• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Historian discovers 'Yoda-like' creature in 14th century manuscript

Home> Film & TV

Published 17:47 29 Oct 2023 GMT

Historian discovers 'Yoda-like' creature in 14th century manuscript

The resemblance is uncanny

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

Characters like Star Wars’ odd-speaking Yoda may be closer than a galaxy far far away, according to one historian.

An illustration of a figure that appears to have a striking resemblance to Jedi Master Yoda caused a stir upon its initial discovery.

Pretty peculiar one might think, this is.

In 2015, historians Damien Kempf and Maria L. Gilbert discovered a drawing of a short figure that was wearing a long robe, had green-greyish skin and large ears in a religious 14 century manuscript.

And when you look at it, you can't deny that it's a pretty striking resemblance to Yoda.

Advert

But you may be asking yourself, how did Yoda - or something that looks like him - end up in an ancient manuscript?

Well, Harrison explained to NPR where the image had came from - and why the creature looks the way it does.

Yoda is a pretty iconic character from Star Wars.
Lucasfilm

“The Yoda image comes from a 14th-century manuscript known as the Smithfield Decretals," he said.

Advert

“I'd love to say that it really was Yoda, or was drawn by a medieval time traveler.

“It's actually an illustration to the biblical story of Samson — the artist clearly had a vivid imagination!”

So sadly, it wasn't any time traveller's doing.

The Smithfield Decretals was created in southern France between the 1300 and 1340, and the volume is also known as the 'Decretals of Gregory IX with gloss of Bernard of Parma'.

Advert

And a decretal's job was to collect papal letters that compiled decisions on church law and doctrine.

Following the discovery, the image of not-Yoda was published by the British Library on its blog in a piece entitled Ten Things to Know about Medieval Monsters, alongside a promotion for a book about the monsters explored.

Look at him.
British Library

“In their new picture book published by the British Library, Medieval Monsters, medieval historian Damien Kempf and art historian Maria L. Gilbert explore the fantastic, grotesque and exuberant world of monsters in the Middle Ages,” The British Library post read.

Advert

“[A world seen] through the images found in illuminated manuscripts, from dragons and demons to Yoda and hybrid creatures.”

The historians played into the similarities between the two figures and after putting the Yoda-like figure at number 10, they also wrote a poem illustrating the age-old adage that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’.

In the blog, they wrote: “[The tenth thing to know] is the monsters may look like Hollywood movie stars.

Who is to say creator George Lucas hadn’t been siphoning age-old texts for inspiration?
Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

Advert

“Sendak, Burton, Lucas, and Seuss. Their films: medieval monster reuse! Handsome, playful, quirky, and whimsical. Nothing, it seems, is ever new in principle.”

While it may be disappointing to learn that the 900+ year-old Jedi hasn’t been lurking in plain sight all along, it is a funny old coincidence.

But whose to say creator George Lucas hadn’t been siphoning age-old texts for inspiration for his space opera?

Possibility could it be. Yeesssssss.

Featured Image Credit: Credit: British Library/Disney

Topics: Film and TV, Star Wars

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
9 hours ago
12 hours ago
17 hours ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Netflix adds 94% rated Rami Malek series labeled ‘dark, disturbing and full of twists’

    'Best series ever made. Period.'

    Film & TV
  • 9 hours ago

    Marvel fans outraged as fan-favorite villain is 'wasted' after finally being revealed in new MCU show

    Not all viewers were upset, however

    Film & TV
  • 12 hours ago

    Rob McElhenney announces major name change and his wife and kids are extremely 'unhappy' about it

    Rob McElhenney has got fed up of the world butchering his surname

    Film & TV
  • 17 hours ago

    Modern Family star recalls thinking she was 'going to die' after being told she needed a pacemaker at 29 years old

    A Modern Family star revealed how her sister helped discover that she had a health condition

    Film & TV
  • Reason why Yoda speaks backwards in Star Wars is finally revealed by George Lucas
  • Man discovers $7,500,000 hidden in storage unit he bought for just $500
  • Star Trek fans spot huge plot hole in original series and question why it wasn't fixed
  • Netflix subscribers are binge-watching twisty thriller mini series all in one night