Minch

A Jedi from a small tridactyl species, Minch dedicated his life to the service of the Galactic Republic. He studied under the tutelage of T'dai, a Zabrak Jedi Master, who successfully guided the young learner to the rank of Knighthood.

Around 700 BBY, reports reached the Jedi Council concerning the terror inflicted upon the Bpfassh system by several Dark Jedi. The Council selected Minch to join a team of Jedi Knights, led by Master T'dai, tasked with venturing into Bpfassh space to put an end to the Dark Jedi's violence. The pursuit led Minch and his team to a trading station owned by the Commerce Guild, where Minch managed to isolate one of the Dark Jedi on the station's fifth level. The Jedi Knight then engaged the Dark Jedi in combat. However, his opponent underestimated him, assuming Minch was merely a Padawan due to his small stature. Throughout the duel, Minch asserted that he was more than just an apprentice. Despite this, the Bpfasshi, still doubting the Jedi, managed to disarm and defeat Minch.

The arrival of Master T'dai and the rest of the team saved Minch, cornering the Dark Jedi and demanding information about the whereabouts of his Master, who had so far evaded capture. The Bpfasshi, admitting defeat, refused to reveal anything about his leader and chose to kill himself by plunging his lightsaber into his own abdomen. At that moment, Minch's Master received a comm from their ship, the Takara, reporting that a small craft had escaped the space station while they were occupied. T'dai concluded that it must be the Dark Jedi Master and ordered Minch and his comrades to pursue him in their starfighters. The Jedi chased the Bpfasshi Master through the Sluis sector to the Dagobah system, where he headed towards the planet. While the other Jedi Knights maintained orbit around the world in their fighters, awaiting the arrival of the Takara, Minch broke formation to follow his quarry. T'dai ordered Minch to stand down, citing Dagobah's lack of technology, abundant lifeforms, and harsh weather as reasons to wait for reinforcements. However, the Jedi Knight, driven by a desire to prove himself to those who dismissed him because of his small size, ignored T'dai's instructions and followed the Dark Jedi Master's ion trail into Dagobah's atmosphere.

The perilous storms of Dagobah that T'dai had warned about proved to be true, and Minch's starfighter was struck by lightning upon entry, disabling it. The ship crash-landed in a swamp, but Minch survived unharmed. Master T'dai had Minch's coordinates and instructed him to remain in place as the Takara was only a parsec away. However, Minch had other plans and immediately sensed the dark presence of the Bpfasshi Master. Minch began to search the area and soon encountered the Dark Jedi, who fled as Minch approached. The small Jedi lost sight of the Bpfasshi, but his Force sense eventually led him to a dark cave overgrown with vegetation. Minch activated his green-bladed lightsaber to clear a path and, upon entering the cave, demanded that the Dark Jedi surrender.

The Bpfasshi Master scorned Minch, declaring that there would always be those willing to embrace the dark side of the Force and suggesting that Minch might be one of them. Minch affirmed his status as a Jedi, but the Bpfasshi dismissed the Jedi Knight as a mere child filled with fear and anger. At that moment, Minch attacked, determined to prove that his size did not diminish his skill. In response, the Dark Jedi grew to an immense height, towering over Minch. Overcome with fear, Minch lashed out with his lightsaber and struck his adversary, but to Minch's surprise, the Bpfasshi did not die. Instead, he transformed into hundreds of smaller versions of himself and began to overwhelm Minch, who swung his lightsaber wildly in blind terror as his enemy repeatedly attempted to lure him to the dark side.

Minch's panic eventually subsided, revealing that the Bpfasshi had suffered a fatal blow. As the Jedi Knight lay on the ground, the Dark Jedi mocked him, proclaiming himself the victor and dying with the belief that he had successfully manipulated Minch into using the dark side of the Force to achieve his goal. Minch then received a comm from T'dai, informing him that the Takara had landed on Dagobah and that they needed to prepare for extraction. The Jedi told his Master that he had slain the Bpfasshi and promptly left the cave to rejoin his comrades. The Bpfasshi's blood and subsequent death at Minch's hands within the cave on Dagobah tainted the location with the dark side, transforming it over time into a focal point of malevolent Force energy.

Minch, a Jedi of small stature with green skin, possessed eyes of the same color and brown hair worn in a long braid. His diminutive size often led opponents to underestimate him; the first Bpfasshi Dark Jedi he fought mistook him for a Padawan, and the Dark Jedi's Master patronized him as a child during their duel on Dagobah. Consequently, Minch strived to prove himself as a capable Jedi Knight. He was courageous yet impulsive, as demonstrated by his solo attack on the Bpfasshi aboard the Commerce Guild Station. This determination to prove his combat readiness led Minch to disobey a direct order from Master T'dai, his superior, when he broke formation to pursue the Dark Jedi Master to Dagobah. According to the Bpfasshi Master, Minch's emotions were easily discernible; he sensed Minch's anger and fear and attempted to exploit these weaknesses to turn him to the dark side. Although Minch resisted the temptations of the darksider, his fear and anger ultimately led him to slay the Bpfasshi. Upon death, Minch's opponent assured him that such feelings would inevitably lead to his fall into darkness.

Minch employed an aggressive, two-handed style when wielding his lightsaber. Despite his ability to duel opponents larger than himself, his skills proved insufficient in his battle against the lone Dark Jedi aboard the Commerce Guild station; the Bpfasshi broke through Minch's defenses, causing him to drop his lightsaber and fall to the ground. Minch demonstrated a talent for Force sense, using it to locate the Bpfasshi Master on Dagobah. Although he was unsuccessful against the learner, Minch managed to defeat the Dark Jedi Master in combat, even as fear threatened to consume him. Additionally, Minch was a skilled starfighter pilot.

Minch carried a green-bladed lightsaber and wore beige robes.

Minch made his debut in author Paul Lee's "Heart of Darkness," featured in Star Wars Tales 16. This story was later included in the trade paperback Star Wars Tales Volume 4. Initially, plausible stories from Star Wars Tales 1–20 were considered S-canon until referenced in a non-Tales source, at which point they were elevated to C-canon. In the story treatment for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, "Minch" was identified as the given name of Yoda, with early drafts using only "Minch." This was later replaced with "Yoda."

The Dark Horse Comics summary for Star Wars Tales 16 suggested that Minch and Yoda were the same character, describing the events of Heart of Darkness as a "story from Yoda's past." However, Lucasfilm official Leland Chee refuted this, stating that aspects of "Heart of Darkness" were non-canonical due to their contradiction of Yoda's established history and that "Minch" was not part of Yoda's name.

Despite this, Minch later received his own entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, establishing him as a distinct character and elevating his existence in Heart of Darkness to C-canon.