We constantly bring up what Yoda said to Luke in regards to how many jedi are left. We have been assuming that Yoda said Luke was the only one. But what yoda actually said was:
not "the last jedi".
When Yoda Refers to Jedi, he could be referring to the last group of remaining Jedi.
It doesn't matter what Lucas meant when he wrote it. The fact is that the wording is vague and therefore it would tend to allow for other surviving jedi.
Actually, it's not
quite as ambiguous as all of that.
You have to look at Yoda's full statement to Luke. He tells him to pass on what he has learned. Why? Because he says "When gone am I, last of the Jedi will you be."
"
When gone am I" is the real key here and why people interpret the statement as meaning the "last remaining Jedi."
If we assume that the statement is meant to suggest that Luke is the last
in the sequential order of Jedi trained, then the statement still doesn't make sense because Yoda himself was trained
way before the vast bulk of the Jedi around the fall of the Republic. The implication of his statement, if meant that way, would be that Yoda was the last trained
before Luke, and now Luke is the last trained when Yoda dies. Logically, it just doesn't make sense. Even if we ignore the prequels and Rebels entirely, it still doesn't make sense within the OT framework where we have literally three Jedi total. Why? Because Obi-Wan would've been the "second to last" of the Jedi. Yoda's death would have no impact on the
sequence of Jedi training. Logically, the only reason Yoda's death matters is if Luke is the last
remaining Jedi.
Now, this still leaves room for ambiguity, but I think the ambiguity only works in terms of the definition of "Jedi" within the statement. In other words, Luke could be the last
fully trained Jedi. Or the last
actively practicing Jedi. Or Yoda could've meant "Last of the Jedi
who will actually have a chance at winning and restoring peace and justice to the Galaxy, which is their job anyway, so I'm not mentioning all those other guys hiding in Dark Side hotspots." Or maybe just "our last Jedi hope."
Personally, I think it only really makes sense, especially given the context of Clone Wars and Rebels being kids shows, if characters like Asokha, Kanan, and Ezra end up "renouncing" their Jedi ways and going into hiding, or being viewed as "merely Padawans who never made the leap to full Jedi." But basically, I don't think Luke being the last
remaining Jedi is up for much debate, except insofar as "what constitutes a 'Jedi', then?"
Or we just accept that Yoda was wrong or he just flat-out lied to Luke. "Pep talk, you needed. Liberties with the truth, I took. Get over it, you should."
