turn to the dark side, but arguably the most significant impact on Anakin’s fall was his fear of losing Padmé. This suggests that the Jedi rule against attachments, seen throughout Star Wars movies and TV shows but introduced in the prequel trilogy, was correct.

However, that rule has become more complicated over time, as characters like Kanan Jarrus have proven Jedi can have love without turning to the dark side. Now, the book Star Wars: Temptation of the Force, written by Tessa Gratton, may have finally clarified the distinction between love and attachments from the perspective of one of Star Wars’ most powerful Jedi. This revelation also brings to light how Yoda would have addressed Anakin and Padmé’s romantic relationship, and the answer took me completely by surprise.

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One Jedi Asked Master Yoda What Anakin Never Could

Anakin Never Felt Comfortable Being Honest With The Jedi

Anakin Skywalker loved Padmé from the moment he met her in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but even after he learned that such attachments were against the Jedi Way, he never came clean about those feelings. In fact, although he confessed to Obi-Wan at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones that he’d thought of Padmé every day for the last decade, Anakin never sought the guidance of the Jedi Council when it came to his feelings about Padmé. Now, one Star Wars book may prove that’s all he had to do.

In Temptation of the Force, Jedi Master Elzar Mann sought Master Yoda’s guidance because he and another Jedi Master, Avar Kriss, had developed romantic feelings for one another. After explaining to Master Yoda that he was agonizing over something Avar had said to him, he explained:

“She said she loved me, and that it was through the Force that she felt it. Not attachment, not anything selfish or that would prioritize her feelings for me, for us, over other lives or the rest of the song she hears in the Force. But a love that… is the Force. Expansive. It makes the galaxy better to love.”

Entirely contrary to Anakin’s approach, Elzar bravely spoke plainly to Yoda about what he was feeling; in response, Yoda provided an insight that was absolutely shocking.

Master Yoda’s Views On Love Are More Complex Than They Seem

Love Wasn’t A Hard No For Yoda

Rather than bristle, condemn Elzar, or cast the two Jedi out of the Jedi Order, Yoda was receptive and contemplative upon hearing what Elzar had to say. In fact, Yoda thoughtfully replied, “Depends on what is meant by love, I believe” when Elzar asked whether it was possible for one to avoid the pitfalls of attachment but still have love for someone else or even something (such as the Republic). This is quite different from how I would have expected Yoda to respond based on the Jedi Order’s flaws.

In truth, the prequel trilogy Jedi Order seemed so fearful of and judgmental about attachments, that I couldn’t have imagined Yoda having a nuanced, empathetic conversation about love. Arguably, romantic attachments are the most dangerous of all, yet Yoda had a much stronger response to Anakin missing his mother as a child than he did to Elzar’s questions about romantic love. Moreover, Yoda went on to speak to Elzar about the difference between love and attachments in a way that felt true, compassionate, and beneficial.

Yoda explained that, while he didn’t know the answer regarding the exact definition of love, he believed that he did love others, “always,” as was the nature of the Force. Beyond that, though, Yoda said something truly profound. He explained to Elzar, “But if you find the answer for yourself, and it opens the Force to you more widely, brings you closer to the light, then wrong you cannot be.”

Yoda’s Simple Explanation Is The Only Answer We Need

Ultimately, It’s About The Light

Yoda’s response to Elzar regarding whether love can exist without it becoming a dangerous attachment is the only answer Star Wars really needs to address this decades-old question. In the end, it isn’t about whether romantic love is dangerous or whether attachment and love are distinct; rather, the question is individualized to one’s connection to the light side of the Force. If love is drawing someone to the light, then it isn’t wrong.

Therein lies the problem for many, however. As Elzar makes clear in his line of questioning, it can be difficult to see where love ends and attachment begins, and there are clear pitfalls to out-and-out attachment. With attachment comes a need for possession and control, a fear of loss, and intense jealousy and paranoia. Love, in contrast, should create the exact opposite sentiments in someone.

Sadly, it isn’t always easy to see when love has begun to transform into something darker, which is likely why Jedi use more blanket definitions of attachment and love. Interestingly, though, Elzar’s description of love feels brand-new. Rather than something happening outside the Jedi or the Force, Elzar (and Avar, by extension) feel their love as occurring within the Force itself.

Beautifully, Avar described the love she felt for Elzar as a manifestation of the Force itself. It is this explanation of Avar and Elzar’s feelings for one another that makes their relationship different from those in Star Wars thus far. Instead of a taboo or a secret, the love between Elzar and Avar is something seemingly supported by the will of the Force itself—something that makes the galaxy better rather than puts it in jeopardy. It is perhaps for this reason that Elzar felt comfortable going to Yoda while Anakin never did.

Anakin’s Issue Wasn’t Love And Would Have Required A Different Answer

Yoda’s Definition Of Love Never Fit What Anakin Felt For Padmé

Sadly, Yoda’s wise and empathetic advice to Elzar would never have extended to Anakin, as Anakin’s issues were entirely different. For Anakin, the problem wasn’t really love. Yes, Anakin had a romantic relationship with Padmé, which went against the Jedi rule against attachments. However, the relationship itself wasn’t the reason he fell to the dark side.

Anakin fell to the dark side because he allowed attachment to consume him. In fact, he exhibited the very pitfalls that Elzar highlighted in his questions to Master Yoda. Rather than a love that better connected Anakin to the light side of the Force, his feelings for Padmé led him down a path of secrecy and deception, which only drew him further and further away from the Jedi, directly into Palpatine’s trap.

Moreover, Anakin became so obsessed with keeping Padmé alive that he compromised everything else he believed in and cared about. This is the perfect example of what Elzar was concerned about when he explained that Avar’s love for him wouldn’t mean that she put her feelings above the lives of others. Anakin most certainly did, as he was willing to massacre the Jedi, including children, to save Padmé’s life.

However, this burden wasn’t only on Anakin. While Anakin’s situation with Padmé was quite different, he wouldn’t have spoken to Yoda either way. The issues preventing Anakin from speaking to Yoda in the way Elzar did come down to trust. Anakin never truly trusted the Jedi, but that was because they never trusted him. From the moment he arrived on Coruscant at 9 years old, the Jedi treated him as a threat; he knew he was never going to be fully accepted in the Order because he continued to be viewed as a risk.

Because of that, Anakin never would have sought Yoda’s guidance in the same way. Crushingly, this means that, although Master Yoda may have had sage advice to share when it came to Anakin’s relationship with Padmé, that conversation was never going to take place—the odds had been stacked against Anakin from the minute he arrived at the Jedi Temple. Even so, I found myself genuinely surprised by Master Yoda’s openness in speaking about romantic relationships, and I was impressed by his fair, thoughtful approach to such a complicated, longstanding issue in Star Wars.